zmk1962

Hey Raiders, Thursday afternoon Maria surprised me with a request to overnight chasing Hairtail - but a quick check of the weather showed a forecast of only 4C which ended that plan pronto. So we settled for the next option which was to spend Friday adding a few more hours running in the new Merc - interspersed with exploring the reefs off Sydney harbour. The plan was to launch from Ermington Warf and punch out past the heads heading north towards Long Reef - but on this occasion stop to fish the reefs that we would normally cruise over. So with sunrise just on 7am, we departed Castle Hill at 6am (can confirm it was 4C, infact there was icy frost on the storm covers) and 20min later at Ermington came across this .... a fit asian gentlemen taking his morning swim .... now there's a cardio workout ! Everyone launching boats at the ramp was well rugged up, 5 layers thick as Maria said. Humbled (as we had bailed on chasing hairtail) we launched, and headed toward Sydney in the pre-dawn light... Full sunrise saw us just past the bridge ..... what a magnificent city we live in ..... Rounding the heads, the water temp was 17.6C, flat and calm and we sprinted to just past Dee Why. Salted pillies, SPs and frozen squid on board. First few drifts produced 4 bluespot flatties around 40cm and two lost rigs on snags. With our past few trips being Brown's adventures it was clear we were out of practice fishing light over reef grounds. But a good start to the day. We moved around to different reef marks that were highlighted on Navionics and ones that Sam ( @GoingFishing ) had shared previously, landing a bunch of undersized pannies, and reef fish... but by 1pm had 12 solid flatties on board - a mixture of dusky and bluespot, and a keeper mowong. Maria with her 60cm dusky - caught on a sinker jig at the end of a paternoster. Z's 60cm bluespot - caught on a strip of trevally fresh caught and repurposed for bait on Sam's hybrid rig. A top day on the water, the conditions were absolute bliss, glassy at the end, but with enough run to keep the fun going. We ended the day with 2.9kg of skinned flattie fillets and a mowie which will be crispy fried Sunday lunch Thai style! The only downside to the day was the fish cleaning facility at Ermington ramp. I mean seriously - that council needs to take a lesson from Brooklyn on how to spend our license fees. The tables were the filthiest I'd ever seen - and it wasn't the fishos fault - the council had fitted push down taps that you normally see in public toilets. There was no way to keep any water flow going to wash the table. I'll be writing to them to express my views. Personally I only use the fresh water to wash the area and clean my cutting boards, knives. So I was fortunate I brought back 20L of salt water and the water in the live bait tank to rinse the fillets and cleaned fish - they never touch fresh water. I understand why we can't fully process our catch offshore and have to bring back whole fish, but the quid pro quo then should be that we have decent facilities at the ramp that can be kept somewhat hygienic. Using the facilities as they are is a sure way to spoil any fisho's catch. Anyway, enough of a rant.... I'm just wondering what do the other Raiders that regularly use Ermo do? Cheers Zoran PS: The Merc just purred, pushing the Haines through the harbour chop with ease at all revs. We rounded Sydney Heads at 42kmh 4500rpm, hit 61kmh at 5350rpm off Dee Why... 6.1hrs on the clock, nearly there.

Love it Waza! What a great read. Now I want a husky jerk in my lure kit....where is that barber again???? cheers Zoran

Great job Yowie! Nice feed. cheers Zoran

Nice fish and Good job Braving the cold. You’re a trooper. Maria actually suggested we overnight in Jerusalem but I saw it was going to be 4C so we swapped it for a run out of Sydney heads. Just about to leave. cheers Zoran

What a first report !! Brendo you’ve set the bar very high for subsequent ones. Just awesome outcome and report. Woollamia ramp?? cheers Zoran

