a boat

Hi Dave, what designs do you not like? Huey.

Hi Mate, no both the 395 Seasprite and 399 Proline are able to be ordered as either Long shaft or Short shaft. The Proline is a better value boat due to be cheaper and coming STD with bow and side rails. We sell alot more Prolines than Sea-Sprites and they give a better, more stable fishing platform, which will not ride as well as the Sea-Sprite, but the difference is minimal and in truth a 3.90-4.0M should not really go in rough water anyway. If you are wanting new prices of boat with or without trailers contact me, Cheers, Huey.

Hi MrGenius, are you looking for new or second hand? If you are looking at new than Stacer, which is the brand we sell and stock, have S/S boats in the 395 Seasprite or the 399 Proline range that are suitable for 30HP outboards. PM me if you would like prices. At present I do not have anything second hand that would suit. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Dave, a Quintrex will not ride as well as a good quality glass boat. In fact the Stacer boat with the EVO hull and the deeper deadrise at the stern than the Quintrex hull rides better, I have been in both side by side on the same day and that is why we choose to sell Stacer. The Millenium hull shape is at the bow and what determines ride is the deadrise at the transom. The Millenium hull is a bit gimmicky, that if worked all glass boats would have the hull shaped like that at the bow-which they do not. The Stacer EVO hull is nothing new, all fibreglass boats have a deep vee and than flattened chines and it is proven over many years to work. If something works in any industry it is copied and just look at all the glass boats from the back and also the number of tinnies that now have a similar shape to Stacer-Savege/Seajay/Allycraft, because it works. Trust me anybody could have a bow like the Quintrex, but the better boats keep the bows full to give more lift and buoyancy, which is especially important with a bowrider, that might have some weight in the bow. When a boat is on the plane and trimmed correctly the bow of the boat is out of the water, while the stern of a boat affects the ride and is always in the water. Stacer now with the series 2 hull shape have even made the hulls better and with Stacer you get a better riding boat, with the same saftey of LEVEL floatation at a better price with thicker side sheets, in my opinion I do not know why anyone would want to pay extra for the Quintrex, you are just paying for the name, but it is your call and I am sure you would be happy if you got a Quintrex, until perhaps you had a chance to ride in a Stacer one day and relise that it is a better boat and would of cost you less. Just my 2 cents worth, but the best bit of advise I can offer is get a short list of boats that you are interested in and water test them, not just in a flat water situation, but somewhere like Broken bay where you cvan get rough water. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Dave, good question and it all comes down to volume. All these $35K odd glass bowriders are imported from the States where a builder like Bayliner would produce about 100,000 units per year and therefore have a much better buying power than compared to someone like Telwater(Stacer/Quintrex). Also the strong dollar is helping the importers at the moment. The other main contributing factor is that the 3.0L Mercruiser (which is only 135HP, not 220HP, and that is at the flywheel, while outboards are measured at the prop) are much cheaper than a similar HP outboard. To give you an idea, it is cheaper to buy a Stacer 549 Bowrider with a 135HP Mercruiser than it is for the same boat with only a Carby 90HP Mercury. I personally would prefer the Mercrusier out of those two options, but if money was not a concern, a 115HP "clean tech" outboard is what I would prefer over the Mercruiser, which can be expensive to service and maintain as the years go by. It is a real problem for the Oz builder, but the advantage the local builder has got is that no US built boat will ride as well as a similar sized Australian designed glass boat of the same length. You have to remember that the US boat was designed mainly for flat water lakes and not the coastal water we encounter and if I was you I would just look at the number of late model US boats on the market second hand, they do not hold there value as well as a brand like Haines Hunter / Stacer or Quintrex. Also if anyone is buying an imported boat, you will have to factor in price that in about 3-5 years you will be needing a new trailer most likely, because the bunk trailer that are under most of the US boats are not made for salt water and have to be dunked to get the boat off. If you are serious about getting a US boat, go for a ride in rough water and price it up with a good quality OZ roller trailer that will last. As for the glass or gelcoat being damaged on sand, it is not really an issue unless you hit something like a rock. Many times with my Haines I have pulled upto a beach and left the boat on the sand and it is fine. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Guys, I saw this beast at the Miami boatshow earlier in the year and it was huge. I am sure it is going to be a great engine, but I do not see a market here in Australia, we just do not have the boats to carry that HP or the weight. From reports I have seen from the States the 5.3L engine is not the best of fuel, but if you want HP that is the sacrifice you need to make. I would also be concerned about the gearbox being able to handle that much torque and HP, it is what limits all manufacturers in the horsepower race and in the Mercruiser range anything around that sort of HP runs the Bravo leg, which is a lot stronger and can handle the stresses better than an outboard g/box. I have heard that when it hits our shores it is going to be around the $35K mark, and I do not think it will be long before the other guys come out with similar horsepower, Mercury has released a 300HP Verado, whihc from reports is a very strong 300HP, and Suzukis 300HP has been out for a few years and I have heard that is alos strong. It is interesting times in the outboard HP wars. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Jimmy, I went to the link and yes it looks good in principle but not sure how good it would work. I personally have not seen anything like that on a boat. It seems to be a US thing, maybe contact them and see how much and if it was under $100 I would be tempted to try it and see how it performs in our environment with salt water. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Jimmy, I never seen such a thing and I would be surprised if it worked because it would need to go on the port side of the tilt tube and I do not think the seal would last any length of time. Older steering cables had a grease nipple on the starboard side, which allowed you to grease the cable, but that was B4 the inner and outer rod of the steering cable were both SST. Now days with regular use and some maintence with both rods being SST, we do not have much problem with seized steering, except on older engines with the older style cables. You could try Morse on 9417-6099 and they are located in Chatswood. They might have a nut like you describe and I have just have not seen one-it would not be the first time I am wrong Cheers, Huey.

