SquidMarks

that was going to be my next move.. see if the father in law has some scrap and give it a hit. Im really going towards the alloy because i dont want to think about rot and would like it to last as long as the boat.

acrylic will work but again, the price difference is high. (the 4mm 5083 ally should work just fine considering its used to build barcrusher boats up to 6m) at $200 a sheet. Im trying to see if i can get away with 3mm instead.

excellent.., so now.. lets try get back here as my question has been lost again somehow amongst the bickering

billfisher.. im not using an angle grinder.... read the above posts mate.

BACK ON TOPIC: I have measured the distance between ally stringers in the boat. Theres one with a 450mm width the rest are 39mm width. 3mm 1200 x 2400 5052 ally sheet costs approx $140 per sheet and im going to need 3 sheets (well, two and a quater but i doubt they will sell me a quarter sheet). I can get 4mm 1200 x 2400 5083 sheet (plate) but thats $210 per sheet not sure if i will get away with 3mm here with such widths... any opinions?

billfisher, i condone safe practice in the workplace but with some things are OTT, again, go onto a baking forum, i doubt you will find anyone placing caveats on baking bread and flour explosions. You will not get a thermite reaction from using a cutting wheel with iron oxide, the ratio of iorn oxide to aluminium are way off there to generate a thermite reaction. Its the same with people lighting a ciggarette when on a boat, theoretically, if the tank breather is within a specific distance and we get a specific concentration of fuel to air ratio due to a certain wind which has blown it to the cigarette at a specific temperature then we can (and will) get a combustion reaction. Can you name me an aluminium cutting method used at home which will result in the required particles size for a combustion? Aluminium is combustible, im not arguing the point (i mentioned its combustable already), so what are we talking about here? the odds of joe bloe creating a combustion reaction are almost non existent unless he is really trying hard to actually create said reaction.

guys... im going to be A bit immature here and say it! this is MY thread where im asking for peoples HELP! so there!!! Lets blow up aluminium elsewhere. (i do blow up aluminium at work but we are talking powder, the conditions for an explosion without a source of ignition really are hard to recreate at home so i doubt i will blow myself up doing this project using a jigsaw, the filings will just be too large, the fillings will not be suspended in air and their ignition point wont be reached due to use of lubricant and a slow speed on the jigsaw). The argument can be taken to another explosive material... wheat flour, it also is an explosive in the right conditions but that doesn't mean bakers wear face shield etc when baking.

Guys, in terms of cutting aluminium, a jigsaw with a wood blade will do it and you use wd40 for lube so there's no need to get all fancy with angle grinders. (my father in law is a sheet metal fabricator and has been doing it this way for years). Im planning on replacing floor with ally but will get quotes today.

no welding, just using as a direct replacement for the ply (use the old ply floor as a stencil, including holes for screws). I will get some quotes for the aluminium and compare it to ply + epoxy resin coating and hdpe and will go from there, but longevity wise its HDPE then aluminium then ply i believe...

i need around 4m x 2m (8m squared) and that starts getting a bit cost prohibitive ($1000) but maybe when i factor in that i dont need to place vinyl on top it might be a bit better... i will need to rip up the existing floor first and see whats going on underneath, that way i can assess which way to go.

and im thinking with hdpe i would need to go 12mm? each 3000 x 1500 sheet is around 700 bux so thats a bit rich for my blood

what sort of plastic are we talking about here? starboard? (hdpe)? i believe cost wise its on another level (but i cant say with certainty). i was looking at it though and its $$$. Unless were talking another type of plastic im not aware of?

