rayke1938

A farmer named Eric was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in New South Wales when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the farmer, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?" Eric looks at the man, obviously a city yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, why not?" The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response. Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the farmer and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves." "That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Eric. He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car. Then Eric says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?" The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?" "You're a senator in the Government", says Eric. "Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?" "No guessing required." answered the farmer. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep. ... Now give me back my dog. Cheers Ray

Depends on size of boat and motor. I have a 16ft tinney with 50hp merc 4 stroke on it. I used around 45 to 50 l at Monduran over 6 days of boating but mainly trolling for 6 to 8 hours a day so and also did not travel far . 4 strokes only use around 50% of the fuel of a 2 stroke. Servicing costs need to be considered I am currently looking at $350 plus parts for my annual service. At the other extreme my neighbour has a grady white with 2 X 150 hp yammy 4 strokes hanging off it and he is up for $4 to $500 to fill his tanks after a weekender out wide. I do not ask for a fuel contribution as I am already going fishing and do not travel big distances in the boat. I make a point of letting my decky know what he needs to bring along and also advise them of the style of fishing that I do. I only expect 2 things. Being punctual. And a thankyou at end of day If that doesnt happen no more invites. Cheers Ray

Up the Gulf they are a top bait for grunter down here they are ok for both sand and mud crabs. Flesh ok for bream and small liveys for shark and thready.When I keep them for liveys in the live well I nip the tip off their spines may seem cruel but I dont want a spike in the hand. Cheers Ray

Ryan Young had a couple of old 25hp tiller steer that you may be able to canabalise the tiller arm etc off. He may have sold them. From memory the earlier omc s were fairly simple to convert only having to bolt on parts without changing base plate. If you have to change base plate its a bugga of a job as you will be undoing bolts that havent moved since the motor was built. Ring around some of the wreckers they will be able to tell you if its feasabile. Cheers Ray

I swear that this is a true Bundy Rum Fishing Story BUNDY RUM (Bundaberg Rum)...Queensland's famous product! Forget Jamaica or any other rubbish! (For you o/seas people..a King Brown is one of the deadliest snakes on earth. Out of the world’s top 10, Australia has 5. I finally got around to going fishing this morning but after a while I ran out of worms. Then I saw a King Brown with a frog in his mouth, and frogs are good bass bait. Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in his mouth, I grabbed him right behind the head, took the frog and put it in my bait bucket. Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bitten. I grabbed my bottle of Bundaberg rum and poured a little rum in its mouth. His eyes rolled back, he went limp, I released him into the lake without incident, and carried on my fishing with the frog. A little later I felt a nudge on my foot. There was that same bloody snake with two frogs in his mouth.

BMX Thanks for editing. Cheers Ray

Just like to point out its closed season for barra and illegal to target them. Cheers Ray

I always used to make them out of a large soft drink or milk bottle. Milk bottle is best as it has larger hole in the top.Stab a few holes in it,cut the top off in the tapered part and reverse it into the bottle so that it acts as a funnel. Couple of sinkers and a bit of bread inside and a bit of line to stop it washing away in the tide. Cheers Ray

BUNDY RUM (Bundaberg Rum)...Queensland's famous product! Forget Jamaica or any other rubbish! (For you o/seas people..a King Brown is one of the deadliest snakes on earth. Out of the world’s top 10, Australia has 9. I finally got around to going fishing this morning but after a while I ran out of worms. Then I saw a King Brown with a frog in his mouth, and frogs are good bass bait. Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in his mouth, I grabbed him right behind the head, took the frog and put it in my bait bucket. Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bitten. I grabbed my bottle of Bundaberg rum and poured a little rum in its mouth. His eyes rolled back, he went limp, I released him into the lake without incident, and carried on my fishing with the frog. A little later I felt a nudge on my foot. There was that same snake with two frogs in his mouth.

Eug wrote: edit: the fish was caught quite a few months ago.

Just reading on another site that the ramp at end of Ferry Road Carbrook ( The private one at the cable ski park has been closed till firther notice by WHS. Apparently someone impaled his foot on a bit of reo last weekend and firebrigade had to come and cut it off ( The reo not his foot) under water and he had to go to hospital to have it removed. Be a bit worried about infection with the sloppy gunk that is on the ramp. The ramp at Skinners park is open. Cheers Ray

To be fair to both sides of the fence I think that some new fishers have no idea of the real costs of a trip. Being newbies they may be a little overawed with procedures in the boat and reluctant to display their ignorance but a few hints from the owner or a what can I do to help question from the guest goes a long way. If a decky is a little green i try to help with rigging and procedures and also tell them what they need to bring along. Most of my trips are short ones with negligible costs and I am going anyhow but I do appreciate a hand launching and stowing everything away on retrieval. Cheers Ray

