Testlab

There is a substantial sized trailer for sale on the side of the road at Woy Woy, I think the sign says $2650. It looks like it would take up to a 5.8m or 6m deep vee hull. Let me know if you want any more info and I will get them when I drive past it.

Personally I would always prefer to be able to access major compartments. The ports and bungs make good sense.

Oh yeah.... They sure are, but one needs to wealthy to use em.

Be really careful after these big highs, all kinds of stuff gets floated out of nooks and crannies. There were some huge logs, building materials and a concrete pontoon floating down the Hawkesbury today.

Unfortunately many of the "get your license in one day" courses lie at fault here. Buy a boat, buy a license and get on the water. It also seems a lot of people buy up market before they ever learn the basics, but then that's a sign of the times I guess. By the way, those colored sticks with lights, the red, green and black yellow ones you see here and there. They ain't for decoration...

Fines are a bad deterrent but easy to administer. A far more effective deterrent is confiscation of gear (including boats) for a set period but it is of course difficult to administer.

I'm intrigued. Keep us in the loop.

Most Marine Rescue NSW units can conduct the license seminar and test on behalf of Roads and Maritime. It's done for a fixed fee and quite inexpensive... depending on where you are located I may be one of the people running the course and examining you. Get the online boating handbook and do the practice tests online. Attended the seminar, ask questions about things you aren't sure about and sit the exam. Please note if you sign up to do the RMS online course you can't sit the test with MRNSW or a private provider. RMS rules state if you do the RMS online course you can only be tested at a motor registry.

Regarding defects warranty, the boat is second hand but the statutory guarantees under the Aus Consumer Law still apply. A boat shouldn't leak when sold unless you were told it might have a leak and bought it "as is." But since it isn't new they don't have the same responsibility as the manufacturer would if it was new. I think the hot boat into cold water theory is very valid. The pressure drop could be substantial and draw water through the tiniest of paths until the pressure was equalized and it would keep doing it if the entry point was under water but above the level of water in the compartment, so you could wind up with a lot of water in there over successive uses that allowed water to enter put not get forced out again. Since you've resealed everything I would use the boat and monitor the situation before drilling anymore holes. It may not take anymore in and you'd be worrying about nothing.

Paikea, you're not allowed to operate a marine band transmitter on land unless you're a licensed coast station. You can't become a coast station unless you meet certain criteria which rules out recreational use and allows only limited private commercial use. When using the radio in your boat whilst in the driveway the intent with which you use it matters. A radio check before heading out to launch is probably OK, but chatting about what's biting and where isn't. I however don't think the ACMA is going to worry about a few sentences here and there.

How long has that battery been sitting since last charged? If its reading 3.1V and and that's after being unused for a long time then it's stuffed and you'd be lucky to ever get it back to 12V. If you did, the capacity would be pretty low. What will likely happen with a 2 stage charger is the battery will get quite warm, reach a certain state of condition and stay there, depending on how many cells are shot. By all means try and charge it but monitor the temperature and state of charge every few hours. To test the state of charge after say 6 hours turn off the charger and connect a 10W light bulb (brake light bulb) to the battery with a voltmeter across the battery. The voltage should drop from around 14V to 12V over 5 to 10 mins. If it dives off to below say 11V in under a minute the battery is not going to hold a charge. The battery should get warm but not hot to touch.

It's possible whoever last pulled the lower leg off to do the impeller didn't get the linkage in the right place. Some brands require the remote in a particular position to get it properly positioned. Since they only use a dog clutch it just means the shifter isn't being pushed into the correct position. The shift actuator only moves a very short distance even though the lever moves much further, so getting it right is important. Go to the local library and borrow the service manual. Most of them have manuals for popular brands.

I know of this guy, he routinely lays that net across Mullet and Mooney Creeks. As for unlit boats, there was a plague of them around last Saturday night. Either completely unlit or showing nav lights only and no all round white. Please people, if the white is getting in your eyes then it's either too low or you need to make a glare shield to place under the light at the top of the pole. It makes a huge difference to the visibility of your boat, it's essential, which is why it's a legal requirement !!!!!!

