JimC

Thanks. It is gas assist. I have never heard of them before. Never to old to learn. Jim 😀

Hi Everyone. I have just acquired a 4m tinny. It is fitted with a 30 hp Mariner o/b. My question is that this motor is fitted with a power tilt but there are no electrical cables attached and I cannot see where they should go. Is there any tilt unit that doesn't use power? It has a lever on the side that seems as if it would open a valve or something. Where the motor goes there is a cylinder saying ....caution, High pressure oil. Jim

Monday morning 9.30 am. I went to slide my boat off the floating dock and somehow managed to launch myself instead. If only I fell in on the deep side I would have only got soaked and cold. NO. Off I went on the shallow side. 30cm of water over the end of my concrete ramp. I climbed out, went up to the house and changed and completed the launch process correctly and went fishing. Tuesday morning I could hardly move with pain...I have a broken rib. Oh well 4-6 weeks of pain but it hasn't stopped me fishing...yet. Yes I did catch one luderick.

It is three years now since the last post. Way back there was a question as to whether you use your registered callsign or boat name to book on. Your boat rego opens up the opportunity to get a lot of info from RMS in NSW or the appropriate Boating Authority in other states. This could be vital if you get into trouble. YOU MUST LOG ON TO MARINE RESCUE. This for your own benefit, not ours. If you log on using your boat name the ifo collected by Marine Rescue is as far as it goes. You will be asked a series of question such as rego, launch point, number on board, destination, estimated time of return and your onboard mobile phone number. You should be asked your vehicle and trailer rego and land contact with mobile number. If you log on by app you will have to fill in the same information. However the app will log your gps coordinates at set intervals. Which means if you are overdue or call for help we can find your boat on Google maps. Please log off, as occasionally we find an overdue vessel parked in a driveway. Sounds funny but we then have to locate the vessel owner and make sure he is ok before logging him off. This may or mar not involve the police to locate him. Who said being a Marine Rescue Radio operator boring

Tank vent is open and not blocked. Tank pickup is clean and fuel flows freely. However I might have just fixed the problem. I only use unleaded, not E10. Apparently there is no fuel pump available, only gasket and diaphragm kits. However there are two one way valves. These are a tensioned metal strip and they open and close as required to allow fuel to flow in but not back. One of the valves appeared to not be closing properly so I readjusted the tension and now the motor is holding high speed idle without starving. Incidentally the on-line handbook says to replace the fuel pump every two years but it seems the complete pump is not available. Time will tell.

Hi all. I am having a problem with my 30hp Yahama outboard. The problem is that is seems to starve for fuel. Idles fine and runs ok up to about 6 knots then starts to lose power erratically. A quick pump of the bulb and it is right again. Fuel is clean, new hose and primer bulb fitted and used screw clamps on all joints. Engine filter is clean. New fuel pump kit fitted..gaskets and diaphragm. I am now scratching my head as to where to go next. Sounds like it is sucking air in but I cannot find where. Any suggestions?Jim

It just sat on the bottom and when I applied pressure to try to get it to come up it just shook its head and stayed on the bottom. I am one of those who fish light and if a big fish wants to run I just hold as bit of pressure and let it. O well, if it was as big as it felt I didn't want to catch it anyway

Living at Sussex Inlet I fish the Basin and estuary. A couple of weeks back I was drifting in the Basin when I felt a flathead take the bait. The usual dead weight followed by the intermittent heavy shaking. I knew it was a big one because I had trouble getting it off the bottom. Eventually it slowly gave way and then suddenly took off. Luckily the hook pulled out. I would have liked to have seen it but I doubt whether I could have scooped it one handed and get it into the boat. So I am glad the fish got away. Today, a similar thing happened. Hugh dead weight with the occasional shake. This one was huge because my spinning rod was totally loaded and I couldn't get it unstuck off the bottom. It decided to run about 3-4 meters then settle on the bottom again. So here am I with a monster lizzard stuck on the bottom and my poor rod tied in knots, and I still couldn't get it to rise. Oh well, one last lift on the rod and the line let go. At least I know of two breaders in the basin, both very large. I would have liked a photo but alas, no sighting of either. I always say that any fish that can get away from is either lucky or I fouled up somewhere. In this case I knew I was using old line.. Jim

There are a couple of different licences. Marine Rescue have to have the LROCP and it is mandatory for all on the vessels and the radio operators.

You need the Long Range operators certificate of Proficiency from Australian Maritime College Tasmania. I run Marine rescue courses. As to the second channel, it all depends where you are. 72, 73 etc. You should contact the nearest Marine Rescue unit to where you fish. They will tell you.

