frankS

This is pretty well what I done. Bought a bare hull and turned it into a superb Bream/Bass/Barra boat, it was a 4.9 quintrex Jon boat made for export to U S A ( only 3 in Australia ) , I turned it into a side console with front and rear cast decks. The framework looked very similar to what you have there but I welded all joints so don't have the rivet problem, I used 18mm marine ply ( maybe slight overkill ) and have several separate compartments, it has that much storage room that I could never fill it up, 80ltr bait/kill tank 60ltr esky front elect motor etc etc, I have the elect battery and electronics battery under the forward compartment just in front where the centre seat was, and a start battery up the rear, 3 batterys in all, anchor well up front, 30lt plastic fuel tank 40hp 2 stroke Tohatsu . I call it my poor mans streaker. I can't show photos but I do have one shot in a gallery if anyone interested. Shame you are so far away from me as I could help you with your project Frank

Jeff Webster ( trailerboat magazine ) wrote plenty of reports on the boat and I can't remember him saying too much wrong with them. Check to see if that is a recent photo if you are thinking of buying it, it looks in supurb condition. Frank

I had a Vsea with a 70 Johnson and it was heaps enough the 90 will fly. Frank

That's not a good buy mate it's a great buy, snap it up you can't go wrong . Hard to find registered boat trailers. Frank

Jon. Well done to both your girls, it comes as no surprise that they won as their photos that I have seen over the years are second to none. Such great achievements at a young age see's a bright future for them both. Frank

Unfortunately the motor is not a good sales point on that boat, IF it was a proper Yamaha than the price would not be so far out, you would find it hard to re-sell IF you ever wanted to. Look around a bit more. It's a lovely little boat but just not $6 grans worth. And he has the canopy set up wrong, the back supports should be spacers to spread the canopy not hold the back down. Frank

If they made the cost of 4 strokes and injected 2 strokes a little bit closer to what a 2 stroke costs I doubt if anyone would opt for a 2 stroke. 4 strokes are way over priced and many boaters such as myself simply can't afford one. I bought a 90 hp etec in 2005 because I was working and could afford one at that stage, now a 4 stroke is beyond me. Frank

Thanks mate sure will give it a good long gurney, it's going to take me quiet a while to do the job but the boat will look 100% better when it's done. Frank

I used Alvey reels back as far as the mid 60's and still have a couple that get a run every now and then. Never let me down in all that time and at one stage I even had a 2 speed 6" alvey that got stolen from my shed along with 8 thousand dollars worth of other gear. It is a sad day when an icon business folds up. Frank

After thinking on this quiet a bit I have decided to go with good old paint stripper, for a few reasons, you can buy a hell of a lot of stripper for the cost of the sand blower, let alone all the added extras like hiring compressors and buying the media for the blaster. Plus I can do the job bit by bit without too much preparation and clean up later, although stripper is pretty messy I can restrict the mess to one area. I will go to Bunnings and buy 4 ltres paint stripper $59 for a start a couple of cheap brushes I have scrapers etc and drop sheets/plastic to catch the waste etc. With the money I save I will be able to buy the etch primer and paint to do the job, haven't decided on colour yet, might go with Maroon and Black. Then I need to buy alloy to make trailer frame, I have enough to do Xmembers and such. Going to be a big project. Thanks to all that replied to my request. I will be doing updates as I go, it will take a long time as I only do bit by bit. Frank

Thanks guys, paint strippers is an option but I have been down that road before and would rather try sand/soda blasting, hense the questions. I know it is very messy and the media goes everywhere and a pain to clean up, I intend to make a sort of tent in my driveway with drop sheets as an envelope so all floating media will be restricted to one area and fall on a drop sheet that will be easily cleaned up. I will have all the protective gear on, respirator helmet gloves etc. and will only be doing it in short stages. I have emphesemia and can only work in short spells. The boat will be stripped right back, no motor no electrics no cables etc, just may have to leave the windscreen on it but will think on that one. My main problem is/was finding a supply source for the media close to my location and what would be the best media/abrasive to try. I think sand would be the cheapest but getting it dry enough may be a problem. The other abrasives is what I need to learn about and the amount I will need to do the job. I can't afford to have it professionally done. I figure by the time I buy the blaster and drop sheets and depending on how much media I will need to do the job, it will cost me approx 1/2 of the cost of having it done and I will have the blaster for small jobs in the future. Appreciate the feed back so far. Frank

