Ed.

Thanks, will be looking forward to it, providing the weather is good. Last time we went there, we tried to get out to the reef (Tourist Charter boat) but the wind howled all the time we were there so all the trips were cancelled.

Took the boat in to the mechanic at Brisbane Marine, he connected the computer to it and found the problems and they can be be fixed without me having to sell a kidney. Two faults found, first one is a faulty alarm speaker hence the reason for not having heard any alarms and the second one which actually caused the problem was the sensor in the reserve oil bottle in the motor. Bottle was full of oil but the sensor was faulty and so reported that there was low oil hence the reason it went into limp mode. Ordered the parts and will cost a total of $537 for parts, labour and today's diagnostic check. So a doable repair, will bring the boat back to them next Wednesday as the parts should be in by then. So at this stage, 1770 is looking good. Better get my gear ready, also need to build myself a burley bucket, do some maintenance work on the trailer and lastly find a spare battery.

Thank you, I like to be safer than sorry, If you know what I mean, better to have extra fuel and not need it, than need it and not have it.

For my normal fishing around Morton Island, it isn't necessary as my main tank has more than enough fuel. but if I can get my motor sorted out, then a trip out to the reef from 1770 is about 65Km each way plus running around and if we hit rough seas the motor will chew a lot more juice so will be nice to have more than I need.

Thanks Cam, the pump that you can see to the left of it was an 80PSI with auto on/off and connected to a dash switch, the pump outlet was connected to a tap above it so in effect I had pressurized cold water on demand.

I had made something similar on my last boat but that one held water and it also was a "step/footrest" for the missus

Jon, no breather necessary, it is just for storage, fill it up, go to where I am going and completely drain fuel from it to the main tank. Done! I would have liked to have it have it connected the main tank but as that is sealed under the floor there is no way to get to it. An alternative way would be to connect it to the main fuel line via a T- piece where it comes out of the tank at the back of the boat but that is just an added complication. This way is simpler and I can just remove the tank easily (8 screws) when not needed. For around here where I mainly fish, my main tank is more than enough, I think it is about 150L and I think I go through less than half a tank for a days fishing here. Think of it as a big Jerry can!

I also doubt that there would be any damage, and as above provided the engine and transducer are protected, and also that is actually sand and no lumps of rock sitting under it. If the tide goes out smoothly and your not taking a slamming from surf it should be safe, could be problems if there is surf and the boat gets pounded up and down with each wave till it settles down and same when the tide comes back in. One thing to watch and allow for is that the next tide will actually be high enough that you will float off otherwise you could be stuck there for weeks. Why, what are you planning?

Thank you for that, unfortunately I don't do enough of TIG welding to become really good at it, as 99% of my welding is with MIG, about the only time I get to use the TIG is when a boat is involved.

I will be going to Agnes Waters Qld. with the missus for the 1770 AusFish meet and greet trip in about a month and hoping to get out a few times to the Barrier reef (about 65Km out to sea), whilst I have a reasonable sized inbuilt fuel tank I would hate to get there and find that I need more fuel. So decided that rather have portable fuel cans lying around I would build myself an extra 60L fuel tank. Got a sheet of 3mm Ally 5083/H116 and cut it down to size, had to take it to a sheet metal worker who put the bends in, however found that this ally temper needs a much wider radius in it and it had developed many thin cracks in the 90 degree bends. I set the TIG to 150A and just quickly blasted the bend corners inside and out, that caused the cracks to melt into each other and fuse solid. Put in a fuel filler cap and also a 3/8" NPT threaded Boss with a 90 degree elbow to a 1/2" fuel line plus with a tap, added 4 angles to the tank to screw it in place in front of the passenger seat. This tank will double as a foot rest for the missus. Thinking of gluing a bit of carpet to the top so the missus can put her feet on it in the summer. Just need to have some sort of clip added to the seat to stop the tap from rubbing and becoming loose. Tested the tank up to 8PSI as it is a small tank and it is about twice the pressure that most manufacturers do, so no leaks. So when I get to the reef, I will just open the fuel hatch near the base of the tank and just let the spare tank drain into the main tank next to it, which you can see the cover in the last pic. I will be taking the boat to the mechanics on Wednesday to see if the problem I had with the motor going in to limp mode recently can be simply and cheaply fixed, otherwise this will have been a futile attempt.

Well, that's gotta hurt. I hope I don't have the same issue!

My engine did the same a few days ago on the way to Hutchinsons but we're limited to 1200-1600 RPM so 3.5 hours later we got home to Bribie Isl. , at least you managed to get 4000RPM and got on plane otherwise it would have been a very, very long trip home. Otherwise your trip could have been much worse but you did catch some fish so that is a positive! I take it you got out to the reef?

Nice feed of fish there! so not a total disaster then. How many hours to get back?

My speedo doesn't work, the pickup tube is not connected to the gauge hence the reason I use the speed on the combo unit.

On my Simrad GPS/chart plotter, fish finder I have my display showing speed in knots and all the other distances in metric.