Thanks so much Fab. Hope you’re doing well and staying out of mischief! cheers Z

Hey @Scienceman, glad you got the performance you were after. Now to fine tune the last 20% satisfaction level. 1) Seems to me if the dealer knew about prop chatter - he should have been very proactive in advising you what you need to avoid it upfront. Stick to your guns on this one. Also, FIW I had my motor fitted with a Mercury Enertia (S/S) prop ... other sites have reported this style of prop helps eliminate chatter in a 4cyl 4str - Honda example: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/prop-chatter-in-4-stroke-outboards_topic114807.html 2) The throttle linkage issue sounds like an adjustment issue - Mercury also has several types of control boxes - have the dealer confirm he installed the one recommended for your motor? All my motors have had relatively smooth progression on throttle - there should be nothing unusual about this 60HP Merc? BTW, I've sent you a PM as well. Cheers Zoran

I wonder if my neighbor still has his cat 🤔. ???? 🤔 🤔 hahaha. Just joshing with the cat lovers. cheers Zoran

Great... you know what your after and you have sea miles under your belt. I'm fortunate as I have known my hull since 1996. I have installed a pump out loo and I have invested in a hardtop as well. This video gives you a view of the cockpit space - 3 crew orange shirt is 6'4"... you'll get a glimpse of the cabin space as well: I have only seen Revivals at the boatshow and have never ridden in one - when you mentioned WA it occurred to me the guy in that video is a WA dealer so I thought I'd share it. From a comparison perspective, my Haines 635L is a 1992 build and is considered a heavy deep v hull (onwater weight is 1972kg with two on board) compared to the revival 1800kg test weight that you saw in that video. I went from a 200HP 2st to a 150HP 4st and still maintained a 4second hole shot with equal midrange performance to the 200HP but much better fuel economy - the 150HP Merc has plenty of torque to push it...so don't be too concerned about considering what you need vs what is the max rating on a hull. My Haines is rated to a 225HP, but it is a rocket with the 150HP 4st ...I don't know how or when I would use an additional 75hp as a fisherman! I have a full write up of the repower in a recent post with comparison performance videos -- it is a long read but here is the link: Another FR @JonD runs a more recent build Haines Signature and may be able to offer more insights on his hull and experience. Best of Luck ... and really look forward to more of your posts once you are re-hulled ! Cheers Zoran

Hi @Justfishin, I have owned and run a Haines Hunter 635L since 1996 - and I couldn't be happier with it. I mainly use it offshore from a few km to the shelf...but we do overnight and fish estuaries as well. Its a half cabin so has lots of protection but that design cuts back on fishability compared to a center console. I predominantly fish 2 but the hull dynamics comfortably fish 4 onboard. Also, I have just repowered with a Merc 150HP 4st - and again couldn't be happier with that decision - so the Haines is going to be with me for many yours to come. You can search the forums here for my posts and videos. Perhaps some more insight into the type of fishing you pursue and your intended use (how many onboard etc) would help with others advice. Also, not sure if you are looking for new or second hand. The closest new hull I have found to my Haines (identical weight, length, beam deadrise etc) is the Revival 640. You also need to consider your vehicle towing capability ... getting into the FG 6m class boats you can easily tilt into the braked trailer and other GVM/GCM considerations. Hope this helps. Cheers Zoran

Great to hear you got it working, and the price is awesome ! ... the operation you describe is identical to how I described my cannon working in my original reply. The aluminium looks like it's CNC machined from a single billet - very solid bit of kit. Regarding the handle nut, it's not something you have to use on a regular basis. You may consider undoing it once a year to lubricate the shaft. Given that, if it's doing the job today, I'd just remove it, clean it up with a wire brush, spray paint with a rust inhibitor paint and refit it. It will have years of serviceable life. Cheers Zoran PS - now to go get some kings with it !!!

