zmk1962

Yes. All trailers that exceed GMT 2T need brakes that come on if the trailer separates away from the car. These brakes are usually electric so there is a battery that powers the breakaway unit in the event of separation from the tow vehicle. My breakaway unit is a Hydrastar electric Hydraulic system that drives 4 disc brakes. Full RMS specs are here: http://fullnulled.com/doc/pdf/download/www__rms__nsw__gov__au--registration--downloads--vib_06_-_guidelines_for_light_vehicle_modifications_nov_2007.pdf

I know this is an old post, but having just gone through the rego process it reminded me of how I solved this and I thought I'd contribute my experience for any newcomers. Yes, the Brakesafe system apparently meets all RTA specs out of the box, but I was quoted about $450 for the unit and another $500 for installation. Seemed steep especially since the unit replaced a lot of what I already had and which was working - the breakaway system and the trailer battery charging circuit. What my rig missed was the monitoring system so I went down the path Emptyhooks outlined. The specs state that the warning circuit can be visual - I opted for a digital voltage meter mounted on the dash and visible from my driving seat. In normal driving operation this meter reads the charging circuit voltage, when I press the brakes a relay disconnects the charging circuit and the meter reads the trailer battery voltage. The rig passed rego again today. If anyone is interested PM me and I will send you the details of the Auto Electrician that wired up my rig. (I am not sure if I am allowed to post his business details here outright).

I think he implied the busted fan belt lead to the head gasket blowing.

I was given same advice for my Mercury (OK to use the flushing port), but I recall reading somewhere to be wary if you have very high water pressure - as this may affect the water impeller which will be trying to work at the same time.

I had my trailer built 6/2001. I am running the original springs and expect another year or two easily - rego checked at heavy vehicle station each year (and check by me each trip!). I am now more concerned about the bushes given the age than the springs. I hit the springs with WD40 or RP7 after each washdown once the trailer is dry. WD40/RP7 penetrates deep into the spring leafs. Its flexible and coats easily. Overtime it becomes a gummy flexible coating. On previous trailers I tried galmet, bitumen, etc. Found that these products protect for a while but then crack when the springs flex allowing the water to get in - and the salt stays trapped as there is no way to wash it out properly probably accelerating corrosion.

I have a Haines 635L. It looks like a very similar hull design at the stern. I too struggled with external transducer placement for many years - strangely enough Hummingbird as well. Had issues with transducer being knocked up, poor reading, intermittant reading etc etc. In the end, I gave up on external mountings and epoxied mine to the bottom of the hull in the cavity just before the stern bung holes. I have never looked back. I can sound bottom at 60km/hr and at 480m at Browns Mountain. The only time I get bad readings is when I am in reverse and there is a lot of prop wash under the hull.

I had lots of problems with battery drain. Turns out it was a firmware issue. I recommend apply the latest firmware and follow the documented procedure EXACTLY as written.

Been years since I fished for Hairtail. I used a single 8/0 on the end of a wire trace with a big keyring about 3 feet up. Fitted a running sinker on the line tied off to the keyring. Used live yakkas pinned behind the head through the shoulder before the fin and lowered them down maybe 12-15ft. The trick i discovered was to use a 6 to 7ft rod with a VERY whippy tip (but a solid butt section) and the hairtail would hook themselves. Looking at how the rod tip behaved.... this is what I suspect used to happen: Hairtail can only swim vertically - up or down. They strike the yakka silhouetted against the sky from underneath (rod tip would lift)... and I suspect they chomp on the yakka a few times to pierce it with those pointy fangs so its basically paralyzed (tip would be twitching and bending about 6inches - very gently - strike now and you lose the fish)...... They then mouth the yakka and swallow it head first as they turn and point their toothy head back to the bottom and head down (rod tip loads up and arcs nicely and when the drag starts to bite all hell breaks looose!). All the Hairtail I caught had the yakka head down in their throat and gill area and the yakka was pierced all over. My whippy stick outfished any stiffer rod on any night as it had the give to let the hairtail take its time. So long story short, consider that if this is how the hairtail feed and eat, your float would be pulling the pillie from the hairtail mouth as its trying to "paralyse" the pillie or swallow it (maybe try a lighter streamlined float)....also if you are using a pillie they are going to try to eat it head first... running gang hooks the traditional way you would for the slow retrieve for tailor or salmon works against being swallowed head first. Maybe if you know hairtail are around, chuck out a pillie baited ganged up in reverse - so it would retrieve tail first - but it would slip down a hairtail throat more easily. Anyway, just some thoughts. BTW if you are wodering about the keyring - it was an easy way to boat the hairtail as you could hook your finger through the keyring and lift.