OOPS. There goes my boat trailer. Lucky there are no electricals on it. Just have to watch the wheel bearings.

The water in Sussex is slowly receding.There will be a large amount of run in from upstream. I measured 450mm of rain in two and a half days. All the usual low level flooding.

Researching further. The non gps epirbs can take from 90 minutes to 5 hours to be detected and then within a 5 km range. the new gps type can be detected within 20 minutes to an accuracy of 120 meters. The difference in time is because of the frequencies used and the availability of satellites

The older type of EPIRB, whilst sending a distress signal did not accurately pinpoint your position. The rescue vessel would be directed to your general vicinity and then would have to start a search pattern. The new type indicates your exact location.

If anyone is carrying an older type epirb it would be better to update. The new type transmit your lat. and long position and cuts a considerable amount of time off finding you .

Look on the BOM website and go to Marine forecast. It will give wind direction and speed plus swell size and direction. Often there are two swells running different directions which makes for interesting times.

According to the regulations you must hold a radio licence before you can legally use a marine radio. Also you must have a marine radio fitted in your boat before going outside. Here is the quandary... If you must have a radio but cannot legally use it if unlicenced you are breaking the law if you fish outside. Seeing the majority of boat users are not licenced what are the authorities able to do? Marine Rescue pleads with boaties to log on for their own safety. Many do not, and here is where our problems start. If a boat gets into trouble and we don't know it is out or where it is where do we start looking? There are a number of great action photos on here of you fishing outside WITHOUT wearing life jackets. Please please wear them. They are your first line of protection. We do not like looking for bodies

I am in Marine Rescue at Sussex Inlet and have taken over the task of teaching radio procedure together with the LROCP course. All our MR operators must have the LROCP qualification as well as being assessed on Base radio procedure. Sussex will be running a short basic radio procedure for boaties in the not too distant future. Seeing most Boaties are not licensed this will be a basic overview of procedure only.

Finally I have victory. The two metal flapper valves had lost their tension so were not closing. So after I retentioned them so they held closed at normal away she went. The manual says to replace the pump every 3 years but as there is only the two diaphragms and the two valves I fail to see why. Maybe it is because the valves lose their tension. Thanks all for help with suggestions.

I stuck my transducer inside the yak with Selly's water seal product. Works great and easy to remove if necessary

Ongoing saga. Having check the fuel delivery from the tank to the engine all is ok. Fitted a new diaphragm kit in the fuel pump and motor still runs out of fuel because the pump is not working. I have tried all over the net to get information on this motor but nothing. It is a 2011 30 hp 3 cylinder 2 stroke yamaha. Cant find anything. The pump has 2 diaphragms and 2 flapper valves which are a flat strip which is slightly bent to close off fuel ways. cant see a problem anywhere but no fuel coming through with engine running on fuel in carbys. Not sure how the pump runs but I think vacuum off the motor. Wished I could find a manual!

I have developed strong hand muscles from pumping fuel. It is about the only exercise I can do 🙂

Out in the boat 2 days ago in St Georges Basin. Motor starts losing power and stopping. I found that the fuel pump was not working properly. Being a mad fisherman I bought length of hose and sat the priming bulb near the throttle leaver. Now all I have to do is squeeze it every 30 seconds and I am off fishing. New pump diaphragm ordered

Last year I got the surprise of my life. Motoring slowly up the channel at Sussex Inlet I was amazed to see thousands of sea blackfish congregating in schools over the sand patches. They were waiting to do their thing when the females spawned. Of course they had a one track mind and were not feeding. Two days later they were all gone. This species did not look threatened. It was an incredible sight to witness.

I have a recurring problem with my outboard which this time I hope I have fixed. The problem is clogged idle jets. Having paid $400 to have the 3 carbies cleaned the problem was fixed. There was gunk in one of the idle jets. However a few months later the problem returned. In between I had drained and washed the fuel tank, checked the fuel line for deterioration and fitted an extra fuel filter in the line. The fuel filter on the motor was spotless as was the inline filter. I cleaned the jets and the problem was gone. However it has returned again. This time I cleaned the jets again, both filters clean. I also dismantled the fuel pump which the tech had not done the first time. The pump had a lot of solidified white crystals in it. I have cleaned this and hopefully the problem will disappear. My research shows that this crystal forms when using Ethanol fuel which I do not do. Is this diagnosis correct, because if it is then my servo might be selling E10 as unleaded. I hope not.