Bill S

Lee Hang onto your chair for a sec . I bought a pair of Sonnenschein 115 amp/hour at $800 roughly . I calculated the batteries will last a minimum of 7.5 years provided I charge them properly. Thats $800 divided by 7.5 years = $106.66 per year or $2.05 per week. That's pretty cheap for a top shelf, gel-cell . Whats that old saying about expensive being cheaper? As for size, true gel-cells in comparison tend to be larger than their equivalent counterparts due to heavier duty internal grids. Cheers Bill

Hooley dooley , a 50 two stroke on a 435 should go like a rocket. You'll need a cap to keep your hair on . Hope you have many a good day on the briney. Cheers Bill

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Congratulations Jorg. Hope you have many happy hours in her mate :happy: . Have you picked a name yet? Bill

Bashir There are no anti Hornet threads because Ken threatened to ban any posters. Geez I'm glad the Full Boar hasn't warped, cracked, or porpoised :naughty: Nice pic by the way Boss (suck, suck) :nana: Bill

Joe IMHO stick with the plastic ones. Your not chasing marlin :confusuion: or are you? The plastic units won't start corrosion usually associated when salt water is added to dissimilar metals. Make sure you use a clip on tether to your rods. The guys at Load Restraints in the Southern Cross yard at Chippo can whip them up dirt cheap. Just supply your own clips. Cheers Bill

:beer: ????????? salty. Yep it tasted salty, which is good as it means it will be a simple fix and I can still trust my local servo :thumbsup: . As soon as I get some time, the investagation will begin. The duel breathers are looking suspect at the moment. More later. Bill

Hi Trouble :confusuion: Yep, the 2500s go well on a graphite 7 footer, maybe a 4000 on a glass rod Bill

After working too many shifts, the roster god smiled on me with Monday off. Ripper :ohyeh: I love to fish on weekdays away from the madding crowds. I watched the sun peek over the horizon at Sydney heads with a hot cuppa at hand thinking I should take a photo, but it was over in moments and I didn't want to spill my tea . Large flocks of birds scoured the swells and headed north, in fact every bird I saw was heading north :confusuion: . With no salmon in sight I took their lead and, you guessed it, headed north. I trolled up to Queenscliff with nothing but birds bums in view . Things went down hill at this point as the 115hp coughed spluttered and died. A turn of the key returned the sound of the engine turning but not firing. Not a problem thinks me as the boat is pushed towards the rock face . I hooked up the second fuel line from the main tank to the auxiliary and will it to life with a hefty pull. A cough, a half splutter. Another pull and zip not a cough. Another few pulls on the startyabarstard cord and nothing, not a cough. The Queenscliff shoreline is really close by this stage and I go for broke and deploy the Minn Kota. The skeg, of the main engine touches down briefly as the bow swings east and is pulled away from the rocks. :sweat: That was bloody close :yikes: Once away from the rocks, logic kicks in and the common denominator is bad fuel. A check of the filter from the 5 horse leaves my palm covered in an oily base with beads of water running along the creases of my skin. S**t! The 12 litre tank that came with the aux. is stowed under the front decks, full, with fuel purchased weeks before. Access to the carburettor is a different matter, my onboard tools are limited and decidedly inadequate for a carbie o/haul at sea. The cowl of the 115 looks strangely huge on the front casting deck; the thought of it toppling off somewhat diminished by the situation. A water trap sight glass shows the red float warning ring at its upper level, but access to the injector rail and filter are good :happy:.. . (Thinks) OK, I can strip out the injectors, rail and filter and clean them out. Then run the injector pump to clear the lines. That leaves me with just the small fuel tank to connect to the main engine. The Mercury’s have a short length of factory fitted hose from the filter to just outside the cowl, terminated with a double ended barb and as luck would have it, both engines run 5/16†hose. Out with the knife and slice off the quick connecter from the aux. tank then butcher the clip from the main engine hose. Plug the reserve tank into the main engine hose, zip ties for hose clamps and Bobs your Uncle :clap1: A pump or two on the primer bulb and turn the key. She fired straight up and purred like only an injected engine can. :grogon: I could have :boff: someone I was so happy A conservative run back to the welcome vision of the Gladesville ramp. The question begs, where did the water come from? The servo where I filled last night or maybe the twin breather points through the side of the hull. I’ll strip the tank out tomorrow and maybe taste the water . Then fit a large capacity water trap. Either way, at least I’m alive to fix it. Bill

