JDP

These braids some people like may well be ok on fish of 10lb on 30lb braid but turn that around to 30lb fish on 10lb line to see how they last. I like thinner light lines as they are so much more sensitive when I'm dropping plastics, jigs or baited rigs in depths of around 120m. If I can target a species using 10lb drag, then using line heavier is simply overkill. 20lb braid is still relatively thin but doesn't give me anything like 10lb in terms of sensitivity and up to 20lb of drag is some serious stopping power.
When I see people saying their 50lb Jbraid, powerpro or Chinese braid has never given them any problems and then look at their catch reports, I'm not surprised at all the line hasn't given them any problems. 

Or get both, its only money.

Or get both, its only money.

Captain Cook deserves a real boat.
 

Captain Cook deserves a real boat.
 

Captain Cook deserves a real boat.
 

Jon, excellent post. And it just goes to show, no matter how experienced you are, someone will find a chink in your armour and fuck you over!

If rather an engine with higher hours and a full service history. 
 
Chatting to a mechanic yesterday he agreed. He said the worst engine you can buy is a low hours “holiday boat” service may not be done year on year, never gets used or flushed....
He wasn’t very complimentary about Suzuki engines as the anodes were similar to an alkaseltzer, they fizz and disappear when hit water.....
My engines are around 1100 hours. Having a full top to bottom service. Only issue is a potential gear box seal. But commercial boats change their seals at 1200hours so I should of expected that...
He also mentioned about good quality oil... Don’t scrimp on it.... 
Only his feedback and observations from working on commercial and leisure engines 

Rather than carry on on another thread where some people seem a little touchy when you simply point out honest facts, I thought Id start a new one in the hope it may help anyone buying into their first boat outfit.
This is trying to be helpful for anyone buying old rigs with low hours. I bought a boat with a 10 year old Honda and 250 hrs which had supposedly been flushed after every use but was totally rooted from the inside out. My current 2013 Suzuki 140 which has 300hrs is pretty much the same but I don't have the cash to replace on this one yet. A 90 mercury with less than 200hrs was again another engine I had to replace after buying what looked like a well looked after rig, so three low hour boats in 6 years have cost me a fair amount. 
According to the mechanics who've repaired or replaced mine, they claim a two year old engine with 2000 hrs is likely to be better than an engine 10 years old with 200 hrs. Engines which are run everyday or every few days don't get time for salt to dry inside the cooling and exhaust system unlike those which sit on trailers or moorings for weeks without use. This is something you soon see when boats start getting a few years on them in comparison with commercial rigs that run most days. Also the fact that recreational vessels tend to do short runs where they barely warm up before being switched off to sit at anchor and cool down again, hence the low hours. 
Many of the boats I drive commercially are running all day without freshwater flushing and don't give us any problems other than routine services. 
The saltwater environment is not like leaving a car in a garage for years, there are no anodes eating away inside the power head or thermostats building up salt etc. 
Its not just the engine either, a boat with a few years on it needs to be carefully inspected for water intrusion which may of gotten into areas it shouldn't. Waterlogged underfloor foam and rotten timbers in transoms is far more common than people might realise. Ive had a few rotten boats both here and the UK, more in the UK as they were boats that had been kept on moorings and the fact its a wet climate.
Just saying buyer beware, a boat hit with a decent polisher to sell can look like new but also covering a heap of underlying issues. 
  

