Brooker435

Jgrant, Sounds like you and your father - In Law have made some good progress. also sounds like water has been coming in the motor for quite some time. Hopefully you wont have issues after this. did you end up checking the thermostat? The best part is now you and your father-in Law have been right over the motor and can be assured its in good order at the completion of the project. just wondering if you have drained and replaced the gearbox oil? this is another preventative maintenance exercise you may want to do cause you do not know when this was done last and depending on how the oil looks you can determine if the seals are good or not and you may prevent gearbox damage if you detect a bad seal the oil will appear milky and water will be present if this is the case. while your doing the work I think this is worthwhile, good luck with it and hope to see you back on the water soon!! Regards, Nathan

Mate Well Done, your killing it with the jewwies, that 75cm one is a cracker well done. Regards, Nathan

Some helpful tips there Fabian, well done. It goes to show that even with a spring washer the towball can still come loose, It surprises me cause when I remove my tow ball off my mazda I always have to work very hard to crack the nut. Perhaps your mate tried to remove it at some stage and got distracted, who knows but I am sure you will enjoy that bottle of burbon!!! Regards, Nathan

Awesome!!! Some quality fish there, well done theres a few family dinners in there top stuff!!! Regards, Nathan

Thanks Pete, you're probably right on the money as whatever this thing was it couldn't be stopped and it went straight down. Regards, Nathan

Thanks Fabian,

That sucks man, there are definitely some scum out there. Squid boy well done on your generosity I hope the fish gods are kind to you. Regards, Nathan

Good Evening Raiders, I hope that everyone is enjoying their well earned time if they are lucky enough to have some!! Anyway a good mate of mine has been trying real hard to tee up a weekend away on his brother in laws cruiser. I was very happy to get the opportunity to be on such a vessel given that I had only met the owner a couple of times so I said yes faster then Homer Simpson would say yes to free donuts!!! Anyway we met at the Marina in Brooklyn around 8am Saturday morning loaded our stuff onboard and set off. First destination was around Dangar Island for the first change of tide and we planned to spend the day there and see what we could manage. We ended up with 4 flatties ranging between 40 - 45 cm a few bream, dreaded catfish & eels. The boat owners cousins decided to drop by and pay us a visit for a couple of hours and we had lunch and just kicked back for a few hours.once they were on their way we thought about our next plan of attack, we thought we give Juno a crack before dark but as we headed out there it was a little rough so we thought we would head up the mouth of Cowan and pick a sheltered spot so we can BBQ the flatties and settle in for the night. Anyway once we were anchored we had a couple of hours before it got dark so on with the fishing. This little spot was very productive caught lots of snapper mostly undersized but close to legal, we caught bream, and a few soapie Jew plus some port Jackson sharks. so I was loving life cause I figured we would give this a crack over night and hopefully pick up a Jew, after dinner I sent out 2 jewwie baits, one with a chicken breast slab, the other with a yellow tail fillet from one we had caught earlier, we sat there for a hour not much happening but I was not giving up in a hurry, my mate and his father went inside and were playing a Italian card game, (Not Sure of the Name). Within 5 min's of that I one of my rods buckled over, I have grabbed it ready for a battle but whatever this thing was as soon as I tried to put pressure on it, it took off like a steam train, I had virtually locked the drag and there was no stopping it all over in about 10 seconds. busted at the leader (I was shattered) eventually got over it and pressed on. I managed a flattie in the Mid 40's so that put a smile back on my face!! and then decided to send out the other half of that yellow tail and you wouldn't believe it within 5 min's same thing happened again, this time it was heading straight for me and took me under the boat I had half my rod in the water just to try and stop this thing but it caught the anchor chain and it was all over, at this stage my Adrenalin was going into overdrive but I was just so exhausted being in the sun for most of the day it was now 2am and decided to call it quits, sent out both rods again, this time with chicken. I managed to get an hours sleep and woke up to inspect the rods and one of them had a port jackson on the end of it and it had wrapped around both the rods, I decided to cut it off and worry about it in the morning. Day 2, Woke up at 6am first thing on the agenda, get the rods re-rigged and send out some slabs and see if we can get a jew. I had a lot of trouble tying the Palomar knot must have been cause of dying to start fishing again, eventually both rods were rigged and we were back into fishing. Not much happening and was just enjoying a coffee and having to chat to my mates father. Shortly after that the rod with Yellow tail fillet on it started bouncing around and loaded up but not a big fight, too my surprise a good flattie on the end of it @64cms new pb for me in that species so very happy indeed. netted with the help of my mates father and kept in the live well along side the flattie I caught last night, happy days. It was now 8am my mate and his brother in law were up and everyone was hungry so it was time for some bacon and eggs, (Yummo)!!! since the bite had died down after the flattie we decided to head towards the rail bridge and settle in there for the remainder of the trip, had a feeling we could pick up some jewwies so off we went after breakfast. We managed a few soapies about 4 each and a good sized bream that I lost boat-side :mad3:this kept us entertained for a while till it started bucketing down which is when we decided to have some lunch. The rain continued but we eventually got over it and decided to head into the Marina and clean the boat and head home as I have a 6am start tomorrow and didn't want to get home too late. That sums it up raiders, sorry for the long post but I just wanted to share my experience with you. here are some photos, I really enjoyed being on this boat and almost felt like a Deck hand at one stage assisting with straightening anchor chain and was even lucky enough to take the wheel for a few mins!!! All the best to everyone and tight lines!!! Regards, Nathan

