TheCount

Any pics of the finished installation?

Thanks guys. I work in Pro Audio (think stadiums and big events) and have engineers on hand to direct me in the right direction with the right components. The batteries are wired through the back of the plastic housing (with a waterproof seal - gland) so you can’t see any wiring at all. Like you say, having to run a lead to the boat, clip to the battery and unhook everything when you go out I just had had enough of doing it.. And the Ctek is always ready to go should it be required - just changed the connector to the “blue one” and again no more alligator clips etc etc but only one battery at a time..... I think that was the reason I started the build. Berleyguts, it all depends on the Ctek model you use. Say it’s a 5A, you’ll fully recharge a 100Ah battery in a day - but who runs them dry? Batteries should be recharged as soon as possible to avoid damage so plugging in solar after a day on the water is not ‘ideal’. A Ctek will always be needed for maintenance. I’m envious of your boatport, so no need for covers like me. It would make life easier. TC.

Last weekend I finished my self-sufficient solar setup to keep my batteries topped up during the week. Boat (Quintrex 475 Freedom Sport) has 3 batteries - (1) main starting & bilge, (2) accessories radio and sounder, (3) for leccie on order. 3 panels on the roof, one for each battery. Located roof brackets from Melbourne off fleabay @ $5 each and ran Unistrut as my panel support frame. Each panel feeds into a 10A MPPT charger and then 3 cables sleeved together to the boat charging rig with one slot to spare. Charging rig to batteries connected with 50A mini Andersons for a bit of battery redundancy or swapping if required. May need a 75A for the leccie later.. Cabling to be tidied tomorrow. Wire is heavy duty speaker wire (the good stuff) and terminated on Neutrik PowerCon 30A connectors, on a SS316 plate, housed in a waterproof IP65 box. All connections soldered and finished with triple-shrink for extra piece of mind. Wire coming into the housing is through 16mm glands. I'm going to have to design something for the front cover - maybe a Count morphed Fishraider logo .. .. .. .. .. .. No more wires in or around the boat or charging one battery at a time with the CTek - everything is neatly behind the scenes now. So now when I'm home from my adventures the last task is to insert the connectors and turn, job done. Cheers, TC.

Got to Woy Woy ramp at about 5am this morning - tide running out so turned right. It had been a few months since my last trip. Stopped at Killcare (East after Rip Bridge) and drifted a few times. Got 4 little bream (all put back of course) in the first hour or so and was enjoying the cool start to the day. Around 7am my rod shook again and after letting some line peel off I took hold and tightened the drag a little. A big lift felt like it had done its job (corner of the mouth) and there was a distinct improvement in the weight as I took my time winding. It wasn't a huge fight - maybe one last pull when near the boat and in no time I had a nice fish to take home - 49cm. Before and after shots

Chicken breast at the moment so I slice 1kg into a mix of sizes, add about 8 cloves of fresh garlic, mix and in the fridge for the next day or freeze if not. Tends to last 4 or 5 trips. - at least someone spotted my attempt at humour... TC.

My 18yo comes home from work last Friday night and asks those magic 6 words:- "Dad, can we go fishing tomorrow?" Sure can Son - I'll wake you at 5. It's been about 3 years since he's come out and I couldn't have been happier getting the gear ready that night. Put in at Woy Woy at about 6, and fished from the Rip Bridge through to Wagstaffe with garlic chicken for bait. As the tide was running out to the low, drifting along seemed the most appropriate. Came home with 2 x flounder (41cm & 38cm), 2 bream (both 31cm), and 2 flathead (51cm and 45cm) after our 3 hour tour. Looking forward to the next time.

A great reason to put in at Koolewong - there's 2 separate ramps! It is steeper, so having AWD or 4WD is safer for low tide retrieval. They are single lane ramps and that keeps plenty of people away that are not confident on a narrower ramp. Turn left to head into Gosford or right to Paddy's Channel, Rip Bridge and beyond.. I don't recall having any parking issues and realistically, it's 15 minutes drive down the road. TC.

+1 for the 10x2 block of wood and pinch it down. Great shock absorption and it floats - you know what I mean TC.

Yep, as DavidA says, it's a PJ baby shark.. Felt sorry catching it, perfect hook in the corner of the mouth and all! That photo is just as you enter the channel from Woy Woy ramp and doesn't show the true effect of the wind.. It was that fierce that I had to ride the back of the waves back to the ramp or be dumped nose first.. I guess they call it swell and it was easily 2feet.. It was either go out or sleep in and I'm not the kind of guy to let an opportunity pass. Need to get one of those head sock things as the wind noise was outrageous. I'll keep going out till the water is freezing when I put the boat in and it's far from that. I need to practice with my casting, feeling the lines when nibbled, different baits etc. and I feel Paddy's is perfect for an amateur like me.. The past six months I've caught 'something' each trip so I'm happy. Squid jigs are due any day now, so I'll give them a go next week, thx for the tip Rex.. TC.

Another thumbs up for the MXS5. Used to trickle the main plus an AGM used for the stereo and lights.. TC. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Put in at Woy Woy 6am Saturday morning - only one around. Spent half hour giving the engine a good run and then settled in the Koolewong end of the Channel with the view to drift back down to the South end of Pelican Island. The wind was horrific and made it hard to stay in the channel and I was constantly pushed to the East and Saratoga. Mental note - need to get saving for that electric motor. After sunrise with a few rods out and peeled raw prawns for bait I was anchored next to the oyster leases and started pulling one of the lines in to check if the bait was still good. It felt like I'd picked up some weed but decided to gently reel it in.. As it got closer, there was a little pull-back that brought a smile to my face - as I gingerly kept turning the handle I could see a bit of colour appearing and to my surprise it was a squid on the end! I'd never caught one of these before let alone target them and with little or no effort it was netted, inked and then in the bucket for a trophy to show the household.. Size of the hood went 20cm so that was a nice entree of salt n pepper squid for dinner.. Not long after that another rod went off and after not much of a fight at all, this little guy came to say hi before going back to grow much bigger... Picked up a baby snapper and a baby bream and both returned quickly... Apart from the wind it was a nice day to be out. The water is still on the warm side so I'll keep doing the odd trip when the opportunity arises..

