zmk1962

Hahaha. I feel another Baz song coming on - I can hear my wife ... tappin on the window. Bringing back sweet memories... I can hear my wife ——- bahaha cheers Z

Just pure emotion ! Fantastic job Baz. Thank you. Z

Oh dear... hope you are all ok now ! I forgot to ask one qualifying question, is the fuel in the tank E10 ? If so get rid of it. The ethanol would definitely have separated and oxidised to acetic acid. If its just unleaded, then given there's 70L in an 80L tank and the boat is probably stored tilted back, you most likely don't have a lot of fuel surface exposed to air (so not much loss of octane due to volatile evaporation). If your breather tube had a bit of fuel in there then this fuel would have acted as a plug, moving with the vapour expansion and effectively sealing the tank. I'd still do as I recommended initially. Siphon out 20-40L (2 x 20L Jerry cans or your portable tank if its near empty). Top up the main tank with 98. I'd change the fuel filter as it will remove any water condensate that may have occurred. I often have 80-100L lying around in my 250L tank for months and that's what I have done for 20+yrs with no issues. You can progressively mix in the 20-40L that you have siphoned out (keep topping up with 98 or 95). Or like me, if I have siphoned out fuel, I have topped up the daughters Micra, and Hyundai, the wife's Subaru, or the Landcruiser, lanmower, whipper snipper etc. It gets used up and mixed with fresh fuel a lot quicker in cars. Cheers Zoran

Lots of prior discussion on this if you search the forums. What type of motor are you running- 2stroke carbie model or newer 4stroke or direct injection model? Also you have 80L but how big is your tank? I run a 200hp EFI 2stroke. If it was mine I’d mix 50:50 with fresh premium unleaded 98RON, whack on a new water separating fuel filter and use it. You typically need 91RON for an outboard. The fresh 98 would raise your octane and the filter will get rid of the gunk. Cheers Zoran

Great stuff ..... shows you gotta be out there to get them ... I can confirm no kings in the driveway at Castle Hill again ! Cheers Zoran

Regardless ... its hard to spoil a feed of fried flatties !!! Good Job ! Cheers Zoran

Great Video Jon!! Very succinct and factual. The video is geared toward the 3.5T top end road warrior towing fraternity - but it is a fantastic reminder to stay within the regulations and that just blindly buying big is NOT the answer. Buy what you need for your intended purpose. As a past engineer I just had to run the calcs for my set up. Frankly, I don't do a lot of long distance trips. I fit into category 2 dsicussed in the last few minutes of the video - towing a boat to the ramp and back - so it's mostly city towing where I find having the vehicle mass match the tow load, combined with AWD traction, helps greatly with control (read stopping) in the Sydney traffic conditions. When we have taken the rig to say Jervis Bay, we used the spare ATM capacity and loaded the boat for any additional items rather then loading the car. But more to the point you are making - anyone considering "the best 6m offshore boat" really needs to seriously consider the towing part of the equation. Cheers Zoran

Alvey 600 C5 mounted on Silstar Power Tip PT-1202BWH ... my go-to beach outfit. Alvey Yabby Pump 30" length indestructible ...and up until recently an Alvey ReefKing 18" pure power ... (sold to a good home) Cheers Zoran

Well that's just the problem ... usually you can't out run a storm like that. If I remember the rules of thumb correctly, if you are between 5 and 6 feet tall, you can see the horizon at around 10-15km away. So if you can recognise a storm on the horizon and its travelling at 100km/hr - you have around 10min before its on you. In 2013 I was at Browns Mnt (40km out from Sydney heads) on flat seas and clear skies with a forecast of 5kts NE winds and 1m swell, we trolled back in to 12mile (20km out) and hit a squall. The winds were not as bad as that video, but the seas were 3-4m and with no set direction. It took 4.5hrs to cover the last 20km back to the heads. Marine rescue and VHF radio was going crazy. Sh*t can happen fast offshore. Cheers Zoran

Cannon That photo was dated 2006 ... still working perfectly. I use 200lb braid. Cheers Zoran

... you are way more experienced than me Jon especially way out wide ... but rather then removing stuff I actually went the other way .... after I saw this video clip of a similar sized haines to mine riding out the "perfect storm" I concluded that if they had a standard marine canvas bimini it would have most likely been ripped off - resulting in significant loss of visibility - who knows what the outcome would have been ... it was this clip that actually pushed me over the line to install a hard top and then full length plate glass screens for good measure. Cheers Zoran

Nice rig Jon, with a good solid hull underfoot its hard to go wrong .... I like the choice of motor as well - its what I have been reconsidering if I repower .... The only thing that does not appeal to me on most of the cuddy/half cabs today is that sharply raked front screen - it looks great aesthetically, it makes the boat look "fast" ..... but in reality for me as I mostly stand when steering, I always found the sharp angled screen to be threatening to re-arrange my face or teeth in a chop. Mine had a similar raked design as per the picture below, and I can honestly say it was a massive improvement when I had the screen re-angled. Just about everything improved, more room in the cabin, better visibility, water drops didn't hang on the screen etc etc. It completely changed the way the boat felt.

A big thanks and wishing the best of the festive season and for the new year, to you Donna and the rest of the fishraider crew. You guys and gals are awesome. Cheers Zoran

Sure is. And on a freezing night that’s set in stone not clay !!! 😂 Cheers Z

Top fish and report. Don't think you'd ever get tired of those Xmas presents.... Merry Christmas ! Cheers Zoran