MattInOz

Hey Steve, welcome to the site.

I'm still a bit of a noob in boating... I've had my first boat for a bit over a year now. I get it out into Moreton Bay, the Broadwater, and  Bribie Passage as often as I can, and have even done a trip to Turkey Beach for a week's fishing. Happy to share what I've learned.

- Fibreglass is more comfortable and quiet than aluminium, but it's a lot heavier which means a bigger motor and more fuel. It's also more prone to "hidden damage"... rotting transoms, stringers, cracked gelcoat, etc that aren't easily visible. At least you can usually see corrosion, dents, etc on aluminium. Glass also needs a bigger towing vehicle. Aluminium can corrode, but the only bit prone to rotting is the floor - fairly easily replaced. It can also be welded, unlike glass.

- This leads into my next observation... age. The marine environment is a harsh one and salt water doubly so. You can be as proactive with maintenence as possible and things will still break, wear, or corrode... and usually somewhere you can't see and at the most inoppourtune moment. I've had two seat swivels break on me while at sea within six months which is inconvenient... but if it's your trim motor or steering that can be a huge issue. Personally I wouldn't buy a boat more than 20 years old... not without a very thorough inspection from an expert... unless you REALLY like DIY. An older boat's also likely to have a two stroke motor... they're noisy and smokey but they tend to last forever if looked after. Thing is they've only sold 4 strokes since the mid 2000's so sooner or later parts for 2 strokes will get hard to get. Also some dams (eg: Wyvenhoe) won't allow 2 strokes.

- While we're on the topic... don't forget the trailer. Those things rust like crazy if not maintained, wheel hubs seize up, couplings wear, etc and without a trailer you're not going boating. Remember the rule with rust is that if you can see any there's probably five times as much that you can't see. A new trailer starts at about $2000 and goes up from there. Aluminium trailers don't rust and are lighter to tow, but are more expensive.

- A boat capable of carrying 6 in comfort is probably too big to solo launch/retrieve, especially as your first boat, and even more ao if there's a cross wind and/or current. My 4.3m boat is technically capable of carrying 4 adults... but that's 4 adults of 75kg or less with no fishing gear, eskies, etc and on glassy flat water. The reality is that I've gone out with 3 adults (all biggish blokes 90kg+) and fishing gear, and while the boat managed ok we were tripping over each other, and were grateful for good weather. At the time the boat had the minimum size motor for its hull (40hp in my case) and it really struggled to get onto plane with three guys (it now has a 60HP, the hull's maximum). Two people fishing on a 4.5m boat's ideal, maybe three if you can fish from the bow. For six people you want a much bigger boat.

- The style of boat you want is REALLY impacted by your intended use. The ideal fishing hull is either a tinny, centre console, or side console while the ideal pleasure craft is either a runabout, cuddy cab, or bow rider (ignoring things like pontoon boats). If you want to overnight on the boat you want a cabin of some sort, and if you want to go out into open waters you probably want a 6m+ boat... or REALLY good weather. Mine's a runabout (ie: it has forward controls, a windscreen, and a foldable canopy) which is great for buzzing around the bay on day trips with the family, but as a fishing boat I really only have half a boat as you can't really fish from the forward half. Probably the best "happy medium" would be a bow rider... at least you can access the bow.

- Then there's cost. Your $10K budget would buy you a pretty decent used 4.5m boat good for inshore fishing and island hopping but you'll be limited to 2-3 people fishing or 3-4 people just buzzing around. And it's not just the purchase cost... there's registration on the boat and trailer, running costs (sure to be about twice as much as you think), insurance, maintenance, licence training, radio training and qualifications, coast guard/VMR membership (not compulsory but only a fool wouldn't), insurance, and so on. Then there's things you wouldn't even think of... like replacing your flares every few years or annual servicing of your inflatible PFD. Just a minor service on an outboard is hundreds of dollars and you have to do it every 100 hours of use. A new battery is several hundred dollars. A trolling motor is several thousand dollars as is a decent fish finder/sonar. There's an expression amongst boaties that "BOAT" stands for "bring out another thousand" and it's not far wrong. I used to know a skipper of a dive boat who described a boat as "a hole in the water that you throw money into". For example, I got an anchor stuck on a reef a few months back and had to cut the rope... that cost me over $500 to replace (I use an expensive anchor and have an anchor winch which uses expensive rope that can't be spliced). I got my new anchor stuck again 2 weeks ago and spent fifteen minutes furiously reversing and moving around until it finally came free. I wasn't leaving without it!

