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spotterone

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  1. Have a look at the load rating on the tyres of your existing trailer - that might make your decision easier regarding single or dual axle. I run light truck tyres, and these particular tyres have a maximum load of 615kg each on a single axle. That's 1230kg all up. The advice above regarding checking your all up weight on a weighbridge is important. I have a set of corner weight scales, so I know my boat weight to the kg, and it's way higher than all the manufacturers claims. Before I replaced all the tyres on my trailer, I had 2 flats. One on the freeway. Thank God I have a dual axle or I think I would have had a recovery on my hands.
  2. I've got a 2013 Honda 150 on the back of my Haines Signature 575F. It's a heavy boat with lots of gear on board, and I regularly fish with 4 people. 150 is the maximum the hull can take according to the plate. It used to have an old Honda 130hp 4 stroke on it, and I went up to the 150 when I repowered it. It will do 36kts on flat water at 6000rpm, and fuel consumption is a little over 1lt/nautical mile on average. If I could, I'd go bigger again. I had the option of going with a 135hp, but paid the extra for the 150. I learnt a long time ago that having more power may get you INTO trouble, but it can also get you OUT of trouble. I did a little bit of on the water testing with a mate who had a 130HO Etec on his 5.5m Seafarer. His boat is a lot lighter than mine, and consequently his holeshot is slightly better, but by the time both hulls levelled out, I was in front and ran away. I was worried about weight in the back of my boat as well. You can very easily test how it would feel at rest - just get someone to sit on the engine cowl for a bit and have a look around. I did that, and noticed hardly any difference. Regarding how it will perform out of the hole, I changed props a few times to get the perfect one. I found a 4 blade stainless Solas prop suited my combination perfectly. I also deliberated over fitting a foil for a long time. I had over 200 hours on it before I bit the bullet and fitted one, and I regret not fitting one sooner. Seems these heavy haines hulls don't suffer from being pushed about by following seas, so all you are left with are the advantages a foil gives. I've now got over 500 hours on it in some pretty terrible conditions, and have never had a single negative impact relating to the foil. I often get asked why a Honda, and believe me it was a tough decision. I had no brand loyalty when deciding what to put on it, only what was the very best thing I could buy. I searched and searched, and the Honda came out in front, but only by a small margin. I have my reasons for choosing a gold motor, in that hp rating and that year model, and it changes with each year and size. These are just my observations. Hope some of them help you make a decision! Cheers, Leo
  3. There is a way to tell, but I cant remember it off the top of my head. Just remember that poly only sticks to poly, and epoxy sticks to everything. Rough up what you've got, making sure you're back past the gel coat, and go for gold. Another option is to put a sheet of 6mm aluminium on the outside of the well. That's all my anchor winch has and I've never had a problem with it. The bowsprit will break off before I lose my winch!
  4. I've found the biggest issue with mass produced skirts are the inconsistency in their thickness. I shape my lures in the lathe, and have a standard dimension for the taper, but some skirts bulge, others don't. They can be exactly the same colour and size, yet the thickness changes from skirt to skirt. Doesn't seem to matter what brand of skirts either, though I've heard on the grapevine that yamashita is altering their production methods to fix this problem.
  5. Pretty sure every boat manufacturer fudges their figures at least a little bit in order to make their boats seem lighter, or at least provide a completely dry weight, which is definitely not how we use our boats. I've got a set of corner weight scales which are accurate to the kilo, and I've weighed a few boats now. Every one has been way over the initial "estimate" from the manufacturer. Mine for instance should be 1750kg or thereabouts on the trailer, but is almost 2150kg on the scales with a little bit of fuel in it. Food for thought if you're looking at buying a boat that's supposedly close to the max towing weight of your vehicle.
  6. I run 8mm rope on my winch for the same reasons you are considering it - more rope for anchoring in deep water. My boat is about 6m long and is a Signature, which like yours is heavy. I've broken the rope once, but only because of a poor loop which was pre-tied and supplied that way. The ropes that come with anchor winches generally have 5m or so of much thicker nylon rope for shock and abrasion resistance, as well as 6m of short link chain. If I had to order another rope, I'd go exactly the same way again.
  7. Good work! I stopped using bait for bread and butter species many years ago now, but when my missus comes out on the river with me, she prefers to cast baits around so I oblige. We've been keeping score, and I've found that plastics out fish baits by plenty.