The hull shape looks very much like a Savage Avalon (google and look at images). But the top side is quite different though. May have had some custom work.

This post is late but may provide some historical explanation regarding Currumbene Creek classified as a bar crossing on some documents. My first trip to Jervis Bay was to Callala and Huskisson around 1978 - at that time there was a rock shelf at the entrance to Currumbene Creek. It ran at right angles out from the shore behind the Husky RSL club and extended about 20m into the channel. This meant to get in or out, after lining up with the markers, you had to make a dash parallel to Callala beach - this water is shallow!!!! If there was a bit of a swell or bit of surf, then you had to time your parallel run so that you did not end up bottoming out or getting hit side on by the waves - or BOTH! Coming in with the waves behind you (even 3 footers) was interesting to say the least. This was pretty much a bar crossing and boats were rolled by the surf regularly. I first got my hands on a boat in the 80s and made that crossing in a Quintriex Fishabout with a 40HP Mariner several times and clearly remember lining up with the other boats to wait my turn!!! In the 1985-1990 timeframe the rock shelf was blasted and the mouth of Currambene Ck was dredged - hence today you see the wooden warf and the sizeable whale watching vessels and even some yachts now in Currambene creek. This certainly has made boating much safer - but as a fisho, I can tell you there was no better place to catch monster tailor than behind old Husky pub, in the dark with the moon out and the surf breaking on the rock ledge and the foam floating across into Currambene Creek. Casting pillies on gangs (no weight) toward Callala and slow retrieving through the foam was sheer adrenaline time. During the day, this spot was a local "hot" luderick spot as well. Sadly all that disappeared after the rock ledge was gone.

From memory you have to drive back to the highway to head to StG Basin, or Huskisson or Vincentia. Can recommend the StoneGrill at Huskisson, also the good old Husky Pub has had a revamp and we had some really good food there. Lots of cafe's along that little walk. If you take your missus to Husky about mid afternoon - pop down to see the Aboriginal Museum and the Lady Denham (I think that's the ferry's name) - just as you enter Husky 2nd street after the servo (again from memory - watch for the signs to be sure). There is a sea water enclosure there with a couple of wharves - left over from when that used to be a shipbuilding site - its pretty interesting. Bring along some old bread - or pay for some chook pellets there and feed the "monster" bream, flatties, snapper (>1m), kings etc trapped in there - it's not fishing but is fish related ...even your missus will have FUN! You can then have dinner afterward further into husky - maybe talk about the fish he he he! If missus is a bit more adventurous, suggest you go down into the national park - marked as Jervis Bay Territory - go see the old ruined lighthouse. Spectacular views. There is really good write up of the history of that lighthouse. Some 180ships perished on that bit of coastline - makes you appreciate what the settlers went through... just be aware that the major roads in the National park are sealed but most of the side road to the lighthouse is unsealed. There are a number of beaches in that are that are spectacular white sand beaches. Also, you might want to head a few more clicks down the road to the southern tip of the bay - missus can enjoy the National park scenery and you can check out Murray's beach boat ramp. Its the closest launch to the heads and fishing Middle Ground and around Bowen island is like a 1-2km trip from that boat ramp. Have not been there for years so I am not sure of the state of the ramp, but it used to have a wharf tucked in behind the breakwater. Enjoy.

When I was running "Windose" I used Corel VideoStudio Pro X3. Have been on Apple for 2yrs now and use iMovie. Also started playing with video clip editing on iPad2 - and just purchased Pinnacle Studio also by Corel. Good luck!

You are in good company for what its worth. Spent Sunday in MH around the usual haunts, downrigged w squid at all depths, went to SH and a few km down coast and back. Lots of bait balls (LOTS !!!) arches all around them, then tried NH. Donuts all around. Water temp 23degC. I think that's why its called fishing and not "harvesting". For me it was a 1hr drive home lost in my thoughts.

No probs (even though I heard you)... It was just one of those once in a lifetime moments I guess.

