Ed.

A lot of smartphones have a barometer sensor built in to them, that will just tell you what the pressure is. If you want more info regarding best times/tides to fish you will need a Solunar app. On if on the web, try https://tides4fishing.com/au/queensland Just select the closest position to where you want to fish, (It is about 3/4 of the page down) and you can select which day/month you are also interested in to go fishing at the top of the page. Cheers Ed.

Sorry Manuel, I can't help you as I don't own one of these units, and it looks like there aren't too many owners of these motors on this forum either, I suggest your contact the supplier to see if they can help you. Cheers Ed. -------------------------------------------------------- Scusa Manuel, non posso aiutarti perché non possiedo una di queste unità e sembra che non ci siano troppi proprietari di questi motori su questo forum, ti suggerisco di contattare il fornitore per vedere se possono Aiutarti. Spero che la mia traduzione in italiano vada bene. Saluti Ed.

Here is a translation from Italian to English: Hello everyone, thank you for accepting me. I would like to ask if anyone knows about the "steering motor error". For a few days I have been receiving this message, on the display of my beautiful Geo-spot 65lb. Thank you in advance for your kind reply and a cordial greeting.

Apart from stopping the sides from flexing in, I was under the impression that the seats also contain floatation material to help maintain the boat from sinking in the event of a capsize or a large wave over the sides. If your intention is only to make a casting deck, then Samsteele115 idea, on covering between the middle seat and the front seat is a good idea with no loss to the structural strength or floatation. Add a decent walkable hatch in the middle of it and you can have under storage area as well.

I suppose that is a more reasonable thing to do then.

Yep, for months on end, didn't eat any fish for about 10 - 12 years afterwards and I am still selective in what type of fish I eat. Once you become sensitive to that toxin you apparently have it for life.

From experience as one who has had a dose of Ciguatera 21 years ago, it is not nice, so you definitely don't want to risk it.

Excellent catch there! That will keep you going for a little while.

I used to start up my boats every 3-4 weeks just to make sure the fuel doesn't gum up the fuel system, ie; injectors, pumps etc., as well charged up the batteries with a good charger after running the motor. Don't know if it did any good but certainly didn't do it any harm by doing it, so better safe than sorry. Any old fuel went into the big ride on mower.

They are being sold without warranty but either way, as it is the bracket that holds the brake calipers, you would think that they would not sell them as they are structurally unsafe. So just write them off as a tax loss deduction and just scrap them. A few years ago I bought 2 complete axles from a well known local trailer component manufacturing company in the Brisbane area, when I did a checkup about 18mths later, I found water in the grease, so I pulled it apart and found that when they did the welding, they didn't put a sleeve over the bearing surface to protect it, so it ended up with the little ball bearing overspray on the area where the rubber seals sit, they didn't remove them and just pushed the rubber seals over it, greased it up and sold it that way without a care in the world. Next issue was they didn't align up the caliper bracket correctly or used the wrong sized bracket before welding to the axle so the brake pads were hanging over the rotors outer edge by about 25%, so not achieving full braking capacity and wearing a big ridge in to the pads. All I got out of them was "sorry" we will make sure it won't happen again, yeah right! That should not have happened the first time, what quality control? Sad old state of the world where you have to check everything to make sure it is done right, that is what we pay them for. Lesson learned though! Now I check everything, and you would be surprised what I find making its way to be sold.

Hey DanO, just be aware that those sold on E-Bay are probably made cheap, it would pay to go and see one in the flesh to see it's "quality" as well as its build before you lay down your hard earned cash. Once you start looking at 2T trailers it is more important to get a good build rather than a cheap build if you know what I mean. I have seen plenty of trailers that are professionally made (and I use that term very loosely) which I would not be happy having them under one of my hulls. As the saying goes; "you get what you pay for". To give you an example here is an E-Bay listing for some axles, ignore the crud / dirt on the ends but just have a close look at the actual welds themselves and if that quality is anything to go by, then what is the rest of the trailers welds like?

Once you go over the 2000kg limit the price starts to climb significantly. You will need solid axles, as well as brakes on each axle including a breakaway system as well, and yes, I would also go the 4mm SHS. As I said before, the steel component is probably the cheapest part. If you get it galvanized, that will also set you back quite a fair bit (probably $1500 plus) or you could start with galvanized SHS or I beam and then touch up with Galv paint, primer and more galv paint/epoxy, but you will not save too much due to the extra costs of the paints and extra time to coat it all so you will have to decide if it is worth going the slightly cheaper route. That is the way I did mine but it will start to chip off after a while and you will not be able to get to the inner sections of the SHS,where the outside welding has burnt off the Zinc in the Heat Affected Zones (HAZ) on the inner SHS. Not to mention, it won't look as nice as a completely welded trailer that has gone to the Galvanizers. Some people completely seal off the SHS and then pour some oil into it. We made our comments based on a 5-5.5m boat, as yours is longer and heavier, then that is a different ball game.

