zmk1962

I'll leave that to other raiders whom may have a more modern tow vehicle - but I have read in another forum (caravan related) that some folks have installed DC DC chargers to ensure additional batteries are getting adequate charge ...whilst others have had the vehicle manufacturer disable the smart alternator for a minimal service cost to get full charge out of alternator at all times. This option may be vehicle manufacturer dependent ...and it will cost a bit more fuel per week. Best of luck. Zoran

Took a while to find it... but here it is: This is the extract from the RMS spec sheet.... note the underlined section - in Sydney the HVIS stations are clamping down on ensuring that the breakaway battery is on a charging circuit and that you can ascertain from the normal driving position that battery's condition. "The Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2007 requires that all trailers with a Gross Trailer Mass (GTM) exceeding 2 tonnes be provided with a braking system which will operate automatically and promptly upon breakaway of the trailer from its towing vehicle, and that such application should be maintained for at least fifteen minutes. Such trailers, if fitted with electrically actuated braking systems, must be equipped with a device which applies the brakes in the event of a breakaway from the towing vehicle and maintains application for at least fifteen minutes. It is essential therefore, that an energy source, such as a battery, be carried on the trailer and that means be provided to ensure that the battery is maintained in a fully energised condition...." Here's the original post...way back in 2014... Also I have attached a wiring diagram if you need it.... Cheers Zoran

You probably don't want to hear this but - No. Unfortunately not. Based on your location I presume you are towing in NSW - so you are under NSW regulations. I also presume your rig exceeds 2T as you have gone to the trouble of installing a break-away / hydraulic set up. From memory the rules in NSW require that: i) the trailer breakaway battery is constantly being charged....and ii) that from your normal driving position you are able to ascertain the breakaway battery charge (ie you need a warning or visible signal if the breakaway battery loses charge). This has been discussed previously on the forums ... I'll try and dig up the post reference. Cheers Zoran

Thanks Fab ! .... means a lot coming from someone with your experience. It's all about taking the hard work out and making boating easy, safe and fun. Cheers Zoran

PM sent as I am not sure if we are supposed to post suppliers and brand names. Cheers Zoran

I'm a little late to this post as have been quite busy last few weeks but here's my anchor set up that has worked on my 6+m boat since 1996. Like others I have not coughed up the expense for an all powerful Sarca and hence rely on two anchors in my rig. I carry a reef pick (for broken ground reefs), and a danforth (for sand and mud) anchor. Both are rigged up with break away set up much like Back_Cruncher and Rick have discussed above, except I don't run the chain to the front of the anchor as it would snag inside my bow roller - I have a short length of 5mm s/s cable (1500kg BS) swaged to the anchors. Since I rely on two anchors I had to find a way to easily swap between the anchors without having to use any tools. The solution I came up with was to mount two s/s 8mm snap hooks (600kg BS each) onto an 8mm S/S quick link (5000kg BS) with the snaps facing each other (they effectively lock in the anchor and I have not lost one yet). Then the quick link is attached to an anchor swivel and then to the chain/rope. Swapping between anchors takes seconds and requires no wet cold fingers fumbling with pliers, shackle keys, spanners trying to undo corroded D-shackles. I guess because I have found it so easy to swap between the anchors I have never felt the need to go to a single all purpose anchor like a Sarca. Also the whole set up and the anchors are so cheap to replace compared to a Sarca. Anyway its worked for me. Hope the pictures help explain my set up. Cheers Zoran PS - to Fabs comment regarding a spare. By carrying a pick and danforth I guess each doubles up as a spare for the other. I do carry a third collapsible reefpick, 5m chain and 50m of 10mm rope. It lives folded up in the gunwall near the stern. I sometimes deploy this anchor from the stern if I want to anchor side on to current or if I am overnighting in a bay and do not want to swing on the main anchor. Guess this anchor is also an emergency spare but I never thought of it that way.

Thanks Paddyt - if I do end up glassing it will be epoxy !!

I was heading down the G3 path but LSM didnt have a stand at the Boat Show ... so I ended up at the Stress Free booth and they gave me a deal on the NG Midi 50 Free Fall. Should arrive this week. Cheers Zoran

Thanks Guys .... helpful as always. I love that I can count on this site for practical experience. Marty I'll call that crowd on Monday - always keen to learn something new - even if I don't end up reinforcing the well I still have to do some glassing to seal the core where I cut through the bulkhead. Spotterone, as part of my research on winches I was very fortunate to find photos of an identical hull to mine with the same size winch fitted. I have attached some of those photos here and it looks like as in your case they have not reinforced the anchor well and are just relying on the backing plate. My winch should arrive this week and I'll then be able to see what type of backing plate comes with it. I have a 1/4 sheet of 4mm marine ally left over from another project which I could cut to any shape and add to the solution if I go down that path. I have a few chores for the missus today then I can get stuck into cleaning out the anchor well to have a real good look. Cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders, I have not worked with fiberglass previously apart from fixing little gelcoat chips and drill holes - so I have experience with small stuff but nothing structural but would appreciate some advice. I am about to install a drum winch and want to strengthen the anchor well floor (especially where its glassed to the hull). I'm ok with the basic principles of glassing: clean off all grease and grime, grind, more cleaning, accurate measurement of resin components, brush smooth layer of resin, lay fiberglass cloth, smooth out bubbles more resin more cloth etc. But my first question is, how do I tell if my fiberglass hull is made from epoxy or polyester resin? I've heard that the two systems are somewhat incompatible and if you don't use the same system then delamination of the new layers will occur. PS: hull is a 1996 Haines Hunter 635L. Cheers Zoran

THEN YOU CATCH IT !!! +1 for burley...we had a skipjack frame in the burley pot when the mako showed up ... cheers Zoran

+one for pike as bait.... and looks like it was a great day on water... thanks for the report.

