Fishop

I use willy weather first as it has a nice graph that easily shows me 7 days in advance if its going to be windy or not. Judging by the pic of cairns, I would say sunday is going to be better than saturday. Then I go to the BOM marine wind forecast webpage. They dont have an app which sucks and makes it a bit more time consuming to study. Saturday was showing dark blue on BOM which is 10-15 knots, sunday is showing white/light blue (above) which is 0-5/5-10 knots. Sometimes it doesnt always work out like this, sometimes Willy will say sunday is better and I check BOM and BOM says saturday is better. In which case I would choose BOM over Willy. Willy is just used to take a real quick look at the week ahead. I also use Willy for tides as it has the same nice to read graphs I can quickly glance at and see where high and low tide are.

Plus all those fancy contour lines almost never add up to what the sounder is actually reading. I'm moving to brisbane/sunshine coast later this year so I will wait and see if the maps are any better down there.

I have navionics on my phone. I dont really trust it. As you can see I drove straight over wallaby reef the other day. It will also show me going straight over holbourne island, nares rock and middle Island if I go within a hundred metres of them. It seems to save my markers ok though I can always find my fishing spots but it's just not as accurate around certain islands/reefs. Cmap is still installed on my 10 year old raymarine plotter and it is more accurate around the islands and reef.

I just have 2 voltmeters connected after the isolator switch for each battery. Not sure about a blue tooth one, might be overcomplicating it a bit. Why do you need current flow etc

I went fishing with a bloke who had a haines 635 with a 225 on the back. Big boat and he never let either of the dual axle trailer axles into the water and had an electric winch to crank it up on the roller trailer. 😂😂

How much do they cost? Fitted and installed?

I have the same setup as you I just went with 2 century marine batteries with a VSR. I cant see a time when my accessories will require anything like a deep cycle. I usually only fish a spot for an hour or two and my sounder, stereo, lights, radios etc I doubt will flatten a battery in that time. I have installed volt meter's for each battery to keep an eye on it just in case.

As above get a service manual. My local wouldnt sell me one but I rang around a few places close by and ended up getting one from townsville dealer. They ordered it from the US so it took a few weeks, but it came and they posted it to me for an additional 10 bucks. total was about 60 all up. its so detailed it literally tells you every single bolt and screw to undo with pictures to go with it. Well worth it IMO.

Thats a good point I wonder what your range is now with the new motor and 240Litres!! I had a 120 + 40 litre tanks in my little carribean and a 90hp 4 stroke and it goes 2+km/litre. I couldnt think of a time I would be doing a 320km round trip!! Like you said I found the fuel just sat in the tank for long periods so I would occasionally top up with 95. Ive since removed the 40L tank and turned it into a kill bin.

Do you think you will drop a prop pitch considering you were not fully loaded and didnt quite make it to 6000rpm? Also, cant believe your old 21 year old 200hp is still 31kg lighter!

Nice comparison. 8)

Sorry for the delay. I have it sitting on the ramp to try and even up the weight distribution between the two axles. Without it the front axle seems to take all the weight and the tyres looked heaps flatter. Dont even need to have the brake on. Two wheels are chained together on the other side and its chained to the driveway via a shackle dynabolted down.

I have a 1994 15hp yammy. Its a 15D model if that helps (dates back to 1982 i believe). I had the leg offand noticed this hole up inside the upper casing (top right corner). Is it meant to be there? It seems very cylindrical. It doesnt show up on any parts diagrams. Also when i fired it up it has exhaust coming up the upper front part or the casing. Seems to be coming from around these grommets. Does anyone think the two may be linked?

I am in the exact same situation, 18ft fibreglass. I park mine on the driveway no worries. I have a dual axle trailer. I drive up, have the wife put two small caravan ramps (or i made my own with wood) under the back wheels, then I reverse back onto the ramp for the rear wheels only. that way the boat sits almost horizontal. Ive never had any issues with it moving. I also lock the wheels together with a chain (safety 1) and bolted a D-ring into the concrete and chain it to that as well (safety 2) and trailer also has a hand brake. Ill try and get a photo. I drive my trailer up so the back of the boat is facing down and it drains while I wash it. Even when its unhitched its on a slight angle down for drainage. I then unhitch, drive the car forward into garage and back out (double bay garage). its a bit of a PITA with a landcruiser but it works. I have a small house with no street parking. Ill try get a photo later tonight to better explain.

Is the fuel breather open?

If you post a pic of the foil Im sure someone will be able to identify it. 😎

I too do this with my little 8hp 2 stroke. When I flush the motor i just disconnect the fuel line. Gives it about 5 minutes of run time/flush time before it runs out of fuel.

My dream trailer boat is a walkaround cabin with a diesel inboard. So when I accomplish that dream ill let you know!

Would it not be the same as other outboards and exhaust through the prop/under water? Plenty of diesel inboard motors getting around.

They do a 300hp version with 680nm of torque and its 395kg. https://www.oxe-diesel.com/Portals/0/Images/Produkter/OXE_psheet.300Hp.web.pdf?ver=2019-09-19-161519-747 Or for 20kg lighter you can go 300hp and 650nm of torque with COX. http://www.powerequipment.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/CXO300-Technical-Specification_2018.pdf.pdf Not sure how a 3.0L 6 cylinder weighs more than a 4.4L V8!?!

Plenty of people hit up the 120km return trip to the GBR where I am from in North queensland in Renegage's. Just gotta pick your days and make sure you have all the safety gear if you get in trouble!

If you want cheap buy the 3m light/medium/heavy perfect-it cutting compound and wax ($30 or so) and a cheap buffing kit ($50) which attaches to a cordless drill. You cut it on to remove oxidation and then you buff it off to bring out the shine. You would be surprised how well my 30 year old carribean came up with just one go over. I also invested in a full cover for my boat. I got a cheapy off an online store for about 130 bucks. It covers the whole boat (full length north queensland style canopy and all). Its ocean south so its not top of the line stuff, but so far so good its been on 6 months and it keeps all the water, dust, leaves and most importantly sun off the boat.

That review was done in 2009 and on an optimax with 25 hours on it. Probably better off googling optimax issues to find out what issues you might come across with an 11 year old optimax. 😎

He could probably sell that motor for $3-4k if its in good nick.