ATrezise

Im so sold on the above boat that I just placed my order for one. Gonna be poor for a few years now.

Well the boat I went in today had less than 10 hrs on the new ETEC40 and I though it idled very smoothly. SO Im happy with that.

Well I had a good test run in a Stessco Catcher 4.2 with a brand new ETEC40 Tiller steer. 4th trip for the new boat and he lets me drive it for about 30mins, of the 40min we were on the water. Extremely grateful to Robert, thanks. Im sold, what a combo, the Catcher and the Etec is a really nice package. We got 46km/h (Ground speed from GPS) at WOT, going upstream into the tide flow, with a light tail wind. The boat handled the return into wind and chop with ease and took the wake of other boats easily with no porpoising or undue roll. Larger chop, cross wind then add in the swell creeping down the river mouth from the bar and we didnt get a drop of water in the boat, and it handled the conditions easily. Not that they were particularly bad, just a range of water to try it on. Going with the swell at a range of speeds showed no tendency to broach as the boat started to surf. The ETEC40 is easy to drive and trim, the trim rocker switch on the end of the throttle is easy to use. Robert has two 24 litre fuel tanks on board and they were filled when he got it new, 3 weeks ago, after today there is 1 and a half tanks remaining. 12 litres of fuel used in two trips offshore to close in reefs trolling for an hour or so each time and a period of bottom fishing, one trip with his wife and about 40 mins with me today, mostly at or near WOT. So far, not even 1/5th of the oil tank is used, and its running more oil at the moment during computer controlled break in period. Im impressed.

The skipper is almost the same boat so good to hear. Thanks

I know its dragging up an old post, but I gotta ask did the vibrations at idle settle down after the ten hour break in period ? Its the only thing that concerns me about buying the ETEC, bad vibrations in a tinny whilst trolling (I plan on doing a bit) will drive me mad.

Well Im no closer to making a choice. In fact Ive got more confused when I saw a Stessco Catcher 4.2 with an Etec40 the other day. Im going for a run in it this weekend with the owner. Does anyone have experience with Stessco Boats ? I know they have a bad rap sheet on other forums, but so does almost any boat. I think it comes down to personal choice but I am interested to hear others thoughts on the Stessco. The quintrex get heaps of bad rap and heaps of praise, a bit like the Ford V Holden debate. Andy

Im emailing off requests for quotes all over the country as a comparison. He told me he would match or better any deal I got offered. Anyone happen to be a yammy and quinny dealer ? ? ?

Johnno, I agree and its the reason I asked for the test. The test boat is the dealership owners boat, that he use for river and inshore reef fishing. Apparently its pretty close to the Topender 420 CV in fitout, with extras like permanently mounted ice box and tackle locker. So should be a good comparison. Ross, if I decide to go with the 40VWHTOL, Im going with the 420 Dory plus the extruded side decks (like the topender 420 cv) as its the only mod that cant be done after construction and still keep the warranty on the hull. Adding steps, bow rails, modifying front deck for anchor well etc isnt structural to the hull and OK. Just got to try and beat this dealer down in price. Its a bit hard though as there isnt another Yamaha and Quintrex dealer really close by to haggle against the other for my dollars.

Johnno, These are new boats. the 40VWHTOL adds several grand to the price of a 30 (about a grand to the cost of a 40VMHTL, man start and pre mix) and my option with the side rails (ala topender) adds about 6-700 to the basic Dory too. Im swaying towards the dory plus extruded side rails, bimini, transducer bracket and the 40VWHTOL for approx $12K, then have a local metal fab guy make the anchor well (with a lid), bow rails and bow roller, rear step and side rails and the side storage box's for me. Its sure to cost less than the $900 quintrex want for those options. Plus I save approx $900 quintrex want for the accessory pack, which is nav lights, auto bilge pump, battery box, battery isolator, switch panel all pre installed. My wife keeps telling me to get the bigger motor, she says "I dont wanna hear you whingeing and whining later, that you should have got the bigger motor, just get it now and get the other nice things later." What a gem of a wife I have.