Hard to keep alive but as a dead bait good for bream and flathead.Present them as per Tinytims post. Cheers Ray

You can buy direct from factory at century batteries at carole park also they sometimes have seconds with marked cases. Also factory direct at superchagre. Cheers Ray

You wont damage the watersnake but the battery will not last very long as a car battery is not designed for continious discharge. Do yo mean that you will be using the leccy continiously for 3 hours or only intermittently for a 3 hour fishing session/ If only intermittent you would get away with a car battery but it still wouldnt last long. What is the output of the charge circuit on your outboard? Unless its an efi 4 stroke I suspect it will only be a few amps and not sufficient to maintain charge for your battery.There is a lot of info on the site already if you do a bit of research. Cheers Ray

From boatpoint.If you want new drop in and see Brian at Wondall Road marine. He is a terrific bloke and very honest . I have known him for 40 years and never heard a bad word.He would be quite happy to let you crawl over it and take measurements. Cheers Ray --- Looking for a new boat, but need to sell your old one first? List yours on BoatPoint now from just $30 until sold! Stessco's 420 series Stessco's 420 series Stessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 seriesStessco's 420 series Total photo(s): 16 Prev Next Play Close Stessco's 420 series (September 2008) words - Rick Huckstepp For the budget conscious or first-time boaters, Rick Huckstepp evaluates the very affordable Catcher SF420 open dinghy and the Skipper 420DLX runabout from Stessco Budget shopping with Stessco All of the bells and whistles on many of the boats adorning TrailerBoat inevitably push the purchase price higher. So there comes a time to take stock of what is available for those about to start out fishing and/or boating or perhaps for those looking for cheap water transport - so we checked out the 420 series of Stessco's. These alloy boats come with the bare minimum of window dressing in the case of the Catcher SF420 open dinghy while the Skipper 420DLX has a few added extras adorning its runabout design. Both will find a place in the lower end of the market for those looking at economy at purchase and low running costs with small horsepower propulsion units. CATCHER'S OOMPH In the case of the Catcher it was fitted with a Yamaha 30hp two-stroke engine which offered plenty of power with two adults aboard and gave it a WOT speed of 44kmh on the handheld GPS. Holeshot was quick and when solo at the tiller, the boat bow lifted high quickly but laid down flat just as quickly. The fitted outboard had a manual tilt and short tiller arm, but this did not impede its performance in turns, with minimal torque having to be overcome by the left arm. With a single adult on board the chines on this boat sit above the water line so it will behave with more stability when at anchor or dead in the water with additional weight payload. Another body on board remedies this. Standard on this boat is the rear boarding platform with rail, which is a great asset for the price. The aft gunwales have robust grab handles for those seated in that part of the cockpit, while those in the forward area with the same seats in another set of post-base holes will have to do without. The bow point features a couple of grab handles for hand guiding the boat onto the trailer, but which also second as a place to connect rope tiedowns for extra security when towing. CHECKERPLATE PROTECTION Another practical feature is the bow section gunwale consisting of alloy checkerplate which keeps the area looking neat rather than having the flat sheet knocked around and dented with anchors being dragged on board. Still up front, anchor and ground tackle may be stowed in an area in front of a low-profile retaining fence. The base of this was welded to the most forward short rib each side of the centre line, while the top sections are a small distance from the side of the hull. This is done to alleviate stress cracks developing at that point due to flex, but, in this case, the ends of the partition were sharp and unfinished which could be an issue to the fraying of anchor ropes and also should a toe or finger get caught here. The deck is carpeted marine ply and sits under flanges welded to the ribs and is then screwed to the full supports underneath. The aft end of the deck has a small aperture leading down into the bilge and transom strengthening struts from the engine mount cut-away in the stern, extending down through here to the deck support structure below. One issue we see looming is rubbish and gear getting swallowed up by this void and being unable to be retrieved without removing a floor section. A way around this might be to make a sieve basket to sit in here that catches any wayward materials before they go missing. Even a flat piece of alloy sheet with holes drilled all over it and Velcro stuck to the carpet would do that job cheaply. The beauty of unpainted aluminium boats is that you can take to them with drills and welders, and chop and change anything to your liking before settling on what fits your style, like a glove. SKIPPER'S FANCY So, need a few more comforts in life but suffering budget constraints? Then the Skipper 420DLX might fit your wallet. There's nothing like getting out of the cold wind behind a