zmk1962

April 24, 2017

Hi Raiders,

Following washdown after a trip offshore I usually do a basic check of my outboard - steering links, tilt, props etc.

Yesterday I noticed there was some free play on my prop shaft (about 1/8in). Seems to be more than I recall previously so though I'd pose the question here - what is an acceptable amount of prop shaft free play? The free play is in/out. There is no free play side to side.

The motor is a 200HP Mercury Salt Water series with 260hrs on the clock.

Not sure how to attach videos here ... but here is a link to a short YouTube clip https://youtu.be/_N7aXU1avX8

Thanks

Zoran

April 10, 2017

Like others have said... Wow! ....so sad. Felt like a kick in the guts when I read this but I can wholly relate to the effort Donna and Stewy have put in. THANK YOU for carrying us all this long. I sincerely hope you guys take that long earned break and catch more fish!

BTW, because of the standard you set this was the only site I joined, read and contributed to over the years. I wish you well.

March 1, 2017

Ok ...have been in further dialog with Navionics and Lowrance(Eagle)....so just to wrap up this topic from my perspective....

Given there is some doubt re Eagle 642 support of Sonar Charts (Lawrence says yes, Navionics says no) and the fact my trusty Eagle can only support a 1gb SD card…and also looking at the overall cost of upgrading Navionics Gold to add Sonarchart (the Navionics upgrade would effectively extract one region say Sydney - Melb from the full XL9 maps trade in and add Sonar for that region on a 1GB SD for $126 upgrade fee).

It seems to me that my most economic route by far is to dedicate my Eagle 642 to be just the fish finder/sounder (of course it can be a backup GPS with the Gold navigation charts already in there), and move my main GPS navigation requirements to my iPad mini. Given I already have the iPad and Navionics AU&NZ with Sonarcharts, the total investment required would be a waterproof case and a sturdy bracket.

Guess that's the path I am on.

Anyone have any recommendations for waterproof iPad mini cases and brackets?

Cheers

Zoran

February 28, 2017

MV Sunray... what model lowrance ??

February 28, 2017

3 hours ago, back cruncher said:

Hi all...zmk1962,I had a similar problem with my hummingbird.I had to change something to fish&chip mode to get navionics to work.

ha... love it "fish&chip" mode - sounds like a setting that should be on a microwave oven!.... if you can take a shot of the hummingbird settings screen and post that, it will give me a place to start looking for a similar setting on mine (I have posted mine above and cant see anything like that)... but I think we have our answer from Navionics above...

February 28, 2017

Hey Radiers....

I have been chasing this with Navionics as well and it looks like a Navionics Gold XL9 issue - ie that level of contour mapping is not on the nautical charts supplied as part of Navionics Gold. That level of details is supplied as Sonar Charts which are displayed on the iPhone/iPad apps...and can be purchased as upgrades (but you have to check if your GPS unit can handle Sonar Charts).

Here is the response from Navionics ---

Hi Zoran,
The charts you see on Navionics App is the same as the charts on current Nav+ and Platinum+ cards. They are nautical and sonar charts.
Your Gold card is year 2008 card, the data is old and it only contains nautical charts. You can update it to current 50XG at $185. The new 50XG covers AUS & NZ, and has one year Freshest Data.
The Eagle 642 unit only can read nautical charts, not sonar charts.

Regards,

Customer Service
Australia, NZ & Asia

I'm now checking with Lowrance whether my Eagle 642 can handle sonar charts.... if not guess its going to become the dedicated Sounder (and backup GPS) and the nvigation GPS will be on my mini-iPad once I source a waterproof case and mount.

Keep you posted.

Cheers

Zoran

February 27, 2017

I designed the overall hardtop shape, dimensions and angles of screens...then worked with a local guy who has this type of business and who did the majority of the construction and modification of the existing s/s framework (we reused as much as possible of the existing framework). Some jobs like installation of the glass and wiper motors were 2 man jobs (so I was the apprentice) and then I did all the re-wiring and installation of washer bottles etc on my own.

Another local guy did the new clears and storm cover.

The hardtop and full glass screen have made a HUGE difference in terms of comfort....should have done it sooner!

Cheers

Zoran

February 27, 2017

Thanks Short... good to know.

February 27, 2017

Thanks rick... checked that before I posted... should have mentioned that apologies...

I have added below screen shots of my settings menus - you can see for Navionics>Depth Contours are selected.

..and I have also shown a shot of the Sydney Heads display - which shows the general contours are shown....so I think my settings are set correctly to display contours.

I guess that narrows my question down to... do the Navionics Gold XL9 charts have the level of contour detail that iPhone Navionics displays or is it that my Eagle sounder just cant display that detail...

So if anyone has Navionics Gold XL9 installed I'd really appreciate if they select 12mile (S33.55.662 E151.28.484 ) and post a shot of what they see on their GPS unit.