Did the council say why they did this other than "because they can"? Were there complaints or anything put to the council?, and what is the name of the council employee responsible for changing/enforcing this.

I just used that one as an example just to show that a larger one would not cost as much as DanO was saying. Still it depends on how it's made too, as to whether or not he might need a larger size. Most of these on Ebay are really built to a price and he would need to take into consideration the weight rating it is made for as well, but just a replacement frame on it's own shouldn't cost him more than $1k to build/replace.

Had a quick look on E-Bay and found this one, don't know if it is any good or not, but it might suit you and it is certainly cheaper than the price you mentioned. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/254591146361?hash=item3b46d09979:g:YiMAAOSwjghZ1sCe

Over the years, I have built several trailers for my boats and even the 8m 3.5T only cost me about $5.5K, I only reused some of the existing trailers running rollers and arms, but that was about 6 years ago. Generally you can move the boat a bit on the trailer but you have to be aware that if you move it forward or back that it will affect the weight on the towball and also the steering at highway speeds as a result. There is a maximum % distance that you are allowed from the axles to the back of what it is carrying, been a while so have forgotten what it is now. If the lights are too far under the boat it may cause you problems with the police and also the long overhang will cause the end of the boat to swing out too far when turning. Most of the cost apart from labour is in the running gear ie; axles, tyres, breaking system, suspension, rollers, etc, so if you can reuse the existing stuff you would save a lot of cash, this is assuming that those bits are still OK to use and are suitable. The actual frame shouldn't cost too much to replace, after all, a few 8m lengths of Galv. RHS or equivalent, plus primer and paint etc would be less than $1K, this is also assuming that you can weld properly and not using a cheap Bunnings or equivalent home handyman welder with a 10-15% duty cycle running off a 10A power supply.

Welcome to the forum DanO, what sort of issues are you having with your trailer?

I also use E-Bay to buy hooks, mainly the larger sizes which end up being much cheaper than from the main stores. Also used Aliexpress but the hassle with the sellers if there was a problem with the order and the long delivery time was not worth the effort, so just sticking with E-Bay now.

Hamish, actually you do, here is a cut and paste from the Qld. gov. boat registration site. "All boats—including personal watercraft (PWC)—with an engine of 3kW or more must be registered when they are on the water in Queensland." (and 3kW is equivalent to 4HP). Cheers Ed.

Welcome to the forum, nice boat, shame to get it covered in fish blood and guts! A couple of odd things about it though, in that it hasn't got a bow roller and post, also the Navigation lights are in the wrong spot?

Hamish, from a safety and financial point of view, if I was you I would not be getting a 3m punt, with a 6HP motor you would also need to get it and the trailer registered yearly and insured, so that will be an ongoing money drain, also you will need to get a boat licence, not sure what the minimum age is for one of those. Plus by the time you put all the safety gear in, as well as all your fishing gear and the weight of your mates and all their gear you will be crowded, and very little room to move about in the boat. In other words ...IMHO, too small. I have only been in a small punt once in my life and it was not a pleasant experience and not one I ever repeated. No matter how much you try to avoid wakes and waves you will eventually be amongst them and a small flat nose and bottomed punt is not what you will want to be in, but that is just me. Others here may have had better experiences. Cheers Ed.

I don't know about the "staying away from buying reels/rods" bit, once you start getting a bit of gear you will always keep an eye out for the latest and greatest stuff in "specials" that come up, which you must have because it will have this or that or other feature which your current gear does not have! A lot of us have been, and still are down that particular rabbit hole.

Yep, but at least that is one more thing I don't have to worry about and one step closer to becoming a grey Nomad.

Just an update, took the 3 guys out this afternoon for a spin up the passage, afterwards two hopped off and then the guys wife and daughter hopped on, they seemed to like it OK, so he paid the majority in cash and the final balance payment will be done by Bank transfer, so Sunday night I will hand it over and I will be a landlubber again.

I generally buy all my hooks now on E-Bay, depending what size you want, as well as what strength (ie; 1x-4x), whether you want them bronze, duratin coated or nickle plated, the price can be very to quite reasonable compared to the box mover stores, I also bought some hooks, reels and line from Aliexpress in the past but that is a mistake I won't be repeating. People think that E-Bay is hard to deal with when there is a problem, but from past multiple problems with Aliexpress sellers, they make E-Bay an absolute pleasure to deal with in comparison.