Mick

I wouldn't read any thing in to the fact that the Maritime officers wouldn't look up the information for you, as they would have probably been commiting an offence, accessing the details of an incident at the request of an individual. You were on the right track though, you could probably get the information through the FOI Act, but it obviously wont contain any person information of persons involved. But to be honest a REVS check is all you need, most boats that are big collisions etc, are not worth repairing for resale.

Yamaha certainly make good motors, but it is very easy to read between the lines in the speed component of the test. If all motors offered similar performance then I have no doubt the etec out performed the other two. If either of the yamahas were ahead in the speed department, they would have jumped at the chance to advertise it, considering yamaha were the ones doing the testing. So in a nut shell you could run the etec at a lower rpm to achieve the same spped and thus use less fuel. I think this article is a very good advertisement for the etec The closest to independant testing is found on the bass and walleye boat site, where the manufactuers set the boats up prior to testing.

There is no classic this year, cancelled due to low water levels.

Not sure on your budget but you should see if you can stretch the difference in $ between the 115 etec and and the 135 opti. The 115 would be the minimum HP for that model and with hull weight of around 1300-1400kg (From memory) the 115 etec would be working hard once you add fuel a few blokes etc. The etecs are good on fuel but it is all relative to what hull they are on and how they are used. If you are using them at the higher rpm range for long periods they are going to chew the fuel. You will certainly save on service costs with the etec, but you may be using more petrol with the smaller displacement motor so it may all even out over 3 years. I'm sure Craig can give you a price on both the 135 Mariner opti and the 115 etec, as well as the pros and cons of each model and make your decison from there.

I've seen it before, the only reason the council take postcodes at boat ramps is to justify a parking fee. Going on the numbers of boats at Parsley on Saturday and the potential money available for the taking, I'm guessing it will come in sooner rather than later.

You obviously dont know how ebay works, By bidding on it you have actually achieved nothing except make some else pay more for it. When you don't pay for your bid, an offer will be sent to the next highest bidder who is only $5 under your highest bid. The bloke selling the photo should be sending you a thank you, as you pushed up the bidding for him.

The test of any companies warranty is not when you make a claim for a small part that most will readily repair, but when some thing major goes wrong and the repair bill hits the thousands. As I've previously mentioned I had a bad experience with a 6 month old Honda 50Hp which over heated and the block cracked. Strange thing is, I never got any thing caught around the intake, the tell tail was always going at full strength, no over heating alarms went off, there were none of the usual signs on the block like discoloured paint from over heating. But people from honda actually came out to the boat shop to check it out for them selves and said it was not a machanical fault but over heating, probably from some thing caught around the leg. They also said it was possible for the motor to over heat with the telltail still working and no arlarms sounding . My only saving grace is that the motor was insured otherwise I would have been out of pocket $8K. The boat shop which was aware of the saga to their credit gave me a very good deal on another honda so it was replaced with the same model, but that boat and motor were sold soon after and I wont buy another honda and by the sounds of things Tohatsu have a similar policy. Brisso, I know exactly how you feel as I've been there before and its not a nice place to be. I've now gone with evinrude as although I mave never had any problems, I know of a couple of boats that have gone back with significant faults and evinrude have been fantastic with getting these boats back on the water and not trying to place the blame back on the customer. Thats the peace of mind I want from a motor manuacturer.

I dont know if it is too late or not with the blank order, but you would be much better off building a rod on a sub 7ft blank, this is where the core market is. I would say the majority of rods used by people for chucking plastics at estuary/table species would be between 6'2''- 6'10'. There are manufacturers out there building 7ft plus rods and sub 6ft rods all of which work well for certain applications but if you asked them where their biggest market palce is and I'm sure they would say between 6-7 ft.

That story sounds very similar, as we have been down that road with our little guy who is 4 and has high functioning autism/sensory intergration disfunction/severe anxiety/visual impairment. But he still loves his fishing. Wivenhoe (Bouncing for Bass) Regards Mick

Information I received is that it is only a 60 day restriction on trawling whilst testing is done on prawns etc.

Traps are illegal but netting is still allowed. Tons of kingies are taken out of Sydney Harbour every year.

$169 at Protackle in Townsville, but a bit of a drive though

I would say it was a "Red Tide", which is an algal bloom, it occurs naturally and the fish probably died through lack of oxygen as a result. I dont think there are any concerns in relation to consuming fish, but its always better to be safe then sorry.

I think last years event went from Soldiers Point, I havent fished the bay either but looking at a map it seems Karuah isnt that far.

About $94 dollars not including postage.

The new ramp at Mooney Monney should be good when it is finished, I believe the ramp it self is open now, but they are still to complete the pontoon which is going down the centre of the ramp. I noticed the centrestyle pontoons are used a lot up in QLD and they are a heap better then the pontoon off to the side, especially when launching alone.

He backed off over 100 metres out. I wish there were more people who would back off the power that far out.

Picken St Silverwater Ph 96486606

Probabbly some thing like this. Been doing it for years, its just taken this long for the yanks to catch up

I run a matrix 37 on the helm and a lowrance X125 on the front deck.

There are a lot of guys running tranducers off their electric motor. You can use a standard transom stlyle skimmer transducer or there are tranducers made for electric motors such as the one I have on my boat.

Trim the motor out a fraction at idle and you should notice a considerable reduction in vibration.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Minn Kotas , (Sorry), I wouldnt be too hard on the ABA, there isnt another retailer in Australia that would swap you for a new one, they all go back to BLA. As swoffa said, drop it back to BLA your self and the turn around time is about a week to get it back. But test it with a full battery first and also check there isnt the slightest amount of green corrosion on the footpedal connection as both will effect its operation. Dont worry your not alone with Minnkota problems there are lots of us out there. But my current one hasnt missed a beat yet (Fingers crossed)

Yes

You may want to try the Probream comps first up, you can fish with a mate and they are a little more laid back. Probream