zmk1962

Cheers Fab ... stay well mate ... ! Z

Hey Fab. Yup tried it. I don’t know it’s probably the boat trailer brake environment. Heat, road dust, brake dust, water, salt etc etc My experience has been that anything greasy just dries out and cakes up. Maybe the short spray of silicon lubricant flushes out dust and dried salts and keeps it lubricated. cheers Zoran

I guess someone thinks 12 is too young to make life choices 🤣😳🤣😂😳 gees I made a lot of life choices at that age - thankfully I survived cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders, This is probably of most interest to those running electric/hydraulic trailer brakes. Just some tips based on my experience in running my rig over 20yrs and what has worked for me. Without a doubt, the ideal scenario to minimise maintenance is to fit stainless steel rotors and callipers to the trailer. However for those of us that don't have that set up we can still get good mileage out of running galvanised callipers and steel rotors with some regular maintenance. My trailer is a 2001 build twin bogey and in that time I have changed 1 failed calliper, changed disc pads 4 times, machined rotors once, and just last November changed the rotors for the first time. A couple of things I do: 1. ensure the calliper sliders have NO grease. No matter what grease I tried it gunks up after a few salt trips causing the callipers to jam up. Now I just spray some silicon lubricant into each slider after each trip - no issues since I have been doing this. 2. Spray WD40 over the rotors, springs, callipers after each salt dunking. I do this in the trailer car park after launching the boat. Only takes a minute to run around with a spray can. Also, spray some Silicon lube in-between the brake pad and the calliper piston. This keeps the pistons lubricated and free of rust residue. Have not had to service the callipers - except to replace the one faulty one under warranty. 3. make sure that when the pads are replaced, the pad shims are NOT fitted. Shims work great on car brakes, they stop the pads rattling and provide some insulation to the pistons, but cars are used way more than boat trailers and cars drive on roads and do not get dunked in salt water regularly so it makes sense to fit them. But boat trailers are different. When I had the rotors replaced last Novembers, I remembered to request no grease on the calliper slides with the threat if I saw grease they will dismantle and clean everything at their expense (despite the mechanic swearing they always grease them and have had no issue). But one thing I had forgotten was to ask for NO shims. Sure enough, they were fitted and when I saw the work, I mentioned this to the mechanic. Again his answer was but we always fit them - we've had no issues - these are new Bendix pads and shims - the shims have a non rust coating they'll be fine. Hmmmm Ok ... I'll give it a go. Anyway, on the second last trip in early July I noticed two of the wheels were warm/hot when we got home. Did the normal washdown after they cooled and a few days later I had the opportunity to pull the tyres off and inspect. This is what I found: \ The shims had dislodged and moved on everyone of the wheels, and on two wheels they were causing the pads to drag. So my conclusion is that with the shims in place, there’s not enough clearance to effectively fresh water flush around the callipers. Salt gets behind the shims and binds them to the callipers or to the pistons. The normal movement of the brakes then progressively dislodges and deforms the shims forcing the pads against the discs. Also some shims rust and expand - again taking up any required clearance for normal operation. I removed all the shims, re-lubed everything and checked for good clearance and movement. Last trip to Parsley bay went without a hitch - arrived there and back home with all 4 wheels cool - trailer braked perfectly - no dramas. Without the shims, the pads may not last as long and the trailer is noisier as the pads rattle around a bit, but I get a good 5yrs between brake pad changes and don’t get stuck on the side of the road with red hot seized brakes. Anyway just sharing these tips that have worked for me. Cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders A reminder. Since many of us are in lockdown it may be a good time to do some basic battery maintenance: check/top up fluid, remove connections, clean the connections and battery posts with something like steel wool and refit. Smother everything with grease - I prefer Vaseline as it’s cleaner to handle. On my last trip I noticed a bit of voltage drop. Just finished maintenance on my 3 batteries and now can see a 0.4V improvement at the helm voltage meter. cheers Zoran

