MattInOz

Sounds like just what I need... tanks.

Not much... if it's more than about 10° up from vertical it clears speed bumps etc. Uhh? Don't know. It's a 4.3m aluminium runabout with a 40hp hanging off it and a splashwell built into it. It doesn't fall off or flex when I use it. How does one test the strength of a transom... other than destructively? Yeah that's why I wanted to avoid the built in tilt lock, coz it's up at maximum tilt. From what you say I should be ok with one of those plastic dohickeys that Another Wazza recommends. Just want to keep the stress off the hydralics really.

Yeah think mine's 1500kg... so I can just loop those hooks over the strap? That makes life easier.

Mate... that's exactly what I need, brilliant! One issue solved with ease. Do I need to order a specific length or just cut it to suit?

Thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to get some real boat time in soon and follow some of your suggestions.

The ratchet strap I have doesn't have regular hooks, it has these odd S shaped hooks that go through the tied down and triangular loops that go over it to lock it into place... I'll attach a pic. I can't even find these things online... maybe just replacing the ratchet strap's a better idea. The motor's only a 40hp, nothing big. Dunno if it NEEDS a bracket, but it came with one so I figured I should use it. In theory I could lift it all the way up and use the built in lock but then the top of the motor housing runs into the splashwell. Annoying. (I also can't turn it all the way starboard coz the drag link runs into the side of the splashwell. Think I know why Allycraft stopped using splashwells in later boats.)

Hey guys... it's been a while so here's a quick update. The boat now has new floors, and a second pair of (removable) seats in the aft with the front ones replaced with Quintrex seats on posts that fit in the standard spigots (thanks much to Ellicat), and built in battery box and rope locker in the stern. Have got the engine running nicely (it was stalling and farting on idle previously - new plug leads and richen the idle mixture a bit fixed that), and I've fully rewired it and put in a dual battery system with an Auto Charge Relay so I don't have to think about which battery I'm switched to. Got my boat licence (thanks to Stephen at AllState boat licencing... had fun), and passed my Short Range Radio Operator's course... just waiting for the radio licence in the mail now. There's a minor leak but I think I've located it so either some JB Weld or actual welding will fix that and need to get one of the ribs that hold the floor in place rewelded, and I think I need the trim ram rebuilt as it won't trim up under power... then I'm about ready to start actually using it. I've had it in the river a few times... did a quick blast from Fig Tree Pocket to UQ and back, runs nicely. It's smokey when you first start it, but it's a 2 stroke so that's normal. I've also bought a new trailer for it (Stonegate Trailers) since the old one was made of swiss cheese and rust, which I'm reasonably happy with. Took the boat to the local ramp and put it in the water yesterday to swap trailers (amongst other things)... took me and a friend about an hour and a bit to adjust the new trailer to suit the boat and I reckon it's pretty close... maybe just need the boat an inch or two forward for a bit more tongue weight as it's clunking around a little under tow. This leads me to my next question (well, two really) however... the old trailer had tie down points on the sides and a strap across the gunnels but the new one has them right at the rear, looks like they're intended for boats with mounting points on the transom which of course mine doesn't have. I could get some loops welded to the trailer of course but that'll stuff up the hot gal dip so I'd prefer a bolt on solution. I found a mob in Victoria selling these "Bolt on tie down bracket suits 75mm x 50mm" (I'll attach a pic) that look like they'll work but my trailer box section is only 70 x 50. Is the extra 5mm going to be a problem? Should I pad out the difference with some rubber, or plate steel, or something? Next question... the old trailer had a bracket on the rearmost crossmember for an outboard support strut... but the new trailer's rear cross member doesn't go all the way across... it has a gap in the centre (for outboards, inboards, stern drives etc I assume). I could put a strut bracket on the next crossmember up but that's about a meter in and I'd need to get the support lengthened and possibly curved and it would be a pain to get on/off. Do I actually NEED to use a support strut on the outboard? Is there another option such as supporting it from the engine mounts on the transom etc? I'll try to attach a pic of the rear of the trailer too. Thanks guys Matt

Yep I know... but I just happened to have carby clean here and no brake cleaner so I gave that a go. Otherwise it's the same.. quick spray, leave it sit for a few seconds to jellify, then a light scrape with a blade... works a treat. I started off with the blade between my fingers then remembered watching "Dangar Stu" (look him up on youtube if you don't know him) doing similar with vicegrips so gave that a go. Couldn't do it on acrylic paint... carb cleaner just eats that stuff up. Oh btw... I'm going for my licence on Friday, wish me luck.

