Boating off Waddy Pt., Fraser for the first time - any tips?

[CT]

Hi All,
A group of us are thinking about towing the boat up to Waddy to fish some of this offshore scene that we keep seeing photos of. I've been going to the island for years but never tried to do this before. What are the big things that I need to know?

We've got a 5m Cruisecraft, 2 cruiser utes and a turbo patrol ute, so I figure that we'll get there eventually. I'm sorting out an extended drawbar for lauching. The trailer breaks for recovery, so I figure in worst case scenario we can disconnect it from the car and recover off the sand.

I'm not too sure about heading out through the gutter but I figured some tips from here plus a Bill Corten bar crossing course should sort that out.

What about time of the year for weather patterns and fish? Do people look for any particular tides and time of day eg. high tide mid morning to assist with having enough water and favorable swells for heading out?

I particularly enjoyed the 04 expo footage of the gutter (thanks to the poster). Helps to give an idea of what it could be like.

So, I'm all ears...

Cheers
Craig

[Vindicator]

Just one tip, take someone or some people who know what they're doing when launching off the beach

Cheers
Kezza

[revs57]

G'day Craig,

A few things we do when we go to fraser.

Check with the ranger about any obsticles at hook point to make sure you can get around with a minimum of fuss, stick on the hard sand for the run up to indian

Time your run for the dropping tide, to hit the beach toward half tide on the drop.

Let tyres down to 12 lb before hitting the beach on the rainbow side, send your backup vehicles first, one with a snatch ready just in case the track to the barge is bad...use the Green barge, Manta Ray, they are the good guys

With a 5 mt cruisecraft you should get through Indain O.K. snatch up before you give it a go and hook into it - take no prisoners.

You can unhook the other side, but i would hook up before the pinch to champaign pools and stay snatched til you are over the top un less the tracks are really solid.

With all this rain lately it could be nice and firm so there may not be any trouble, but I'd do it the cautious way before I had a problem rather than waiting to get into trouble then trying to pull out.

Launch and retrieve at Waddy obviously depends on gutter conditions. Haven't been there since the Fraser Classic 2007 but there have been two gutters that we used. As a precaution, I'd spend the first day on the beach with the fam and a few stubbies and a designated driver so you can check out what the beach is doing through a full tide cycle to work out which gutter and what part of the tides you need to be launching and retrieving from.

Yes, extend your drawbar for both launch and retrieve and remember...if your trailer sits for any length of time with waves washing around the tyres, your first movement needs to be in revers around a metre, to push tyres out of wash, then pull her out forward. i always snatch up for the retrieve just so there will be no problems with a car bogged on the beach with a rising tide.

Negotiating the gutter, make sure you pick the greener water, use the run of the swell to lift you over any shallow entrance. Whack a GPS mark to track your way so you can follow it back in easily, and don't forget to zoom in on the way in so you can stay on track. Bill Corten will be a worthwhile investment. Just remember to take to steady, get the crew to put life jackets on as there is no rescue backup if you are on your own.

Its no biggie if you have a plan and keep a clear mind. I've got DVD's of 2006 & 7 and some private footage - be happy to share it with you.

When you get to the beach on retrieval, drop your crew off, have someone reverse the truck down with the trailer extention still out, we were driving on without drama last year, although one day the gutter was really shallow and we had to winch her up, but make sure everyone is schooled in their job well before getting to the waters edge

One to back the trailer down, your second driver to snatch up the backup vehicle and get ready while your first driover goes to the winch tower, another person to hook up the cable, another to steady the boat, your driver to winch her up, the cable guy to do up the chain from the trailer to the boat, the steadier to go to the drivers seat and get ready for the reverse motion before the pull out, at the bottom of the retrieve on a signal from your tow driver the snatch driver takes off, and the pop the tow driver is into it, boat and trailer now on beach, poetry in motion, AND a stubbie for everyone while cleaning the fish and sharing the stories about the one that smached you up and did you over!!!!