That all probably sounds like I'm trying to tell you not to do it but that's not so. I -love- taking my little boat out and it's worth all the effort and cost... I just want you to understand what you're getting into before you jump at it. There's too many nice boats that have been parked up in peoples' yards rotting for 20 years because they underestimated the cost, bought the wrong boat, or lost interest. There's at least three just in my suburb.

I'm actually in Brisbane (or just outside it in Ipswich) and I'd be happy to take you out for a spin on the bay sometime so you can get an idea of what's involved, what you want, etc. Send me a private msg if you want. I'm overseas atm but I'll be back in a couple of weeks.

Matt

When I bought mine I had something similar... always taking on water but never distressing amounts. Like you I assumed it was the bungs but to be certain I took the floor out and put it in the river so I could see where it was leaking. I was surprised to find it was coming in from the starboard strake about half way up the length. Took it to my local aluminium welder and he found an 8" long crack in the weld at the strake, which opened up to about 15" as soon as he put the TIG on it. You never know what 20 years of stresses will do to a hull. Had it welded up along with a few other minor repairs (think the previous owner had a drill fetish, I had over a dozen old mounting holes welded up and there's still a few left!) and it's been a solid boat ever since. It's still 20+ years old though so I'm fairly paranoid and frequently check the bilge (I put a hatch in the floor above the bilge pump so I could do so any time). Like a couple of the other guys here have said I flush the interior every 5-10 outings too... that not only cleans the interior, it also flushes and lets me test the bilge pump. I'm still considering putting in a secondary bilge pump as a backup... can't be too careful.

On 27/07/2024 at 6:22 PM, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Sounds like a successful crabbing outing at least. 

Definitley... I don't eat them myself, but my wife and her friends had a feast.

I think you're right. Mine looks more like the pic on this page... fins more yellow and different mouth. Thanks.

https://www.fishbase.se/summary/7371

Hey guys

Caught this fellow at West Peel Island Artificial Reef in Moreton Bay yesterday. It looks like some sort of cod to me, when it came up it had that big cod "bucket mouth" going on, but I couldn't find it in any of the fish id charts I had on board. I put a photo (several actually) into the QLD govt app and it kept telling me it was either an Australian Bass or a Mangrove Jack. There was even a dept of fisheries research guy at the boat ramp who didn't have a clue what it was. For scale it was only abt 30cm long... my guess is it's some sort of juvenile cod.

Oh and FYI I've found a use for what's become the vermin of Moreton Bay (grinners). I put out 4 crab pots, each with half a grinner and half a mullet, and six hours later pulled up four pots all chock full of sand crabs. After sorting I took home 18 legal ones and quickly became the crab delivery man, dropping off crabs at a bunch of our friends' homes. In every pot the mullet had recieved a bit of a munch but the grinners were almost completely gone, all I had left of them was a single head. So don't throw them back, keep & freeze them for the next trip out if you toss in crab pots.

Anyhow, here's the mystery fish.

4 hours ago, ellicat said:

I have a quarter-turn tap on the hose (that enters on the side),

Does your "fill" hose enter the tank at the top or the bottom of the tank?

I've been trying to decide how to do it. My thinking is that spraying through an aerator at the top is popular as are aerating air pumps but realistically you'd lose 90% of that air and if tye water entered at the top you'd end up with a lot of "stale" water at the bottom as the "new" water would just flow out the overflow. If you're pumping in fresh sea water it should be plenty aerated on it's own, the more important issue is replacing the water contaminated with fish waste products. I think aerating heads, pumps etc are really only needed on a closed circuit system with no fresh water supply.

