[One of those magical days! Ulladulla 21 January 2019]

Perfect fishing day.  

[botany bay 20/01/2019]

Awesome morning on the water.    Sounds like you have a few jobs to do before hitting the water again.

[Flatties on the bay including 76cm model]

Nice feed and well done on the release 

[What would you buy for 45k?]

Is the Stabicraft 45k and what would be included in that?  

I’d like a different style of boat every time I go fishing I reckon. 

[My Stress Free new to me Boat]

That’s a nice looking set up you have. Raiders help and collective advice is awesome. 

[Mixed bag on live poddies in Botany Bay]

Great fishing, yummy feed. 

[Navionics - huge price increase with replacement App !]

Damn,    I get the message but have ignored it so far. 

[Persistence payed off. Sorry long post.]

Good thinking going back with the trebles. 

[Boxing Day Flatties on the Flats]

Oh dear not the esky.  Sounds like a very educational day in the water.    I didn’t know NZ didn’t have flatties.

[Energy Bills]

8 hours ago, Sea Ranger said:

We just had Solar installed in November and at the moment are in a unique situation as our power provider is dragging their heels to install a "Smart Meter"  so we Still have the old spinning disk meter.  

 

A Happy Bear with Solar  🐻

Will the smart meter have time of use billing?

[Battery for portable live bank tank]

I have two batteries in my current and previous boat with the simple 1, 2 or 1 and 2 set up.

I have a live bait tank in each boat the first had 360gph and the 2nd boat has 500gph.   I only ever have one battery switched on and have never needed to switch over but it is nice piece of mind.  

[Energy Bills]

With solar panels it’s just a matter of knowing where your power consumption is, the space available on the roof, overshadowing and if you have standard billing or time if use.

My pool uses up to 3.5kw over the three pumps so if they are going whilst the power is being produced it is a good saving. My system is 5kw so 3.5 is achievable directly offsetting the pool which I can set the timer to run during the day.   The ducted system probably uses 7 kw whilst it is running.  I

Halogen downlights 50watts each but they are unlikely to be on whilst producing the electricity.

I really think the key is to use the power you create rather than sell it at 11 cents. 

I have a lot of unshaded roof facing north so it works well for me. 

 

 

 

 

[Energy Bills]

I checked my panels after the hail and they were fine but the hail was much bigger a few kms away.

Funny thing about my recent gas bills.   Two quarters ago the bill was very big compared to normal and they actually called asking if I wanted the meter reread to check.   I said don’t worry.   In the most recent bill the error was corrected resulting in a credit invoice, but they still charged me $1.98 for a credit card processing fee!   It’s not like I’m going to spend 1/2 hour on the phone to have it corrected though. 

[Energy Bills]

As a builder I see a few houses with roofing over roofing but not a lot.

Before I got divorced my power bills ranged from 800 to 1800. That’s with running a pool too.  Hot water and some heating is gas.   As the house is largeish single story with 10ft ceilings it has a big AC unit 22kw that uses a fair wack of power.

We have 80 odd halogen  downlights the 6 in the kitchen I changed to LED and plan to do the whole house eventually.

I have a 5kw solar system and for the last 5 or 6 years my bills have been between 100 and 600 per quarter.   I have the pool running during a day when the panels are producing the most.   I don’t mind the house pretty cool in winter but give the AC a workout over summer.

But enough talk  about that I’m flicking the AC on and going fishing.

 

 

 

[Installing a Downrigger]

The rod holder mount ended up like this.  

We added a stainless plate and a hole to mount a rod lanyard. 

[Installing a Downrigger]

1 hour ago, Poly2096 said:

Thanks a lot. Is it just me or does this mount look like it will have the downrigger pointing to the sky? My rod holders in our poly craft are vertical hence I need a vertical steel pipe and a horizontal mounting plate I think. I bought a hookem 30 degree mount and it doesn’t work unfortunately because of the angle. 

 

Also so if you don’t have pins in the bottom of the rod holders (I don’t think the polys do) will a rod holder mounted downrigger just spin around as I’m trolling?

It might be easier to buy an angled one cut it and get it welded or make it from scratch.  Mine goes in an angled holder and have the hookem brand but modified it anyway.

