thylacene

If you want a decent gun Repco is usually a good punt. I have a small pistol grip I use when servicing reels, and am considering another for the tilt tube nipples, as I have to remove the bait board to get to the with the larger gun. I have two full size cartridge guns, one with a flexible and the other with a rigid tube. Cartridges are so much easier than hand packing guns. If you are doing big jobs, you can get an air setup on a 10 or 20 gallon drum, as well as the chair operated cartridge variety above. When shopping for a gun, dual outlet is a good thing, either 180 or 90 degrees at you leisure. A bleed valve is handy, saves the frustration of trying to pump air through when you change cartridges. Cheap guns often have poor quality components that cause the pump to be less than effective. If infrequent use you may not care, but if it is used several times a day, it will annoy you. Like most tools, once you have used a quality item after a cheap one you won't look back.

Depending on the size of the repair, I have used the clear plastic from business shirts or similar, coat with wax and a light spray of release compound. Use masking tape across the lower edge, and the brush in the flow coat using a squeegee to "spread the flow coat under the plastic sheet. Masking tape the edges and allow to go off, minimizes the amount of sanding, leaves a smooth finish, usually have to fair the edges in. Take care to avoid air bubbles. This method is effectively applying a mould externally. Works well for stone chips, filling holes etcetera. Practice on a piece of mdf or similar until you are comfortable. Good for vertical or overhung surfaces, takes patience but the time spent will avoid even longer wet rubbing and polishing.

Yep, what Huey said. If doing it again would do it differently, but also quite happy with the current setup.

We have the Garmin 750S with the supplied transducer, and yes it is easy to operate, the touch screen is nice. It runs out of bottom around 280m, although has returned soundings from 500+ m consistently, that is we did a loop and marked fish at same depth, while slow trolling baits. Inbuilt charts are good, sufficient detail to be able work out where we want to go to drop a line. If the sounder is your primary consideration, the Lowrance may be you better option. A little less user friendly, but time and practice can sort that, and from my limited experience and understanding, a better sounder with the structure scan option. We bought the Garmin as at the time, they were the better interface to the Suzuki with NMEA, and being on a budget, save a few bucks on gauges. When dollars allow, we will supplement with a Furono 587 and a 2kw sounder, but then we spend a lot of our time offshore. As with everything boating there is always a compromise. Cheers Thy

Got out this morning 16 k's h ead on/ quarter on to a short period 1m chop, all expectations met, consider them money well spent. Can maintain plane at least two knots slower, correct wind list, and the ride into a head sea is so. Much better. Cheers Thy

Do you need expensive gear? No. Does nice gear make a difference to the fishing experience? Most certainly. After a thirty year break, decided it was time to take up fishing when the wench decided we needed a boat. With 30 year old knowledge and minimal undstanding, bought a bit of gear off online shop and off we went. Some of it suffered from corrosion very quickly, and a couple of solid hookups on kings saw anti-reverse in cheapie reels fail, one all but breaking my thumb when hooked up to a shark inadvertently. As we went through and replaced gear we made the mistake of going a bit heavy, but for our bottom bashing, bought a couple of Shimano Tekota reels in the 700 size (too big for general bottom bashing, but served dual purpose as our offshore trolling rods. The diffence was wonderful. It should be noted that we bottom bash in 60m regularly, and a nice smooth reel makes all the difference when you are winding from that depth 40 or 50 times in a session. Smooth drags made boating larger kings much easier, and have boated tuna to 25kg with them also. We came to the realisation that the new generation light gear is more than capable, we have both bought lighter outfits, I have recently acquired a Curado 300 baitcaster, on a 5-8 kg rod, weighs less than half of what my Tekota outfit, and is nowhere near as tiring to use. Hoping to throw it at the kings this weekend. We spend a fair bit of time offshore, and have a couple of thread lines, a Saragosa 18000 on a t-curve 200 jig and a Saragosa 8000 on a T-curve Bluewater spin, both of which get used to chase snapper in their spare time, just use nice long light leaders. Have reasonable success. Nice gear gets addictive, and some care in selecting the right stuff will make all the difference to your experience, but unles you are playing with the heavy weights, top of the line is not ally necessary. As stated above, there have been major advances in both rods and reels, and you can pick up a nice outfit for estuary and bottom bashing for under a couple of hundred bucks that will withstand saltwater exposure if you clean and oil it regularly, and it will likely outlast you. I have a cheaper 4500 Shimano thread line that sees regular use with guests on the boat, and it is interesting to note the comments when they switch over to one of the Saragosa reels. Nicer to use, but heavier (understandable given they are on the boat for tuna and kings). Look around, pick it up, hold it and make us that it feels good, spend what you can afford, and if budget is a constraint, then spend on the reel and live with a cheaper rod until you are ready to upgrade. Try not to buy too big, but understand what you need for your target species, and if you are heading offshore for large fish, stash some cash and buy decent gear. All I know is that i have spent more than I should, learnt a bit on the way through, and am becoming more selective with each purchase, now starting to buy gear for specific purposes. Cheers Thy

