JustJames

Thanks Noel - I'll report back on what I get.

Thanks Jon. On my boat the fuel filter is tucked well away in the stern of the boat, behind the rear seats.

Turns out about half of that on a well known auction site, with an industry standard fuel filter. It is possible to buy replacement filter plus bowl which will fit the existing setup, but (for reasons that I do not understand) it is way cheaper to buy the fitting, filter and bowl all together. So that gets added to the List Of Tasks. Thank you both.

Hi All I am about to change the water separating fuel fillter on my boat (150 four stroke Mercury, for what that's worth). The existing fuel filter is a Quicksilver 35-802893Q01 which is a canister type filter. Fining a Sierra cross reference is easy enough, but I think I would prefer a filter with a separate bowl so that I can inspect it and see if it is catching any water, and drain any water that it catches. First question, how do I find a cross reference to a filter with a bowl? Second question, are there any reasons why you think I should avoid a bowl type filter and stay with a canister type filter?

Tidy looking Yam hung off the back, and that's the really important bit.

Nice report and pics. I am starting to think that bonnies move a little way offshore in the winter and come back into the bays and estuaries in the warmer months.

Thanks all for the positivity and offers of help. I knew that it's important to have a swivel immediately before the terminal tackle, which I messed up on by having a running sinker clip which negated the effect of the swivel. I will get some small ball bearing swivels and use a 'restricted sinker rig' or similar to allow the swivel to do its job.

Until recently I had never owned an Alvey reel. But it seemed like that was an oversight. I don't do beach fishing very often, but when I do, I enjoy it and it seems like an Alvey reel is the right tool for the job. Before I had even tried one, I figured I looked their old school cool, and I definitely like their reputation for rugged simplicity. They are plentifu and inexpensive second hand, so I tracked down a second hand one and this morning I gave it a try, heading down to Curl Curl before sunrise and before the wind came up. The reel has what looks like 20lb line of indeterminate age and brand. I had read that having a swivel is essential to prevent line twist (of which more later). So now I have used an Alvey reel, caught a fish with and can give a noob's first impressions of using an Alvey. This morning there was a southward current running along the beach at about a bajillion miles an hour. Even using a pyramid sinker, my bait was heading towards Sydney at quite some speed. That won't have helped with the line twist. Alvey's create line twist because the reel is swivelled so that the outside of the (open) reel faces the casting direction, but line is wound back onto the reel. You know you've got line twist - despite a swivel being present - because the line tries to curl around itself. The cure, which I will try later today, is to wind line off the reel with no terminal tackle and let the line untwist itself. Alvey's have a properly loud clicker (it's not really a ratchet because it doesn't work in only one direction, but that may just be my reel). There is a drag setting, but it seems to only allow adjustment between none and minimal. That may by ignorance, but it doesn't bother me. I like to use minimal drag and circle hooks and let fish catch themselves. I am sure that there are people who are expert at striking to set a hook, but I am even more sure that there are many more people who rip bait away from hungry fish too soon, and rip fishes' faces off. As it was a reaonable sized bream of 35cm set the reel's clicker off, with an easily audible sound very similar to the TLD reels I use for trolling lures. Winding a fish in is different to using an egg beater reel in a few ways. First, you need to stop the reel to grab a winder. Second, there is no drag clutch so you need to manage the line tension in a similar fashion to using a hand line, after all an Alvey is basically a hand line attached to a rod. Third, you need to use your non-winding hand to ensure that line is being laid neatly and evenly on the reel. Again, this is similar to using an overhead reel. Finally, there is no gearing, so you need to do a lot more winding to bring your catch in. It's very early days yet, but I think I am going to enjoy using an Alvey. I ended the sesh with the aforementioned bream and a shovel nose shark who was sent back into the surf.

Small naval mine. Used to defend our coast against RC boats from nefarious enemies. You did well not to touch it!

There's a bowser at the Spit Bridge marina There's also a NSW govt map that lets you select destinations by service: https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/using-waterways-boating-and-transport-information/boating-on-sydney-harbour/sydney-harbour-boating-destinations#toc-find-a-sydney-harbour-destination

Ermmmmmmmm.....why? This is a fishing forum, for people who have too much fishing stuff, not too much groundskeeping gear. Lawnraider is over there, on the left.