Just as a follow up... carby cleaner turns the adhesive to jelly for about a minute. Give it a squirt, scrape with a stanley knife blade in vice grips, rinse and repeat. Doesn't seem to bother the two pack paint... though I made sure to wipe it off pretty quick. Not something I'd recommend if you have a nice flashy paint job... but it gets the adhesive off.

Mmm that means I have to get a spray gun... and a compressor... and learn how to use it... and then probably never use it again and put it with all the other stuff I've bought and used once. Will prob try my luck with automotive touch up... I should be able to find shade of white that cones close enough to whatever Ally Craft used way back when. Good call with the etch primer... hadn't heard of Alli Brite. I've got a can of carb cleaner here... will try it out somewhere inconspicuous tomorrow. I've seen what it does to spray can acrylic and it's not pretty... pretty sure it'll be 2 pack on the hull though.

Hey guys. I'm busy scraping off the 20+ year old decals from my 4.3m aluminium runabout. Looks a lot cleaner without them and the 1990s decals really aged the boat but man it's a bunch of work... heat gun and scraper for the decals and acetone and elbow grease for the adhesive. Yes, I know I'm not supposed to use acetone on paint, but after trying metholated spirits, cut & polish and an electric polisher, and eucalyptus oil with no joy I'm running short of alternatives (and very open to suggestions)... which brings me to the point of this missive. The boat - understandably after 24 years - is a bit rough with scratches, bit of corrosion round stainless fittings, and so on. I don't want to go to the trouble and expense of a full two pack repaint of the hull, I'm looking for a low cost method of just tidying up the roughest bits some and wondering if I can use automotive touchup spray cans or similar with any success? I assume any bare metal's going to need priming... do I need etch primer or just regular? Can I use filler primer to smooth out pitted areas from corrosion? Is there any treatment I need to do to stop the corrosion first, or just sand it back with some wet n dry? Thanks in advance guys.

Very sound advice... I'm in a 4.3m tinny, not the queen mary

Very sound advice... makes sense that shallower water would be rougher in bad westher. Assuming I have an engine my plan in a case like this is to run for a sheltered cove or bay or at least on the downwind side of an island. Considering I'll be doing 99% of my boating in Moreton Bay there should be plenty of hidey holes not too far away, and Manly Coast Guard's nearby. I had a related chat with a friend of mine who thought I should remove the floatation foam from under the floor and use the space for storage but I refused... the foam won't make the boat unsinkable but in the worst case it'll slow it down enough to get life jackets and hit the emergency button on the vhf. I did find a couple of vids of people who remove the old fashion polystyrene foam, put in some foam "borders" to leave a central bilge down the centre of the hull, then fill the outer edges of the under floor space to the "borders" with expanding popyeurathane foam. I'm still researching that. I do like the idea if only because in the case of a fuel leak (in my under floor tank) polystyrene + petrol turns into flammable, non-bouyant sludge but I wouldn't want to reduce the floation or cause drainage problems. More research needed.

Yeah I thoroughly agree with you... the 8-10m figure I quoted assumed calm wealther and everyone awake. I won't be sleeping on board ever (there simply isn't room apart from anything else) and if I did get caught out in bad weather I'd be looking for less water to anchor in. It does bear considering a longer rope, maybe another 20m or so... but I'm compromised by the minimal size of the anchor well - it all has to fit in there. Also if the engine gives out while a storm's coming up I'm at the mercy of the sea gods anyway... if I happen to be in a 50m deep shipping channel at the time there's no way I'm going to have enough rode to make any difference... it's a case of throw out whatever anchor you have and get on the VHF to tell someone about it. I'm not planning on throwing away my existing anchor, however petite it may be... it'll be hidden away in storage in the stern so in really bad weather I'd be using it as a second bow anchor.

Right... so the rated anchor size is is the actual weight of the anchor? Very good, I'll tell this guy I'll take it. Much thanks. It comes with 30m of rope and a couple of metres of chain so should be good for anchoring in 8-10m of water.

