wttmrwolf

Hi Gavin, Its pretty easy conversion if you need to replace floor since you can run all the dusting for steering and such. Without replacing floor need to get a little more creative. I'm almost finished replacing the transom on my Savage. Project went on ice for nearly 12 months while work was busy. Might have transom all glassed in and good as new in a few weeks. Ben

Damn! I should have come out last night At least you have your mojo back, I can imagine your disappointment but don't worry. Jewfish 2 vs Lowrid3r 2 for the month of May. I bet that jew had a nice cold beer after escaping you. Here is a photo i took of the jew afterwards.

Its been a few months but progress has been made. I ended up ripping up all the old stingers and glassing in new ones. The old ones had some signs of rot on closer inspection. The last 2 weeks has been epic. All the new stringers are glassed in and level ready to accept the floor. I can't believe how long this takes. I have been working from 9pm till 2am every night of the week to try and get ready to install the floor. Here are some of the things I had to do... * grind back rotten glass in floor * cut stringers * glass in stringers * build kill tank * glass kill tank * flowcoat kill tank * install bilge stringer * mount drains in kill tank and bilge stringer * install bungs in bilge stringer * cut floor sheets of ply * glass bottom of floor * foam fill cavities around kill tank * glass new stringer in skeg * more grinding * more sanding * more glassing * leveling stringers * wait for rain to stop See new photos, attached! I'm on a mission to get floor installed by Friday.

Audley Weir or just burley up around the wharfs with Bread. Its not finding them thats the problem. They can be tricky to land, especially at night. If you really want mullet I'd fish one of the small creeks.

Nice catch! Looks like beautiful surrounds without the usual Syd Harbour boat traffic. Looking forward to our annual 2010 fish session.

Here is another approach to fishing thailand. Take a travel rod and a bag of jig heads and soft platics. The fish over there go mental for them. I don't think the reef fish have ever seen lures. I fished Koh Samui and Koh Tao. Both places you can find a patch of reef near the beach and cast away. Be prepared for lots of bust offs! They run hard for the coral. On Samui I met some locals and we all walked out into water about waist deep and fishing for a few hours. They were squiding but got lots of attention using SP's. The resort cooked whatever I brought back to the beach. I also caught heaps of squid. Caught a 50cm Coral Emperor and each night took my catch to the local resturant and they cooked it up for me Thai style. On Koh Tao its a bit tricky. You aren't allowed to fish within 1km of island. That said give a bag of SP's to a local and they will walk you to a beach or headland where you can fish or better still pay a longboat driver $40 to take you to some outer reefs. If you need a good hotel in Koh Tao check out Charm Churee Villas. If you are diving then I found Viking Divers to tbe the best. Day trips are fun but sports fishing goes OFF! If you are on the Phuket side then head over to Railay or Phi Phi. PhiPhi is busy with day trippers but at sunrise or sunset its tranquil.

looks like a bigger jew, I was thinking of taking the punt down tonight. Expect it will be pretty busy being sat night.

Called a mate who had a flatbed truck. took a couple of hours, got to bed around 4am. Insurance company has been great, they are paying for the repair and I just have $100 excess. There was no signs of rust and they accepted it was accident. Its already at the repair shop getting rebuilt. Should be back on the water soon.

Lowrid3r gets the credits for perfect gaff. Glad to share the experience with a good mate. Actually me that caught that one.

When its fixed we are going to move the winch forward but the axle will need to move forward as well since the boat is balanced on the trailer nicely how it is.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Brickman I think you are right, started where the small rust spot is on the inside of the bar plus weakspot due to U-bolt and too much flex. Day's Fishin, I'm getting quotes for full repair including that crack test Brickman mentioned. I think they are going to slide a thicker gauge bar over the existing bar and weld to the front triangle and move all the hardware across from the other bar eg tow ball. Thanks guys. Ben

FIXED! Took it down to a local mechanic and he pulled apart the tilt trim motor. Turned out to be water in the pump which had caused some corrosion. Just replaced the pump, motor was fine. All working good as new. Happy to have a working engine again! Ben

I had a scary incident on Thursday night last week. My trailer snapped in two! Luckily no-one was hurt and the boat is fine. Happened at relatively low speed, about 20km/h. Just wanted to warn fellow boaties that these things do happen. There is no visible signs of corrosion, seems to be metal fatigue where the U-bolt goes around the drawbar. I should have slowed down more when I saw the pothole but it was hard to avoid because there was a traffic island reducing my room to manouver. Hopefully insurance will cover the accident. Fingers crossed. Ben

I own a share in another boat that is half cabin. I've threatened the other owners that I'll cut the bloody cabin off every time we get back from a fish. My kids don't want to come out on the boat so I figure time to get a CC

Not looking too good Attached the battery direct to trim motor... CLICK, CLICK then silence. Disconnected all the hydraulic hoses just incase there was a blockage and hence hydraulic stall. Nope, still not pumping. Might be able to get a replacement PT 112N-NP from the US for about $600. At least the AUD $ is near parity. Does anyone have an old motor destined for the scrap heap, maybe I can buy your tilt and trim... If Huey is out there can you source spare parts like this in OZ? Ben