Best of Luck JGrant, Be sure to upload some photos of it when you do tear it down, would be very interesting to see what you find. I would replace the thermostat whilst it is apart but if you don't want to, put it in a pot of water and stick it on the cook top in your kitchen wait for the water to boil to check if the thermostat opens, if it opens that indicates that it is working, let it cool down and check to see if it has closed again. totally up to you but I would replace it. I really hope you can get these issues sorted out and get back out there fishing. When I bought my first boat it was very De-moralising as I had allot of issues with my outboard at the beginning but once I got all the bugs out of it happy days, Regards, Nathan

I knew I still had my book. unfortunately it only goes upto 60 hp 2 cyl. If you wanted to borrow it theres no worries however Your better off with the correct manual. how many cylinders is your outboard? Regards, Nathan

Don't give up on it just yet, I would at least get the father in law to have a look at it. If it is just a head gasket it wont be a costly repair and there's no harm in tearing it down, as long as you have a idea about what you're doing. depending on how mechanical your father in law is you may be able to fix it. I had a 1975 Evinrude 50 on my first boat and had the thermostat seize on it and the head gasket had a whopping big hole in it and I fixed it myself for about $150 and it never missed a beat after that. Unfortunately being a old motor you dont know what maintenance has been done on it and its very easy to say its old and unreliable but once you get the bugs out of it providing it still has good compression you will get a few more years out of it as far as parts are concerned most of the boat dealers can get parts for you being a Johnson parts will be readily available as long as you get the serial number off the motor the dealers should be able to work out the exact year and can get exploded views of parts for that motor and work out what you need. Best of luck and feel free to send me a pm if you need anything. Regards, Nathan

Nice haul there Team Groper!!! Regards, Nathan

sounds like fun!!! At least you managed a few fish for your efforts and some quality time with the family. Regards, Nathan

Once again, love your work Fabian. Unfortunatly these days if your not completly in the Know people like this will continue taking advantage of honest people. Not saying they are all like this, but they are out there. I for one am starting to do more mechanical type work myself because its just way too expensive getting everything done by so called professionals. Yes I totally agree with you, its a must to get second opinion before committing to anything. Hopefully the fishing gods are smiling down at you when you go fishing and you get rewarded for your efforts. I think you need to get yourself a Cape that says FAB1 on it as your starting to become a local superhero helping everyone out!!! Regards, Nathan

Awesome Groper, theres nothing like spending quality time with the Family, some cracker photos there aswell the hacking is sure a beautiful part of the world. Regards, Nathan

Nice Haul, it brings back memories of when I was in High School and fished the old Pier next to the Highway Bridge you would basically catch them at your feet and there was so many of them. to this day I have never experienced anything like it. Nothing wrong with bringing a feed home mate!!! as we all know theres a lot of sessions that we come home empty handed. I cant wait till I get out there this weekend hopefully I bag a few also. Regards, Nathan

Again a great write up, Ill be sure to try your packing method when I rebuild my old hubs. When I did my bearings I did smear the grease onto them however I rolled each of the rollers as I was greasing until the grease was all around them I then pushed grease into the top and bottom of both bearings so I am pretty sure they were packed but I will try your method too as it seems easier also the rubber gloves is a must I always tell myself that the next bearing change ill use gloves but I never do and end up making a mess. Regards, Nathan

good write up Fabian, most people take their wheel bearings for granted in fact I just replaced mine as well & done a overhaul of the trailer and after only using the boat about 3-4 times all year one of the hubs was fine but the other one had water through it, I have not inspected the bearings yet as I have replaced the whole lot including hubs & springs but I will re-build the old Hubs and keep them as a spare. I am sure a lot of people will get value out of this Fabian, looking forward to part 2. Regards, Nathan

Fabian, I take my hat off to you I wish that there were more people in the world like you. well done Champ!!! what is your yearly membership fee? I might consider switching to FAB1 Roadside Assist LOL!!! your spot on about the dodgey trailers on the road, I have seen a few allready. Regards, Nathan

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all Raiders and there families. Please stay safe and enjoy your time with your families. Regards, Nathan

Hey Mate, Try using some chicken breast slabbed up with parmesan. also if you can get some mullet or small legal sized tailor in slabs are also another gun bait. Last month I fished Dads corner for a few flatties and EP's on the turn of the tide. We did not manage any Jew, the Jew we caught were caught south of the Ramp at Wisemans Ferry I dont know the exact spot as I dont know the area real well, but if you head Downstream from where the Barge goes across the river you may be in with a chance you should see 2 power lines going over the river its around there. Regards, Nathan

Congratulations on a New PB!!!! very nice fish. Regards, Nathan

well done guys, sounds like you had fun indeed. your dedication is definitely paying off.. I reckon that the way you guys are going you will start recapturing youre tagged jews and it will be interesting to know how far they have traveled, grown etc keep up the good work guys and damn nice boat you got there!! Regards, Nathan

Awesome!!! too bad about the Mako though but theres always next time. Thats a hell of a flounder might wanna check the fishraider record on that the current one is 41cms. if you can take a photo of it with a measurement you could possibly have the record. Regards, Nathan