tryhard

It's that time of year when we are all looking at getting out on the water during the Chrissy Break. I decided that seeing as the boat has been sitting still for probably 2 months, I should whack the battery on Charge. I noted that after 3 days, it had still not taken a full charge - I took the charger off & pulled the caps off to check the cells. I found that 2 of the cells had the water levels below the plates. My question is .....how far over the top of the plates is the right level ? this is a newish battery (6months) & I was a little surprised to find the cells so low on water - is this common ? If I sound like I dont know what I'm talking about, I'll reassure the experts that I do know to use demineralised water & not the scum from the top of the fish pond !!!!!!!!!! Ho Ho Ho Whoops - sorry I forgot that santa cant say that any more He He He - (gawd! I think I'll stick to being Politically incorrect thanks all the same)

I hear that a tin foil Hat & Umbrella are common protective devices from the rays !! Oh, Sorry, that stuff only protects you from the Beams !!! Well it is Friday & I couldnt help myself

Thanks all for the replies. As far as fuel goes, I think that whist possible, it is unlikely that I have some gunk in the fuel system for the following reasons: - Cleaned the tank about four times earlier in the year to remove silicon & assorted rubbish ( yes thats right, little silicon balls, just the right size to block the pic up !!) I also have an inline filter before the squeeze bulb and a diesel style filter / separator before the motor connection. the tank breather is clear - I check that regularly (too many times spent washing the gunwales & servo conrete with expensive fuel!) Could be a bad fuel line connection, as i have had trouble with new connectors in the past ( I am now using an old reliable one and the O ring may have failed ?) - but having experienced this, the symptoms are not quite the same. Could be a bad electrical connection - I did give the motor a once over a few months ago now, but will do it again. I am suspecting an electrical type issue more than fuel, due the the natue of the miss - that is, it seems to breakdown under load - call it gut feel but then I'm no expert . And finally as far as using your services Huey, I would but you are on the wrong side of the valley ! - and by the way, I should add that I bought 3 boats off your dad and have great respect for Roger who was never too busy to give a little advice & have the occaissional chat - and your mum who treated us almost like family. And finally I remember you when you were in primary School so how's that ! has your dad still got that old Glastron ?

Morning all, took the kids out on the weekend for a couple of hours of fishing and all was fine until it came time to go home. On the way back, I had a little difficulty starting the motor (roughly an 85' year DT85) - took about 4or 5 cranks to start. then once started, the motor had a definate miss that would dissapear if the motor was revved in neutral. When put in gear, the motor would stall if left to idle in neutral. Anyway, once underway things seemed normal for the 1st few minutes, then the rpm dropped off and the motor stalled shortly after. Motor started again on the second crank but again with the miss & would only run at low revs. another five minutes further on and the motor died again ! Seeing as I was near a convienient mooring, I tied of, lifted the motor & checked the plugs. plugs were a wet so I replaced them & the motor started 1st crank but after the initial surge, it was back to missing again. Whilst paddling the last 40 meters or so back to the ramp which is a little embarrassing, I continually tried to start the motor whithout success. Once Home, half an hour later, I put the ears on the motor to flush it and it started 1st go, idled fine & revved fine - I have no idea whats going on here - seems that part of the problem is when the motor is under load. Has any one had any similar experiences, or have any pointers as to what to look for ?

G'day fishraiders, Finally something to post (fish wise that is) After not actively participating in the social last weekend - but being there & meeting a couple of you including the now infamous '1975' & 'Breamhunter' I decided to take my kids out last night to introduce them to the mythical hairtail. We left the ATB ramp at about 7.30 pm and headed straight to Jeruselam Bay, acting on the previously solid advice of the afore mentioned Hairy Hero's. dropped the anchor and settled down at about 8.00 with baits in the water and holding my breath in anticipation that the hairtail would still be around. ( A dad doesnt want to let his kids down after hyping them them up with tales of mythical sea creatures with teeth as big as a dog & as sharp as knives). Anyway, about half an hour in & being blue in the face from holding ones breath too long, I see the tip of my daughter rod twitch. shortly there after we had one hairtail on board with a very exited child, and the other rod stating to twitch ! Suddenly two Hairtail in the boat and two very pleased kids ( and a dad secretly sighing with relief). We left at 10.30pm and had 5 fish in the boat and having released 2 smaller ones, a very satisfying evening. Score: - daughter caught the 1st, Son caught the biggest dad even caught a reasonsble fish. My son even comented that it was better than watching the simpsons ! Have attached doccumentry evidence below!!