Of course a bottom entry would require a non-return valve too, or your livies would quickly end up deadies.

3 hours ago, Ed. said:

The only thing I can think of, is that extra 20-25kg weight on the corner outside your boat on the step going to effect your boat trim and balance?

Yeah that's something that concerns me some too. I already have two batteries in the stern, one either side, so adding 20kg of water would be about the same as adding one more large battery. It's not going to sink me... but it's something to keep in mind. Unfortunately I don't really have anywhere else to put it. Fortunately however it's somewhat offset by the electric anchor winch mounted in the anchor well up front. I don't have trim tabs, but any effect the tank has can be remedied by moving eskies etc around. 

3 hours ago, Ed. said:

another possibility is to add a float switch just above the transom bottom

That's actually a really clever idea... will look into it. No point running the pump when the boat's moving, but if I manually turn it off there's a good chance I'll forget to turn it back on again... and then I'll have deadies instead of livies.

3 hours ago, Ed. said:

Plus add a valve between the pump and the tank so you can stop water going in to the tank when you just want it empty.

Good point. I'm putting a drain on the tank of course but if I don't have a valve in the hose from the pickup the tank'll keep refilling every time I move the boat. I did see a pickup with an adjustable mount so you could set the height... but it didn't have the plate for the pump, and trying to lean over the transom to adjust the height to disable it would be a pain. Valve's simpler.

23 minutes ago, Alex2505 said:

This is the setup below

 

Looks good, very similar to what I want... exactly the same pump/pickup I had in mind.

Home now and had a chance to look at the boat... seems the transom isn't flat, it has some creases in it for strengrh. Will have to have a rethink... maybe some sort of stand offs so the tank has a 1" gap to the transom.

18 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Ah yes, I was thinking of using it for dual purpose. I have a Baitmate livewell/bait board on mine. Magic. Also leaves the side free to run rods when trolling.

Might be worth thinking about.

Yeah I really do love the idea of them, but it'd stop me raising the outboard. It currently lifts up directly under the baitboard and even lifts it half an inch or so at full tilt. Was sure I had a pic of it on my phobe but it looks like I cleared it out.

If this tank works out the way I'm thinking it won't interfere with trolling... it'd only come up 1/2" or so above the gunnel... just enough to open the lid.

8 minutes ago, ellicat said:

I think what you're after will work. If you're getting one made, I would put an edge around the sides and back, like the ones from Baitmate ( https://baitmate.com.au/ ) Stops things like knives/sinkers etc rolling off. A must imo. You would need a drain hole at the back somewhere, too.

You mean to use it as a bait board? Hadn't thought about that... already got a big bait board mounted over the outboard (new since you saw my boat) so prob not needed.

Would definitley put a drain in it too... no reason to burn fuel lugging 20kg of water round when I don't have anything swimming in it.

Hey guys

I'm at a point where I'm wanting a live bait tank on my boat, but my 14' runabout's already crowded enough with two of us and our gear. I'm also paranoid about pumping water into the boat, would rather it all remain outside the boat in case something goes wrong. I'm thinking of getting an alloy one (expensive!) and mounting it on the outside of the transom to the starboard of the outboard, and putting a pump & pickup on the port side where the boat already has a bracket that originally had the speedo pickup mounted on it (it now has a GPS speedo, so no pickup). Don't want the tank on the port side coz the swim step's there.

I found a design I like online (I'll link to it below) but I'm hoping my local welder guy can do it for me cheaper and I'll reduce it to 350mm wide and maybe a little shorter, bringing it down to about 20 litres. I'd also get some aluminium C section welded to the transom so I wouldn't have to put holes through the hull, and probably use stainless pins & R clips to mount it so I could remove it easily.

