TK01

Cool. I wonder if a bit of pool noodle foam or something like that might finish the job off nicely. Those ends might dig in a bit.

Looks like you've picked a much better weekend than I did, weather wise. Hope you get a few. We definitely made the right call to cancel our trip out there. Too risky in my 5m open tinny. I'll just have to try again later in the season.

Thanks guys, it was good exploring a new waterway, now that my friend has moved to the area I think there might be a few more trips in the future. Procro, sorry I’m not the man to ask this question- never fished land based up there apart from bream off the Nelson bay breakwall

Our plan to take 2 boats out to Broughton Island was cancelled last week due to the forecast, so we stayed at a mate's house at lemontree passage instead. I've done the trip to Broughton a few times but have never really fished in the bay so this trip was a bit exploratory. We found the fishing in the bay to be very tough. My fallback species is flathead because you're always guaranteed a flathead around my local waters. We didn't get a single flathead... Pumped nippers and got plenty of undersize whiting on Friday arvo whilst drifting likely looking areas and casting plastics for the flatties up around lemontree. Saturday morning was our window to fish inshore and we didn't venture far from the heads. I got this nice 62cm snapper on a plastic and we caught a heap of bonito, couta and some other ugly things. Got blown off the water yesterday morning before coming home. We also managed a couple of good blue swimmers and an average muddy in the pots over the course of the weekend. This is the only pic because it was the only fish worth taking a photo of!

I've got one just like it in my tackle box, works a treat. I now know it's called an ikijime - I've always called it a fish shiv

Smart move Luke - get a fish in before it gets super busy around here. Welcome to the area btw.

There was no need with my setup. It’s all accessible via hatches. I made some mods a few years ago and also put in a different console to the original. Here are a couple of pics by way of explanation. (No idea why they're uploading upside down. They look fine on my screen.) Boat is a 5m Fish Finder by the way

Thanks Frank, no I didn't cover it. Oops! Oh well, I can't see any visual signs of damage. The paint's pretty rough anyway and I'm thinking about going to bare alloy for the gunnels so it probably won't matter. Thanks a lot for the offer, I'll keep that in mind if I decide I want a rail again later. Installation went smoothly and I've got everything hooked up and ready to go. Unfortunately didn't get a chance for a water test, hopefully one afternoon this week. Being a 24V motor I was worried about all the extra weight with batteries. I've mounted them as far back as I could. They're below floor level under the console. Easy access for charging there and completely out of the way. Will be interesting to see if they make much difference to the way she sits in the water. 56kg of batteries plus the motor which must weigh about 12kg+ I reckon so there's a fair bit of new weight in her.

Thanks for your concern guys but it definitely had to go. I trialled and tested every which way before I decided to cut the rail off, and no scenario was going to work perfectly. This option has meant I don’t have to make any compromises and I’ll have the ability to run it a bit shallower when I’m in the racks or flats. Now that it’s done I think it looks cool too

Hi Luke Yeah I was thinking of doing something along those lines. Might just take it off for now and see if I miss having a rail or not. Grinder's coming out this arvo so I can get back on the water asap. I think we live in the same area? I'm in Umina Beach. Keep an eye out on Brisbane Water for a white quintrex with patchy paintwork on the bow and come say g'day some time. Cheers

Hi Frank, the transom is already loaded up, I think the bow is the best place for it. Yes it is awesome isn’t it! Loads of character. It does make a good spot to hold onto occasionally but that’s pretty much the only benefit... After sleeping on this I think removing it is the way to go. It will make fishing up there a bit better too I think. It does get in the way sometimes and I’ll be able to land fish up there

Keen to hear from anybody who has added a bow mount trolling motor to an old Quintrex Fish Finder. Just got one and I’m thinking I’ll have to cut the bow rail. Not very keen on the idea so befor I get the angle grinder out I’m hoping someone may have mounted theirs with the bow rail in tact.

Near the rip bridge

I've seen them in there once last year. A school of rats hanging off a moored boat. I hooked up but got dusted on the mooring and then couldn't get another bite.

Great vid, made me thirsty. I might have to get out there and see if I can find these kings. I've seen them in there and even hooked them but never 6kg ones!