windscreen under some shade. The Skipper features a curved Perspex windscreen with a centre opening pane allowing one to stand and lean through and over the open anchorwell. This last item is a reasonable size and would accept a small grapple or large Danforth anchor with chain and 50m of rope. It is drained via a hose to the outside hull. The forequarter low-profile handrails come from the sides of the screen right up to a sturdy heavy-duty plate bowsprit on which is fixed a rope roller. Two simple pedestal seats sit behind the windscreen which, when closed, offers a person of average height clear vision over the top. Excluding that section which opens to the bow, the screen has a handrail wrapping around for extra screen rigidity. A flat-top dash behind the screen will accept gimbal-mounted medium-sized cabinet electronics and on the test boat Eagle's Cuda 128 was installed, but not connected to the power supply. Teleflex NFB (non feedback) manual steering was fitted on the boat and connected to a Mercury 40hp two-stroke engine. The remote throttle, power trim and tilt control are installed on the inside of the gunwale in a comfortable position. While occupying the front seats, one has improved legroom, due to a dropdown in the deck height under the dash. A bimini top provided plenty of shade while seated and while not fitted, it no doubt could be rigged with clears to the top of the windscreen. COCKPIT ADJUSTMENTS In the aft of the cockpit, a beam-width rear lounge is installed and occupants may lean against padded inner gunwales. The lounge is a stowage box with a hinged padded lid and tilts forward to access the battery and tote fuel tank in each aft corner under the transom bulkhead. It can also be used as a fishing seat for those facing aft and the box is large enough to stow all of the safety gear and more. If required, it would be easy to remove the screwed hinges to take the box out of the boat and give anglers more room, or perhaps to use as a seat on the beach when picnicking. Some more stowage is available in short sidepockets, port and starboard, that are welded between structural ribs at a position high enough off the deck to allow feet to get under. The deck is carpeted marine ply which sits under flat flanges coming off the structural ribs and is then screwed to the frame underneath. This deck extends to the stern and a small aperture is open to the bilge. There is no bilge pump installed and the engine well superimposes over the top of the aperture. Should any objects fall in here one cannot look into the aperture to locate them and must go by feel. If out of reach, the floor would have to be unscrewed which would be inconvenient. As with the Catcher SF420, a grate installed over the aperture would save a lot of hassles in the future. The Skipper has a boarding platform and grabrail on the port side of the stern and there is a grab handle on each end of the beam for manoeuvring the boat onto trailers and tying off back anchor ropes. POWER AND ECONOMY I must say we were pleasantly surprised at the performance of the Skipper 420DLX with such low horsepower. With two large adults on board it got onto the plane easily and ran quiet for a standard-type two-stroke engine which was rated 'one star' under VELS. Trimmed right in, the Skipper handled tight, high-speed turns without aeration at the propeller and steering was easy on the arms at various angles of trim. The transducer brackets welded to these boats sit about one centimetre above the bottom line of the hull which might create installation problems for some types of mounts, depending on the brands. We would like to see these lowered so the bottom of the bracket is in line with the bottom of the hull. CATCHER SF420 HIGHS * Simple and cheap * Economical to run with low horsepower LOWS * Sharp unfinished edges on ground tackle fence * Open bilge needs to be screened * Bilge pump needs to be mandatory as one cannot bail via the small aperture to the bilge CATCHER SF420 HOW MUCH? Price as tested: $7,990 Options fitted: Nil GENERAL Material: Aluminium, 3mm bottom, 1.6mm sides Length overall: 4.2m Beam: 1.98m Deadrise: 15.5° Weight: 175kg (hull) CAPACITIES Fuel: Tote tanks People: 4 Rec. max. HP: 40 Rec. min. HP: 25 Max. engine weight: 95kg ENGINE Make/model: Yamaha 30 CV Type: Single carburetted two-cylinder two-stroke outboard Displacement: 496cc Rated HP: 30 Weight: 54.5kg Gearbox ratio: 2.08 (27/13) Propeller: 12in three-blade VELS rating: 1-star SUPPLIED BY: Marine Tune, 64 Kortum Road, Burleigh Heads, Qld, 4220 Phone: (07) 5576 7388 Email: sales@marinetune.com SKIPPER 420DLX HIGHS * Small-engine capability * Good seating and stowage in rear lounge LOWS * Bilge pump should be mandatory * Aperture to bilge should have sieve or grate * Transducer mount-base too high SKIPPER 420DLX HOW MUCH? Price as tested: $14,990 Options fitted: Nil GENERAL Material: Aluminium, 3mm bottom, 1.6mm sides Length overall: 4.2m Beam: 1.97m Deadrise: 15.5° Weight: 250kg (hull) CAPACITIES Fuel: Tote tanks People: 4 Rec. max. HP: 40 Rec. min. HP: 30 Max. engine weight: 110kg ENGINE Make/model: Mercury Lightning XR Type: Carburetted three-cylinder two-stroke outboard Weight: 69kg Rated HP: 40 Displacement: 697cc Gearbox ratio: 2.00:1 Propeller: 13.5in VELS rating: 1-star SUPPLIED BY: Wondall Road Marine, 419 Wondall Road, Tingalpa, Qld, 4173 Phone: (07) 3396 5633 Website: www.stessco.com.au

