zmk1962

Since you have not specified any tactics, bait, burley gear etc we can only be generic. Some species I have caught in Jerusalem Bay include - bream, jewfish, hairtail, eels, sharks ...squid, slimies and yakkas. I have even seen a little Mack tuna (about 50cm) bust up a school of bait fish at sunrise - but it was not caught. Here is one of the three bream (45cm, 43cm, 42cm) we caught on an overnight expedition there..... enjoy.

Great idea. Put the flood light on a separate circuit/switch so that it can be turned on/off independently of your mast light. BTW, if you have fished at night you will now how "little" light you need to see around the deck. So rather then a proper flood light I would lean toward one of those those waterproof cabin lights that have a red/white light option. Last year I picked up and LED one at a very reasonable price (around $30). The red light will preserve your night vision.

Not sure what type of boat you have Danieljc, but if your boat is a half cabin type, one thing you might want to consider is installing a flat plastic shield (visor) underneath your mast light so that it casts a shadow across you boat foredeck. I used to have a mast light at the top of my windscreen, at night it lit up my boats white foredeck and I found it really reduced my night vision having this white deck reflecting back at me. I initially fixed that problem by inserting a plastic flat plate (a shield or visor) to cast a shadow across the fore deck, later when I reworked the bimini I moved the light up with the rocket launchers and now the bimini casts a shadow over the fore deck. Just something to consider.

Installed it on both my iPhone and iPad. Looks to be designed well and very useful. Should complement the VHF and other safety gear and precautions well.

Agree with Huey 100%. My 15HP 4-stroke carby model cold start is tempermental at best ! ... the 200HP EFI (post mix 2-stroke) is a breeze to start. I eventually diagnosed that my 4-stroke carby float was getting stuck as after flushing I used to just leave it layed up on the drive way. Turns out the little fuel left in the carby would evaporate and leave a gummy residue that would foul the carby float. The first cold start after that was always a problem and prone to flooding the carby !!! I have now modified my lay up procedure, I now disconnect the fuel line for the last few minutes of the flushing process and let the carby run dry. My cold starts have improved dramatically since doing that.

tef1on - I agree. Oars have many uses. Moving off sand bars, pushing off rocks, pushing away seals..... but - oars or paddles become more and more "less helpfull" in rectifying the situation you may be in as the vessel gets larger/heavier. You need a BIG paddle to move 2T of glass boat, + fuel+water+4 burly mates + gear ... especially with current and wind dynamics !!! The message is have a second means of propulsion but be realistic about how effective it will be on your craft and don't over rely on paddles ... not until you have tried them for all their various uses.

I agree - oars or paddles become more and more "less helpfull" in rectifying the situation you may be in as the vessel gets larger/heavier. Personal experience. In my younger days (when I was much much fitter - and could do 200 pushups - yes true and another story !!). My brother and I took our very first boat - a used 14ft Savage Avalon fibreglass hull, which we had just repowered with a new 40hp Tohatsu, down to Tench reserve at Penrith for its maiden run. We dropped her in the water and finally got the Tohatsu started - she was spluttering a bit, we put it down to being a brand new motor and gently revved her up to cruising speed - heading down stream from the ramp toward the weir. About 2km down the motor stopped - no amount of cajoling would start it (turns out the first fuel we had just bought on the way to the ramp was about 30% water and the Tohatsu really didnt like it - yet another story!). Anyway, my brother - who was stronger than me and I both pulled out the oars and promplty started to paddle this little14ft boat. Piece of cake we thought - 2hrs later - we had not moved. All our efforts had kept us still in the gentle down stream current. It was clear boats are NOT canoes - there is a lot of water drag and windage. So two points to this story - 1. oars and paddles on larger/heavier boats are interesting items at best. 2. Always head upstream on your maiden voyage - you can drift home if the worst happens. Given that personal experience, from day one, I have always questioned the purpose of stowing paddles on my 2T plus Haines Hunter. The most effective use the paddles have ever been put to is pushing off a more than friendly seal that was determined to come on board off Terrigal wide - and for that reason I have kept them on board (just in case) but for now I rely on my 15HP auxiliary as my alternate propulsion.