Knots are the usual way of measuring speed and distance on the water, something to do with the curvature of the earth, so if my memory is correct I think that one minute of Latitude on the map equals one Nautical mile or something like that. But it has been over 50 years since I did coastal navigation and the old brain is a bit fuzzy.

These do sound like interesting solutions, I will have to look into them, thanks Junky.

Yep will do, it most likely will be some sort of sensor that played up and caused it to go into limp mode. Prior to that I was doing about 3900 RPM and travelling at about 29knots. These high tech engines age getting way too smart and the slightest glitch and they do the protective mode bit. I had a similar problem with the 26ft boat i had. Towed it all the way to Rosslyn Bay, put it in, anchored for the night at the marina, went to fuel up in the morning and it died about 100mt from the wharf, chip glitched and motor just shut down Had to get towed to a berth, had to wait for a few days for a mechanic to come down and tell me that the main CPU module is cactus and a replacement is about 6 weeks away. So back on the trailer and towed it back home again! I am starting to think that I must have run over a black cat or something! I am jinxed.

2012 Optimax 150 XS Pro 2 stroke

Well the stars aligned today, the weather was great, sunny day, sea was flat, the missus wasn't working so we left Bribie Island headed out to Hutchinson Shoal. Got to Morton Island and headed out to the Shoal, about 15 minutes from reaching it, the motor just went into limp mode. No warning or alarms, wouldn't go over 1600RPM, temps were fine, water coming out of the tell tail, plenty of fuel and oil, nothing. So radioed the VMR and told them we were returning. So did a U turn and limped home, at a blistering speed of 3.5-4.5Knots all the way back, at that stage it wouldn't rev past 1200RPM, my missus reckoned she could walk home faster, you know the saying "are we there yet!" 3.5hrs later we reached the ramp. Not happy Jan!!! We had the motor checked out about 8 motor hours ago and also the impeller changed, pulled the cover off it at home but no obvious clues, oil bottle full and no loose cables or anything, so looks like it will be back to the mechanics. Even threw out some lures on the way home but no takers. The only alarm we got was about 2 hours in on the way home and it was a single long beep of about 5-8 secs and then nothing else.

If you wanted something big for just game fishing, trolling or ballooning but bigger than the Penn Fathom 30 2 Speed (the one on the right), there is this used Makaira 20 2 speed in WA $375 delivered you may want to have a look at. https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/clarkson/fishing/okuma-makaira-gold-fishing-reel-214061/1252475163 however have a look at the pics I put up, it will be as big as the middle Makaira 30 but in a narrower spool, so same drag (55lb on full) just less line capacity. It really depends on what your definition is of unstoppable, I mean how big a fish are hoping to stop? But as an all round big reel I would go for the Makaira 30 size as it will give you the extra line capacity. https://www.freddys.com.au/collections/overhead-reels/products/okuma-makaira-overhead-reels?variant=29246157258845 This about the cheapest I have found and if you sign up you get another $10 off so it will be $689 and I think that they have either a 5 or a 10 year guarantee .

Unfortunately, I am going up on the 4 Sept. Hope you enjoy yourself up there. If you do catch some nice fish, pics are always required or they didn't happen! Cheers Ed.

The one thing I think the Ugly Stik could do better at, is to use better guides, but that is just my opinion, and they are marketed as an affordable rod so that will never happen.

Sorry Drop Bear, did not see your question till just now, The 50 is a big heavy reel and built like the proverbial tank, only good for fishing from a boat or ballooning from rock and shore. Really if you are going to use this sort of reel it would be advisable to get a kidney harness or full harness and a large gimbal rod bucket. My 50W apparently can pull about 39kg on full, and that is a lot at the end of a 5'6" game rod, the 50 is just a narrower version of the 50W but the drag settings are the same. They are excellent reels but are specialized for the large game fish market as in up to 400+kg type fish. You wouldn't use them for bottom bouncing or jigging as they are just too big and heavy. I bought mine for ballooning for shark off the rocks and beach as well as trolling. To give you and idea of the size, the big one is the Mak 50W, the one in the middle is a Mak 30 and the one on the right is a Fathom FTH30LD2, so there are two 30 sized reels but the Mak 30 is significantly bigger then the Penn, and the Penn is about as large that you would want to use for the general reef fishing off a boat, it is compact and powerful and not too bad that you couldn't fish with it all day. Incidentally the Mak 20 is just a narrow version of the 30 so still a big reel with huge drag. Hope this helps.

I would have thought that if they were genuine reels they would have the Shimano name printed on them and advertised as such but I couldn't see it, I would hazard a guess that they are only copies, having said that they still might work fine for the $ you paid. But you never know, I once paid about $260 for a Daiwa SLT50W from the US when they were about $1100 here. So bargains can be had, people buy bulk lots at foreclosure sales, bankruptcies, auctions, end of model clearance, insurance claims etc. sometimes for peanuts and get rid of them cheap so you never know.