Great story and so well written Waza ! Enjoyed it thoroughly. Brought back so many childhood memories. Thank you. My got away story is really bitter sweet. I grew up fishing chipping norton lakes. Handlines and the cheapest rod/reels I could scrounge. Some I even made them from car antennas and the plastic spool that the mono line was sold on. We made do. Anyway, for my 12th birthday I received a present : a brown cork grip handle 7ft berkley bream rod, chrome guides and matched with a Diawa eggbeater spinning reel. It was my pride and joy. Had to wait a couple of weeks to use it due to school exams, weather etc etc. The rod slept in my bedroom tempting me every minute of every day. During the wait, I made myself what I considered to be a perfect Y rod holder... so now I could fish the chippie bank in style. This just increased my excitement. Then finally the day came when everything lined up and I actually got to go down to my favourite spot - the west bank about 50m from a boat ramp where there was a small section of sandy beach area. Baited up and cast in. Sat the rod in its holder. Turned around to move my bait and tackle box a bit further up when ....whoooosh ... a YELLOW powerboat raced past about 10m from shore ... ping ... in shot my pride and joy combo ... I could see it for a fraction of a sec as it disappeared into deep the water. My whole virgin combo had "got away" on its maiden trip. I waved frantically but the boat was gone. I could hear it roar up toward Warwick Farm ..... What idiot runs his powerboat 10m from the bank when there was the the whole lake to open up and test his throttle .... B#(&^^^*^ST@D !!!! POSER !!!!!!! Anyway, he did a few more run bys ... maybe thought that I was cheering him on .... 🤯 I packed up and started the walk home ... my head down. I was beaten. But when I climbed back up to the road, I caught a final view of the YELLOW boat ... the motor up, the guy leaning over the back trying to remove 150yards of very new berkley 12lb mono bunched around his prop. A small condolence for me. Anyway, that's one of my most heartfelt "one that got away" fishing stories. Cheers Zoran

Maybe buy her an electric combo ? .... I have heard somewhere that it works for some. 😇 How have you been Gordo? Staying well and safe I hope. Cheers Zoran

That's great Frank .... btw Maria calls me an octopus at times as well ....🤣 Cheers Zoran

Oh dear. Having had a cracked sternum, a broken rib and a floating rib at different times in the past I feel your pain already !!! Wishing you a speedy recovery! cheers Zoran Ps - Congrats on continuing with the trip. Every fishing trip is worth it - only fishos understand that. pps - didn’t know if I should give you a 😁 or a 😢 badge

Nice Frank. You’ll own the harbour once you have all that set up. Keep posting. cheers Zoran

I have one golden rule - crew must have a sense of humour - as we know - expect the unexpected on the water and a good crew must be able to roll with whatever goes - good or bad. No HUMOUR - No SPOT on the BOAT Cheers Zoran

Wise move … the plastic bonnie can really bruise … it would be good to have extra cold packs 🤣

Well actually I’m at home practicing slapping things with a big plastic bonito… really looking forward to our catch-up 😬 cheers Zoran

Thanks Bob. The tea was a joint effort - don’t worry we both had a plate each. Tight lines.

Oh oh … Full of laughs now that you have a few fish under your belt and I can’t get to the water eh! Just wait till lockdown ends and I get the plastic out!

Top stuff there Dave. Peaceful Winter estuary fishing and a feed. Can’t beat that especially when it’s within your 10km zone. You’re one lucky fella. I reckon all I’d score in a 10km radius is carp, eels, the occasional duck etc cheers Zoran

No worries Frank ... I was fortunate that I had part of my schooling in imperial and the other part in Metric ... and as part of my engineering degree we had to work in whatever units the available data tables were developed .... The introduction of braid to fishing certainly added a new parameter to become familiar with - along with the number of strands or plaits - 4s, 8s, etc. Thanks for picking up on the handle. I'll certainly keep an eye on how Maria copes. If it continues to be an issue I'll try a longer one. Cheers Z

You're a true legend Frank.... and modest. I can imagine with your craftsmanship skills they didn't look half bad and did 100% of what they were meant to. I hope karma caught up with the b*stards. Maria used the pump technique as well, both hands on the rod for strength, the 10kg drag held for the upstroke and the reel automatically wound line on the down stroke. made short work of a 4ft mako. I think you have misread the specs. The specs refer to PE (braid line thickness). I spooled Maria's with around 400m of 40lb multi colour braid. Re handle. The handle length looks correct. Very much in proportion compared to my Penn overheads. I think what you are observing in the videos is Maria's first attempt at using an overhead and also the fact she has a weaked grip (arthritis). Her end game significantly improved through the day ... keeping me busy unhooking, ikajime-ing, etc etc Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Cheers Zoran