Yes its certainly a tough one and better to get things looked at by a mechanic but that can often be pretty difficult. With most engines getting the seller to obtain a current computer print out could be one option but still doesn't guarantee much.
I bought the boat I have now unseen during the fires, I was blocked from leaving our town for two months and didn't want to miss out on another boat having just missed one a week before. I checked out the seller who was a school teacher and semi professional basketball player who seemed to have a pretty good reputation on social media. The hours were 235 and had been serviced (with receipts) four times. The outfit was claimed to of been kept in a specially built garage with photos included. There was a full diagnostic printout of servicing, hours, rpm etc. Fully scoping someone out through social media will often be a good way of finding out how a boats been cared for, in my case I wasn't looking at the right people, these were previous owners from several years before !!!
The boat was 1200km from my place and a gap in the fire gave me a chance to slip away to get it. I arrived at the address only to find no boat and the people selling it had only rented the place for a short time (so they didn't build the garage specially, simply took photos of the boat outside it. The people would not answer phone calls and neighbours told me the people who had the boat hadn't lived there for 6 months. By now I was thinking I had ditched $40000 and had a long drive home boatless. 
Luckily one of the neighbours put me onto someone who had known them and 4 hrs later I located the boat hidden on a property. The property owner had been asked to keep the boat hidden out of sight from the road incase anyone stole it and didn't seem aware of the dodgy deal he'd been asked to be part of. He managed to get hold of the people who had put the boat there ( a pair of large middle eastern thugs ). I bluffed my way around them telling them I had informed the police. 
They forged the registration paperwork and I couldn't get out of there quick enough. The boat looked in very bad shape but at least it was better than loosing everything.
I had a mobile mechanic come to my home to service it. The prop was totally written off, looking like it had been run through rocks destroying the blades completely. The electric wiring from the battery  to the main circuit switch panel had to be totally replaced.
Under the cowling it was plain to see this engine had been exposed to high temps, possible from running without pumping water on the muffs. Water wouldn't pump at all but the impeller was fine. The thermostat had been changed as well as the anodes on its 200hr service. The engine had done just 35hrs since that service, problem being these 35hrs had been over 3 years since that service. During that 35hrs in three years the powerhead anodes had totally dissolved and the thermostat wasn't much better (hence what I mean on low hours). The whole cooling system was solid with dried salt which was chiseled out with a screw driver. The system was soaked with concentrated saltaway solution. Eventually water started pumping through. 
Everything on the engine that could rust has rusted, even the black plastic has gouging to the white plastic. The engine still gives me problems but Im stuck with it for now. In contrast the anodes on my Yamaha when I sold it having clocked 950hrs in two years were still in good condition. Suzuki powerhead anodes need to regularly be checked and replaced. Its pretty easy to take a socket set and just remove a powerhead anode to check inside with a torch, no need to remove them all, one should show enough to see if they have been looked after.
Trimming up the engine to check the power trim for leaks is pretty straight forward (yes mine leaks at 235hours). When the engine is trimmed up you can lift the engine by hand from the gearbox area to feel for play around the steering pivot area (yes mine has play).
While lifting the engine from that gearbox area you can also look for any flexing in the transom (a sign of rotten transom). You can also check to see if the engine mount bolts have sunken into the fibreglass from the inside of the boat. If the bolts have pulled into the fibreglass or someone has put a plate on the inside of the boat this could well be a sign of a rotting waterlogged transoms. If the floor flexes as you walk on it or bounce up and down, again a sign of rotten stringers and waterlogged underfloor flotation.
Over on the other forum you can find people with Suzuki problems which again had low hours, where they have corroded from the inside out. These issues with my 140 Suzuki are almost identical to the problems I had with a low hour Honda at 10 years old, which I ended up scrapping. Salt inside any engine isn't a good thing but at least running them regularly before the salt dries and bakes onto the internal cooling passages greatly reduces problems. Anodes need checking or replacing even on boats used only in freshwater.
Overall my boat and trailer matched the condition of the engine. Ive put around $12000-15000 into it and its still not worth what I initially paid for it!!!!!....
Its a well known fact that a recreational outboard had a life expectancy of around 2000 hrs where a commercial outboard is more like 8000-10000.