Ok, i have been sitting on this problem for wayyy to long! The current plywood floor is squishy and i fear my foot will fall through at any moment. I have started a thread a while back with flooring alternatives but my procrastination and cheapskatedness (is there a word?) has got the best of me. I was looking at replacing it with extruded poly foam but it looks like its unstable when it comes in contact with fuel so id rather get something that wont melt on me. Im not going down the plywood, seal and hope for the best and would rather spend a bit more moolah and do the job right! Im going to buy ally sheet 5052 grade (marine) and will be looking to glue on top a non slip vinyl of sorts and hopefully that will be the end of that. Now, my main concern is what thickness of sheet could i use? The boat is a quintrex and i understand that thickness depends on sub floor frame and how the floor is supported, but im guessing 3mm ought to be enough (considering the bottom of the boat is 3mm press out of the same material). The question i ask, am i wasting money paying for 3mm when 2mm might be enough? (since ally is sold by the kg, 3mm vs 2mm equals a 33% difference in price). Im not a metallurgist but im hoping someone with experience may be able to chime in?

i second not eating anything from chippo lake. Im a local and do a fair bit of walking around the foreshore, there are signs posted up by govt/council stating not to eat the fish caught there due to pollution (though i do see people fish and keep their catch along the banks...)

Cool! I can see that ging for 10K plus easily at the right auction, meybe the bloke needs to put it out back before someone gets a nasty idea.... (which would be a shame as it means people would miss out on the rhino!)

G- O - G G - O

whats the line rating on the silstar powertip and the ugly stick gold? that should help you out with a ballpark figure regarding what drag strength the rod is designed to handle. (for example, my snapper rods are 4-9kg, i run 15lb braid which is approximately 7kg and have the drag set around 5kg). If you rod is designed or 10lb and you are running 20lb with more than 10lb drag the rod will not perform as intended or even worse snap. Likewise with your reel, try and match your reels recommended drag ratings to the rods and then pick your line (thats how i work anyway....) So i have my snapper rods (rated at 4-9kg) matched with shimano stradic ci4+ 4000 (drag 3-9kg) spooled with 15lb braid and usually use 20lb leader. Hope this makes sense

Just one last thing regarding paying for knife sharpening, i understand the anxiousness of taking a knife to a stone but in reality, theres not too much that can go wrong if you practice on a cheaper knife. (again, its not about speed or immense pressure on the stone). And if you are taking the knife to get it sharpened just because a hone no longer keeps its edge then there isnt much to sharpen (stone wise) anyway... 15 minutes per knife maximum when you are just beginning (refer to my first post.. only steps 3-6 are really being performed by the bloke who is sharpening your knife) Those $20 knife sharpening sessions add up to a nice set of sharpening stones......

No problemo Fragmeister. Knives which i abuse dont really get much attention and i dont pay a whole lot for them because realistically, you wont be honing your fishing knives. In these scenarios i tend to buy cheaper knives and go nuts (such as cracking open oysters and opening cunjie). While i do use the coarser sharpening stones and finish off with a 'good enough to chop bait and fish frames' edge i dont invest a whole lot of time in sharpening a knife for said purpose because its just counter productive. Keep a cheap knife with the realisation that it will have a short and abused lifespan and be willing to part with it after a couple of years (or sooner, depending on use). I loathe to recommend it but i guess you could in these scenarios try use those gadget knife sharpeners..... In terms of cheap knife brand recommendations... go to your local Asian supermarket and have a look at kiwi brand knives (wooden handles). they are a couple of bucks each and come with a (for the price) decent edge. They also take an edge easily but go blnt quickly too. The point is, minimal outlay for something which you know you will use and abuse.

Yep tailor, I also have a Damascus steel set and give them a hand wash after every use (NEVER in the dishwasher). I didnt want to go in too much depth regarding knife choices and care, i didnt want to scare other prospective readers into thinking that this is only a hardcore knife owners post. Definitley agree on honing often (if im carving up a whole rack of beef scotch then i might give the knife a quick hone half way through), it really depends on the user and what an acceptable edge is. Again, 100% agree, electric knife sharpeners have been made by the devil. Witha, I used to take my tools to my parents and do them a favour, but i would come back in two days and realise that my dad was using his chefs knife as a cleaver to hack through large fish bones... so i stopped sharpening them as it became very very frustrating.... Honestly, i remember first reaing about honing and sharpening stones and thought 'who can be bothered?' ut once you get used to a standard its hard to get back to chopping onions etc with what feels like pushing a butter knife through them.

+1 for the HDS7 touch (i bought one very recently after a lot of reading reviews, visiting stores and playing with sounders.

