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Hey all, Does anyone know a good retailer in Sydney who sells St. Croix rods. Interested in some of their rods for Bass fishing and want to go check them out rather than taking a punt online. Also, if you have used one for similar- any thoughts? I am near CBD. Thanks H

Side console!

Thanks guys, pros and cons for both. Looking at the new 2014 engines, I can see around a $1000 difference. Also from reading elsewhere the 'lean burn' tech on the suzuki looks like it will provide much better fuel usuage. The one thing that may sell me to the Suzuki is it has a 5 year complete warranty where as the Merc has 3+2(major parts only). My current boat has a merc and just after the warranty was up, one of the seals went and cost us $400 to replace. It's nice to know for 5 years any issues will be covered. Problem is online, you always get some horror stories about all engines and some amazing stories.

Hi folks, Posted a few weeks ago that I was looking at different boats and was weighing up between the suzuki 4 stroke and the etec 2 stroke, both at 50hp to sit on a new Renegade 420 from quintrex. Anyways, we have decided the package we want and have chatted to a few dealers and at the moment we have two offers on the same boat and gear, just a different engine. Basically, I can get a Mercury 4 stroke 50hp or a Suzuki 4 stroke 50hp, both brand new, presumably late 2014 models. The Suzuki looks like a better engine, its lighter and more fuel efficient. But if we buy the Mercury, its about $1500 cheaper. Just curious if anyone here can offer some pros and cons to either? Or any reviews on the newer model engines. Is the price difference warranted? Our regular mechanic said the Suzuki is the way to go, but $1500 is a lot (a new rod or two would be nice ). Anyways, just after some sage wisdom from you guys....

yeah my mechanic for the boat told me the suzaki's are pretty good at the moment!!!!

Hey All, Long time since I last posted, too busy fishing! :-) So I have decided to upgrade my boat to something between the 420-450 size. Was looking at either Renegade 420(SC) Engine options: 50hp EFI 4 stroke Suzuki 50hp Evinrude ETEC (2000$ less expensive) Anglapro Sniper pro 444(SC). Mercury 60hp 4 STROKE. We primarily fish estuary and freshwater- but are now getting into wanting to fish the bays and outside the heads on a nice day. We like the size of the 420 as with fresh water, it's great to get yourself into those tighter tree filled bays etc but the anglapro looks good too and is a bit larger. They are basically the same boat in the sense of layout. Just curious if anyone can comment on the slightly different hull designs in the sense of stability. Also, with two big(6ft+) blokes on the boat, if we both stand on the casting platforms, will the boat lean a lot or is it fairly stable when still? We have a very flat boat at the moment so it's very stable, just curious if with these deeper vhulls we should expect a lot more instability as we move around? Finally, is it worth going for the 4strokes or is the ETEC a good engine(its a few grand cheaper). Any advice from you guys would be amazing!!!! Hugh

Hi Guys, I am heading down to lake Eildon to do a bit of trout fishing in a week or two. Planning to bypass the lake as we won't have our boat with us and instead we will fish rivers like the Rubicon/Acheron and maybe Kind Parrot. I am just curious if anyone has any advice or if you want to be generous, any good spots to begin wading from?? Any advice would be amazing!! Cheers

Sounds like we have roughly the same boat... we had an old Sea sprite without any marine carpet etc and boy when we bought this, it was amazing. We use ours in the harbour and also up the various rivers. She has never let us down and it always feels very stable. My mate, who I co-own the boat with, has also launched it by himself too and had no issues. Only issue we have had is when we fish in stormy, wavy areas, it obviously doesn't handle too well and you get very wet. But that's not the point of the boat... Ultimately, they are nice little boats. I still remember my first fish on it was a 62cm flatty and was my largest fish up till that date. It was like the boat was rewarding me...

Nice catch mate... Never caught a shark before but man it seems like fun!

Thanks Ron, I might take you up on that offer. Just trying to work out exactly what is needed at the moment and what we want to do. I'll let you know if I need your help. Thanks so much though!

Hey Guys, I'm wondering if anyone can PM me a good mobile boat mechanic for the CBD/Inner West area. I'd love to take it to the site sponsor but unfortunately, our trailers lights have completely blown and we don't feel safe driving the boat all the way up there without a working trailer(not to mention the likely hood of getting fined). So any help you guys could provide would be amazing. It's just a 3.7m stacer with a Mercury Seapro so nothing too fancy. Thanks \

Thanks Huey! Might give you guys a call in the next few weeks if I can raise some cash for it... and clear it with the missus! Would rather buy one of you guys. Cheers

Hey guys, I have an older minn-kota on the boat with a bracket so should fit that. Just need to win some money to pay for it... Just wish they were easy to find second hand as if the price was right i'd buy one but no one seems to be selling them used!!! I'll try the site sponsor although their website doesn't seem to work

Yeah I'd love one but the $2000 for one is just a bit too much... maybe I could sell a kidney!?!?

Hi Guys, We bought our little tinny second hand and as will happen after a year, things are slowly dying . One thing we are thinking of upgrading is our Minn Kota electric. We have a PD1 version and were thinking of doing the search for a Riptide with Ipilot as we do a lot of fishing in Rivers etc, so having the ability to lock onto spots or control drifts would be pretty cool. But we need something that can handle salt as we go into the harbour a lot too! Does anyone have an Ipilot electric? Is it worth getting? Also anyone have any idea where some good 2nd hand ones might be found? Unfortunately, we don't really have the 2 grand for a new one. :-( Any help would be awesome!