I don't have experience with the GME G series, but I'm glad you're starting to narrow it down as you build up the list of features that you want to have. So far I have noted, for Sounder: Colour screen, >76m (250ft) max depth, dual frequency; and for GPS: NMEA In/Out (thats the GPS signal input and output capability that allows you to connect to other devices). I would suggest you build out this must have list of features for the GPS/Souder combo. Start a similar list of must have features for your VHF set (So far DSC - Digital Selective Calling, and NMEA in/out). Its only when you have that clarity that you can start to shop for the bargain combination. It's a trade off. At this stage I would not be to fussed about buying the same brand (unless you feel you can negotiate a better deal) - as long as your sets support the interfaces and the international standards for the data that you wish to exchange you should be ok - and you can check for that compatibility online before you buy. Eg. I found the wiring diagram to connect my Standard Horizon Explorer GX1600 VHF with my Eagle Seacharter 642c DF before I purchased the GX1600. BTW, the Seacharter has a max depth of 457m/1500ft. I have sounded down to 500+m but the 5inch screen makes it hard to be really effective (even with "bottom zoom" enabled - yet another feature to consider!!) so in my case the screen is a compromise. Nevertheless hasn't stopped me catching Gemmies and Blue Eye - as I can cleary find the Mountain and contours. True some of the manufacturers offer newer Units with their own proprietary network implementations, and hence would be easier to interconnect, but I don't think they are in your $1000 price range. If I can make one final suggestion, build up your knowledge - read as much as you can - Google some products that you are interested in and download the manuals that are available free online. Read up on the features and what they do and how "user friendly" the interface is to access those features. Or... go to a dealer that understands this business and explain the type of fishing/boating you do and what your needs are and listen to their advice. I know this area can be quite complex and the fear is once the units are installed - you will have to live with them for quite some time. Best of luck.

Bees Knees eh - I think it's all a compromise - unless $$$ are an infinite resource. I can only tell you what I use and find works for me - I use an Eagle Seacharter 642c DF iGPS (DF stand for dual frequency transducer), with Gold Navionics Charts. Whole lot set me back just a tad over $1000. Its a colour GPS/Sounder and the Navionics charts are the Naval charts for Australia. I fish out to Browns and can sound bottom - I run the unit in split mode - half the screen as a GPS where the unit overlays the Naval chart details and my track and the other half as the sounder. When I get to a spot I switch it to full screen sounder for more historical detail. From memory, the DF feature runs at 200kHz or 50Khz one is wide angle (shallower) and the other narrow (deeper penetration) and there is a set and forget dual mode option. There is a Lowrance equivalent model (Eagle is the "E" in LEI) but I am not sure what that is. I installed my unit with a thru-hull shoot (my hull is fibreglass and I epoxied the transducer onto my hull floor at the back where I have a drain well), hence it has little turbulence interference apart what the hull naturally produces and reads bottom at >30kts, but not in reverse. The unit works well, its also linked to my VHS Radio, I have not had any problems in the 3+yrs I have had it. I'd like a bigger screen, but then again I don't fish enough (sadly) to warrant more investment on this hobby. (Other hobbies also compete for cash - there's that compromise again.) I've owned Eagle and Hummingbird sounders previously and for many years my GPS was a handheld Garmin GPS 45 fitted on a mobile phone cradle (I still have the 45 as a back up to this day - not worth selling and it still works.) In fact they all basically worked. So suggest you might want to tag along on a few boats that have different set ups and narrow down the features that you think would be "bees knees" eg. friend of mine would not look at a GPS unless it had Anchor Alarm - ie. a setting if you drift off your spot by a preset amount (say 100m) an alarm sounds. BTW, there are also other alternatives emerging - I am now playing with an iPad and iPhone app (Navionics) which seems to be a reasonable GPS app for a smidgen of the price of any dedicated device.... But I am yet to seriously road (water?) test these two. Screen on the iPad is certainly bigger than my Seacharter 642c ??? Ahhh.... the toys... the toys....

Paul, I'm a novice with plastics also...always presumed they worked due to action/movement... are the ones you use at night scented? Thanks

Bummer..."little less conversation - little more action"... and there would be a whole stack of fish'n'chips. Next time.

Fishing of 12mile... kept losing hooked fish...then this one hooked up... brought it to the boat, and while we debated Baby White or Short Finned Mako it bit through the trace. My bet was on Mako... any ideas?

BTW, I heard their breeding habits are shocking !!! ...... (sorry could not resist).