If a clear night, you will be surprised how much natural light there is to see by. Water also reflects any ambient light and this helps. After a little while when your pupils dilate, your night vision will kick in - the most critical thing is to preserve it - don't look at bright lights etc. Set your GPS/Sounder to dim. I cover my backlit gauges with a cloth - and glance at them occasionaly - you will not be going fast. I also have a red light setting on my cabin and deck working lights - they preserve night vision but allow you to see quite well - to locate gear, bait up etc. If you have any white deck lights now, you might consider taping a bit of red celophane over them for the trip - just a suggestion. So while underway on MOST occasions I use no lights to see ahead - being on water at night is not like driving a car with headlights. In my early boating days thinking of the car analogy I had mounted a 200W remote control spotter on my bow sprit but just found it a nuisance - the angle of your bow changes as you apply or come off throttle, its not a flat road out there - you go over waves - light shines up, shines down, I was forever adjusting the remote - it was all too hard. Rely on your night vision, get familiar with the area, keep a good lookout (or TWO) and take it slow. As others have said, I also do carry both a 12V spotlight and several powerful torches - comes in handy mostly when you are landing or mooring up and for signalling - but try and keep the light and reflection out of your eyes - it will dazzle your sight for a while. If its foggy or overcast be prepared for a "real" adventure - it will be deep dark and all torches and lights do is reflect back off the fog or mist. I recall a partcular winter morning, launched at Apple Tree bay heading up Cowan to Pitwatter and out wide past Barrenjoey. What is usually a 20-30min trip took almost 2hrs in pea soup fog, running on the GPS and falling back to compass when the GPS lost satellite - straining to see 20ft ahead. All landmarks and even the banks of the river invisible. Dead slow all the way on a waterway familiar to 3 experience boaties on board !

I frequently go offshore and I have two motors. Main Mercury 200HP EFI, second Mariner 15HP 4-Stroke. When I bought the boat it had a 225 Yamaha -- I did not know its history. So the 15HP was added as a "safety" auxiliary - it was cheaper than repowering which I could not afford at the time. Later when I repowered the main with the new 200HP Merc, I decided to keep the 15HP as I found that not only was it a safety feature, it was a good offshore trolling motor - quiet and ran on the smell of an oily rag. It will push my rig along in the 6-10km/h range depending on conditions. Since the 200HP EFI two stroke mixes the oil from a separate oil reservoir, it takes a clean fuel feed from the main tank - same as the 15HP 4-Stroke. So I don't need to worry about separate tanks. I have also linked the two motors so they both "steer" off my hydraulic ram - its just a mater of tilting up the motor that I don't want to use to reduce drag. PS - I agree with the previous comment that most issues are electrical - so being somewhat paranoid in this area I have 3 batteries across the back - with switches to isolate or connect any combination. Can't have enough redundancy when you are 40km offshore ! Now what to do about the single fuel tank??????

Looking at your diagram the other problem you may have is the breather hose or vent pickup. You have drawn the tank as lying horizontal and the breather connection is at the back of the tank near the inlet - do you know if the breather vent pick up is directly below the connection or is it at some other part of the tank? If at the service station the tank sits tilting back and the breather is not venting vapour from the front of the tank then you will have trouble filling the tank full. I have tried to add that to your drawing - but you have to imagine the tank is tilting back. In my boat the underfloor tank always sits tilting back to the stern (both on the trailer and on the water). My tank has an internal vent pickup at the front top of the tank via an internal tube (externally the connection for the vent is at the back of the tank like yours) - I have tried to add that to your drawing below as well...you can see how it allows the trapped vapour to vent. However, if your tank is as you have drawn it with the vent pickup below the vent connection - can you try filling it when it is tilted forward - perhaps disconnect your trailer from the towball and tilt your rig forward at the servo? Can you get more into the tank then?

Thanks Scratchie.... yup beers were awesome (and consumed in moderation while on the vessel of course). But I think this adventure will help with beers for a few sessions yet to come !!!

Thanks Raiders ... we are all still buzzing today !

On Saturday we originally set out live baiting for kings off Sydney Heads and then out at 12 Mile. But with nothing in the bag at 11am and with water at 24degC we decided to troll some skirts in a round trip back past the Sydney Fad. An hour later we hooked, landed, photographed and successfully released this beauty. First Striped Marlin for my boat (thanks for all the tips Glen!). The fight took about an hour with each of us taking 15min turns - lots of head shakes and tail walking in the initial runs - the Penn 330GTi got very warm but held up to the task. What a fish on a 14cm Pink Pakula skirt and gear targeting Kings, Bonnies and Dollies. Just shows it pays to keep your gear well maintained - you never know what will hook up! Heres a link to the YouTube clip of the day, we only got the video working 1/2 through the tussle (fast fwd the bits you find boring): L to R: John, Glen, me and Wayne - smiles all around.