Yes its certainly a tough one and better to get things looked at by a mechanic but that can often be pretty difficult. With most engines getting the seller to obtain a current computer print out could be one option but still doesn't guarantee much.
I bought the boat I have now unseen during the fires, I was blocked from leaving our town for two months and didn't want to miss out on another boat having just missed one a week before. I checked out the seller who was a school teacher and semi professional basketball player who seemed to have a pretty good reputation on social media. The hours were 235 and had been serviced (with receipts) four times. The outfit was claimed to of been kept in a specially built garage with photos included. There was a full diagnostic printout of servicing, hours, rpm etc. Fully scoping someone out through social media will often be a good way of finding out how a boats been cared for, in my case I wasn't looking at the right people, these were previous owners from several years before !!!
The boat was 1200km from my place and a gap in the fire gave me a chance to slip away to get it. I arrived at the address only to find no boat and the people selling it had only rented the place for a short time (so they didn't build the garage specially, simply took photos of the boat outside it. The people would not answer phone calls and neighbours told me the people who had the boat hadn't lived there for 6 months. By now I was thinking I had ditched $40000 and had a long drive home boatless. 
Luckily one of the neighbours put me onto someone who had known them and 4 hrs later I located the boat hidden on a property. The property owner had been asked to keep the boat hidden out of sight from the road incase anyone stole it and didn't seem aware of the dodgy deal he'd been asked to be part of. He managed to get hold of the people who had put the boat there ( a pair of large middle eastern thugs ). I bluffed my way around them telling them I had informed the police. 
They forged the registration paperwork and I couldn't get out of there quick enough. The boat looked in very bad shape but at least it was better than loosing everything.
I had a mobile mechanic come to my home to service it. The prop was totally written off, looking like it had been run through rocks destroying the blades completely. The electric wiring from the battery  to the main circuit switch panel had to be totally replaced.
Under the cowling it was plain to see this engine had been exposed to high temps, possible from running without pumping water on the muffs. Water wouldn't pump at all but the impeller was fine. The thermostat had been changed as well as the anodes on its 200hr service. The engine had done just 35hrs since that service, problem being these 35hrs had been over 3 years since that service. During that 35hrs in three years the powerhead anodes had totally dissolved and the thermostat wasn't much better (hence what I mean on low hours). The whole cooling system was solid with dried salt which was chiseled out with a screw driver. The system was soaked with concentrated saltaway solution. Eventually water started pumping through. 
Everything on the engine that could rust has rusted, even the black plastic has gouging to the white plastic. The engine still gives me problems but Im stuck with it for now. In contrast the anodes on my Yamaha when I sold it having clocked 950hrs in two years were still in good condition. Suzuki powerhead anodes need to regularly be checked and replaced. Its pretty easy to take a socket set and just remove a powerhead anode to check inside with a torch, no need to remove them all, one should show enough to see if they have been looked after.
Trimming up the engine to check the power trim for leaks is pretty straight forward (yes mine leaks at 235hours). When the engine is trimmed up you can lift the engine by hand from the gearbox area to feel for play around the steering pivot area (yes mine has play).
While lifting the engine from that gearbox area you can also look for any flexing in the transom (a sign of rotten transom). You can also check to see if the engine mount bolts have sunken into the fibreglass from the inside of the boat. If the bolts have pulled into the fibreglass or someone has put a plate on the inside of the boat this could well be a sign of a rotting waterlogged transoms. If the floor flexes as you walk on it or bounce up and down, again a sign of rotten stringers and waterlogged underfloor flotation.
Over on the other forum you can find people with Suzuki problems which again had low hours, where they have corroded from the inside out. These issues with my 140 Suzuki are almost identical to the problems I had with a low hour Honda at 10 years old, which I ended up scrapping. Salt inside any engine isn't a good thing but at least running them regularly before the salt dries and bakes onto the internal cooling passages greatly reduces problems. Anodes need checking or replacing even on boats used only in freshwater.
Overall my boat and trailer matched the condition of the engine. Ive put around $12000-15000 into it and its still not worth what I initially paid for it!!!!!....
Its a well known fact that a recreational outboard had a life expectancy of around 2000 hrs where a commercial outboard is more like 8000-10000.

