Grantm

Ill have a shot. Hey Boppa what are you worried about ? isnt that your picture in the avatar ? Looks like your in pretty good shape ! Is that a pic of you in the storm ?

Nice report Demmo, Ive always had no joy at F&S, its amazing how often Calmwater gets fish there. Looking forward to the photos as well

Thats bloody scary stuff Never really thought about lightening on a boat. Have run for cover many times playing golf but never been out on a boat in a thunderstorm. I was checking out an Okuma boat rod the other day and it had written on it : WARNING THIS ROD CONTAINS CARBON WHICH ATTRACTS LIGHTENING. Great selling point - NOT. Maybe wear a pair of rubber soled safety thongs

GDAY Martin, Never been in one either, but I did read a write up on the Aussie Whaler ages ago and they got a great review. Dont know if it was your particular boat but it was a cabin style over 5 meters. They look like a good hull design, I quite like the tri-hull it looks very stable, better than a twin hull maybe. If your familiar with Merc than Mariner wont give you any surprises. The practically the same motor. Cheers

Wow magic eye - I can see the Harbour Bridge !

Fair enough Nick, I suppose its hard to argue with the current brochure . Perhaps other specs ive seen havent taken into account some items. I actually had a good look at one not that long ago and the were well fitted out inside. Saw it on the back of someones trailer and took a sticky beak

I still dont reckon its that heavy even with floors. SPECS. Either way a 40 will be OK as you said.

Hey Soapie, Id say the weight would be closer to the 170 kg mark ?, so the recommended hp would be 30 with a max of 40hp. Go to the max if you can, theres nothing worse than being underdone. Im sure the 30 will be ok but if you've got a full load you'll appreciate the extra bit. cheers mate

Jethro I was hoping you would see my cry for help ! Jig heads are 1/8th or 1/16th and at the moment my leader is 9 pound and about a meter long. Maybe this is too heavy. Mate id certainly be up for a run with you when we can organise it. Trying to find time is tough. Thanks for the help, ill keep trying.

Hello FR's, I have yet another question from my vast vault of fishing questions. I am only a recent convert to the soft plastic and hb lure craze. Although ive got the hang of catching flatties, I am now wanting to upgrade my skill to EP and Bream. I have caught the odd Bream only on sp and cant put it down to anything other than luck. Ive not had a problem in the past finding fish, all the normal haunts, racks shoreline etc have produced some good Bream for me with bait but the lures have not. A couple of recent expeditions up Wyong river where there are "apparently" good Bream and EP have got me nowhere. I am finding some nice fallen trees and bridge pylons which look like potential spots then throwing 2 and 3 inch grubs, bass minnows and also our fav sx 40 all for nothing. Trying all different colours as well as all types of retrieves and even some unweighted stuff. All for zip. Can anyone shed any light or give any tips. Is it that there are just no fish there, although local reports say there are. Or am I a fishing gumbie destined never to catch fish on lures. Yes i have fished other areas but the result remains the same. I also could be a tad impatient which probably doesnt help. Do you guys find that certain areas will only work with certain lures. Do I have to keep trying different types until I hit the mark. Any help or advice as usual will be appreciated (then probably forgotten knowing me) Cheers

GDAY Soapie, Not a bad tinnie generally speaking, although I dont particularly like the hull design. It is manufactued the same way as an Ally Craft, where the pressing of the hull is the same as the sides. V pressed I think they call it. Well made hulls are V pressed on the sides but have a U shape pressing for the bottom. This make the hull a lot stronger.Have a look at some pics on the net and you will see what I mean. For general use it probably wont make any difference and they are a bit cheaper as well. But its worth knowing that info depending what you want to do. Hope this helps

New car , new boat how good is that ! Dont know jack about bream boats in comparison to all you guys, but I do know a little about general construction. Although custom is ideally the best, there are some top options around that come with everything anyway. As I found in my quest for a boat (and this is only my opinion) Stacer, Quintrex and Sea Jay all make top boats. Although I wasnt buying one I did look at the vpunts as well (mrs didnt know ) Gotta say the Sea Jay Nomad Elite is very good boat and well worth a look. Very well built boat. Its often overlooked because its not a big name. Stacer also make a nice boat with their Pro Elite. There aint much left to do on one of these. As I said I dont know much about the fit out side options but theses boats look good and are well built for sure. Good luck im sure youll get what your after.