Had a free Saturday morning so jumped in at Woy Woy at about 6am, had a nice chat to a few other hopefuls at the ramp before heading left straight to the oyster leases.. Had a great time just being out there by myself and that also means no fish.. Disappointing start to the day, especially after buying a few toys yesterday - Daiwa Crossfire 2000 and a Daiwa Laguna II spin rod and a pack of big red suicide Mustads No.2.. My old faithful Sic Stik (1-3kg) with a broken tip and by memory 30 year old Cardinal Drag Master by Abu Garcia (6lb braid and 6lb leader) starts talking to me. Little spurts at first then nothing and thought I had the drag all wrong.. Picked it up any way and I felt that I had traction.. A few turns and a rip and I felt comfortable I had something hooked.. Whatever it was really didn't run much, just a few thumps so I thought flattie or tired bream... Boy was I surprised when this beast wanted to come home with me.. 36 or 37 at the fork and spot on 1kg and its my first silver trevally safely on ice. Nabbed with Coles frozen prawns (tail on) with a garlic overnight.. Dinner of fillets on the BBQ, bit of lemon and salt.. Lovely meaty flesh and a fed two easily.. TC.

I've got the 475 Freedom Sport with a Merc 75 2-stroke.. Plenty of grunt for 2+2 and even more when it's just me.. You'll enjoy the ride as it's very stable and plenty of room. TC.

J B Weld. An epoxy that will withstand the elements. It does not move so maybe it's not applicable.. It'll fix everything else.. You'll find many uses for this glue.. About $15 for two-part 50ml tubes.. TC.

Thanks guys, Cod despatched to the dog food pile..... Spoiled pooch, fish filleted, boned, dusted, pan fried... Gone in seconds! The bream was great too..

First post with pics for me!! Got to Woy Woy at 5 and a balmy 20 degrees = perfect.. Headed out to Half Tide Rocks and anchored real close to the rocks.. Had plenty of bites with prawn (Coles frozen peeled and local Hawkesbury) but kept getting busted off... I pulled out a new secret weapon - garlic marinated chicken breast strips and it is now my new favourite bait.. About 7am the sky was clearing and my hookup rate increased to land me what I think is a Red Rock Cod @ 38cm and a Bream @ 31cm.. Another 20 minutes of losing plenty of hooks and then a wonderful specimen decided to say Hi.. A Wobbegong that I cut loose (hook down throat) and he was definitely under 91cm even though I'd never think of keeping one.. The area went dead quiet about an hour after the tide change and the crowd rolled in so I went out to the oyster leases in Paddys Channel.. In about 2 hours I lost over a dozen hooks, lines, sinkers, but it taught me a very valuable lesson. Don't take 6lb leader to fight Bream! Most of my gear is 6lb and 8lb braid with the 6lb leader so I'll do some shopping tomorrow and get some 10 and 12 and go again.. My rods are a combination of home made by my Wife's Grandfather, 6' and 7', 1 with an Abu Garcia Cardinal small reel and the other with an old Daiwa 10 series.. I had a ball. By myself and the great outdoors. Also gave me a good chance to give the new boat stereo a thrashing. A Fusion MS-RA50 head end with Bose 131's to match and 80Gb of tunes.. BBQ at my place tonight!

I was out at Half a Tide Rocks till about 8:30 when I pulled up a catfish. Poor bugger died of steel poisoning... Tides were all wrong in the morning and I couldn't stay out much longer so I visited Paddys Channel and you're right that algae/mossy crap was on every bait and I'm sure deterred any enquiries. Had one good hookup and lost the lucky Bream with 10m to go... Great weather yesterday, looking forward to more trips! TC.

A piece of 8 x 2 pine, untreated works fine for adding a little cushioning... Cheap and lasts for years. Works fine for my 75Merc on a Quintrex 475.. TC

Now I know what to do this weekend when cricket is called off! TC..

It's been months since I had a moment to myself to get the boat out and yesterday was a lovely few hours drifting from the Rip Bridge in an easterly direction. Was on the water at Koolewong by 7 and drifting not long after that. High tide was 8am by memory. Not a lot of others around - saw only one boat pull in a good size lizard, and I managed to pull up only juveniles all morning (snapper, largest was 20cm)... Used prawns as bait and SP's every now and then (but that got boring pretty quick) and came home empty handed.. Trolled through Paddy's Channel on the way back along the oyster leases so I could delay getting out of the water a bit longer... Had a great time till the water chopped up with the increase of boats and the wind picked up. Home by lunchtime and an afternoon on the couch watching the cricket! Will try again in the next two weeks with the aim of getting out earlier.. TC.

Support your local boating shop/supplier and buy marine carpet. Very cost effective and easy to install - just make sure you buy enough bonding glue! Did the back half of my Quintrex 475 Freedom Sport (inc ply) for less than $100.. TC.

What boat is that? Looks right for solo trips.. Looking at getting a craft better suited to fishing as no one else in the family joins in any more... Cheers, TC.

Not sure if you have purchased as yet.. If you are anywhere North of Sydney Harbour I know a shop in Lindfield (pm for details) I bought this the other week as I don't want a quick release but want the flexibility to move it around without having to muck around.. TC.

"Echo Beach"?? C'mon, you know you're singing it to yourself now..... TC

Another quality Raider to the rescue. TC.