Rather than carry on on another thread where some people seem a little touchy when you simply point out honest facts, I thought Id start a new one in the hope it may help anyone buying into their first boat outfit.
This is trying to be helpful for anyone buying old rigs with low hours. I bought a boat with a 10 year old Honda and 250 hrs which had supposedly been flushed after every use but was totally rooted from the inside out. My current 2013 Suzuki 140 which has 300hrs is pretty much the same but I don't have the cash to replace on this one yet. A 90 mercury with less than 200hrs was again another engine I had to replace after buying what looked like a well looked after rig, so three low hour boats in 6 years have cost me a fair amount. 
According to the mechanics who've repaired or replaced mine, they claim a two year old engine with 2000 hrs is likely to be better than an engine 10 years old with 200 hrs. Engines which are run everyday or every few days don't get time for salt to dry inside the cooling and exhaust system unlike those which sit on trailers or moorings for weeks without use. This is something you soon see when boats start getting a few years on them in comparison with commercial rigs that run most days. Also the fact that recreational vessels tend to do short runs where they barely warm up before being switched off to sit at anchor and cool down again, hence the low hours. 
Many of the boats I drive commercially are running all day without freshwater flushing and don't give us any problems other than routine services. 
The saltwater environment is not like leaving a car in a garage for years, there are no anodes eating away inside the power head or thermostats building up salt etc. 
Its not just the engine either, a boat with a few years on it needs to be carefully inspected for water intrusion which may of gotten into areas it shouldn't. Waterlogged underfloor foam and rotten timbers in transoms is far more common than people might realise. Ive had a few rotten boats both here and the UK, more in the UK as they were boats that had been kept on moorings and the fact its a wet climate.
Just saying buyer beware, a boat hit with a decent polisher to sell can look like new but also covering a heap of underlying issues. 
  

Looks like you'll fit right in then 😉
We're a bit different to WSF on here, but in a good way 👍

Ok cool so subtle spam does work! 

Two strokes I believe are lighter though, so the fuel saving could be offset by weight saving. (I may however have made this up)

Great news Jon - all's well that ends well. Geoff.☺️

Turns out it was a false alarm, at least it was good training for those of us involved in the local rescue groups. Most of our so called rescues are simply tow jobs, where this was a full on search in rough conditions.

Not such a good end to the day. Two swimmers caught in a rip after dark at our local beach. Numerous search vessels and helicopters searched untill midnight without any sign, doesn't look good.

Had a good report midweek!!!!  Now that my daughter skippers charter boats, her only days off are when the weather is bad!!!!
So with the weather being pretty disgusting we hitched up the boat and drove three hours south to a harbour we could get out to sea from. My daughter did a little video of me sitting in the boat ramp car park with rain and hail hitting the the car window and me not wanting to get out!!!! Well we did get out but conditions were so poor we decided to hitch the boat back up and try heading out from another harbour, which again weather pushed us back inside. One final launch on our way home ended with a grand catch of 0. A very long wet and battered day, but some how we had so much fun our cheeks hurt from laughing!!!!!
Today she had a nonstop yellowtail kingfish action on the charter.

Had a good report midweek!!!!  Now that my daughter skippers charter boats, her only days off are when the weather is bad!!!!
So with the weather being pretty disgusting we hitched up the boat and drove three hours south to a harbour we could get out to sea from. My daughter did a little video of me sitting in the boat ramp car park with rain and hail hitting the the car window and me not wanting to get out!!!! Well we did get out but conditions were so poor we decided to hitch the boat back up and try heading out from another harbour, which again weather pushed us back inside. One final launch on our way home ended with a grand catch of 0. A very long wet and battered day, but some how we had so much fun our cheeks hurt from laughing!!!!!
Today she had a nonstop yellowtail kingfish action on the charter.

Thanks and yes, we had her up to 31kts coming back over Culver Spit. I had my daughter with me and she kept egging me on; "Faster Daddy!" 🤣
I ran out of bravery before the engine ran out of revs - it had another 500rpm to give.

You're such a tool 🤣👍

A neighbour of mine has the Dmax and really rates it. He's had his from new and uses it for commuting and occasional load lugging.
Shame yours isn't the auto.
No experience of the Mazda I'm afraid.

It’s mainly guess work @JDP. Bit like when he catches a dog fish and guesses it’s a huss!