Thanks... Zoran

February 27, 2017

Hey Raiders,

I am running Navionics Gold XL9 charts in my Eagle Seacharter 642CF (GPS/Sounder). I seem to have lost a lot of bottom detail or maybe it just wasn't there and I have a poor memory - so wondering if anyone else that has Navionics Gold XL9 could share a screen shot of what they are seeing - say for 12mile. I need to determine if something has gone wrong with my Navionics Gold SD card, or my Eagle Seacharter....(or memory!)

1st is a picture of what I see on my Navionics Gold XL9 with Eagle Seacharter 642CF for 12mile (ignore the purple lines thats my track marks not contours).

2nd is what I see on my iPhone running Navionics AU&NZ for 12mile (basically a lot more detail).

What are other Raiders seeing using Navionics Gold XL9 on their GPS unit?

Thanks for the help team.

Cheers

Zoran

February 27, 2017

On 11/07/2015 at 9:09 AM, kiwicraig said:

Here is a photo of my one in action. My mate gave me his wife's old iPad for free, I already owned Navionics and got the SP-200 as part of a promo. The only new purchase was the case.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hey Kiwicraig... could you forward details of the case... and were you purchased. Thanks Zoran

February 27, 2017

2 hours ago, fragmeister said:

This is my boat. ( except that it has rocket laucher on the Bimini and a MinKota on the port bow now.

I will keep a look out ...

Cheers

Jim

Nice rig Jim ! Very tidy.

And here is BARRYCUDA ... just finished the conversion to hardtop in late Dec and this is what she looks like now in the driveway ... I am yet to take a good watershot !

Cheers Zoran

February 26, 2017

15 hours ago, fragmeister said:

That sounds like a lot of fun and it s great to hear that your experience was pretty much the same otherwise its tempting to think that I am doing something wrong!

It seems that you were probably the 5th Raider that was in the Harbour on Friday hitting the same markers as me yet I was totally oblivious to them all!

I think we all need very big Fishraider stickers for our boats!

Cheers

Jim

Hey Jim,

We launched at Ermington 6am (the newbies wanted to experience the harbour scenic trip under the bridge and past the opera house - and I never get tired of it - we have such a beautiful harbour) so we hit Wedding Cake around 630am and had it to our self. A center console showed up at 7am (was that you?) just as we were reeling in our plastics and setting up the trolling gear.

Great idea re some form of visible Fishraider identification. Perhaps instead of stickers - can I suggest a small pennant we can slip over our radio antennas and ziplock into place? It would be much more visible.

Cheers

Zoran

PS - My call sign is SY404 (I sit on VHF 16 all the time) or boat name "Barrycuda" (big print on the boat).

February 26, 2017

11 hours ago, DMG said:

I once thought lights scared off fish too until I did some research and found light actually attracts fish.

Next time you fish at night say at a wharf etc,set up a portable flood light and shine it into the water in front of you and see what happens,after about 15 min all the bait fish and squid are in your light area.

Hi DMG,

I can see the logic in that if there is deep water and structure - like a warf. A constant light would attract the smaller stuff, then baitfish, then predators as there is depth and structure and the shadowy dark areas for the fish to hide in - if they need to. You get the same effect squidding at night of a boat in deeper water.

However, on a beach as there is ONLY shallow water my experience is that the fish avoid the shallows especially when its bright - eg during day time the beach shallows are almost a desert as bait fish are exposed from the bottom (predatory fish) and above (birds). So during day time beach fishing I would cast out to the deeper channels and holes. But as the light fades the fish move in closer as there is less threat. Many folks forget that and still cast out far at night.

I have caught a bagfull of whiting in Jervis Bay in a 24ft radius around my feet standing at the water line in total darkness. I did not use my reel at all (12ft beach rod+ 12ft of line hanging out) - literally like pole fishing. As Short said - "they're feeding right at your feet". I discovered this by accident... a miss cast plopped the bait near and as I was figuring out what went wrong I hooked up. I had been targeting bream and whiting and I was casting right over them - DOH!

Since then I carry 2 beach rods - heavy and light. The heavy gets thrown out and sits in a rod holder. The light fishes everything inbetween - in total darkness.

BTW on a different note - night beach fishing was one of my and my wife's favourite past times - we'd hit anywhere from Palm down to Shellharbour) but I admit we have given it away for the last 15+ years. Not because of issues like Short is experiencing sharing the beach with others but because we just got very sick and tired of returning to our car to find it had been broken into. Is this still happening regularly out there?

Cheers

Zoran

February 25, 2017

I'll quickly jot down my top boating/Fishing related apps (I use them on an iphone 5s and iPAD so these are IOS based):

Marine Rescue (MRNSW )

NSW Fishing (thanks jeffb5.8!)

Seabreeze

OZ Weather -- I like the radar function to "see" the cloud/storm formations tracking...(but I will check out windyTV)

Knots 3D

Navionics - AU&NZ

Cheers

Zoran

February 25, 2017

Great report fragmeister.

