JustJames

Thanks guys. I will listen to the wiser heads, and spend my weekend split between working on my share price and playing loud music. There will be other weekends and other fish!

Hello Raiders. At the time of writing, the weather forecaster that I use indicates that Manly will have little chance of rain on Sunday, with moderate swells (appx 1.5m) and light winds. With the flooding we have been having, the harbour will be full of tree branches, livestock, fridges and Holden Commodores. Is it likely to be worth dodging the detritus to try and find bonito and taylor around the heads? Or am I better off saving my credits for more surefire conditions? I know - or think that I know - that just after very heavy rains is not ideal conditions is not the perfect time to chase pelagics, and I also know that my rods will not catch fish sitting in my garage. The last time I went out (Feb 20) the bonito were hungry, and they are great to catch and eat...and won't be around for very much longer, so I am dead keen to get out and enjoy the last of the warm weather. So what is the advice from those in the know? Answers on a postcard....

On the issue of over priced vs a "sensible" price... Something is worth what somebody is prepared to pay for it. There are good deals to be had, but they are snapped up quickly. If boats are changing hands for more than you are prepared to pay, they are not over priced. You are simply not in the market (at that price).

Quoting what I said in a different thread...

Thanks for the responses so far. Keep 'em coming. There is water in the boat that the amount of slope (with the jockey wheelfully extended) and poition of the bung hole does not allow to drain. The shape of the boat and construction of the cover is such that there are no places where water pools in the cover.

The boat lives outdoors, and after rain there is water in the boat.

Hi All My boat has a custom cover. The fabric seems hale, hearty and strong, but leaks like a sieve. Does anybody have experience of using brush on (or similarly applied) waterproofing treatments? Googling turns up a few, and of course they all claim to be fantastic, so I am interested in real world eperiences.

Go bigger (within reason and budget). With relatively small boats, a small increase in length gets a dramatic increase in the 'size' of the boat because boats get wider as they get longer. Apologies for the blinding flash of the obvious. Ease of launch and retrieve is not an issue if the trailer and boat are well matched to one another. As a relative noob to boat ownership, I went from a 3.75 tinny to a 4.9 cuddy cabin boat. Just over a metre in boat length added but it goes from a boat that is snug with 2 on board to a boat that can carry four comfortably, with 2 fishing and 2 looking gorgeous. I often go solo, and the larger boat is probably easier to launch and retrieve than the tinny was. Don't compromise - get what you really want. Buy once, cry once. I'd also recommend getting something with some sort of shade. Ladypersons prefer if they can get out of the sun a bit (and you might too), and it gives some shelter from rain. Take your time, buy what you really want and enjoy the journey!

Thanks Zoran (and everybody else) for your comments and input. The reason to add a second motor is for peace of mind when heading out wide. My boat has an underfloor tank, and I have a removeable secondary tank with its own hose and bulb. There are 2 batteries which are switched, and an aux would be cable start, so independent of the batteries.

Hello Raiders I have acquired a small auxiliary motor which I will use when going offshore. My boat's main motor (60hp Yam 2 stroke) has never given me cause for concer, and I already have a reserve fuel system, but I want the additional peace of mind. It seems to me that I will need a bracket which can be mounted on a horizontal surface, because of the design of the stern of my boat. Is this something I could tackle myself, or would I be wiser to take it to The Man? I am reasonably handy, have rebuilt 4 cylinder car and single cylinder motor cycle engines and recently replace the water pump and re-sealed a small outboard. Pic of the boat to show what I mean. I intend mounting the aux motor to the left of the main motor...

As a relative newcomer to boat ownership, here are my thoughts... As boats get longer, they get higher and wider too (derr!), which is why, as others have said, what looks like a relatively small incerase in size, actually gets a substantially larger boat. I wasn't sure if boating was going to stick with me, so around this time lat year, I bought a small (3.75m) tinny figuring that I would get most of my money back when it came to time to sell (to get out of boating or to upgrade). And while I got my purchase price back, I didn't get back the money I spent on improving the boat. I had added a bimini, a cover and had spent time and money on replacing the water pump and re-sealing the lower unit of the outboard. If you decide to enter boat ownership this way, get a newer/more recently serviced outboard than I did! Towards the end of last summer I upgraded to a 4.9m fibreglass cuddy cab, which has room for SWMBO to escape the sun if she chooses. It's big enough to have four people comfortably on board. The 60 hp donk is adequate. More hp might have been nice, but I enjoy trolling so it's not really a bid deal. The bigger boat is still small enough that I can launch and retrieve single handed with ease. If anything it's easier than the little tinny. Go figure! Your budget will give you a great choice of boats, and I would definitely go larger rather than smaller. As with buying anything from a private seller, buy the seller as much as you buy the boat.

Another vote of interest here!

If there is a question mark over the fuel hoses, the simplest test would be to hook up a small fuel tank with its own hose. If the problem persists, then its not a fuel tank/hose problem.

I'm not going to bite on when a fish is landed, but if you are taking a fish for a feed, it's much easier to remove hooks/trebles after they have been dispatched.

Emphasis in quote added by me. The thing is, it's not a personal choice. Covid is that virulent, and that potentially harmful that getting vaccinated is as much a social responsibility as it is a personal choice. We need everybody who can be vaccinated to be vaccinated in order to deny the virus the chance to spread.

Hi Guys Found this topic from a few years back: But didn't see anything more recent. I sometimes fish alone. And like most (I guess) leave the kill switch attached to the motor controls, but not attached to me. Anybody have any experience with wireless kill switches? The video in the thread I linked is 90 seconds of your life you will never get back, but it feels like way more! James

Post the pic to inaturalist.org Somebody there will be able to identify it.

Hi All. Long time listener, first time caller. What was the difference in technique that made all the difference? Thanks in advance.