MattInOz

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.

It was the only way the missus would let me get a boat... if I didn't pay out any money to buy it.

I got mine off facebook marketplace... swapped it for an unused motorbike. The boat needs a little work... but so did the bike.

Well... I've finally figured out how the quote function works - apparently it likes my laptop better than my phone. Thanks all for the welcome That's pretty much my idea... not planning on adding much to what's already there... maybe a float switch for the bilge pump, replacing the defunct am/fm radio (because not doing so either leaves a dead radio there or a big hole in the dash both of which would annoy me), and putting some small LED floodlights up the front for when I'm puttting it back on the trailer after dark. Tempted to get some cheapies from AliExpress and silicon them up real good, see how long it takes them to die. Other than that I'll clean up the wiring, put in a real fusebox, and eventually a second battery - basically bringing it up to date tech-wise. Yeah that was my mindset, but the boat came with the VHF on a switch which I thought was odd enough that there might be a purpose behind it, so I figured I'd best check. Considering I'll be using the main kill switch every time I'm out of the boat anyway I can't see a purpose to having a switch for a device with a switch. I think the answer to that one is "I'd love one if you're going to pay for it". The only way I got the OK from the missus to do this is if it was costing nothing (to get into) and I swapped a motorbike I wasn't using for the boat so that's worked as far as it went. She's all good if I spend reasonable amounts adding a couple more seats to it for "family days" (it currently just has two seats up front, I figure I'll make a marine ply box with a hinged lid for stowage and some folding seats bolted to the top, and use ratchet straps to recessed eyelets in the floor to mount it against the transom when I'm not using it for fishing) but if I start spending big dollars on small items she's gonna start giving me the stink eye. Yep... I used to work on dive boats (in a former life I was a scuba instructor) before GPS was a thing so I learned to navigate with charts & compass... they don't run out of batteries and they don't stop working if they get a bit wet. Not as convenient as a gadget and they don't get electronic updates, but I'd like to have them as a backup. Hey Jack, thanks so much for your generous offer but I'm already sorted for the fusebox. I'm in Brisbane, btw. I'm mounting it just below the throttle control... if the water gets that high I'll have bigger concerns than my fuses getting wet.

Yeah I probably don't NEED a compass... but if I'm coming back from Tangalooma and heading for Manly boat ramp it'd be useful for the shortest trip. Of course I could do the same thing with the GPS, I just tend to be a bit untrusting of technology (especially around salt water) and compasses have been around a lot longer. I had a look at the TMR safety requirements and they'not REQUIRED for "partially smooth waters" but they are RECOMMENDED, so I'll probably get one.

Hi people. After 58 years I finally decided to get a boat so I swapped my bike for a 4.3m runabout with a 40hp 2 stroke Mercury. While I've never owned a boat myself I've spent a fair bit of time on them... from fishing on my stepfather's boat when I was younger to spending several years working as a SCUBA instructor on diveboats. I've also done a lot of car mechanics and electrics, so I'm not scared of getting my hands dirty. The boat I ended up with is about 20 years old and of course it's had technology added and taken away over the years and the wiring's a bit of a mess so I'm rewiring it, and eventually will upgrade it to a dual battery system. Currently everything seems to be fused, but they're all in-line fuses hidden behind bulkheads etc so I'm replacing them with a real fusebox with a negative bus bar (I'm aware of not using the hull as a return earth). The boat currently has a battery box with a kill switch and a 65A breaker, and a switch panel with six switches, but by the time I add a few bits and pieces I'll have more appliances than switches. So my question is do I need panel switches for appliances that have their own on/off switches such as the VHF radio, am/fm radio, etc, or can I just wire the devices directly to the fuse box and turn them on at the device the way you might with a car? I'm happy enough to buy a bigger switch panel if I need to, but if I can avoid the cost I will. While I'm at it, compasses... the boat doesn't have one unlike every boat I've had anything to do with in the past. It does have a sounder (a Lowrance Elite 7ti) which has a GPS function, does this replace a compass or should I still have one as a backup? I!m not planning on crossing bars into open ocean, just messing about in Moreton Bay or Pumicestone Passage, visiting a few of the islands etc. Oh also... the sounder apparently can connect to the VHF radio via NMEA 0183 if I get the uprated power cable... is this something worth spending the money on? Thanks in advance for any info. Matt

As a complete boating noob thankyou for this... I was wondering how that worked.