So, any reason I shouldn't do this? Anything to watch out for? Any better ideas?

https://www.prowave.com.au/store/live-bait-tanks/transom-bulkhead-mount/live-bait-tank-transom-mount-38-litres/

There's a guy up north (northern QLD I think, maybe NT) on YT calls himself "skidpig" who swears by them. I like the idea, but I think they're overpriced. A roll of electrical tape's a lot cheaper.

Not sure where you are or if this will suit your trailer, but I found this axle setup on gumtree that might work for you.

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/runaway-bay/boat-accessories-parts/trail-rite-boat-trailer-axle-assembly/1325737385

Well, barring unforseen circumstances it looks like I've just sold my 40HP... a guy just gave me a $1000 deposit on it and will be back with another $1500 in a week, so I made $500 on the deal which pays for the installation and the new external fuel tank I had to buy to show it running on the stand (which will now go into the boat as an emergency fuel source). Hoorah for free upgrades!

It's not quite free, turns out I need to replace a seal which is making the gear shift stiff in and out of gear but that's not urgent.

Update: SOLD

I have for sale a used 1999 Mercury 40HP 2 stroke 3 cylinder engine, long (20") leg. It's done about 30 hours since it's last service, and it had new plugs, leads, impellor, and gearbox seals, both anodes, and has had the fuel pump rebuilt. Still has the oil injection intact. Comes with a brand new spare propeller, as well as forward controls and gauges (speedo, tacho, trim, hours). It's total hours are unknown as the boat didn't come with an hour meter. I'll also throw in the home made engine stand it's sitting on. Only selling as I upgraded to a larger engine, has been a strong performer for me once I had it properly serviced and so on. Has been flushed after every use for as long as I've had it, no overheating etc. Compression gauge meters out at 107, 107, 105 (though it's a cheapie meter and may not be 100% accurate, but at least you know there's no dead cylinders. Feel free to BYO gauge if you like).

I won't lie to you, it's a bit more than 20 years old and like anything that's been around salt water than long it's not perfect. The biggest issue with it is the steering is a little stiff, but still very usable. When I got it, it was very stiff but I've done a lot of work on it and gotten new grease out of both ends and it's no longer an issue, just not perfect. Another minor quirk is that the trim sender is not quite in the correct position due to a broken screw, so the gauge doesn't read quite right. Again it's usable, just not perfect... and if you have the skills and patience to remove the broken screw it'd be just fine. The sender itself is obsolete but I found a "new old stock" genuine mercury item in the US to put on.

Asking price is $2000, can demonstrate it working on the stand in Gailes (just west of Brisbane). Call or text me on 0403 821 965.

Spent a couple of hours yesterday greasing and adjusting stuff on the boat and ran ithe donk up in the driveway and it ran nicely. Today finally got the boat into the water. Wow what a difference... it was fairly sedate before, it worked well enough and had sufficient power if you had one or two people on board but that was all. Now (albeit with just me on board) it practically jumps out of the water when you goose it, and the top speed's increased from about 22kn to 30kn at 5300RPM once it's all trimmed out (on a glassy Brisbane River). Current prop's a 10 3/8" x 13"... I could go up to a 14" pitch but it's only going to make a few knots difference, and do I really need every last erg of speed in what's mostly a fishing boat? I'd rather keep the power to get up on plane, and low end performance for trolling than chasing that last five knots or so, and 30kn is plenty for any family boating I'm likely to do... taking the wife & daughter out to Tippler's or around Bribie, etc. I had to knock it down to 6kn for a km or so to go under the bridge at Jindalee due to the bridge works and it chugged along at trolling speed nicely, no choking up etc. Steering's REALLY free now too... so much so that when it's idling with the typical 2 stroke "miss" it now moves the steering wheel around. I was planning on putting a steering knob on the wheel for when I'm docking, but now I can just "palm" the wheel and spin it around like I would a car.