My 4.6m stacer tinny with 50hp merc 4 stroke is exactly 6m lomg with the motor down, It is centre console without windscreen and height to top of steering wheel is 1.8m high. The vc is a brilliant sea boat but you would legally require a braked trailer so trailer rego would be over $100 against 65 for the quinny lazabout. Not certain of weight of freedom sport. The boating rego for the freedom and the vc is around $100 dearer than the 4.5 quinney. Just make certain that floor and transom in the vc is sound as some of them are getting on a bit. Cheers Ray

Just a wee bit dangerous. Re max hp another factor to be considered is the transom weight. All the literature and the compliance plate on my boat says max recommended hp and weight. As Booty pointed out there is no legistation in place to enforce this. Some manufactures offer a reinforced transom and additional boyancy to enable larger motors to be fitted. As long as you can prove that you have taken consideration your duty of care obligations you will never have any problems. Some boats are absolute dogs when they are only fitted with the max recommended hp/weight motors. Graham Pflaum has a 3.9 allycraft shadow it only had a 20hp 2 stroke yamaha on it when he got it and as it would only just plane with 2 up.He wanted to go to a 30hp 4 stroke and one salesman said no probs even though the hull was only rated to 25 hp and another said he could only go to 25hp so he went to a 25 hp and it still will only just plane with 2 up.He has tried several props and no difference. He has seen plenty of others with a 30 and they absolutely hoot with 3 up.

Some oldies and goodies from dino. My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping channels. She asked, 'What's on TV?' I said, 'Dust.' And then the fight started... ****************************************** My wife and I are watching "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, "Do you want to have sex?" "No," she answered. I then said, "Is that your final answer?" She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying, "Yes." So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend." And then the fight started.... ****************************************** Saturday morning I got up early, quietly dressed, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, and slipped quietly into the garage. I hooked up the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour. The wind was blowing 50 mph, so I pulled back into the garage, turned on the Radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad all day. I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, "The weather out there is terrible." My loving wife of 10 years replied, "Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that?" And that's how the fight started... ****************************************** I rear-ended a car this morning. So, there we were alongside the road and slowly the other driver got out of his car. You know how sometimes you just get soooo stressed and little things just seem funny? Yeah, well I couldn't believe it.... He was a DWARF!!! He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted, "I AM NOT HAPPY!!!" So, I looked down at him and said, "Well, then which one are you?" And then the fight started..... ***************************************** My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary. She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds.' I bought her a scale. And then the fight started... ****************************************** When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive...so, I took her to a gas station. And then the fight started... ****************************************** After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to apply for Social Security. The woman behind the counter asked me for my driver's license to verify my age. I looked in my pockets and realized I had left my wallet at home. I told the woman that I was very sorry, but I would haveTo go home and come back later. The woman said, 'Unbutton your shirt'. So I opened my shirt revealing my curly silver hair. She said, 'That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me' and she processed my Social Security application. When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my experience at the Social Security office. She said, 'You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten disability, too.' And then the fight started... ****************************************** My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table. My wife asked, 'Do you know her?' 'Yes,' I sighed, 'She's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since.' 'My Goodness!' says my wife, 'who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?' And then the fight started... ****************************************** I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my order first. "I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please." He said, "Aren't you worried about the mad cow?"" Nah, she can order for herself." And then the fight started... ****************************************** A woman is standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, 'I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.' The husband replies, 'Your eyesight's damn near perfect.' And then the fight started..... Cheers Ray

As far as I am aware there are no laws governing what size motor you can place on a hull.Some manufactures will upgrade a transom to take a higher hp motor. The only thing is that you have a duty of care to operate the craft in a safe manner. Just look at some of the race boats and thundercats out there to see what they hang off the back of relatively small craft. Cheers Ray

Slip onto ebay and do a search on trailer parts and look for a seller called spinny things. His adds have a link to his web page with all sorts of good info. Cheers Ray

This thing is her other pet. She used to keep snakes so I suppose it is an improvement. Cheers Ray [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/P1010869_AFO-99bc0bf15bec0b6bb67eec251f03d102.jpg

My daughter has 2 pets. Here is a painting of rusty the kelpie that my missus has just done. [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/P1010877_AFO.jpg