vision21

Good point, anything around the 2 ton mark can be towed easily with a tow rating of around 2300kg, According to RTA when I spoke to them as long as you dont exceed manufactures towing capacity its legal same goes with Shannons insurance [yes the old 6 cyl falcon with 240,000klm and Hayman Reese towbar 600 Bucks] I have been doing it for years, down to Ulladulla up to Port Macquarie, Bobin Head, Botany Bay You name it and my auto and engine has never over heated, burnt this or that. I can climb any hill faster than most 4wd [except for a V8 land cruiser that showed me how its done with his 24ft Mustang on the back] A bloke on the F3 overtook me with his 4wd last summer and almost wiped me out when his rig started snaking all over the place. I reckon big 4wd and BIG boats do have a purpose but dont put all you confidents in one it really depends on your driving skills and knowing whats going on around you on the road you just cant day dream when driving with a big boat on the back 4WD or 2WD.

Are you sure the shark cat boat and trailer weigh 2.5 ton? anyway I tow around 2.1 tons [21ft] with my Falcon with lowed suspension & auto trans cooler and I have never had any troubles at boat ramps or any other troubles mentioned here.

I noticed a magazine called 'Go Boating' today at Newsagents it had comparisons done on the top brands in 175hp bracket, could be just showing specs only. I dont think it was water testing. Tony.

I painted mine with auto trans fluid and it still shines like a new trailer, its almost 2 years old. Salt has not attached itself anywhere. Tony.

You really cant go wrong with any of the top four brands.

No worrys Huey, dont tell me you thought I was a bit one sided did you?

Buy yourself a counter sink tool, it looks like an upturned round triangle with a cutting edge. First drill your hole then use the counter sinker to cut your fibre glass so when you put the screw in it dose not lift the fibre glass edges. Tony

Buy yourself the OPTIMAX forget about all the free E-TEC DVD'S if they were that good you wouldn' be getting those CD's in your cornflakes box as well.All those yanks cant be wrong. Tony.

If you want an awesom sound buy infinity I bought them on ebay from the U.S to avoid paying double here. They will cost you about 200AU. Tony.

I thought electric brakes have nothing to do with getting wet since the 'electric pump' sits just behind the tow hitch [pumps brake fluid at high pressure to your calipers] my trailer gets wet all the time.

Correct only for the ford standard tow kit which is 1600kg, you need a Hayman Reece towbar that would bring it up to 2300kg. Legal.

Territory's guzzle fuel, nice car anyway check this site out. www.fordforums.com.au

No worries Huey, I didnt really mean you where doing the brand bashing I was refering to Ross and the boating fraternity being fierce which it is, but I guess in a thread like this its easy to ruffle feathers. Anyway, the air injector does enhance performance similar to a turbo charger, if you can force air and fuel into a combustion chamber under pressure [injection] we all know what that means that is'' higher performance'' air injectors are common in high performance automotive turbo engines to increase responce before the turbo ''wakes the engine'' 2007 opti could have had 3 star rating but at the expence of less HP. Those star ratings remind me of the yellow tick on food packages. [pay the foundation and you will get the rating] Im done with this too, time to go fishing. Tony.

Give this man a BEER! Ross thats exactly what I was getting at, [its called brand bashing] I spent months or almost a year looking at engines you cannot go wrong with any brand but I did find if YOU dont know what is going on out there nobody will tell you. It is best to try and learn something about the machanics of the engine in question. I found induction systems where hardly ever explained by dealers CARBY,EFI,DFI,FOUR STROKE if you didnt know anything about it they will have you think that there brand is light years ahead and nobody has the same offerings but it did not take long to work out what was going on here and which company spent big dollars on marketing. There has been a few classic examples e.g fan belts that can break, air pumps that can break[piston conrod] price of parts, but the funiest is ''2 INJECTORS PER CYLINDER'' being a bad thing. Let me tell you that any engine that employs 2 injectors per cylinder in either marine or especially automotive spells HIGH PERFORMANCE this is RACE ENGINE TECHNOLOGY not to mention supperior throttle responce and in some cases 1 injector per cylinder operating at low RPM only to increase economy [is it called ECO FRIENDLY]untill the throttle is cranked then hang on. AGAIN, ANY ENGINE WITH 2 INJECTORS PER CYLINDER IS HIGH PERFORMANCE and in RACE ENGINE TERRITORY. Remember the operating systems in these engines are not unique to outboareds. There is a brand out there that uses there car engines for there 4stroke range. [modified] Now guys, its not all Bathurst you know I can switch on the TV anytime and see a FORD competing anywhere in the world in either classic or Formula 1 thats why Ford is better. Anyway why would anybody have somthing if it wasnt the best. Tony.

Well I reckon my Ford is better than a Holden.

No worries Huey, OK, in your post you say, ''The E-Tec will out perform both the Mercury and the Yamaha, and use about 50% less fuel and are a nicer engine'' so why will it use 50% less fuel than the others? ALSO ''the are a little bit more expensive than others'' well they are, when you compare them to EFI and CARBY . I think by saying they are a ''little bit more expensive than the others'' is a sales pitch. The bloke would go away and tell his wife ' I want that E-TEC they cost more, so it must be better. I would say if Arif bought the engine is was based on my last comment. I would have any of the brands mentioned as they are all proven products and you dont have to OWN the E-Tec to comment on it. To sales pitchy for me. I wish you a nice day to Huey. Tony.

Comparying apples to apples eh ?? isnt the E-tec range of motors DFI if thats the case this is NOT a fair comparison you cannot compare any EFI, or Carby engine to DFI. I dont think keeping gear box oil in for 3 years is such a good idea. Dont forget DFI was invented by an Australian Ralphf Saric [ok yugoslav origin] he sold DFI orbital engine technology to the USA MERCURY because we thought he was a nutter. Enough said.

Hey Brenton, I bought my boat last June and I tow it with my 1998 EL Ford six all up its just under 2000kg. The towing capacity is 2300kg I spoke to the RTA and they say as long as you dont exceed the manufactures towing recomendations your fine, same story with my insurance company so once all that was sorted out I bought the boat. Did some mods to the car but it towes very well and stable lots of power but braking earlier has to be in your mind all the time to avoid idiots.

I am more inclined to believe these facts.

Hair drier on hot to soften the glue, dont use a heat gun.

Top speed of 130 Kph? Australian Boating mag have a review on this exact boat and they say top speed of 42knots just under 80kph either way I wouldnt mind having it.

Mik, I would put it as shown in your first example, it looks far enough from the strake and will get the clean flow of water. I did the same job on my boat a few months ago I just didnt like the idea of drilling holes in it.

Nothing wrong with that car jack, I have the same type. The times I have used it on the trailer I place it underneath the spring pad to lift the wheel off the ground instead of lifting the whole trailer then if Im not in a hurry I'll use a stand or something just in case. Why worry about the load on the jack? it never has the full GVM on it when lifting the corner of your car or boat.

Hey Elliot, I use a cover on my 225optimax made it myself but the only reason I use it is to stop my mates sinkers and hooks bashing and scratching the cowl. I bought 15mm sound proof spong from a carparts place and my wife made a black vinyl skin to go over it with openings out the back for the air intake. Its has stopped alot of the engine sound aswell. Originally I was just going to use 15mm spong but the sound proof material was a better after thought. I dont leave it on at home it normaly needs to be washed anyway. I found no differance with engine temp, being a black cowl you could fry an egg on it on sunny days. Tony.

Was heading to Apple tree bay on saturday morning but last minute change now we are going to Botany Bay instead. I really need to catch a decent sized fish soon!