There does seem to be a bit of an issue with the tilt/trim... if I trim it all the way up it makes a "crack" noise near the end of travel sometimes, and when I trim it down it gets past the "tilt" section and into the "trim" part of travel and it sort of hesitates for a second and the motor makes that "I'm not under load" noise then it sort of catches up with a "clunk" and drops the rest of the way normally. The hydralic ram seems to be undamaged so maybe an issue in the tilt tube? Also the gear change is quite stiff both into and out of gear, forward and backward. Brad at Ipswich Marine mentioned it and I'm gonna see if it frees itself up with use before I go looking any deeper. I'm using the original forward controls & cables that were in the boat rather than the ones that came with the engine and they worked just fine on the 40, although the throttle seems to be more free now than it was before. One other odd thing I noticed when flushing it today is that it has water coming out of a hole in the forward face of the leg, just above the cavitation plate. I'm pretty sure the 40 didn't do it but seems to be operating fine so I assume that's a thing with the 60. It was also pulling left once it got some speed on it... the original trim tab/anode thing was broken when I got it and they put a new one on for me when they fitted the engine, so I just adjusted that left a fraction once I got home. It was pointing slightly right originally and is now dead on centered, so next time I'm out I'll bring a 5/8" socket with me and see if it's right or not now.

Oh I didn't bring a rod with me but it might be worthwhile dropping a line in off the pontoon at the Jindalee boat ramp... my sonar was going nuts beeping at me all around there.

Oh and if anyone's interested... I've got a well behaved 40HP 2 stroke I'm looking to sell.

The 60 metered out to exactly the same figures as the 40 which is encouraging. The gearbox oil was green, not white, and it started and ran better than the 40 does. The steering's really light and free too, unlike the 40 which I've struggled to free to to a usable point. The vendor even gave me his home made engine stand which'll make it easier to sell the 40. Took boat and engine in today, should be ready tomorrow AM but I'm baby sitting a sick toddler tomorrow so first chance to put it in the river and give it a blast will be thuraday... will let you know. It's propped to suit a 5.1m fibreglass boat and is going on a 4.3m ally boat so chances are will have to change prop to get the best out of it.

Well, answered my own question... according to Ipswich Marine they use the same controller so all good, just swap the engine over.

Bought a new compression gauge today, going out to look at the 60 tomorrow. Tested the gauge on my 40HP and got 107, 107, 105 psi which is a bit lower than I'd expected but ok for a 26 year old engine. It could be the gauge but it's all I've got and the numbers seem close to right so if the gauge is out it shouldn't be by too much. At least I'll be able to tell if there's a significant difference between the cylinders on the 60 or not, and I'll get Ippy Marine to put their gauge on it when they swap it over so I can compare to my readings.

Hey guys.

One take away from my recent trip to Turkey Beach was that, with the addition of a second battery & anchor winch and with three big boofy blokes on board, my little 40HP 2 stroke struggled to get up on the plane... it managed it but took a while longer than I like to get there.

The hull's a 4.3m aluminium runabout rated for 40-60HP, and currently has a 1999 Mercury 40HP, 2 stroke, 3 cylinder ELPTO motor serial no 0G772228. I'm going out tomorrow to look at and hopefully buy a used motor, a 2001 Mercury 60HP, 2 stroke, 3 cylinder ELPTO serial no 0T328216. As far as I can tell these are basically identical engines even sharing the same block, just with different capacities.

So my question to any Mercury experts out there... what's the odds that I can do the swap without changing out the forward controls and gauges? Reckon they'd be compatible? I'll swap them if I have to but getting all those cables and wires out and new ones in would be a pain to be avoided if possible. Just getting the dual battery switch panel off to get at the battery leads will be a big enough pain.

Matt

5 hours ago, Huxstang said:

Consider a Mooloolaba Pick anchor https://www.whitworths.com.au/mooloolaba-pick-anchor

Thats what all the boats have on the swains that I have been on.  

Shackle to the top then lay chain down the shaft and heavy zip ties to what you would normally attach to.  If its stuck you just pull back over the top and it snaps the zip ties and you then pull the anchor up from the head.

