I read this thread from the beginning seems to be alot of non existent members now but from alot of it people seem to take deckies because they want their fishing trips funded or labour for cleaning the boat whilst I do agree with contributing I think its important to remember youre going fishing anyway so long as they bring their own gear or alert you to what they do or dont have. If you are taking someone who doesnt have a boat youre doing a kind deed. Dont make an offer to take someone fishing because you want to cut your trip costs or bought a boat you cant afford to take out, take someone fishing because you want to take someone fishing, give someone an experience they wouldnt get otherwise. If you are a good host im sure offers for compensation or labour will come and if not eh you were going anyway and you done a good deed. @rayke1938 is the best host.
What I am wanting to know is where is all this cheap seafood they cant move out of the control area?
Prawns crabs etc are still the same price in local shops!
with us being fairly isolated from the rest of the world and the major out breaks of white spot that we have had here being in farmed prawns, and with only a few (up till the present) being found in isolated pockets of wild prawns (Darwin in 2000`s?) now Logan mouth/Moreton Bay, Deception Bay, being a 100% mortality rate disease I would assume that the fish that dine on prawns would very quickly swoop on the sick, dying, dead infected prawns in the wild and play a big part in restricting and neutralising a high risk of the disease getting a firm foothold in our wild stocks. After all the small out break that occurred in the wild stock in the Northern Territory disappeared.
Not disagreeing with you Gary. Obviously what should have happened years ago was to not allow uncooked prawns from areas that had the virus. But that horse has well and truly bolted and it is a case of too little too late.
A better example might have been asbestos because I don't think anyone ever pretended that agent orange was safe for kiddies. If you ever get the chance to go to the war museum in Saigon, take plenty of tissues. I have never been so ashamed to be an Australian even though I know we didn't drop that stuff we were part of it all. What happened to those poor people was criminal and inhumane and achieved absolutely nothing except hardship.
Anyway, I guess my long winded point was that we need to trust the scientists and hope they can work constructively with the pollies to protect what is an important industry for Queensland.
Stay safe up there mate. Debbie might be a big one.
A few things to think about. Firstly, white spot may have been out in the wild population for years but there has been no real monitoring. Secondly, the main currents off the east coast run north to south so that may help protect the wild populations north of the current control area. Thirdly, anyone who has been eating imported prawns has already been eating infected prawns so I think we can trust the government view on the risks to humans. It also has no impact on fish that eat infected prawns.
Seems like the biggest issue is the impact on farmed prawns and the viability of those operations if the virus can't be minimised. The close proximity of huge numbers of prawns in the ponds mean that they will struggle to contain the virus in those systems.
It will be the full length of the east coast within a year, particularly if we get a late rain influence from that cyclone up north - push all the prawns out in to the ocean where they will mix before heading back up stream to breed...
First Step. sort out all the tools your going to need (and in my case curse missus for having tools I need in car at her mates place!)
Tools I used.
10inch shifter
Needle nose pliers
Side Cutting pliers (just in case you need to cut away split pin)
Trolley Jack
Car Stand
piece of soft pine or similar
Bucket
Turps (my choice of cleaning solvent)
Bucket
cleaning brush
Gloves
Marine Bearing Kit
Hammer
Marine grade grease
wheel brace
old flat blade screwdriver (those plastic covered ones they put in the kit are just the right size)
First up, Put jack under axle, axle stand under suitable part of trailer frame.
Loosen each wheel nut half to one turn
Jack trailer up high enough for tyre to clear the ground, put axle stand in place and adjust, slowly release jack until trailer rests on axle stand. I like to leave a little weight on the jack, as you need to push and shove a bit on the axle and it holds it still. Remove wheel.
Using the old screw driver and the hammer remove the dust cover of the bearing. Just put the blade in dip between the cover and the hub, and tap gently, rotating the hub a little after each tap. When it is loose, pull it off.
Bend split pin straight with needle nose pliers. Grip head of split pin firmly with pliers, pull split pin out.
Bang gently on hand holding pliers if necessary to shock it out.
undo castellated nut with shifter.
Pull off bearing retaining washer
Gently pull hub off axle. keep clear of the hub, as greasy dirty bearings may just drop in your lap!
Use screw driver to gently tap out rear bearing seal.
remove bearings and inspect.