An old mechanic once advised me to please disconnect all your spark plug leads before you start messing with the prop in gear.

Ok.. Fab! has given you how to releive the pressure. I see you've added a picture. Was able to grab from that the web address... Here is the master cylinder part that looks like yours: $43.95 RRP ...At that price i'd just replace it. http://www.astss.com.au/CatalogueRetrieve.aspx?ProductID=5898211&A=SearchResult&SearchID=42040356&ObjectID=5898211&ObjectType=27

There must be a way to ease off the hydraulic pressure (worst case you could undo the bleed nipple on each of the brakes but you will lose hydraulic fluid) - what brand/model isyour master cylinder? I'll see if I can google the manual for it and check. Also sent you a pm with my mobile number.

Need a bit more information. I have a twin bogey trailer with an electric hydraulic set up with 4 hydraulic disc brakes. I have had on rare occasions individual calipers (usually only 1 out of the 4) seize due to the caliper hydraulic cylinder jamming while open. Bit of WD40 and levering of the calipers usually pries the calper open enough or frees them up enough to get back home. The cause vaires - may be gunk or rust buildup etc or just time for an overhaul of the hyrdaulic brake seals etc etc. But in your case, I am not sure if ALL your brakes have locked up - in which case your problem may be further up at the master hydraulic unit etc. Can you describe your system, what drives the hydraulics (over ride, electric, compressed air) and if all your brakes are jammed or just some?

If the measurement 26/6 you gave implies 26mm/6mm ...maybe you need to be looking for a "narrow crown stapler" vs a tacker or staple gun... I stumbled across this in reverse to you - I needed to staple roof insulation (LOTS OF IT) and was looking for a staple gun that could work at any angle in any awkward position...which excluded the manual ones and the "tackers". Came across "narrow crown" staplers, nail guns etc So I now have a brand new never used Project Air Model TA-NB Air Nailer Stapler which I am happy to sell ($30). It runs of a compressed air supply -- looking at the manual it will fire Staples: 18ga, Crown Width: 5.7mm, length 6-32mm. PM me if you are interested. (Selling it as I was forced to upgrade to a cordless 18V unit before I even had a chance to use the compressed air one - as I had no power on site to run the compressor. The cordless also fires narrow crown staples 6.3mm width up to 32mm...so they are not that unusual.)

Thanks I will keep an eye on this post. When I looked at this previously the MROCP covered VHF and HF operation - so the operator was certified for land based base station operation, also commercial work eg tug boat operation etc. I just require recreational fisho VHF use so the lighter the workload the better ( more time for fishing !). Thanks again. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hi Mrsswordie. I am very keen to do a qualifying course (as per some earlier post) depending on date/work commitments. Was there any reason why the MROCP course was selected vs MROVCP. The MROVCP is the "lighter course" focused on VHF which would suit most non commercial boaties? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I use heavy gloves or a towel to handle my keeper flatties - avoid the barbs and belly slime altogether. I carry a thermos of black tea on the boat - that doubles up as my hot water soak. I also carry a small bottle of white vinegar for blue bottle stings - many a time I have had lures trawl through blue bottle wands(?) only to have the strands wrap around my fingers as I try to remove what I thought was thin seaweed. Learnt the vinegar solution from the Whale beach lifeguards many years back. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