What's one tray of hardbodies worth :confusuion:

Lee I think you could use alloy 90 deg. angle and make up a simple box frame, then attach the slide bases at the appropiate distance for the trays to slide into. Pop rivet, screw and nut or weld as required and Bobs your uncle :thumbsup: Bill

G'day Lee I used a product from BLA, I have one under each rod locker. They hold 5 X 4200 Plano boxes. Here They are not water proofed in any sense of the word and any water running down the face above them will enter the gap at the top of the locker door and sit on top of the Plano's. They do hold the boxes out of the way and are better than having a seperate bag to store the trays. If I was building another boat, I would use a waterproofed inspection hatch cover and build a frame work for the trays to slide into. A helluva lot cheaper too. Cheers Bill

Joe I'm curious, is the pic from the Parramatta River? Bill

Georges River beside Milperra Bridge? :confusuion:

Hi Trouble D/load a freeware product called IRFANVIEW from irfanview.com Makes editing pics for the net a breeze :thumbsup: . Scanned shots won't post as clear as digi shots Nice sambo Bill

Stainless or alloy Wombat?

Bought the boat a torch for fathers day :ohyeh: , ended up with a rechargeable Dolphin. The gel cel batteries are available at Dick Smiths too, when it finally dies. Plug in the MinnKota and Dolphin once I arrive home, ready for the next trip :thumbsup: Bill

Joe I tried that but the new, near white cork grips are a dead give away. Though the stradics are all the same colour and ''she'' didn''t twig when a 2500 appeared :ohyeh: Bill

:ohyeh:

Hi Mark Used to have the same problem with wet suit bootie zippers. Boiling water normally did the trick. On severe instances, we used a product called C.L.R. . Purchase it at hardware stores and larger supermarkets in the household cleaning area. I used a small artist paint brush to apply the liquid and have plenty of water on hand to wash off any spills. The product contains sulfamic acid, so read the directions on the bottle. Avoid the problem by opening the zipper about 20mm when storing the boat after the wash down at the end of the day. Allow it to dry for a day or two , then apply a lubricant like silicon spray or Inox to the last 20mm before you close it. This will stop the two alloy sections of the zipper reacting to any salt residue and corroding together. Bill

I can''t believe you blokes don''t recognize a suspender belt, my vote puts it as the sexiest piece of female underwear on the planet :-whip Shame guys, shame Bill

Thanks for the replies guys. I looked at the Shimano range, they seemed too heavy or too light :confusuion: Bashir, the Ugly Lites looked the goods but felt umm??? wrong. The rod that really felt good in the hand was a Procaster Z 701MLFS, Very nice. The price was a bit more than I wanted to pay :idea: but it''s Fathers Day soon and I qualify :ohyeh: . Matched with a 2500/4000 Stradic and ?? 10lb Fireline, sounds about right. Does anyone own this model rod, how do you find it? Bill

Hi Guys I need some suggestions for a graphite rod suited to larger plastics and medium metal lures, something around the :confusuion: 7+ foot mark. Targets are smaller kings, salmon and jews. I''m not prepared to spend above $200''ish I''m thinking 14 lb fireline on a stradic/inspira. Any suggestions?????? Bill

Ohh bugger:huh:, just downloaded and ran Spybot to find 39 nasties. I run ad-aware 6 and keep it updated but it missed a couple of things :confusuion: Thanks Ken, the old puter is downloading pages heaps faster now too :thumbsup: Bill

Hi Adam Most of the time I single man launch and prefer calmer waters to do it in. I need two bays to myself. One to land the boat , the other to sink the trailer and then hop in the boat and drive on. Guaranteed as soon as I land the boat , someone will back down the other ramp and screw up the game plan :wallbash: Bill