Good Morning Greg, not being rude, but I think you are going to have to save a bit more money. All that $4-$5K will get you is something small or early to mid 1980's if you want something around 16-17 foot.. You mention your are wanting a 4-Stroke and a boat capable of going in open water and I do not see you will be able to get such a boat for under $5000, with 4-Strokes of anything around 60HP and up only being around for about 10 years and they alone are worth about $4K for just the outboard. Check out the Seafarer Venus I listed in boat of the week, it would be about the best boat you could get for your budget and it has a good running 85HP on the back. It is a boat that will safety do what you want to do and when the money is saved you can always upgrade the engine to something later model. Just my thoughts, Huey.

Hi Livebaiter, I have a soft spot for Savage boats, because we were NSW biggest dealer for them when owned by the Savage family. When Merc bought them things went downhill a bit, not from terms of the boats, but the management and having to deal with them. We dropped the Savage range about 5 years ago, but the Lancer is an excellent boat with good seakeeping ability and should perform well with the 115HP Yamaha, most ones we sold were with 115HP Johnos and they went well. I see it is a late model by the photo and agree on a price and take it for a water test and make sure you like it, but I honestly think you will be very happy with the boat if it is priced right and well suited to what you want to do. PM me or post the price they are wanting and I will let you know if it is a fair price. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Dave, most Bayliners that come into OZ are with Mercuriser, but because Brunswick owns both Mercury and Bayliner you sometimes see them with outboards which I doubt was fitted at the factory-if you want to be sure get the serial number and call Mercury and find out if it was sold to an Australian dealer. The reason that M/cruisers are much more popular is to do with cost. It is much cheaper to buy the Bayliner with the M/cruiser fitted and paid for in US dollars, instead of buying just the boat from Bayliner and then fitting the outboard once it arrives in Australia and paying the price we get charged here for outboards. Also Bayliner would buy 100,000 odd M/cruisers per year compared to an Australian outboard dealer that might buy 200 odd engine per year. At present it is cheaper from me to buy a Stacer with a 3.0L (135HP) than it is with a basic carby 90HP Mercury, that 3.0L Mercruiser is just a very cheap engine and I am sure someone like Bayliner would be getting them even cheaper than Telwater. If you like the boat and is priced right the outboard will offer you better performance than the STD 3.0L Mercruiser and also not be as expensive to maintain and service, but the M/cruiser will use less fuel and be quieter. If it was me I would prefer an outboard, but it all has to do with the price. PM me if you like with the details and I can tell you if it is good value. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Wildfish, we work on any brand and the Fishraider discount on parts applies to everyone. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Topended, depending on year model and if it is still under manufacturers warranty I think a fair price would be $4,000 to $5,000 retail, being only a carby engine might put some people off and not as valuable as an EFI 4-Stroke. To give you a rough guide an EFI 4-Stroke or E-TEC are approx $7,500 to $8,000 nowdays. Best of luck with the sale and if I can be of further help just ask, Cheers, Huey.

Good Morning Choad, it is very easy with an E-TEC to get engine hours and it is 100 percent accurate, not like other engines that have an hour meter, that can be easily disconnected and/or accidently left on. It takes about 2 minutes to plug in the laptop and not only get engine hours, but the RPM and Temp profiles of the engine and EMM to see if it has been mistreated in the use it has had. PM me if you want to us to give it a once over B4 you buy it, Cheers, Huey.