Hey guys. So when I bought my boat I noticed that my anchor (danforth/fluke) looked about exactly the right size to keep a jetski in place. Apparently I need a 4kg/8lb anchor for my 4.35m boat and I found one going cheap on gumtree, but the vendor doesn't know what size it is and it doesn't appear to be stamped onto it. He says it "might be an 8lb or 10lb" and he thinks it weighs about 3.5kg... so how does one tell what size an anchor is? Can you just weigh it, or does the weight reference refer to something else? Is it the physical dimensions that define it? Yes, apparently size does matter. Too big and it won't fit in the hole, and too small and it'll be useless. Sounds familiar. Matt

Ahh ok then... assuming they're the same size it'll just drop in then... the floor already has the holes for them, just have to remove the pedestals that're covering them. WIll have a good inspect of the bottom of the mountings too... that seems like a potential issue worth looking at. Perhaps some sort of high density rubber in the bottom to absorb shocks. Thanks again, will be back in touch when I have the boat back to try them out on. Matt

She looks like she's having a ball. That's called bringing 'em up right.

It's here too... didn't notice it till you mentioned it.

Uhh... well... there was this really interesting show on the TV at the time...

To be honest I didn't pay that much attention at the time as I was more interested in looking at the bilge pump... was actually surprised to find the hole & pipe there at all and it was only after I refitted the floor I started thinking that maybe wobbly seats weren't such a great idea. I'm fairly sure there was no nut etc on the pipe but I wouldn't bet my life on it. If it was it'd be a royal pain in the behind to fit the floor after setting the post in place... trying to get the edge under the side pockets AND over the seat post all at once. If it just slots into place I'm thinking I'll get a small right angle bracket and screw it to the floor and the post just so I don't get a surprise ejection seat if I hit a decent wave. Just thinking about it, there has to be something to stop it, or sitting down heavily would drive the post through the bottom of the hull.

My wife told me I don't listen to her... or something like that.

That pretty much describes what's under my floor. Any idea what (if anything) holds them in? Or can they just lift out at will?

That's really generous of you, thanks, I might take you up on that offer. I see those posts have a flange on them, are they screwed down to the floor or something or is it just a locator? Right now the boat's still at Ipswich Marine (new seals on g/box, stiff pivot tube, and a mystery 2 stroke oil leak). I just spoke to them and I won't be getting it back till next week at the very earliest (waiting on seals being couriered up from Melb) or possibly the week after (owner's going for eye surgery apparently) but after I get it back I'd be very happy to come grab one of those off you for a test fit, and buy them both if it works. WIll let you know when it's back. Thanks again Matt

Hey again guys... back to pick your brains some more. I've got an "Ally Craft 4.35 Intruder" from 1999 that I'm trying to bring back to seaworthy as my first boat. I've more or less finished with rewiring to the boat (previous owner belonged to the spaghetti and hidden fuses school of electrics) and it's currently in at the local mechanic getting new seals in the gearbox (pretty sure gearbox oil shouldn't be white) and getting stiff steering sorted out, but now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the seating. Currently it's got a pair of the cheapest seat posts possible (if you look at the Whitworths site they're listed as "Springfield 7" seat pedestal" with swivels on them). They're fixed to the b oat with 4 wood screws into the plywood floor and when you sit on them these things flex all over the place... they even come with a sticker warning you not to use them at speeds greater than 5mph! The floor itself certainly isn't structural... it's two pieces of carpetted ply, each with a row of screws down the centre of the boat to hold it in place and nothing else so I'd really rather avoid another pedestal that relies on being screwed to the floor as that seems like a good way of spending a whole lot more money to have the same problem. Lifting one of the pedestals off reveals a hole in the floor approx 2" across (I've not measured it yet and the boat's not here), beaneath which is a substantial bit of vertical metal tubing welded into the boat. I'm assuming that Ally Craft made the boat with some sort of seat post that was inserted into the hole in the floor and held in place somehow, however since they're no longer in business I can't email them and ask. I notice that Quintrex and Stacer boats both use a "50mm plug in" seat post... does anyone know if this will suit the Ally Craft boats too? If so, how is the seat held in place to prevent it just lifting out in rough chop? Does the tube have some sort of flange to screw to the floor, or am I missing a fitting? If I can get this sorted out I'll re-use those cheapie pedestals (sans swivels) to mount a bench seat at the stern against the transom.