From personal experience being of European descent - a culture where you do not waste anything!... once you start brewing you also tend to get into distilling - grappa, brandy, rakija, vodka, whiskey, bourbon, moonshine...they're all spirits that have been distilled from some brew. Essentially the distillation process extracts the alcohol from the brew. So whether you have a suspect batch of beer or wine - as long as the fermentation has converted some of the sugars into alcohol - you have he opportunity to extract out some good alcohol as a spirit and leave behind the "crap". Suggest you Google distillation equipment...distillation processes... you want the ethanol (consumable alcohol) that is extracted at around 87degC... never drink any alcohols that come from the distillation before 87degC (that's essentially methylated spirits)... If your beer usually has a 5% Alc content - then from your 20L of brew theoretically 1/20th is alcohol - so you may get 0.8-1L of alcohol finished product... Cheers Zoran

Or if you have the gear and time...and the alcohol content is there... distill it ! Cheers Zoran

Agree with Trailcraft45 use the primer bulb method if you decide to drain the fuel. There was a lot of discussion on the stale fuel topic previously - www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/topic/74376-removing-old-fuel/ Cheers Zoran

Cheers Marty - it sort of linked to other uses of fake grass and humour is always welcome... also great to catch up...hope to see you on the water. BTW the car looks like a 2004 Nissan Pulsar Q - it was the same shape as my daughters old car - and I used to tell her if she doesn't wash it for another week I'm sure it will start to sprout and end up just like this car. Cheers Zoran

I know its way off topic but do you mean this car !!!.... I spotted it just to the left of the offramp from James Ruse Dr to Windsor Rd (north)... Apologies - dont know how to get correct rotation when posting...

Thanks for the replies guys... Ryde is pretty close to the Hills... have sent you a PM Squidboy. Cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders, I've just used up the last of my lead ingot (sourced through a shooter buddy) making a few kilos of snapper leads.... so now I am on the lookout to stock up on lead for future sinker making. I searched the fora and found the last discussion on "where to buy lead, scrap lead, bulk lead" was in 2010, so thought the topic may be worth a revisit. Anyone know of where I could purchase 5-10kgs at reasonable prices in the Hills district? (I know Bunnings and H&G have the rolled roofing stuff but that is way to expensive for sinkers.) Cheers Zoran

Looks faaast. But I recall reading somewhere there was an issue with insuring craft capable of >60mph. May be worth checking into. Cheers Zoran

jimg1au, Some thoughts regarding your questions: 1) Battery aerator vs wired: I'd go for wired. Those C and D size battery's are not cheap, they drain and need replacement, batteries get forgotten in the gear and leak ruining the terminals and equipment...generally are a pain in my experience. 2) Aerator vs Recirculating: I'd go for recirculating every time. I understand you've had some negative experiences with recirculating systems - I've had many until I cracked the equation for my boat. Yes to keep your bait live and sprightly, you need to give them oxygen and an aerator will do that, but you also have to figure out how to keep the water fresh (ie. how to get rid of the slime, bait and crap the fish regurgitate) as well as how to keep them at the temperature of the water they have come from or are going into - overheating and thermal shock will kill them or stun them. So in my experience aerators do only part of the job. If you set up a recirculating system so water goes in the bottom, you will have fresh water as the crap flushes out the top, the fish are getting oxygen, they are kept at the right temperature etc. The trick is to figure out how to do this with minimums - minimum drilling, minimum effort, minimum cost. Suggest you post a few shots of your 4.5m quinnie stern area, the burley bucket area (think you said its fouling the mount) and also give us your transom height -- I'm sure you'd get a few constructive ideas... there is a lot of talent on this forum. Cheers Zoran

I use SPs and the paternoster rig drifting for flatties. At the start of a trip we usually try to rig each rod on the boat differently, so for example one has SPs on top and bait on bottom and the other has SP on bottom and bait on top, another may fish all bait and another fish different SPs etc. We then watch for a pattern, whats waorking and is there a preference .... and it changes day by day. eg we were drifting in 60m off longreef wide and found that >50% of the time the big flatties took the SP and they preferred the SPs mounted on the top hook. ...and the SP for that day was a 13cm Berkley white jerk shad. So all on the boat eventually ended up with that rig. Last weekend, the bigger flatties of Barrenjoey preferred the SPs on the bottom hook - but no particular SP pattern was preferred. So be prepared to mix it up and see what is working on the day. BTW... the way you have drawn your paternoster - it will just end up as a paternoster with the heavy sinker on the bottom and the SP (bottom) playing out on a longer dropper....which will cause you problems when dropping the rig as SP(bottom) will just wrap around the main line and the first dropper on the way down....unless there is a really really really strong current to keep SP (bottom) laid out away from the mainline. Cheers Zoran

Awesome feed there... well done. What rig were you using with the plastics? Cheers Zoran

Yep... I have caught one previously and Glen has had some past experience - this mako was gaffed through the head and we kept him tailed for a good hour plus during which time he would randomly start to thrash around (he left scuff marks on the boat gelcoat on that side of the boat) - anyway I put him in the esky on ice for an hour so he was well asleep before we started to work on him.

Thanks Rick... just had the octopus stir-fried as entre and a few mako steaks for dinner - superb -very good eating indeed !