Have a read of this Braid knots winners and losers. This guy did some teasing and found that braid gets better results with either 12 or 20 turns in braid. I prefer to plait mono, but will be trying 12 turn Bimini for my braid this weekend on the kings. Cheers Thy

FWIW 6.3m 21 degree deadrise, calm conditions, 1800kg without passengers, no wind or current to speak of. Suzuki DF175 four stroke. 1.0 litres per hour at 2 knots trolling livies 7.5 litres per hour at 7 knots trolling lures Wind and current make a heap of difference, have seen consumption at 12 litres per hour at 7 knots with a bit of current and 15-20 knot winds. Seldom get optimal conditions, seems the fishes prefer it a bit ordinary. Best bet is to do some testing with your boat, set distance at cruise to establish a baseline, then same distance and 1 hour at trolling speed, and subtract consumption on first run from second this will leave the amount you used for 1 hour trolling. Whatever you come up with, double it for the purpose of estimation when working out how far and how long to provide a margin for error. Crude but effective, I don't like the thought of paddling home. If in doubt, carry extra fuel. We have a 200 litre tank, and have been out 30 odd NM and trolled for 5 hours and used 110 litres fuel, more on the way home than the way there as the weather cut up. If your engine has NMEA, it should report point in time usage, and possibly amount used since last reset, you need a compatible gps or mfd. Very difficult to end up with an objective comparison against different hull engine combinations as pointed out above. At best you will end up with an indicative figure, but as conditions vary so much and the impact on consumption can be almost an additional 100%, the most accurate way is to spend a day burning fuel in your rig to establish your baselines, and then compare over a number of trips until you have a level of confidence in your estimates. Cheers Thy

If you check the piccie of the boarding platform you will see a pice of foam tape, this is where the step sits, cleared it quite nicely. The tabs are 12" wide x 9" long and edge mount, mid mount tabs would have sat a little higher and further out. Made an educated guess when I bought the tabs based on some rough measurements, and initially thought we might have to trim 20mm off the step, but as it turned out they fitted as I had hoped. Will get it on the water next weekend, so will provide my observations once I have had a chance to run it in varying conditions. Expecting big things from all the banter on the forums. Hoping to achieve a small reduction in minimum planing speed, and a better ride in a quarter sea with a crosswind. We run our clears year round, and with the hardtop, the hull leans into the wind. Tabs should allow the hull to sit up straight allowing for finer entry. SWMBO will be the finall judge, if she is comfortable in ordinary conditions my life is better and we can fish more often

Might be worth a chat with the guys from Solas, they sorted ours out beautifully.