Mate bought a very expensive version of one (cannot remember the name) but it uses a sheer bolt to hold the fins in place and all you do it drive over the top and it sheers the pin and the fins collapse.  A guy up in Mackay makes them.  Very neat.

I did look at them but the price vs a reef anchor put me off a bit, I'm already spending about $270 replacing the Manson, and the reef anchor really won't see much use, I almopst always anchor in sand or mud.

Why am I not using a fluke anchor? I used to and it was ok, but it doesn't self launch and having to get out the front and shove it sort of takes away at least some of the fun of a winch.

Re: the zip ties down the shaft thing... that works right up until the tide/wind shift your boat around and the anchor tries to reset and the chain tears the zip ties, then your rode's pulling on the head of the anchor. Probably not a huge issue on a reef anchor since you won't be relying on it overnight or unattended, but still. Thinking I'll just get a 20m line and a float to attach to the head of the anchor in case I need to pull it loose.

The sliding shackle in a slot thing you see on some anchors seems a bit problematic too to me. It's fine if you're in a nice level sandy bottom but if you're anchor's sitting on a bottom that means the shaft's on an upsward angle the shackle's not going to slide down the anchor as you motor forward. It could also end up pulling out the anchor if your boat shifts but at least then the anchor would turn around and reseat itself.

17 minutes ago, mangajack said:

Dyneema / spectra is not a good option for anchor rope...it has next to no stretch and often will un-nest an anchor with surges coming down the rope. Use silver rope, it is a good stretch rope that helps keep an anchor holding.....plus it is enormously cheaper.

I don't really have an option for the main anchor as it's on a winch, and the thicker silver rope means a much shorter anchor rode. I've got a coil of silver rope I was planning on putting on a fluke anchor to use a s stern achor when I'm anchoring off a beach or as a second anchor in case a storm blows up... no reason I couldn't swap it out and use it on the reef anchor too, just put on whichever anchor I'm using on the day.

It also has the advantage that if you do need to cut it you can always resplice a new thmble into it.

Hey guys

While I was up north I ended up having to cut off my expensive manson anchor (which also means replacing the double braided rope & chain since the old rope no longer has a thimble and apparently you can't resplice double braided rope once it's been wet & taut), so I've decided that to prevent a repeat of this I'll invest in a reef anchor. It's less likely to get permanantly snagged, and I'm less concerned about chopping off a $20 anchor than a $300 one. I'm gonna use the old anchor rope with it and just tie it onto the chain with an achor bend knot... but that begs the question of how much chain do I need?

I know the "standard" answer to that question is "the same as the length of the boat", and the "extreme" answer is "as much as you can store", but that assumes a "standard" anchor and I keep seeing posts in various places that say when using a reef anchor on reef or rocks you should reduce or even omit the chain altogether as the chain is often the bit that snags or damages the reef.

So what's the concensus? Same as the boat (abt 4.5m)? A bit less (say 3m)? Use chain but put it in a chain sock? None at all? What say you all?

Matt

I've used both the boat wash and the engine flush. I can say for sure the boat wash works, but it's expensive so I switched to a 4x4 "after beach wash" that, while it doesn't do as good a job, is a ton cheaper and for a beat up fishing boat I'm not that concerned about appearance. I still use their engine flush religiously though. I didn't get their expensive "captain's musket" thing... I bought exactly the same thing in a cheaper brand on special from Anaconda.

If you have a pretty new boat and want to keep it looking flash by all means use the Salty Captain products... they do work. Just comparing the cover on my outboard after washing with "salty captain" compared to the 4x4 wash shows a significant difference in salt spotting on the black surface once it all dries.

13 hours ago, mangajack said:

If i fish central to north qld I always set the last fishing day in one of the dams.....give it a good sloshing at the end of the day and throw 20 buckets in the hull and run the bilge pump back to the ramp.

Just another job you don't have to do when you get home.

For many years I would flush out at Youngs Crossing before they added all of those bollards.

That's gotta be a lot easier than hosing it all off and flushing the engine.