Hello

[barra mick]

Ive just built a plate boat

Ask away if you want to no anything

Bm

[Nude up]

Golf? Knackers a good walk I reckon about as frustrating as when the soup factory burst and all I could find was a colander and a fork. Welcome to the site plenty of good info here there is always someone who knows the answer or has an opinion on any question you could have tight lines

[nmgar]

Ive just built a plate boat

Ask away if you want to no anything

Bm

Thanks for the offer, who did you use to build it for you?

I started to look back at your posts to try to see but gave up after 13 pages. With 5000+ posts it could take me for ever

[yepi'mon]

Why wouldn't you want your fish in the freshest condition possible?

My thoughts exactly; I was at the market today and KGW were $40/kg as whole fish. I ended up not taking any fish off the charter boats they were in such poor condition (bait quality only).

In regards to a boat I have two parts of advice:

A) I'd consider buying something used in good condition with a few marks and scrapes on it. Navigating a boat isn't to hard but things can get tricky when you get impatient, are under pressure, caught by surprise or are simply learning... There is no doubt with a new boat and not much experience you will mark the boat, spill some stuff, break some stuff etc etc. Rather than damaging something brand new (which will no doubt infuriate you) there are great second hand boats out there that are more than suitable.

I've come to the same conclusion and have been looking at the Trade-a-Boat site for some time but haven't seen anything which jumps at me. My concern is that if anything goes wrong with the boat I won't be able to fix it; a few dings in the boat from ramp or trailer mistakes I can live with. However I realize I am probably underestimating the reliability of modern engines. The last time I spent much time on boats was 30 years ago when I was a mad scuba diver. We always went out with multiple boats when diving near the heads due to engine unreliability.

B) There is a great magazine out there called "Fitting Out For Bay and Coastal Fishing" which would provide a lot of great info prior to buying a boat. http://www.jeffwebster.com.au/baycoastal.html

I have that as well as Fishing and Family Boat Guide from the same publisher. Useful though they duplicate each other somewhat.

We have a Furuno sounder on our boat and it's great..... the main thing is that it's installed correctly (with transducer) and that you have your settings right. It's then a matter of learning to read it properly (never ending process) and then being able to actually catch the fish. CHIRP might be great, but it's not going to catch you any more fish at the start....

Everyone here seems to be a furuno fan so I will look hard at them but no Side Scan or Structure Scan and the need to purchase a separate GPS unit I see as negatives.

From all reports newer model 4 stroke engines are far superior than any of the old 2 stroke motors going around. If your concern is the motor then only look for newer model engines, well kept, water test first and have someone in the know go over it prior to buying. That way you should be right and pretty confident that what you are buying is going to treat you well. If you plan to go offshore a bit then consider twin motors.

In regards to the sounder/gps setup, it was recommended to me by someone very experienced in the game to keep these two units separate. That way all of the power in the sounder is dedicated to sounding and vice versa for the GPS. In their experience dual units had never worked as well.

[Dr Snapper]

WELCOME to the site ! Try golf if you fail at fishing .. :rofl:

I used to play but stopped due to injury. Wonderful game but so frustrating.

I stopped golf due to lack of talent! Fishing, well i will keep trying at that too.

[Mattblack]

Welcome! I was in your situation last year & this site has proved itself invaluable. The guys on here have been more help than any book Ive read or charter I've been on.
Everyone has different opinions, but I found that Kiwi's seem to make the best plate boats (although that beast of BarraMick's looks like a weapon).
Fishing is a great way to spend money!