Ok I will confess. Many many years ago, beach fishing Collingwood beach Jervis Bay for bream late at night. Moon was out, it was about 11pm, we were damp from the salt and spray, but we were landing some thumper bream on liver cubes of all things. I hooked something heavy - felt like a weed snag, not much of a fight at all (unlike the bream or the banjos or rays and other riff raff we were getting in between the bream). Anyway, I surfed this sucker in on a wave and there it lay in the moonlight. It looked like a ray, bit different to the 4 before that but a ray never the same - being keen to re-bait and get back in the action, I whipped out my trusty metal hook remover pliers (the old galvanized long nose things) and lent over to it. ZZZaaaaap !! I remember leaning over, and then a flash of light, and for some reason I couldn't work the pliers - my arm was caulked - pins and needles. I don't actually remember touching it. My mind went from white back into focus, I thought that was weird, was a bit dazed, had another go - zzappp. THEN IT DAWNED ON ME....electricity...Doh! The second hit was much weaker than the first...guess the first one drained its charge. My wife standing about 15ft away says I glowed blue - all that salt spray made me a wonderful conductor. My bro-in-law was standing a further 20ft down and reckons he turned around as he saw a flash of light from the corner of his eyes. They still rib me about the night I lit up the sky. Anyway. My advice. Don't touch it. Took a good hour before I was casting normally again.

Not sure about Sikaflex durability. If you don't want to drill more transom holes, I'd focus on re-use of holes that are already there...Any reason why you cant remove the old broken bracket and reuse the holes that are there already? Maybe send a picture of that old bracket - see what folks come up with. I have an aluminum pod mounted on my fibreglass hull transom. The aluminum pod had several holes drilled in it (courtesy of the previous owner attempting to fit a sounder to something that lifts out of the water). I solved the issue of those holes with some sikaflex and 4 large aluminum blind rivets. Sometimes its easier to plug holes then your mate thinks.

I don't have your unit but it seems to me you have changed the head unit and the electronic-filter the only thing left is the transducer and it's associated cable. Maybe there is a crack or compromise in the cable and when you swapped the elec-filter you disturbed the transducer cable and got a temporary connection (that lasted 4hrs). Could explain why you start off ok then after some use and associated vibration lose signal. I think you are going to have to temporarily rig the replacement transducer to eliminate the current transducer and it's cable.

I also tend to lean toward Isaac Newton's theories and MASS being pretty important. Tyres and big brakes are important but their effectiveness - especially of tyres are highly dependent on the road surface conditions. The discussion so far relates to braking. Consider also "controlling" your rig. Regardless of how you set the rig up - potholes, bumps, crosswinds, passing trucks or combination of these will shake your rig around. When >1.6T of boat starts to dance around, it will have a much bigger effect on a 1T tow car than a 2T 4WD - basic physics. People often point to semis and state why does this then not apply to a 40t trailer coupled to a semi - just look at where they are connected. The trailer coupling on the semi is positioned on top or ahead of the rear drive wheels. The semi bears its download and any side ways thrust ahead of the rear drive wheels. This weight distribution makes the trailer proper take on characteristics like a front wheel drive car. The drive wheels are underneath the front of the trailer. Now consider where the boat attaches to your car or 4WD - its about 1m behind the back axle. The pivot points and forces are very different. When the boat and trailer swings to one side there is an extra 1m lever trying to swing the front of your car in the other direction. When you brake and the boat pitches forward, that 1m lever is trying to lift your car front off the ground. This is where mass helps. It takes greater forces delivered by the boat and trailer to move a bigger mass around. This is independent of brakes, tyres and road surface conditions. At the end of the day, I feel safe towing comes from understanding these basic principles, staying within the legal constructs, watching your speed, watching the drivers around you, staying withing your rigs limits and progressively learning how YOUR rig behaves under different conditions. eg Mine is different going out and coming back - there is usually 150L less fuel and hopefully some fish in the rig - the weight distribution is different. Its noticeable.

I too saw the report of a few good kings caught at 12mile and headed there with two mates on Sunday 16/9. Must have zigzagged all over it 10+ times. It was a desert - not a baitball, not a show on the sounder. Dropped some jigs around some likely structure (despite what the sounder was telling us), then dropped paternosters with cut bonito bait - all for doughnuts. Not even jackets. 4 other boats were out there also showing the same success. I think we all got tired of waiving at each other as we passed. Beautiful sunny day, bit breezy, current was running and even with a sea-anchor out we were drifting at around 3-4km/hr so hard to hold bottom. Water was very cold at 14.7degC. On the way there and back saw lots of birds flocking but when we got near to them you'd see they were not feeding - just resting on the water. Nevertheless - trolled some skirts and hard bodies - also for doughnuts. All in all - we had a great day on the water - had a beaut lunch and some bears, swapped a few yarns. But no fish. I'll be waiting for the warmer currents to show before heading out again.