I hit the harbour on Friday as well with 2 newbies onboard. Like you, nothing at wedding cake, nothing at North head, nothing in the two bays heading up to Manly (this is usually "bonito" alley for me), nothing at the FAD. Like you found the current is running around 1-3km/h at the FAD-- so we went further to 12mile (found water temp 26C) and hit a schools of mack tuna…. 2hrs of absolute fun followed...great sport about 20 hookups and lands/releases (kept 3 2+kg models for bait next trip)…. We tried a variety of metal and resin skirts but they were only smashing 6inch pink and zuchinni pakulas and only came up to play if we were trolling the teaser as well.

As a bonus also caught a 66cm mani mahi in the mix (keeper), then after tiring of trolling we came back in to bottom bash the reefs at sydney heads (Leads Inner) and ended up with a 65cm flathead (keeper) and a couple of juvenile snapper over 30cm (keepers). So all onboard scored a feed and had a great day out ...(especially the two who had never been offshore before)....

The pressure is on me now to reproduce this the NEXT time they go out with me -- and they have all already volunteered!

Cheers

Zoran

February 23, 2017

I was not aware of FishSmart NSW APP.... thanks jeffb5.8 !! Very useful. Perhaps there should be a section in the fora for us to document smart/useful proven boating related apps.

February 22, 2017

ok so gave the fridge method a go...no noticable smells.... just finished splitting up the block into 4 rectangular chinese takaway containers all good...seems to be the way to go... Thanks flatheadluke !

February 21, 2017

I'll give the slow thaw fridge method a go... keeping the missus happy is a must so will use the garage beer fridge - hence only my mates will be irritated by the fish smelling beer bottles .... could be a side benefit - maybe they'll drink less or bring their own to share !

February 20, 2017

Thanks noelm...yup tried that previously as well....I'll keep experimenting. Cheers Zoran

February 20, 2017

Hey Raiders,

Has anyone figured out how to easily split up a 2kg frozen squid bait block??

I've been told there's a general shortage of frozen bait squid in Sydney . So the local bait supplies near where I live are only stocking US sourced food grade 2.2kg blocks of squid at $27 a pop.

For me 2kg is way too much to take out on a trip and its a waste to throw the unused portion out... so I'm looking for best advice on how to chunk this down without losing the quality of the remaining bait chunks.

I've tried a few things like smashing the block on concrete ...but looking at any shared experiences! Someone is sure to have cracked this problem with a simple and effective solution.

Cheers

Zoran

December 13, 2016

Hi Nick,

Having done a fair bit of wiring (my dad was a sparkie) it sounds like you have more than one problem and are seeing the compounding effects. eg car lights coming on - sounds like something is feeding back to the car through the trailer or trailer wiring - some old trailers are wired to use the trailer as earth - a bad practice.

So, as others have suggested you need to start isolating the problem - so start with your car plug and establish that it is wired correctly. Simplest may be to test your car with someone else's trailer that is known to be wired correctly or arm yourself with a 12v test light (<$5 at any auto shop or bunnings) and have someone operate the vehicle brakes and switches while you test the car plug pins.

Use these diagrams ....

If all is ok with the car... then work your way through the trailer wiring...again using the same wiring diagrams.

Cheers

Zoran

December 12, 2016

Hmmm.... have not had that problem before with hydraulic steer - but have had similar ones with plastic fittings shrunk tight over metal fittings.....

I'd hit it with a bit of heat. Hairdryer or hot air gun... or carefully flick the flame from a cigarette lighter over the plastic. Plastic should soften / expand and be able to be pulled off. Same for putting it back on if its tight - little bit of heat.

Cheers

Zoran

December 9, 2016

Lead cell batteries......KEEP IT CHARGED ! ....

I have written up the science behind this in a previous post if you want to search for it.

Running a lead cell battery to flat before re-charging is guaranteed to shorten battery life. I always keep mine trickle charged to full and as proof have a Century Marine Pro 650CC that is 10y.o. and still working.

Cheers

Zoran

December 8, 2016

Don't confuse a retailer's packaging with the legal requirements.

Inshore and Offshore are retailer packages.

Enclosed Waters and Open Waters are RMS definitions....and they are not intuitive. eg. In Sydney harbour Port Jackson, You would think Open Waters are east of a line between North Head and South Head....after all this is the open ocean beyond the last land.....BUT according to RMS ..Open Waters in Port Jackson are East of a line from Cannae Point and South Head. Check the map free on RMS - http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/maritime/usingwaterways/maps/boating-maps/9d-port-jackson.pdf

So research from RMS site what are defined as Enclosed and Open Waters in the areas you typically boat in.

Then for NSW... The RMS site is clear...

http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/maritime/safety-rules/safety-equipment/safety-equipment-table.html

For Enclosed Waters - No flares required.

For Open Waters - you need 2 Red (Distress flare (red hand-held, in date)) and 2 Orange (Distress flare (orange smoke hand-held, in date))

Cheers

Zoran

PS - Thats the minimum requirement from RMS...but take with you whatever you think will help in an emergency. Ultimately your are the skipper and responsible for the crew. Personally I view RMS as a minimum and I carry extra flares etc.

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