When I do need to remove fuel I use a similar primer bulb/siphon technique as others above have said. I have a 15HP Auxiliary on my boat. It is fed via a female fuel coupling that clicks onto the male end on the motor. I purchased a spare male connector and attached a length of fuel hose to it, now I just unplug the fuel supply from the motor and plug the fuel supply into my hose extension - no need to remove and re-attach the coupling each time. Hold the hose higher than the fuel tank and pump the bulb until the hose fills up - then dunk the end into a jerry can and off it siphons. It is a little slow, as its siphoning through the bulb valve - but it works. Fed the mower and daughter's cars this way many times. BTW, my original 220L Alloy tank lasted 18+yrs, in that time I never drained it and often it was less then half full. When the time came to replace it, I was curious how much water was in the tank, so I siphoned of the last 30L, 1L at a time into a glass jar so I could inspect what came out. Clear fuel all the way to the end. Then it occured to me - I was extracting fuel via the fuel filter - which was also a water separating filter - which I change at least once every year. DOH ! Of course I was getting clear fuel - the filter was doing its job. But being curious I removed the filter and emtied it... and sure enough there was about 20ml (less then a shot) of water, plus some small grit and crap in there. Point of the story - there was less water/crap then I thought. Use a fuel filter - it is designed to get the little condensed water out of your fuel before it reaches your engine. Regulary change your fuel filter - its the last line of defence, once its full of water that's what you will be feeding your motor. One other point, stale fuel has two problems, a lower octane rating due to the higher volatiles evaporating and also if a lot has evaporated the remaining liquid can be more resin like and sticky - this can gum up fuel injectors, carbies, spark plugs. To overcome the octane drop, fill up with a premium fuel. I always try to use 98 (but the odd occasion I have had to top up with 95 it runs well too). So from that consideration, I personally would no bother taking 30L out, just top up the remaining 120L with 98, the 150L you have will probably be somewhere between 95-98 then. Regarding the sticky gumminess - again it depends how long the fuel has been in the tank and how much of the fuel has evaporated - but if you know you are going to lay up for a while to slow down the breakdown, pour one of those fuel preservers into the tank. My 15HP 4 Stroke Aux is a carbie model. I found that when I let the carbie dry out - the float in the carbie became "stuck" - due to the gummy resin that was left behind. The next start it would flood and leak fuel everywhere. I can't remember the last time this has happened, since I have used the fuel preserver and run the carbie dry on flushing. This post has turned out a lot longer then I thought - but just sharing one boaties experiences.

I know your question is based on protecting an aluminum boat - my personal experience has only been with fibreglass boats but I think a lot of experience in this area translates between the two. Also my boat is too big for a garage, from memory the last I checked my rocket launchers were >3.5m off the ground level - hence it has always been outside. The key to slowing the aging process I believe comes down to: 1. Keep it clean - good washdown with low pressure water that lets the salt dissolve away (rather then high pressure which forces it into the gaps and crevices). Installed a 5000L rainwater tank.... tick ! 2. Keep it dry - pooled fresh water is death to carpet, plywood and many other materials. It helps rot stitching on canopies and seats etc. Let the boat dry out before storage - and as others have said store it on concrete or paving not on the damp grass...Tick! 3. Protect it from exposure to the elements - the Aussie sun and UV will literally fry materials - paint, gelcoat, vinyl, perspex etc etc Keep it polished (also applies to painted surfaces) and keep it covered....Tick Tick! I have always invested in a custom made tight fitting quality acrylic marine canvas cover. (Tight fitting helps stop chaffing and tears from wind blowing your cover, it's also an additional deterent to nosy kids and scumbags who want to rummage though your boat). I've had my rig for over 18years and just had my 3rd cover made in March this year. So thats two covers in 18yrs with a typical lifespan of about 9yrs. My boat is over 6.3m and the cost for the covers has been $1400 - 2000 (smaller boats would be less). I consider it a cheap investment to protect my pride and joy for nearly a decade. Way cheaper and more portable than any carport. BTW, when hail did damage the cover - it was covered by my boat insurance policy as it was a custom made cover - which was a nice surprise! BTW2, The last cover deteriorated on top (mainly where it drags across the sharper exposed fittings) so even after 9yrs, the side skirts of the cover were in great shape. I have trimmed them off and now that I have a good relationship with a local trimmer will have them stitched up as a tough tarp for my box trailer, a boot liner for my 4WD, lure and tool satchels - all for minimum cost .... The good marine canvas may appear to be expensive but it is tough as - reuse and recycle ! Anyway thats my 2c worth.

Ok Ok... I must admit I had to look up the meaning of "invigilator" - and maybe because I don't believe in cheating I never learnt that word (he he he)... Anyway, if we are talking about assembling a group interested in attending and graduating from an MROVCP course - count me in. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo ..... (practicing already!).....

Hi ... not sure where you are located or what material your side window was made from. I just replaced my two front screens with plexiglass. It was a bit of work but not too major. There is a chap at Castle Hill that laser cuts to size and he was reasonably priced, super quick and accurate. He also does Lexan if that is your preference. Not sure what the rules are re posting such details outright - but PM me and I will send you his details.