Kev. Carribean have always made good boats but ive never been inside a Commodore. Suzuki make a damn good motor. Although not widely known for their outboards, they are one of the best. The question is, is YOUR motor any good. Make sure you get it fully checked before hitting the water. Even on a 19 footer it will have plenty of grunt to pull a tube. PS make sure when you insure your boat to include skiers on the policy if you gunna tow a tube.

Geez give a man a heart attack why dont ya ! That just scared the crap out of me. On the disco biscuits eh ? Whats that? you drive a RED MITSUBISHI

Wow look at the size of that thing the fish aint bad either

Nice lizzard Andy Im very jealous. That would make a nice fish for the record books.

cmon Swoff lets here it I cant put a figure on it its just a constant trickle with the odd splurge.But its plenty.

Hey Bombie, Huetts have a couple of 2nd hand Hains for sale, I think one of them is a 445c, might be worth a call. Cheers

What else do you call a brand new boat - "Bankrupt" or how about BOAT as in B.O.A.T as in Bring -Out- Another -Thousand. What is the definition of boating ? Answer - A giant hole in which to pour money.

Well after many weeks of research I finally placed an order for my new boat today. I have gone with the Stacer Sunmaster 460 with a 50 E-TEC on the back, and opted for the navy blue hull. After looking at many different brands it became evident that the main three contenders were Quintrex, Sea Jay, and Stacer. IMO these boats had far superior build quality than the rest, with Stacer giving the best value for money at the end of the day. The quintex was fitted out the nicest and arguably looked the best, but was just too expensive even after negotiations. Some 3 grand more to be exact. The Sea Jay was good in fact their new hull is a copy of the EVO hull from Stacer, but not as good. Its construction was excellent though, very well built. Just didnt like the fit out, no where near as good as Stacer in quality with less storage. It was also about a grand dearer than the Stacer. Craig at Huett's did the deal and they were easily the best to deal with. Most of the salesman at the other places just didnt know that much about the boats and couldnt answer some questions. Craig was excellent and very knowledgeable and helped me make the right desisions. Im sure the finished product on delivery will be just as good as the sales experience. I pick her up in about 8 weeks.

May need Ken Duncan top take a panoraph shot !

Gotta be Mooney Bridge.

Jo I just checked my "collection" and found two possible manuals. One is a 1972 Evinrude service manual for a Triumph 65hp. This model has the electric gearbox in it. Not sure if its exactly the same as yours but perhaps the system is the same.Its all in there anyway.Cant see there being too many different designs for this. The other is a Johnson/Evinrude 1965 - 1974, 33 - 40 hp model book, it covers Ski-twin, Norseman, and Sea Horse models. No electric box in this manuel though, but I thought id mention it as its fron that vintage. If you think one or both of these will help just let me know and your welcome to borrow them. Cheers

GDay Sami I would say the bigger vpunts are definately more stable than their tinnie counterparts even over 4.2 meters. They offer a lower centre of gravity up front which is very noticeable. cheers

Good question, im looking at the moment for a boat 2 type runabout around 4.6m Gotta say after looking at Stacer , Quinnie and Sea jay theres not much more you could possibly want. There are just so many options and inclusions you just about get everything. I would like to combine a few features though. eg Quinnie flared hull with Stacer evo hull, then fully welded like Sea jay hull. Take the Stacers storage and the Quinnie quality fittings inside. Stick it on a dunbier trailer and fit a high tech 2 stroke over a four stroke. Option a live bait tank and full instrumentation and im set. I did think about it Joe but I just couldnt design anything better from scratch. Oh yeah, wouldn't mind the Ally Craft price tag !