I owned and ran a Merc 200HP EFI 2St from 1999 until 1month ago. I always used Quicksilver Premium 2St Oil TCW3 except when I could not get my hands on it (none in stock or I was travelling) - on those occasions I tried Penrite and Valvoline and found both of these to be much more smokier on start than Quicksilver. My motor went to a new home after 21yrs with perfect compression, no bearing issues etc. Quicksilver is a very shrewd marketing/branding strategy executed by Mercury. Mercury branded products can ONLY be sold by Mercury dealers. Quicksilver products can be sold by non-Mercury dealers, retail outlets - a shop, RTM etc etc etc Quicksilver distributes Mercury OEM (produced) products. So for instance a Yam owner may consider Quicksilver oil, just like they would consider Valvoline ... but they may not consider Mercury oil with the same level of interest as it seems to be labeled very brand specific. Interesting fact, in the english language the element mercury (chemical symbol Hg) is also known as "quicksilver" ... so there you have it, quicksilver is just mercury by another name .... very very shrewd marketing !!!! Cheers Zoran

Hey @M1100S how did you get on with this project? Any progress? If you are still working on it could you post a clearer picture of this side .... cheers Zoran

It was great to catch up Antony. We’ll have to do an offshore raid soon. cheers Z

Nice feed of fish Rick and good to see you back on the water after a long break. cheers Zoran

Great stuff and report and feed. You’ve got to love it when a plan comes together. That’s a nice red for Sydney. cheers Zoran

Impressive! Love the power cylinder innovation which seems to be at the heart of this. At first I thought it was power operated hydraulics but then realized it’s an electric ram. So no hydraulic lines just wires. Wonder how long before OEM copies start to appear?? thanks for sharing Antony cheers Zoran

There is a kitchen section on FR - show is the goods 👍 cheers Z

Can’t complain about that. Yum. Well done and great photos. love the post title as well 👍👍👍 cheers Zoran

In some ways it’s not about how often you get to WOT. The main thing is your motor needs to be able to get to WOT With the fitted prop otherwise you are over propped (too much pitch) and putting undesired burden on your motor in lower RPM. if you hit WOT very easily then chances are you are under propped - and you may benefit from a higher pitch if you are chasing economy and speed - but you may lose some hole shot. cheers Z

Hi Jeff, the rule of thumb I noticed was that each movement in pitch (up or down) will affect your theoretical speed about 6% at a given RPM range. Its the propeller RPM that will determine your speed (assuming your motor has sufficient torque to spin the selected prop at low and max rpm,)... so when you mention engine 6150RPM... you need to take into consideration the RPM reduction in the lower leg gearing ... usually somewhere between 1:1.75 --- 1:2.08... then you will have the prop RPM. Here are two sites you can model the effect of spinning different pitch propellers. Simple MAX theoretical speed calculator (enter prop rpm and pitch)... You can use this to work out what the max speed is, and then what you are observing and hence your propeller slip factor....if its more than 15% you need to tweak your prop set up. http://www.rcpro.org/rccalc/PitchSpeed.aspx This is a more complex calculator where you have all the relevant variables - it will calculate the answer for whichever variable you leave blank. http://www.csgnetwork.com/marinepropcalc.html I used both of these sites extensively when I was modelling my repower. Regarding your mates boat - are the propeller diameters the same? Are the boay weights and weight distribution the same. There are many many variables. When I spoke to sites that had repowered boats like mine and prop pitch selection, they gave me an example of two identical boats (in that case Carribean ReefRunners) where one was successful with a 16p and the other 17p. The only difference was how the owners had set up the boats. Hope this helps. Cheers Zoran

Something went weird on my posts fonts between the desktop (posted) and the mobile (illegible). If you can’t read it - It says: SENSEI SCRATCHIE ! Really look forward to the catchup. cheers Zoran

Hey Jeff.... you are a living legend mate. You have mastered your craft, you selflessly share your knowledge ... and you champion the Fishraider spirit ..... In my books that makes you ...... SENSEI SCRATCHIE Cheers and Thanks Zoran

barbs ?

Is spiraling on the drop down necessarily bad?? Don’t most dying fish spiral down anyway - so this is mimicking natural behavior ? just asking as I am not an SP expert by any scale. cheers Zoran