About 6 months ago I bought a set of Lenco 12w x 9d Trim Tabs, and finally lucked the magic combination of weather and available time. The fitting was relatively straight forward once I worked out where I could fit them. When we first got the boat I fitted a deckwash, bolted to the port transom, which meant that I had to be able to locate the upper bracket without interfering with the pump on the other side of the transom. I also had to relocated the transducer, as it sat smack bang in the middle of where the tabs had to go. That meant unclipping and cutting all the zippy ties that hold the wiring loom to get the transducer plug out through the transom. Initial mark out was done by marking a line 100mm from the chine as a reference point, ideally the edge of the tabs should have been between that mark and 25mm from the chine. After lots of stuffing around, I worked out the edge of the tabs had to be 128mm from the chine. I used a set of wedges on the wobble roller mounts to hold a straight piece of timber up against the bottom of the hull. I used a piece of 10mm thick HDPE on top of the timber to get the correct height as per instructions. Using masking tape, I positioned the tab on the Starboard side to be able to take measurements, then applied those measurements to the Port side until I was comfortable that I had cleared the deckwash pump. I marked out the holes using the tabs as a template, and drilled the mounting holes. I used a countersink bit on each hole to avoid the gelcoat cracking as the screw went in. While I was about it, I countersunk the previous mounting holes for the transducer and cable. I filled these holes with resin and microbubbles paste, forcing it through the holes, and leaving it slightly indented to finish off with flow coat. I then used some clear plastic with some wax on it as an impromptu mold to fill the indentations with flowcoat, and wet sanded until it was smooth. Once the holes were drilled I fitted the starboard tab, with a liberal dose of below water marine adhesive silicone. Using a piece of 19 x 45 pine, I propped the back of the tab to the correct height, and fitted the ram to mark out for the top mount. Drilled the holes and fitted the top mount, running the cable through the transom (all glass in this area), siliconed the top mount and scews. Marked out the port side, and ran a 60mm holesaw through the boarding platform, and mounted the ram upside down so that I could mark out the correct diameter, as the hole is not round due to the deadrise angle. I used a flappy disc sanding wheel in a cordless drill to shape the hole, and then a couple of coats of flowcoat over the raw surface. I fitted the ram right way up and at this time discovered I had fallen victim to the sin of assumption, thinking the drains out of the bait tanks were symmetrical. As a result I had to fit the port side bracket upside down to clear the deckwash pump. I am confident that it will be fine, just annoyed that I did not pick up on it earlier. It was only a few millimetres the difference, but as I had mounted the tab on the bottom of the transom I was committed. I relocated the transducer using a sliding bracket. Not because I want the adjustment, but to avoid more holes. A 1kw transducer is on the list for the future. Will be interested to see how the transducer performs, I could not get it away from the tabs any further, and unless I move it to the centreline, I have thru hull fittings that preclude mounting anywhere else. Hindsight is a marvellous thing. Fitted the switch to the dash, new zippies on the wiring, ran the transducer cable away from the wiring this time. Hooked it all up and tested both tabs to full extension ensuring sufficient clearance in the cutout in the boarding platform. Fixed a few stonechips in the hull as I already had resin mixed, and fitted another couple of rod holders in the floor to store rods when towing to the ramp. Also handy to drop the trolling rods in when crew can’t reach the rocket launcher. Hanging for next weekend to see what difference they make. Outriggers will be the next project.

Suzuki DF175 four stroke 300 hour service Suzuki service pack (anodes, impeller, plugs, oil screen, filters) $168, labour $170 (2 1/2 hrs), oils $67 + $9 workshop materials and enviro levy. All up $456. Quite reasonable by my reckoning. Top customer service to boot at Fraser Marine Eden NSW. In all fairness, there were not any corroded bolts or other issues to slow him down, if it has been while since last apart, then an extra hour or so is clocked up easily.

Northern end of Montague is the same, also a grey nurse diving spot, also has a no wire trace rule.

Yep, the Pakula site is worth reading and reading again. I find myself revisiting as new experiences/screwups occur. Take from it what you will, but by my reckoning it is possibly the most comprehensive website on game fishing from whoa to go. I have learnt a lot from it. Haven't chased Marlin yet, but applied learnings meant that we ate a lot of tuna this year, and know that there is still lots to be learnedo before I consider myself as even a novice. Forums like this one are great if you know what question to ask and the right language to ask it in. There is a wealth of knowledge hiding behind the usernames, and more info is better when sorting yourself out. Good hunting, looking forward to the success stories. Thy

We picked up a Caribbean Reef Runner with a 175 4st Zook in January. Now has 190 hours on it. Great ride, full screen and hard top means you don't get wet ever, good cockpit space. If you are not intending any bar work then a 150 may help the budget. Good storage, large feel to cockpit, reasonably finished for the money. BMT package with a 150 Opti starts at around $63K, we ended up spending around $77k but fitted out as we wanted it. There is enough space for a crew of four to fish with relative comfort, and with 200l tank we can have an extended day trolling with no real concerns. We run out of Bermi on the south coast, and cop a fair bit of crap weather. Not always big seas, but quarter winds and rain storms, with the occasional stinking hot day. Shelter makes a heap of difference. Towing weight is almost 2000kg, hull is 1020kg, motor 235kg oiled, 205lt fuel and 540kg trailer. We didn't opt for hydraulic brakes as we only tow it 9k's to and from the ramp and drag it with a land cruiser. PM me if you would like any more info.