Morning All! Went out last night with a couple of mates (against all common sense) - couldn’t let the weekend go without getting on the water! Arrived at ATB at about 6pm and knew straight away that I had an uncontrolled addiction when there was only 1 other car & trailer there. The water was just a little dirty; I could tell that when one of my mates walked directly from the boat ramp to the pontoon, leaving foot prints where there used to be water - the bugger left muddy foot prints when he got into the boat! any ways, we headed of with plans of going into the deep water in Smiths creek. As we worked our way through the coffee coloured water out of the 4knot area, ready to open her up for a bit of stump jumping (I had grand plans of maybe getting 8 knots), we hit the fog. the fog was medium and a little patchy - no worries crank her up to 5 knots !! By the time we got to Waratah Bay the fog was heavy enough to convince us that we may well miss Smiths altogether, and Waratah was just such a relaxing spot any way with the soothing sounds of torrents of water running down the hill sides. I will admit at this point that we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we were unlikely to catch any salt water species, a quick taste test of the water confirmed - cold Coffee no sugar ! We persisted for about 3 hours (1 of which was relocating from one side of Waratah to the other) with the fresh water gear hoping for a carp or trout. After a while, the three of us were convinced that we were wasting our time. We made the decision to head back to the ramp. Heading back the fog had closed in and the nav lights and riding light only served to throw scattered light through the fog reducing visibility even further. We felt our way back up the creek, picking up another lost soul who had been poking around blind for three hours looking for ATB. It was hard going, motor just over idle, one reading the sounder, one driving and one on the torch, picking out where the water met the shore every so often. The trip back only took an hour ! enjoy what’s left of the weekend, I’m off to clean the mud off the boat.

I am interested, looks like it has some solid casting Decks. I cant tell from the pictures, is it inboard or outboard? How many hours ? Do you have a picture of the trailer as well ? I do not intend to negotiate the price with you as I have been fortunate enough to have asignificant some of money coming to me from the Nigerian Govt. I will arrange for them to send you a bank cheque but you will need to give me your account details and pay a small transfer fee.

Roberta, You need to get to a Dive Shop & ask them for a product called 'Aqua Seal' - I think its called that. I have repaired many large cuts and small nicks in my dive suit, and none of the repairs have given up yet ! It used to come in a white tube with blue writing. hope that helps.

Nathan, thanks for your input. Just so you know, the impeller was replaced in the last service (the service guy indicated that it was not in that bad a condition - I wanted it replaced to be certain. You refered to T/stats plural - am I missing something here ? If the head is choked up, is it possible to back flush ? or, is there a product that I can run through the system to break down some of the build up ? I am not keen to pull the head at this stage because I want to nurse it through Chrissy so I can take the kids out & maybe try to catch a fish. With my luck I reckon I could break a handfull of bolts which would really add to my Christmas spirit, particularly as I wont be able to get any parts, or any one to work on it until some time in mid to late January!!

Chrisg, the motor was serviced about a month ago by an authorised sevice centre. I have spoken to them since the incident and they said it could be a number of different things such as blocked (corroded ) galleries, failed thermostat or failed exhaust gaskets. I would take it back, but at this time of year, I have no show, and I want to use it over Christmas, so I've ordered a new T/stat any way at least thats the 1st step in identifying the problem, and something that I can do over the break. thanks

Morning all, New member looking for input from experiened Outboard users. I have a Suzuki DT85 mid 80's I think, that's just been serviced. On the river on Sunday did a 10 minute run mostly at WOT - engine ran fine. Fished for about 2 hours, then on the run home after about 5 minutes at WOT Over temp alarm sounds and engine stalls. I left the leg in the water and peered over to see if there was any rubbish around the leg, there was none, and the telltale was pumping plenty of water before she died. given that before going on the water I ran the motor on the ear muffs for about 15 minutes with no probs, i suspect something like a faulty thermostat. Anyone had similar problems and is it wise to run an outboard without a thermostat ? Any input greatly appreciated thanks

G'day all, just a quick intro. joined today so I figure I should quickly do the social bit ! What to say Hmmm ! hope I'm in the right Place here ! Well I'm married with 2 kids a dog and several cars and a boat of course. live in Sydneys Hills district. Been fishing since I was 6 and may have improved my skills marginally since then so the name Tryhard is probably inconsistant with the effort ! but then again Ive been called a tryhard so why not ? I have been browsing the site recently and figure from the experience displayed, if I want to improve the catch rate then I will have to do more reading, and maybe impose upon some of the experts to 'learn me a thing a two'. I dont get out on the water all that much, so the report posts will be fairly lean, hopefully I can contribute in other ways (I got money prob's too so we arent talkin cash!). Any way that's me for now, Ill be looking for some help from the boating fraternity tomorrow !