Hi Roylo, no there is no major differnece in noise between a Carby and EFI 4-Stroke. The benefit of an EFI 4-Stroke is that you do not have carbies to worry about that can gum up and over time get out of sync and it is a very fiddly process to re-sync carbys on 4-Strokes and I for one am glad that most brands now run EFI. It was a real pain to get a carby 4-Stroke running right once they had a few years on them and got out of sync-you need expensive vacuum gauges and alot of patience. What I would suggest you get if the noise at low speed (approx 1500 and down) is the most important factor to you, is an EFI 4-Stroke, do not buy a Carby 4-Stroke if you can get an EFI for about the same money. The other option I see for you is to save yourself even more money and get a basic carby 2-Stroke, that gets you to where you want to go and if only running for about 1 hour each outing, the extra fuel costs will not be that noticable. Then put the saving towards a Minn Kota, Jarvis Walker or Motorguide electric motor, which are hard to beat for noise-they do not make any. Cheers, Huey.

Good Morning Guys, yes the XD-100 is expensive oil, but you get what you pay for. I have done a deal with BRP and soon I will be offering refills of XD-100 oil for $50, so not that much more than any other TCW-3 premium oil. I will be letting Raiders know when the drum comes in. As for the smell, I can honestly say that I have not seen or had any of our customers complain of this, but one thing to keep in mind is that when compared to a 4-Stroke, the smell might not be there with a 4-Stroke, but they do pump out alot of carbon monoxide and that can be very bad for your health, as I am sure most Raiders know what the outcome would be if a human is exposed to too much carbon monoxide. From 2009 year model sterndrives are going to have to use cat converters to reduce carbon monoxide and sealed fuel system to reduce air pollution and I see it only a matter of time B4 4-Stroke outboards will have to meet the same restrictions. The E-TEC range already has low carbon monoxide output and meets the toughest EU regulations and have a sealed fuel system. They are the only outboard to have ever won the EPA clean air award, so the debate about which technology is the cleanest is pretty useless because the EPA award and 3 star EPA and EU rating speak for themselves. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Arif, the Brooker range of boats allows you to get a new boat for the price of a second hand boat and there is nothing really wrong with them, I believe they just do not have the finish and reputation of some other brands. The Snyper range of boats I have not had much experience of them but I would be saying they are on par with Brooker. For what it is worth I have a 429 Seahorse here with extruded side decks and thwart seat cushion for a little more than your budget. If you can stretch your finances we might be able to help you out with a new Stacer. Please PM me if you want more details, Cheers, Huey.

Hi Boutime, no this is not normal and needs to get looked at by someone that has the training and equipment to check the engine over with the laptop. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Roylo, both 4-Stroke and DI 2-Stroke are smooth and quiet in/or out of the water. Both these technologies are alot quieter than the older carby designs and also offer you much better economy than any carby engine without the smoke that the carbies can put out when first started. If any Raider has an older carby engine, and I am sure there will be a few, what you can do to reduce smoke is run a full synthetic oil like XD-100. It will cost you a bit more, but it is the best oil to run in any 2-Stroke especially big HP like 115HP and up. It is what I run in my 225HP DI Evinrude. Cheers, Huey.

LB, try John at Sydney Boat Terminal on 46480499. I do have his mobile also but PM me if you have no luck with the landline. John moves all our boats for us and never had an issue with him.To give you a rough idea, from Brisbane to Sydney you are looking at about $650. Cheers, Huey.

Good Morning Osprey, that is the basic way to wire uo a twin abttery set-up and as Ross said use one battery at a time. The only time it should be on the "both" setting is when either No1 or 2 battery is not strong enough to crank your outboard. If you run it on the both position the good battery will be drained by the weaker/smaller battery. A better way is to fit a battery distrubution cluster with a voltage sensitive relay. This will cost you about $150 more than the basic way but it the best way to do it and we have fitted to many boats. Hope this helps, Huey.

Hi Slaka, next time you use your boat take it for a run on the Hawkesbury and call in and I will show you what I mean. I would be surprised if we can not solve your dilema easily. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Slaka, do not shorten the trailer at first, just pull the boat more onto the trailer by moving the winch post forward, making the overall length less. If that does not work, then look at shortening the drawbar. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Slaka, as mentioned, you should be able to move the winch post forward which will move the whole boat forward on the trailer and that could give you enough to fit where you need to put it. I am sure the RM trailer have long skids and having a bit overhanging the rear of the boat will not be a drama. It would be alot easier and cheaper than getting someone to modify your trailer and I would try that first if it was my boat. Hope you get it sorted, Huey.

Hi Andy, great boat you have there and I wish you many happy hours with her. I think I see in the top picture where you have the series 2 Verados which Merc have made improvements to the fuel usuage without sacrificing any performance-I am sure you are one happy camper. As you said get yourself some Fishraider stickers and you are set. Cheers, Huey.