Thanks Pete, going to Sydney to try one out had crossed my mind, but . . . its 700km's away by road. 3 domestic airlines fly to sydney daily from my town, but getting a day off orgainsed in time to get cheap fares etc . . . not happening with my job at the moment. So . . . The dealer is getting a boat for me to test next week, it has a 40hp 4stroke on it, but should give me idea of the boats handling. Does anyone have experience with a 40 size tiller steer ? that was either manual tilt/no on the go trim ? or used one with the tilt and trim ? At 84kg the Yamaha 40 manual start and hydro tilt isnt a light motor to tilt up. The dealer thought the hydro tilt helped but . . . its still a heavy motor.

Hi ya's, Im trying to decide on what to buy. Basically I have finance approved through Yamaha and just need to decide what to buy. My nearest Yamaha dealer is also quintrex. So Im tossing up between a 4.2 Dory with extruded side decks, bimini and a Yamaha 40 2stroke (3cyl) with E/Start and power tilt/trim and direction oil injection for approx $12K. Then I can add a transom step and rails, bow rails, anchor well, Nav lights and bilge pump later on. OR get the 4.2 Topender CV, which is basically a dory with all the above mentioned extras and a 30hp 3cyl Yamaha, BUT NO, PTT or E/Start and pre/mix fuel for approx $10.8K So I guess the decision is really do I want to get it all now and have only 30hp or get the basic boat with a tricked up 40HP and as money becomes available get the extras. ARGHHHHH Decisions. I want to be able to get across the Richmond River bar at Ballina to chase snapper etc on close inshore reefs as well as run about the river fishing with wife and little kids from time to time. Its the bar crossing bit that makes me think have the 40 horses and do the boat up as it is possible.

Hey Loco, Tell me more about your boat. I guess for a start, where is it and how much do you really want for it ? What make/model and year is it ?

Years ago (like 20+) family friends had a farm out west of Coonamble, we have shot carp with a .22 U Need to be quite, sneak up to the high side of a billabong, wait to see them come up and get em. Usually had to hope the dead fish floated or there was no way of confirming the kill. Didnt get loads of em, but we got some.

Guys, I manage a carwash in my town, a few years back we had severe restrictions and I had boaties asking all the time, how to flush a motor. Get a watering can and about 2-3 feet of hose and a quick connector to link to your muffs. I used some gaffer tape to tape the hose end in the outlet end of the watering can, put the wash on high pressure rinse and fill watering can to at least half full, connect to your muffs and start motor for flushing. You will need to hold the watering can up so the water feeds down to the muffs. keeping the carwash gun in the can will keep heaps of water in there for your flush. I made one, it got used heaps of times to flush motors. However if youve got level 4 restrictions and the local carwash doesnt recycle ALL of their water they may not be working anyway.

Thanks Aron. Yeah Ive met this guy before last night, he's an old guy (german or dutch Im not sure) who spends a few hours each day collecting bait and then all night fishing. I was telling him that I used to fish as a kid but as my teenage years advanced, beer, cars and girls became more interesting. He says he doesnt have much else to do, drinking beer just makes him sleepy, driving fast cars doesnt interest him anymore and he says sex isnt on the menu either. I was using a straight rig or 'estuary rig'. No 2 bean sinker, to No 8 swivel, 30cm line (same as main line) to a No2 baitholder (bream style) then swapped to a No4 long shank when I swapped to worms. As to the feel for whiting, should you be striking at every bite or waiting until the fish is obviously hooked and fighting ? ? Ive found that striking at a bite only causes there to be no more bites or foul hooks the fish. Waiting unitl the fish is fighting seems to ensure the hook is well down the fish's throat, therefore if its undersized it goes back with a hook down its guts and some line hangin out its mouth, which I reckon is a death sentence anyway ? ? the first one I hooked last night had the baitholder hook so far down I almost had to chop its head off to get it out. Also in the above situation with a hook way down deep, I think I may have been better to cut it off and retrieve it latter when cleaning the fish rather than wasting precious fishing time removing it. What do others do in this situation ? ? ?

Neil, I have to agree with you there, Id only take what my family can eat in a day or so, if I could catch that many fish. Another 1 or 2 wouldve been great to feed us. Especially as this guy told me he'd caught 20 only a few nights ago in the same spot. Maybe he has a large family ? On the bait collecting topic, Im off to get a seive and floatation device today.