Thanks Ron, on a positive note that shouldn't be very difficult since most of the paint is falling off there already

Thanks Fab1 and Zoran I'll have a read of those links later. I agree that he did a crappy job. He certainly talked a good game and is a professional smash repairer, but he did it for cash and obviously didn't care about the end result. I was furious about it for a while but have moved on now and just want to get on with it. There are quite a few scratches around the boat which is mostly because I have no qualms about bumping into trees/jetties/oyster leases when I'm out on the water. It is a fishing boat after all and was never intended to win a beauty contest. My concern with your suggestion Fab1 is that I know there are areas all over the hull, particularly inside the bow and on the outside of the transom that were rubbed back to bare metal before the respray, and they haven't been etched. If I was to just leave that paint on now and do as you suggest, I'm worried that it might only be a matter of time before these issues crop up again. I'm thinking maybe I should just deal with the patches now and clock up a few hundred more hours on the outboard and then upgrade to a new boat in a couple of years. Oh and re the fuel filler. It's all aluminium and held down with aluminium rivets. The cap, I think, is chrome plated brass. Never had corrosion issues in that area before the respray. Again this is a part that was bare metal and not etched (or properly cleaned is my assumption).

A couple of pics as promised. That fuel filler is by far the worst part.

Thanks a lot for these responses guys, very helpful! I hadn't really considered the bare aluminium option this time around. I remember mulling over it 3 years ago but decided on paint mainly because I thought it would look better and meant I didn't need to get the hull back to bare alloy in the prep stage. In hindsight I think I made the wrong decision. You've got me thinking now though. I think the majority if not all of the bubbling/cracking is on the gunwales at the moment. I was talking to my wife at lunch today about the advice you guys have given and she said 'well, why don't you just strip those bits back to bare metal and leave the rest of it painted. That way you don't have to pull the whole boat apart.' Oh my god! That might even look cool. The bottom of the hull is already bare alloy so it would blend in quite nicely. I'll take some photos tonight to show you the issue. Will also have a closer look to see if I'm not mistaken about the gunwales being the only affected area.

Hi Luke I think it's a pretty big job. It's not just the painting, pulling it apart and the refit are also part of the job and having done it all before I break into a cold sweat just thinking about taking it on again, but it certainly is an option that I haven't ruled out as yet. The corrosion issue bothers me. I don't want to do all that work if it's not going to be a high certainty that the corrosion won't just start again in a couple of years.

Hi guys I've got a bit of a dilemma with my old quintrex hull. It's a mid 80's model fishfinder centre console. About 3 years ago I gave it a full makeover and did the majority of the work myself. One job that I didn't take on was painting it. I did all the prep work myself and spent many hours sanding to get it ready for the painter. I left the original paint on but there were patches of bare metal all over the place including some larger sections where I built a frame for a cast deck in the bow. He was going to clean it with prepsol, etch prime and paint. It became evident not long after getting the boat home that the 'professional' that I paid to do the job did a dodgy job. There were bits of masking tape that he had left on the hull and painted over. As time went by I also found that he did not even etch prime the bare patches despite telling me that's what he would do. I don't know if he cleaned it up properly either and my guess is probably not judging by the rest of his job. 3 years on and there are now patches of bubbling/cracking paint all over the place and I'm not sure what to do. Do I: Just leave it and keep fishing until it starts to fall apart? Rub back the ugly bits and do a touch up job, knowing that I will probably be doing this over and over as new spots arise? Just sell it and buy another boat? Pull the whole thing apart and get a real professional to do it properly this time? My worry is that the damage has been done to the aluminium now and no amount of proper cleaning and priming before painting will give any certainty that I won't be facing this exact same problem in a couple of years. What would you do?

No not yet, this shout out was to hopefully get some suggestions on this. I'll keep looking.

Thanks Jon I've just always really liked the idea of doing this. Your mate's experience doesn't surprise me and is a big part of the reason why I'd want to have my own boat with me so I can make a run further afield from the mothership to fish the reef, or chase schools of pelagics around (and having decent electronics at my fingertips too). If I can't take my boat a lot of the appeal is lost for me. Thanks for the link too.

Hi guys Planning a trip to the Whitsundays in Sept 2018 and hit a snag already. The idea is to hire one of those large power cats for a week for a family holiday. I want to take my boat to use as a tender but also as a satellite to the mothership so I can get out and do some serious fishing. It appears that you are not allowed to bring your own boat though, something to do with insurance for the hire company. They provide you with a small tender vessel and that's it, non negotiable. Has anyone done a trip like this before and know of any way I can get around this issue? Cheers