  8. Sorry to go off topic, but I just noticed that Canary has a record for a black tipped reef shark. I've been trying to ID this shark that I caught in Sydney Harbour a while ago, but I haven't managed to get a positive ID. Does this look like what you caught?
  9. I put in at Brooklyn on the weekend which is of a similar configuration as what Roseville is going to be. That seems to work ok, but I would imagine that if there was a few boats, there would be mayhem. There was someone there trying to put a 25 foot boat on a trailer, and was understandably struggling with it, so it tied up one lane for quite a while. Luckily there weren't many others trying to put in as is usually the case on a Saturday morning. I reckon the bigger issue is with the turnaround at the top of the ramp. There should be a sign there with 10m high letters that says "do not stop here. Turning bay only" or somesuch. Watching people pull up there to procrastinate and spend 20 mins getting ready for launch really gets on my nerves. Having said that, it's better than watching people do the same thing at Tunks Park, but there isn't a whole lot of room there at the best of times.
  10. There are definitely some big kings about. I got one 2 weeks ago that went 110cm inside the harbour. Not real fat, more long and skinny. Still went 10kg, and fought like a champ!
  11. I was at WB on Saturday night. We were the warm people with the BBQ going! We managed 5 all up. Dropped a couple at the boat and missed a few strikes. Most of them were on pilchards, though the livies accounted for 1 fish and one missed strike. Sounds like Smiths Creek could be a better bet, though it's a big creek, and I've got no clue as to where to go for them. Mad keen to have another go as soon as possible.
  12. I had the same issue a few weeks ago. Wouldn't touch a 15g raider, so I switched to a 5g halco twisty and got smashed straight away. Something I used to do many years ago was paint a barrel sinker with liquid paper. Thread it on and tie on a little treble. Worked brilliantly, and cheap!
  13. Went out for a casual fish today, and for a chance to test out my new humminbird 798 sounder. Everywhere seemed to be packed this morning. Headed out towards Patonga, and saw a heap of boats on the point where the Hawkesbury meets Cowan creek. Saw one of them pull out a nice 80ish cm Lizard, so we drifted around that area for a couple of undersized flatties that we released. Moved on to the point at the western end of Patonga hoping for an eddy that held fish, but nothing happening there. Motored over to the pill boxes on West Head to see if there were any squid there, again nothing. Found a single squid over at Barrenjoey, but nothing of note. Tried the back side of Lion island for squid and nothing there either. Eventually we went back to Patonga and drifted about and got a couple of 45cm flatties and a legal sand whiting. Released a couple of just legal bream as well. We didn't really see any fish until nearly at the bottom of the tide, and by then everyone had gone home. There were hardly any trailers left at Apple Tree Bay by the time we got back. All in all, we had a good day. Happy to explore a few new spots, and have a good look around with the new sounder. Found a couple of nice deep holes that we will have to investigate further at another time.
  14. There seems to be a few of them about at the moment. Depending on the weather and tide, it's always best not to drive straight through the middle of them. Stop the boat upwind of them and turn the motor off, they will keep following the bait school, and usually will keep chopping. I've found myself right in the middle of them doing it that way, and they've kept chewing like crazy. When you can't cast to them because you are way down wind, start the boat up and drive around them again. If they are really finnicky, then just sit for a few minutes and watch where they reappear. Often you'll be able to work out what way they are generally headed, and beat them to it. What time of day was it? I generally find that they are really not scared at dawn and dusk, and will feed voraciously regardless of boat traffic. The few schools that I've seen up Cowan Creek over the last couple of weeks have held some nice 1kg+ specimens. Great fun on light tackle.
  15. I used to ski all the time with my 15' Monark Apollo that had a Chrysler 75hp on the back. With 5 in the boat and 1 in the water, it would get the skier up, but it was a struggle with a big/inexperienced person. The thing that made the biggest difference was fitting good strong wings to the cavitation plate. The boat got up on the plane a whole lot easier, and made it much easier to pull a skier out of the water. With those wings fitted, I could get 2 competent lightweight skiers on single skis out of the water at the same time. It's also worth trying to get the biggest skis you can find. More surface area on the water means the skier gets out of the water easier and faster. It's worth noting that competition slalom skiing is done at a maximum of 36mph. If all else fails, get a kneeboard. It's a whole lot of fun, and easy on the boat!
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