Well, I caught fish I get to the river and theres a guy in the spot I want. I move downstream a bit, get my gear ready and bait up one of the live yabbies. Cast out and within 2 or 3 minutes I had a 35cm whiting. I get him in the catch bucket and bait up again. . . . . . . Nothing. 4 or 5 yabbies later (being stolen by little fish) I walk over to see the guy in my spot and he's got 2 fish, both on fresh blood worms. Ive got some of them so I race back and bait up again. Cast out and in short order I have another keeper whiting. Insert about an hour give or take, of nothing, until inevitaby the live bait supply ends. I pack up and walk back to see my neighbour, he now has 13 whiting in his bucket and says he'll hang around until he gets his 20. I leave. I did ask him where he gets his bait ? He says same way I did, with a pump. Except he had a helper and got most in water up to a foot or so deep with the use of a sieve. Now I learnt theres yet another item I need. I had read about the seive before and saw a pic of someone using one with a pool floaty noodle thingy tied around it, it was tethered to the user so it didnt float away.

Aaron, they were soldier crabs, but tiny, about the size of a pea or slightly bigger. I went bait collecting again today on the low tide and got about 5 or so good size blood worms and 15 good size yabbies, in about an hour of searching. The worms are in a container with a bit of sea water and the yabbies are in a flat tub, on a rag that's wet with sea water, both in a cool spot until this evening.

I bought a pump yesterday afternoon and went exploring. All I managed to get was a few small worms and some little round crabs, but I was distracted by having to watch my 20 month old boy too. The worms were too small to be easily baited, Im guessing I need to wait for a lower tide to go hunting bait, and get some local advice as to where to go hunting. Yesterday afternoon was about 2/3 high tide. Thanks for the replies guys. I also had a talk to the guy in bait shop who told me the river is seemingly full of little fish at the moment. At least down stream, those with boats are getting bigger fish a few miles upriver

Hiya's, I got back into fishing about a month ago after about a 15 yr break, (work, alcohol, cars, wife, kids etc). First few outings I caught a few small whiting (threw back) then I got a feed of decent whiting using blood worms bought from local bait shop. That was about 3 weeks ago, Since then Ive been fishing soo many times and caught nothing worth keeping. Im using a variety of blood worms or sand worms (live), green prawns and squid, fresh or frozen, day or night and catching nothin. Ive tried fishing run in tides, run out tides, high tide hours and low tide hours and nada. Can anyone give me some pointers ? My next step is go buy a yabbie pump but I dont really want to spend too much more money than I have already if Im not going to get results. Sure just the act of being out by the water is great and relaxing but hey, I want some fish too. I think what I really need (read "want") is a boat to get out to areas that are not bombarded by a million bits of crappy bait every day, populated with hook smart fish that can strip a bait without you feeling a darn thing.

I saw a boat in Brisbane's Moreton Bay a few weeks ago with a cool name. "Nag Free Zone"

Hiya's, Ive been given a holiday as a make up for a long forgotten promise (is the easiest way to explain it). Mentioned as possibilties were Pacific Islands or Bali. Now bearing in mind my wife and 2 boys (under 2yrs of age) will be coming too, I feel a pacific Island may be a better choice, mainly because Ive heard good stories of holidays taken there with what are effectively babies. (and I suspect fising may be better ) So now Im after a tale of someones actuall experience of fishing in these waters to guide me ? Andy

My mate has the same boat in Brisvegas, we go out in all sorts of weather and swell size and havent had green water over the bow yet. Maybe as already stated you need to be going a bit faster ?

After talking to a work mate this afternoon, Im going to cool my heels and not rush inot anything. His comments on the Dory were along the lines of, not the best boat for going offshore at all, thin aluminium used therefore light, but not as strong. So Ill keep looking for a while yet, save some more money and get someting more suited to what I want. As well as the fishing tasks I mentioned previously Id like to be able to take the family for trips etc too.

Hi all, Im relatively new to powerboating and am looking at getting a boat for estuary/river fishing and maybe going over the bar to nearby inshore reefs on calm days. My first of probably many questions is about hull age ? How old would be considered too old to bother with ? Do aluminium hulls or fibreglass last longer ? The first boat that has caught my eye is a 1998 Quintrex Dory 4.4m (I think), centre console with a 2000 model jonson 35hp 2 stroke outboard. Safety gear and a sounder for $5600. Anything I should be particularly looking for when buying second hand ?