There isn't much in common between old diesels and new lightweight turbo diesels other than they are both compression ignition engines. I think longevity is going to have a lot to do with how they are driven and how they are maintained. It will be interesting to see how these new generation TDi's last in the marine environment as they are starting to appear in a number of variations.

I could "Buy it now" for $288.50 with free postage. I have bought two from the same source and they're quick and cheerful.

The limit is 2nm before you need one. I wrote quite a bit about EPIRBs before but my version of Tapatalk doesn't work with this site too well so I can't find it easily. In a nutshell a 406MHz with GPS sends the coordinates immediately it is activated and the local user terminal at AUSSAR can immediately pinpoint your location to approx 100m. A 406MHz unit without GPS sends its signal immediately but it may take up to 100 minutes (1 hr 40mins) for two successive satellite passes to triangulate a fix. The accuracy is between 1km and 5 kms. So, how long do you want to float around out there before (a) someone knows where you might be and ( when they actually find you? GPS EPIRBS can be found under $300 with 10 year battery life. PS: a personal beacon is also a great thing but doesn't take the place of full size unit under the regulations.

Seabreeze is, when you read it's objective, designed for sailboarders. Which is why on Seabreeze the light winds we love are red and the strong winds we hate are green.

Some of those other "black" Japanese engines made by famous motorcycle companies have anodes in the cooling and exhaust (?) systems that a lot of mechanics don't know about, so they just change the oil, plugs and impellers and because these engines run with nary a glitch the corrosion problem doesn't manifest until they are unrepairable.

As Ron said, that's the choke you've pushed closed. It doesn't matter if the choke plates don't all sit the same. If you've got carbs full of junk then it's likely you've also got a bad imbalance between them, which won't be doing the engine any good I you try and run it like that. Pull, strip, clean and kit them. New spark plugs. New fuel filters. Clean and purge everything fuel related and try again. Before removing the carbs write down how many turns each individual mixture screw is set to.

A tank of old, stale bad fuel will cause all that. Including blowing a hole through a piston or other damage caused by detonation. I think it's time to clean or replace that tank, remember to purge the fuel line, then strip the fuel system and carbys cleaning everything thoroughly. What kind of hole in the cylinder head? All the way through?

Don't worry about using high power for the short amount of time you use it, but good thing to be aware of it though. MR Terry Hills and MR Sydney are one and the same. If cant raise them on Ch16 then try Ch81 repeater, it's located at Cowan (just up the road from Huett Marine) and covers most of that area well but with a few dead spots.

You can run both pull and electric start. Adding the starter motor is easy as it will just bolt on. Apart from the flywheel did you get the solenoid, the neutral switch (to prevent starting in gear) and the stator assembly (contains the charging coil) and the voltage regulator? If your 25HP already has a lighting coil then you can add the voltage regulator without changing the stator (I think this is so, not sure). If you just have the starter motor parts you can add a solenoid and a remote start switch and forget about the charging circuit if you don't mind charging the battery after each outing. I strongly suggest adding the neutral switch for safety.

Oh, yeah... A good maintenance mode charger is a good investment. You can buy them for a reasonable price and they will last for a long time if not abused or exposed to the weather.

Battery B is the deep cycle. It is true that breakers are rated for cable size but if you are running a maximum 10A load why fit a 25A breaker. Sometimes it is better to limit the fault current to minimize consequential damage. If you had a couple of general outlets to plug in a 100W spotlight (8.5A) but you also want to plug in a 240V inverter (high load) then you would be sizing the breaker to the cable to prevent dangerous and potentially fire causing overloading.

I just reread what I wrote this morning. When I said 'Size this breaker one third larger than the maximum possible load' I mean one-third larger than the sum of everything added together.