Grease should be clean, and not milky - milky indicates water has entered hub, and emulsified the grease, which can lead to wheel bearing failure. The grease on the bearings in the photo still looks ok, but the grease on the cleaning brush is definately milky, in this case these hubs came from an ordinary trailer when I built the boat trailer, and were quite old. Obviously even though I repacked the bearings, the rear seal was not up to keeping water out.
Thoroughly clean the hub, and inspect the bearing seats for signs of wear or damage. If the seats look to be in good nick, you can leave them in place, and fit the new bearings as is. (Yes the purists are spluttering at this stage, but the fact is removing the old seats is a tricky job for someone not used to it, and failure to bed the new seats correctly, or damage caused to them whilst installing is a real possibility).
If the seats are worn or damaged, they are removed by gently tapping them from behind using a brass or other soft metal drift. (So as to not scratch the hub). These are a force fit and take a little bit of work to get them out.
Using a suitable drift through the hub, gently tap on the back of the seat from behind to remove (rotating and tapping until it works its way out.) First photo shows area you need to tap on from behind.
Bearing seat almost out
Bearing seat removed
If you remove one bearing seat, remove and replace them both.
Bearing kit, showing new bearings,rear bearing seat (front bearing is sitting in seat, making it hard to see) and rear seal. Note the size of the marine style rear seal, it is much thicker and larger than a normal rear seal.
Place hub on flat surface, place new seat gently in hub, thicker side down (this is very important, other wise you will have remove it again) Put piece of softwood over the seat, then gently tap with a hammer until the seat is flush into the hub. Go gently, try to keep it as even as possible.
Then gently tap around the edge of the seat using a brass drift or similar until the bearing seat is fully home against the flange in the hub. Repeat for the other bearing seat. Try to go down as evenly as possible.
Get a good dollop of grease and put it on the outside of your palm.
Grab the bearing in the other hand. The idea is to push the bearings bigger side down onto the grease, but just the edge onto the edge of the dollop.
This forces the grease into the bearing. keep rotating the bearing in your hand, pressing down onto the grease until all the grease has been pushed into the bearing. Rotate the bearing gently, and check for the amount of grease showing in the small side. if none there, using another (smaller) dollop of grease push grease into the small side in the same way.
Repeat for the other bearing.
Gently smear a small amount of grease into the rear of the hub, making sure you coat as much metal as you can.
gently place bearing in hub
place the rear seal onto the hub. The mostly metal side goes in.
this side goes out
this side goes in!
Gently place the piece of soft wood over the seal, and gently tap until the seal is fully bedded.
Turn hub over, and grease any internal parts not already covered in grease.
Place bearing in hub.
Clean the axle of all old grease and dirt
Wipe fresh grease all over axle where hub will cover it. Gently pick up hub, making sure front bearing does not fall out and slide onto axle. Using fingers to push front bearing in at the same time. Note it takes some pushing, the big marine seal offers a fair bit of resistance.
Put on bearing retaining washer
Put on the castellated nut. Tighten nut by hand only. When it is fully hand tightened, using the shifter gently turn it slightly tighter if necessary to line up the split pin hole in the axle with one on the recesses in the nut. Tighten no more than that! Do not loosen it to line up a hole.
Push split pin through hole and nut (be careful of grease coming out of hole)
Make sure the pin is aligned so the ends can easily bend around the nut, using the needle nose pliers, gently bend the longer leg around the nut. repeat for the shorter leg, around the other side of the nut. Make sure the legs are close to the nut, the dust cover has to fit over the top.
Get a dollop of grease, and grease around the nut and axle end.
As this is a non galvanized hub in a marine environment, I then grease the entire hub outside (including wheel studs)to protect it from the salt water. A galvanized hub, or hub that is not on a boat trailer does not need this.
Fit the dust cover over the bearing end, and gently tap into place with the hammer handle.
refit the wheel
When finished, if you have small children or pets around likely to be around the trailer, you may wish to wipe any excess grease on the small part of the hub that is exposed when the wheel is fitted.
Note the wheel will be quite firm to rotate, due to the marine seal. Much firmer than a normal trailer wheel!
Also note, try and use a marine grade grease that actually says it is resistant to water infiltration! Also do not mix different types of grease in the one hub, they can actually react with each other causing failure. If you decide the existing bearings are good, and you just need to repack them, unless you are absolutely sure you are using the same grease that was originally used, wash the bearings and hubs clean, dry them out thoroughly, then repack with grease.
