JDP

Ours has decent insulation and windows facing to catch the last of the afternoon sun. In regards to heating in the home, nothing overly special, just a gas heater that soon gets the place hot if left on for more than 30 mins. Would love to get a couple of storage heaters but getting them shipped out here is out of the question. What you do tend to see is the majoritie of retirees towing caravans north for winter (two months) where the temps are far hotter 25-27'c in north QLD or in the mid 30's in the NT. Its pretty good where we are as winters days can reach 18'c in the sun and only a few frosts through winter. Heading inland we can be at the snow fields in 2.30mins. I normally head north mid winter with what ever boat I have for a tropical trip but the covid restrictions are hampering that.

Friggin ice over here, hence the lurking!!!!...just posted a couple of threads to prove I still intend to get back out there. My daughter left for a fish at 4.30am this morning, just got home home 2.30pm grabbed her spearfish gear and off she's gone again. Think its time for another coffee and turn the heater up more!!!

Been busy tinkering with the new little outfit 4.3m centre console. Trailer was a mess so dropped the boat onto three tyres in the garden and tidied that up first. Plenty of rust chipping and wire brushing then stopping in its tracks with a product called Fertan. Some parts were sprayed with zinc paint and others with a bitumen paint, I also tilted the trailer so I could run fish oil through the box sections until it ran through to the opposite end. All finished off with lanotec steel-seal for safe measure, hopefully a couple more seasons from it. Popped on two transom mounted transducers on adjustable brackets so I can pull them up on long distance runs and beach launching etc (Garmin GT51 and PC30 panoptic). I also have an airmar 175hw cut into the the floor and considering a 174 deep water but will see how I go that far offshore in such a little boat first. Fitted new radio's and gone with a mix of electronics networked together via nmea 2000 (with a few restrictions on what can be shared between brands). Fitted a quick removable ladder with open steps so we can get out quicker wearing fins when we have something toothy wanting our catch. Closed steps mean taking our fins off to use the steps, which is hard to do while holding the ladder, speargun and fish!!!. There seems of of gone a small fortune into such a little boat (including a lonestar electric winch) so I hope to keep this one a while and use it on some long distance trips away from home. I have one trip planned in a few weeks to the Northern Territory (8000+km drive) and out to some remote islands (Edward Pellew group) but thinks are starting to look doubtful with the latest Cover outbreaks again. Im over tinkering and feeling itchy from so many holes cut into the glass and hope to not do any of it again soon!!!...just remembered I still need to fit an external pump so I can setup a live bait tank.

Needed a quick break from drilling holes in my boat and messing around with wires in tight spaces. Headed two hours inland close to the snow fields to catch up with my daughter who was out there solo hunting. She had sent a message via the Garmin Inreach which gives the lat and long of where she was (no phone reception out that way). I let my young lad have a day off school as they seem to be doing bugger all there these days, besides he can learn more about tracking, hunting and navigation when its done in a fun way. My daughter managed to pop a tasty little doe with a clean heart shot at 65m (close). Dressed it there and then to save weight getting it back to where we camped. Venison and marshmallows over the charcoals and then another bbq session back home. Now back to finishing the boat.

Most of mine were between Ventnor and St Catherins and always seem to be on the drift towards St Catherins rips. I have caught them close to the Needles but most of the time it was mostly porbeagles in that area.

NO no no 😪

They do some good videos and a great magazine called "The Captain" Check it out if you like small powerful boats https://thecaptain.tv/videos/

He could of possibly had bad seals on his trim, in saying that most people chock their motors up to travel. There are a fair few who get on the piss pretty hard while out fishing and in quite locations they still get away with it on the roads.

