fishingrod

3kg doesnt sound like a lot. But ive never had scales to compare. Ive seen Kelvins other posts about people bdaly estimating their loads. Ill post again in a few days Rod

Thanks Kelvin. Im hoping not to get involved with a heavy duty fish on the smaller Charter Special ! Im going to get a set of scales this week and have a mess around with them. Ive been fishing for years but never really played with exact drag setting. Should be interesting to see what the load feels like. thanks, Rod

Looks like a few of you dont like Brookers. I just bought one 3-4 months ago. I bought based on price. Couldnt spend any more after forking out for the boat. Mine doenst have the load sharing suspension on the leaf springs though. Its OK so far. I can go out on my own and have no problems launching and retrieving. Have driven on a few times as well without problem. Boat is a Allison 189. Time will tell how it lasts. I agree you do get what you pay for. Rod

Hi Guys Just want to get your thoughts on setting the level drag on my overheads for Kingfishing. Trying to target 70cm-110cm specimens Ive been fishing 10-20m of water for Kings out from Broken Bay. Been busted up (reefed) a few times on 10-15kg mono tackle. All good fun though ! I think (from memory) a typical drag setting is 1/3 the breaking strain. But on bigger kings I feel i need a bit more ? I was thinking of setting the preset on my lever drags to 1/2 breaking strain? Charter Special with 10kg mono set at 5-6 kg TLD20 with 15kg mono set to 7-8kg TLD25 with 24kg mono set at 12kg. I assume this is set when the reel just starts to slip and slowly click out line ? And say if fishing yakkas mid water, with the rod in the rod holder, what setting would you leave the drag on? I was thinking 1/3-1/2 of the way between freespool and my new preset gives the fish enough slack to run and take the bait .......then i can push it up to strike quickly before I get reefed? So far ive had little problems landing 70-75 cm fish .... but if i get another 10cm bigger is a heck of a lot fatter.. So i just want some advice for that day thanks Rod

Where are the photos. We want to see yor rig !! Well done on getting the rig before Xmas. Im not a Etec owner, but i would be changing the gear box oil and fuel filter at least annually. There is high performance gear oil available that is "meant" to last. But water is the biggest killer if it manages to seep in. Normal outboard gear oil is not expensive and you can get the little seal washers cheap too. Most fuel filters are under $20 and you can DIY. I would be removing the prop at least annually to check for fishing line wrapped around the shaft (can cut the gear oil seals) and also grease the prop shaft. + other simple checks such as motor mounts, battery fluid level, battery terminals clean and tight, all fuel lines & connections, throttle and steering connections and just pop the cowling off to make sure everything looks in order (nothing working loose or come un-done) After a while you will get to know what goes where so you can spot any thing wrong. If there are any grease nipples around, 1 (maybe 2) pumps or marine grease should be plenty. Going to a dealer may be a bit of a waste ?. They will prob do something similar to the above, and maybe plug their computer in and have a look. It certainly wont hurt. But "apparently" its not required on these motors. There is prob max 1 hrs work to do it yourself + a bit of shopping time. Its always good to be familiar with your rig incase you need to do minor running repairs if your stuck offshore. cheers Rod

Have you thought that it might be the throttle cables/linkages are not returning to the home (idle) position when you throttle back. Maybe something there is worn, out of adjustment, needs some grease or a spring has lost its tension? Just get a mate to move the throttle cable forwards and backwards and watch all the linkages under the cowl to make sure that are doing what they should.

this is unqualified but someone told me that the number of teeth on the Mercs is different to other brands and they "generally" clunk a bit more? (i owns a Merc so im not being bias here)

Slightly off topic Are your trailer brakes working? Its not the clearest photo, but the disc doesnt appear to have much in the way of friction marks. Ignore my comment if they are new hubs - prob still bedding in Rod

I stand corrected sorry ! (thanks Sammy0884) Congratulations on the purchase Roddy

I was looking at them myself. But was a few $ short and couldnt afford a new one. Second hand ones are pretty rare (and if you do find one its got to be a motor combo you like at a reasonable price) The 115hp ETEC sounds good. Im pretty sure they are only a 3 cylinder motor, but still put out 115hp. Best of having a test drive if the dealer has that package in stock. My old boss had a year 2000'ish 570 Champion, which is very similar, just a bit longer. He had a 115hp carby OMC Ocean Pro on it. With 4 on board and lightly loaded it did about 36 knots on GPS. I thought it was underpowered until i went on it. I was suprised how well it went. My only comment is that the 530 is (in my opinion) pretty boarder line on a single axle trailer. Dont let the dealer sell you a rig that is going to be illegal once you put fuel and eskys in it ! cheers Rod

Hi there ive been another one of "those" who has been looking for a while, but never signed up until tonight. Heres my rig: Allison 189 Fisherman 115hp 2/ carb Merc 15hp Merc aux cheers Rod