Dont think he is sharpening a straight edge here, the 10000 will be more than enough for a kitchen knife. Fragmeister, i have been through the sharpening dilemma since i was a kid and picked up some really bad habbits along the way (monkey see monkey do... in this case its watching my father and other mentors who had no clue about sharpening knives and copying them thinking thats how its done!) Those knife sharpening 'tools' which require you to pull your knife through will give you a temporary result (which is not that good) and will result in you taking material from the knife edge unnecessarily. I am NOT a knife sharpening professional but, here are my tips (people feel free to add your 2c as well here) 1. Invest in 3 GOOD knives (throw away your 15 piece mediocre chopping block and get a chefs knife, paring knife and a carving knife) Good knives will hold their edge and will last you a lifetime. (i guess a filleting knife wont go astray either ) 2.Invest in a QUALITY steel (honing tool) (i use Fdick 7500330 12" Dickoron Micro Steel) I use the steel 98% of the time when i sense my knives are not to my standard of sharpness (couple of passes and she is ready to shave hairs off your forearm) 3. Do not use ANY sharpening tool daily which removes material from knives (leaves metal filings or powder), you are wasting your knife away to sharpen a minute area of the blade! A honing tool will sort you out on a good knife (honing realigns the edge without removing material, think of straightening curled burr on the edge of your knife or reshaping a collapsed play dough pyramid so the top is pointy again... nothing removed, just realigned) 4. Invest in QUALITY STONES (i have naniwa stones ranging from 220 grit to 10,000 grit) i find i rarely use the 10,000 on kitchen knives any more, its minimal gain and the effort can be almost equal with a quality steel, if i had my way, i would buy a 3 stone kit consisting of 220, 1000 and 5000 grit. I use the 220 to set a primary bevel on a stuffed/new knife and the 1000 and 500 to set and refine a secondary bevel. Does the above require significant capital outlay? YES! will it mean that you will never work with a dull knife again in your kitchen? YES! Does this mean that you will be frustrated as hell when you go over to a mates and he gives you a 'sharp' knife to chop/prep some veggies? YOU BLOODY WELL BET YOUR GLUTEUS MAXIMUS YOU WILL! So what do you do with stones and hones? here is my rundown. 1. Set a primary bevel on a knife using the 220 stone 2. Set a secondary bevel using the 1000 stone 3. Further refine and polish the secondary bevel using the 5000 stone. 4. Run the knife edge down a wooden chopping block lightly (as if to cut the chopping block) this removes any burrs. 5. Run your knife over the steel 6. Done! When you feel you knife getting blunt (assuming you didnt try chop stone, bone or metal with it and ruined your edge), lightly run a few passes over the steel and watch in amazement as the knife feels like you just spent 1/2 hr sharpening it (you may just need to use the steel for a month or so before needing to get the stones out again depending on a number of factors such as neglect, quality of knives and your sharpening experience) Rinse and repeat until the steel no longer produces a sharper knife edge. Then, depending on the level of neglect, i would probably re define the secondary bevel (repeat steps 3-6) and if that does not work, go to step 2-6 or, in worst case scenario, you chipped/damaged the edge, you haveto grind away using the 220 stone to produce a new primary bevel. How do you use the stones and steel? Again.. no monkey see monkey do, your not bruce lee and you dont need to wave the knife and steel around at 1000000000 mph, slow, steady light strokes (not much pressure at all on the steel, remember, your not grinding with the steel so you dont need force). As for the stones, well that kind of needs a new topic and its getting late. You will hear stories about correct angles and you will freak out if your off by 2 degrees when using stones but in reality, you quickly learn in an afternoon what angles on the stone equate to a good edge.. its just trial and error. Let me know if anything needs further explaining.

Father n law fished for 3 hours on Sunday (midday in between all the swimmers at north entrance beach) using frozen pillies and picked up 2 40cm + tailor and 2 35cm + trevally... i found that a bit unusual.. go figure!

I remember i replied to a spot regarding squid fishing and shell harbour last year if im not mistaken, here ya go... http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=73273&hl=%2Bshell+%2Bharbour+%2Bsquid#entry518017

usually they check brakes by just pulling on the brake handle on the trailer and that's it (basically making sure there's something there and that the brake pad has not disintegrated)