They look perfect to me, very sexy black motor 😃

These are a common work boat here, mostly used in the shellfish and urchin industry. The one I drive for abalone is a bare bones boat where. We can load this one up with 1.5ton of shellfish hand gathered in a day. The air compressor is under the grey cover on the gunnel, no seats just floor space. Many are rigged with big twin engines which make it easier to control the boat with divers in the water working off air hoses. Its surprising how much work is involved in keeping the boat close without putting any tension on the hoses and not getting a hose around the prop when its windy and rough and at the same time clean and grade the shellfish they are sending up. All of these fishermen seem to be a bit crazy, with just one position on the throttle and that's all the way!!!

I did wonder how another driver hadn't seen it and let the driver know but thinking how we often drive for hours, even days to spots to fish and rarely pass another vehicle then yes quite possibly. Also if the driver is anything like people I know here towing boats you wouldn't stand much chance of getting past them. One of my last bigger trips (3 day drive) My engine support bounce off the trailer but stayed attached to the engine, when I stopped after hearing it going through a quiet remote town it had worn from around 4ft to 1.5ft. I was lucky to of not done engine damage as it was pushing from the road up under the engine. In the case of the picture above, I did wonder if perhaps someone may of been deliberately doing it to make an insurance claim on a damaged gearbox. In saying that I can head down to my local ramp today and almost guarantee seeing someone drive off dragging there skeg. It tends to happen often here because almost every boater drives their boats on and off trailers, once the trailer is driven out of the water, unless you remember to trim up it happens quite easily.

I just assumed it was the state I just bought my boat from as they have the blue on white plates but like you say it may be the US as the plate if on the left.

I would of loved a project like that when I lived there.

Do you get up around the Alum Bay area, there would be some interesting ground around there to sidescan.

Saw that posted a few days ago over here, thought it was a local boat.

Was asked if I wanted a free boat. Old rigs like this often sit on the side of the road with free signs on them, was wondering if little outfits pop up like this in the UK these days. It seems people just aren't interested in doing up older rigs anymore, I suppose the cost does soon blow out when you start working on them. This one was fully registered and running well.

Have you used all the functions yet to see just how they perform? If not, once you get used to it could you post a few screen shots from some fishy marks. Ive had 200-50 kHz 600w transducers hold and show bottom out to 500m but with the 8410 Ive invested into some higher specked chirp gear but yet to test on my new rig as Im still fitting it out. The sidescan on 260khz on my last boat scanned well at depths to 140m and 250m either side of the boat, way past anything I had achieved with Lowrance in the past. Those 8410 units are heavy solid lumps compared to the Simrad evo 3 (Im running both in mine).

Thanks Geoff. Funny you mention it being an American hull mould, as it looks very much like what Haines and Bertram use over here, also from the US. If they are related and they certainly look very similar, they are considered one of the best hulls. Many manufactures produce vessels from this but alter the hull by 20% in order to rebrand the name.

I take it you like the gt41. Any reason to not using a chirp or a higher speck transducer to match the head unit in terms of quality and power.

I love the Garmin 8410 but they do seem very small for a so called 10 inch screen, which most of isn't used. You don't mention what transducers you are running with them. Im running 175hw, Panoptics ps30, GT51 and hopefully a 175L in the near future (a lot of wiring in a 14ft centre console). Im running both Garmin and simrad eve 3 into the same nmea network just to confuse myself when it comes to the menu's!!!!

Thats incredibly flat, haven't seen water like that in years.

I've got a quick release fitted, must admit Ive been busy fitting new toys in it so haven't had time to check to see if it even works!!!

Made by mercury but branded differently, anyone used one ? If so how did it compare with what you were running before.

Ive got a Minn Kota with the latest little boat, haven't got round to trying it yet but looking forward to it. Trouble is I tend to travel fair distances and belt the hell out of my boats so not sure if it will stay attached to the boat for long!!!

Yes that's it, first time Ive had a play with it. There are some YouTube videos of it, not sure if other manufacturers have something similar. Seems to be so much etc going into outfits these days, hopefully it's reliable. The auto pilot seemed a little different in I couldn't override it without cancelling it first.