Whaaa ... I'd expect her to be pleasantly surprised and very excited ! 😇 Thanks. Yes ... it (and Maria) handled the Mako with ease. I was very surprised but then it does have 10kg of drag. You mean for when she grabs the new rod+reel and then also takes the car and boat out ... and Rey has to find somewhere to crash..... right? Cheers Sam... Maria will tell you she didn't quite recover from the pair that dove under us ... she was fine up to that moment, but that episode unsettled her and she was queasy for the rest of the day .... Beautiful creatures though .... why would anyone want to hunt them in todays world is beyond me.

Thanks Dave. All the best with your knee. All we can do is keep going! cheers Z

G'day Raiders, Given many of us are experiencing lockdown keeping us from our favourite pass time, I thought I'd put up this report to keep the fires stoked. Some of you may know that Maria has arthritis issues in her hands and has already had one surgery, so getting her to even contemplate the prospect of fishing in 50-60m grounds on cold winter days is somewhat challenging. So a few months back I hatched a plan that for her birthday I would equip her with a small electric reel+rod combo that would ease her struggles. Here's the gear: the electric reel and 10-15kg rod weigh in at just over 700g .... compared with 980g for just the Penn 950SSM reel she struggled with previously. So the next step to getting a YES, was to propose we do gentlemen's hours for winter's days. So the Thursday 8th July session was a very respectable 8.30am departure from home, heading to Parsley Bay and then out to Barrenjoey Wide (strictly observing all of the COVID regulations current at that time). She was so stoked with the new fishing arrangement she even took the helm as we left Parsley Bay leaving me free to set up all the rods, bait and gear. 10am saw us out at our favourite 50m drift, the conditions were mildly bumpy but settling by the minute. Good bait and fish readings on the sounder so in went the lines...we'll in went Maria's electric as that was the first one baited up ... and before I could get a bait on mine let alone get it in the water this happens: So first fish in the boat, a barracoutta ... excellent, plenty of fresh bait, should be a great day .... But then along comes a run of whales, many humpbacks, a southern wright and several false killers. Two hump backs swimming side by side, each back easily bigger than my BARRYCUDA heading straight for us, 3 boat lengths out they dive, luckily all lines were in, Maria and I grab the rocket launcher rails and brace.... nothing... wait ... nothing...breathe... still nothing... they're gone. Phew. Back to fishing. Nope.... more whales .... here's the cheeky bugger that hung around for 15min ... tail slapping the full time... apologies for poor camera just using the iphone here. Anyway, back to fishing, cause I guess you all want the fishing report ...so fishing 10.00am -1.30pm we caught 6 flathead (45-57cm), 3 x tailor (35cm), 1 pike (50cm), 1 barracutta, 1 squire (released), a 4ft mako shark (bitten off at boat - took snapper lead, plastic and hook), a 4ft Port Jackson (released), and 1 horse yakka. ...and before anyone asks Maria caught 5 out of the 6 flatties, the mako, the pike 😳 ... YES the electric is a hit ! Raced back to the ramp to clean the fish and we were done and dusted heading home by 3.00pm. Kept fillets off the pike, yakka, tailor and barracutta to salt down for future bait. Here was todays flathead fillet lunch Hope this keeps the passion alive. Tight lines raiders. Cheers Zoran the mako, the pike

Hahaha ... yes very very funny in hindsight but not so much at the time .... !!!! All keeping safe here thanks for asking. Hope things are good in the country and not too many city folk coming to disturb the serenity ! Cheers Z

Hahaha 🤣... never take yourself so seriously that you can't have a laugh at your own expense ..... Keep smiling everyone ! Cheers Zoran

Thanks for thinking of me Jeff. The weight is right on - but even though the block shape is less likely to attract shark bites I fear they will spin too much and tangle everything up. I used the COVID lockdown time to finish off a batch a few days back, so with the 12 already kept onboard I hope to have enough for a while. Cheers Zoran

Oh that’s taking it too far KC !!!!! 😳😂