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone on the site could help me with some information about sand/soda blasters etc. I have an old Brooker tinnie that I want to strip back to bare metal and was thinking about buying a cheap sand blaster from ebay the one I'm thinking of is a 2 in one model that sells for $297 delivered to Sydney. Does anyone have any experience with these blasters. I have a compressor that should supply enough air although I would have to stop now and then to allow the comp to catch up with air pressure, OR I could hire a more powerful compressor. I am having trouble finding a distributor for the Sand/Soda or other suitable media for the blaster, everywhere I look up seems to be in Victoria and the freight costs would be expensive. How much approx media would it take for a 14' er inside and out with old paint on it. My mobile is 0406 906 116 just call me leave your number and I will ring you back as it costs nothing for me to call. Any help is appreciated. Frank

Short. Bermagui is my second home. way too much to talk about on a forum, if you can get to my house ( Berala ) for a chat I could tell you a few things about the place and where to fish. Pm me for address I am home most days. Frank

Most sand soil company's have weighbridge if you don't need a certificate for legal reasons. Frank

Probably a good thing you check the bearings, further along the road it may have been too late and could have caused plenty of problems. Better luck next time and bearings are an easy job as long as they don't weld themselves to the axle. It happens. Frank

Rick is right the threadfin are a much better fish all round than the Barra, better fight they will jump if you hold the rod up high ( if that's what you like ) and in my opinion much better on the plate, just don't over cook them. Frank

A tip if you are using live worms for bait. When you arrive at the dam transfer the worms from the soil they are in to local moist soil from around the dam, alloy them to settle overnight and you will have better success than using worms from foreign soil. Frank

If the wind stays away the pier is good fishing, very busy when the fish are there and standing room only even in winter. Good luck with the wind, only one day will not give you much of an envelope for good weather. Frank

Good report and a nice feed. It's an advantage to get another persons opinion on how a boat handles etc and especially someone well experienced. Frank

I got myself another old boat and when I say old I mean old. its a Brooker 14' aluminium that I can turn into a decent bass boat with a little work. At the moment it looks like a piece of old crap but that's what I wanted so I can work my skills around it to turn it into something worth having. I will need to make another trailer as the one it's sitting on at the moment is just an old pipe trailer although it does have A C T registration, I will try and swap it over to NSW rego and use the plate and numbers for the new trailer I make (probably alloy ). I will pick the boat up on Tuesday, it's in ACT so I hope the bearings will get me back to Sydney, I will take a tub of grease down and check them. I will be making a few updates as I progress with photos. ( when I learn to load them ) Not going to rush into anything and just do upgrades as I get the money for parts etc. Stay tuned. Frank

Neil. There are some decent bream in the creek that is within the parks grounds, high tide, low tide is just a bog hole. Great place to spend a few days and the pub opposite serves great meals. Frank

Used to love fishing the Liverpool weir as a kid and growing up in my teen years, used the lightest longest rod I could get back in them days ( 60's ) quill float and 3-4/0 treble hook, we called them jag hooks back then, used doe with cotton wool and kneaded the doe above the barbs on the shank of the hook, we didn't keep a fish unless it was hooked bottom and top lips. Brings back some wonderful memories. Frank

Neil. The Clyde river has some great fishing in winter and the Big4 caravan park at Nelligen is 2nd to none and has its own boat ramp, Bream, Tailor, Trevally, the occasional Night time Jew. and it's not too far from Batemans and a few salt lakes. Frank

OK I stand corrected, the point about the ramp being not as slippery up at the front wheels is a good point. Frank

Doesn't add up to me, if the car is sliding it would make no difference if the foot brake was on or off, slide means wheels are not turning. I think you may have had the vehicle in neutral with hand brake not on all the way, then applying foot brake would stop the so called slide. Frank