In my oat to keep the plastic rod holder due to paint and it being a shared boat I made a rod holder that goes under the gunnel and uses the plastic one as an insert.

[Squid and Yakkas - same tank?]

2 hours ago, locodave said:

Awesome, thanks guys! Was thinking maybe needed to upgrade to twin bait tanks  - any excuse!

The slimeys didn’t die in the tank they were just defrosting.   It was a little crowded in there that day 🤣

[Squid and Yakkas - same tank?]

Yes you can.

 

usually no problems although recently the squid did bite bits out of dead slimeys in mine. 

[Squid rig]

In deeper water if I run a ball sinker I don’t use the swivel I just run the sinker to squid jig.   The swivel is just another spot to get snagged.

Also a sea anchor can help slow the drift to get the jigs in the right zone. 

[Bay Boat for Fishing Sydney Area]

2 hours ago, The Yank said:

Hi all, 

reviving this 5 year old topic to say thanks for the advice. Took me a while to pull the trigger but the short stint in oz turned into a long stint in Oz and as of two months ago the boat has landed in Sydney- us trailer and all. 

 

Thanks for for all the tips back then as it planted the seed that got me to finally ship the bay boat over. 

Now I just need fishing partners.....

Enjoy the new boat andcdo post some pics. 

[Live bait tank plumbing]

58 minutes ago, lakelad said:

@flatheadluke thanks for the info mate and photos, looks like a great setup. 18 yakked and 3 squid is impressive! Marine carpet is gold hey, I just made a marine ply box for a dual battery switch and relay and it looks great carpeted.

I’ve been getting this live tank project moving the last few days around holiday activities and have mounted the tank to the transom. This took a little while as I had to shorten the middle rod holders to allow engine in full locked up position and also not infringe on bench seat. I wasn’t keen to raise it higher due to blocking the view and the potential to get in the way fishing, also didn’t want the weight any higher. 

Have plumbed the bilge pump section in also, my larger outlet was too large to get near the top of the tank so I’ll drop back into the chandlery and get a couple of 19mm elbows for outlets so the water level can be high. Will be good to have one outlet either side anyway as the boat rocks and rolls.

I’ll also get some tinned electrical cable to extend the bilge pump wiring into the boat via the existing glanded entry the motor cables use to keep it neat. Next thing I’m out of switches with all my latest accessories :), will look at adding another smaller switch panel.

My projects always end up with a few twists and direction changes.

I am enjoying the collective input in this thread and no doubt any future bait tank I build will be better for it.

[My favourite fishing spots]

Great photos Big Neil

 

[Last nights storms]

30 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

Speaking of golf balls,thinking of playing putt putt on the bonnet when the weather clears up.

Looks like my painting gear will be coming out of retirement soon.😂

Looks like a lot of work 

[Live bait tank plumbing]

36 minutes ago, lakelad said:

Cheers @zmk1962, appreciate you taking the time to upload the photos and drawing, makes sense and I'm sure this post will help other raiders in the future gets the best out of their livies.

I think I'll go with one larger 50mm outlet (vs two 19mm ones), and the bottom inlet with no return valve. I'm hoping this will keep the fish alive longer.

*Edit - I thought about reversing polarity on the bilge pump for draining, but the non-return valve won't like this.. I'll just mount the bung from outside so I can get water out without putting my hands in with crabs or something bitey..

That looks like a solid plan and should perform much better than the standard kit. 

[Last nights storms]

I know it’s a bit off you topic but you might relate to this one.    I had my 351 out for a new rear mains and we decided to get the block machined for a 1 piece seal instead,  from there you know how it goes....

We had the heads reconditioned to suit unleaded, new valves, springs all that stuff.

Anyway engine back in the car started and ran fine.  Check the oil and it’s milky 😡.   We started testing and working our way through methodically and it turns out a core plug was leaking rusted from the back.   Rang the machine shop that hadn’t come across it before and had never removed them before.   Anyway he said I will pull some out of old heads you can have.   A while later he rang back saying with heat and rattle gun they couldn’t budge them.  We decided to pull the engine, drill and tap all 6 of the plugs ( they were tapered into the centre so much thicker when drilled) and put a plug in the plug.