Spot on! Beyond oil and filters, the items you mention are the same regardless of how many strokes there are. I was merely focusing on the differences between 2 and 4 strokes.

A fre months back I bought a new-to-me boat. Part of the purchase decision was wanting a four stroke, but I was not fussed which four stroke. The boat I ended up with has a Mercury 150, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn how straightforward the servicing is, well within the scope of anybody with any mechanical know how. Other brands may be just as straightforward, I haven't looked into them. Point being, four stroke outboards are not necessarily more expensive to own than two strokes. I have gone from a Yam 60 2 stroke on a 4.9 metre boat to a Merc 150 4 stroke pushing a 6.4 metre boat, and it looks like my fuel consumption is about the same...possibly slightly lower.

Two red hot tips for ID'ing fish: 1. Use google image search on your pic of a fish. This is what I did with the pic of a fish posted here. 2. Join i-Naturalist, which lets you upload pics to get them ID'd. It's great for anything from fungi to birds and everything in between.

I'm not a fan of braid for anything other than actively fished lures, because of its ability to make loud sweary bird nests. This may not be the answer you were looking for.

Either the fish was an idiot for not moving, or he thought that the underwater equivalent of lightning couldn't strike twice. I know that there are these two ways of measuring fish, but when measuring a fish which has a size limit, which measurement is correct? ETA: For legal length, measure total length. https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/fishing-skills/weigh#:~:text=Measuring length&text=Fork length is measured from,the tip of the tail.

Never used one, but not a fan. Apart from the physical, structural issues you raised, it's another element where human error can creep in.

Both make sense. Keeping tanks full leaves no space for condensation. A water trap fuel filter should be able to remove any water from the fuel. Filling the tank just before using it means the fuel is as new as possible - fuel loses octane over time because the higher octane parts of the fuel are the most volatile. And the counter argument is that your outboard is probably not tuned to be close to the edge of what is safe with the avilable octane level anyway. I prefer to keep my boat's tank full because it's part of the prep that I do after using the boat, so that it is always ready to go when I decide to go.

I don't think it's a ling, ling are more eel like. I think it's this guy (Southern Rock Cod): https://vfa.vic.gov.au/recreational-fishing/recreational-fishing-guide/catch-limits-and-closed-seasons/types-of-fish/marine-and-estuarine-scale-fish/southern-rock-cod-rock-cod-all-species

Dude! I saw the blanket and the green whistle and I thought "Uh oh...this can't be good!" Get well...I faceplanted off a MTB about 5 years ago and decided that I cracked a rib, and that wasn't fun, so I can only imagine what you are going through.

With respect @Fab1 if you use stabiliser and your boat runs fine, what will that tell you? It's a bit like rubbing olive oil on your head to prevent your hair falling out. (Too late for me!) If you do it, and your hair doesn't fall out, does that mean that the olive oil worked? The last three or four years I've had 2 stroke outboards that used premixed fuel, and because Sydney had stormy winters, I had fuel sitting for almost six months, and had no issues. Similarly, on my previous boat, I had a backup separate fuel tank to the underfloor tank, and I kept the backup tank full of premix. After at least six months, and prolly more like a year, I emptied the backup tank into the main tank and re-filled it with fresh premix, and had no issues. The fuel was 95 octane, and the 2 stroke oil was whatever outboard 2 stroke was on special when it was time to buy.

Great report and awesome pics! FWIW, scaling and gutting on the water is the way to go. Chuck all the spare parts back into the ocean where they will go into the food chain rather than land fill, and no scales sticking to everything in the kitchen to cause domestic strife.

Thanks @Mike Sydney I'll stop looking for soccer matches then.

Does anybody have any recommendation for disposal of expired flares? There is a NSW/RMS site that lists sites and locations. I'm OK with getting to several of the sites, but not so great at travelling back in time to the dates listed. My time travel works in one direction only. Are there any alternate ways of disposing of old flares, or do I just need to find a soccer fan and hand them to him?

I like this - having snorkelled with a bunch of them at Shelly Beach, and seen their awesome camouflage abilities, I like them too much to kill one. They were able to match the colours of ocean bottom that they swam over pretty much instantly, and could even mimic the patterns of sunlight coming through the water; absolutely extraordinary to see. Ditto octopus. If I ever catch a squid though, he's toast! (Well....bait.)