As I said, poety in motion for a well oiled team

you'll have a ball...roll on Fraser 2008

Cheers

Rhys

[Far side]

I might add to Rhys Go with another boat If you lose it there is no VMR to rescue you

[sempre]

Rhys , you forgot about avoiding crab pots on the beach .
Sam..

[BLOOEY]

Very informative Rhys. Thanks. Ben

[Tangles]

I remember Smithy posted up some vids of fraser beach launching in the vids section a while back

mike

[revs57]

ahahahahah Sam.

yeah, keep an eye out for debris on the beach...in 2006 I inadvertantly ran over and picked up a crab pot under the trailer and dragged it all the way up the beach cooking up my transmission nicely..Thanks for the reminder Sam...some blokes don't forget a thing do they???????

Oh yeah, and if you have any protrusions under the trailer from your roller set up, trim them off with a gas ax or angle grinder so they don't pick up on a board across the top or rip off a roller set.

Might be good to remove the boat from the trailer to do it...remember nugget lost a boat recently when it exploded as he was doing this very job with an angle grinder

cheers

rhys

[CT]

Thanks for all the tips.

Big thanks to Rhys for the full rundown. If it looks like this is going to happen I might chase up some of your footage for more homework.

Good point that Farside made about going with 2 boats. We're trying to hook this up.

Do people feel that an auxillary is reasonable insurance compared to a second boat? Covered for mechanicals but if you sink your sunk I guess.

Or like my mate said,
"Drop the aux on the big esky and putt home"

Cheers
Craig

[Getout]

Rhys, would it be any use to back the empty trailer on to a couple of sheets of ply (or similar) to stop the trailer wheels sinking as the load of the boat comes on?

[sempre]

Getout , The trick to it is to be as quick as possible .
Dont play in the wash for any longer than you have to , it only takes about 3-5 min to sink the wheels in the wave action .
A well oiled crew can prevent this as Rhys explained.
Sam...

[TCSunCoast]

CT

Don't follow the sand spits out to sea at Hook point stay on the hard sand up high. Follow one of these babies and you'll be there for good. Pick the tides, Revs suggestion is spot on.

Hit Inidan and Co. like you own it, go for a walk first up the pass or send a mate first.

Two boats is ideal and gives some peace of mind. I it looks calm in the bay at Waddy, go for a drive over to middle beach first and see how much it is really blowing.

I have taken a 5m Haines up there with no worries before along with my currrent 20ft platey. An easy tip to finding your way back into the guttter is two leave a vehicle inline with the entrance on the beach. Line it up jump on the back of one and Bob's your uncle, as long as you don't fall over the front of it. Take Revs advice and spend a day looking at at both sections of the tide. Often you go out one gutter and back in another.

In a 5m boat don't bail at the start of the gutter, lift the motor and drive up it slowly. You will be amazed how far you can get and nearly always into still water. Back that trailer in and get it out quick, save the bragging for the fillet table and as most have suggested go backwards first.

Not sure where you are located but I've got video from over 20 comps up there, on the beach with boats coming in and beaching after messing up to boats doing it right in good size surf, I even stood in the archor well with a water proof case video once with my old man driving and got all the action of coming in from the bow rail perspective ( it was very calm).

Take your time, keep your head and you'll have a ball. Going in and out that gutter will be one of the best boating experiences you have. I love it.

As for marks, if you don't have any PM me and I'll give you a few generals you can sound from (the ones we don't fish anymore because of the sharks.)

Tony

PS. Only go Manta Ray barge.

[Far side]

Rhys, would it be any use to back the empty trailer on to a couple of sheets of ply (or similar) to stop the trailer wheels sinking as the load of the boat comes on?
I have given this some thought Ply will try to float so it will be mission impossible to use it however a mesh of some description may work really well you would need to position it prior to backing down
I think Rhys has covered it though its about speed in and out the more the waves wash around the tyers the more they sink

[revs57]

G'day Getout,

forget ply, it'd float away and be to difficult to place before you'd get any value out of it. I know some blokes use a strip of mesh under each side successfully, we've never bothered and have never had a problem with a 2000kg rig so long as the first movement is back to push the wheels out of the ruts and you're snatched up and ready to remove the question of becoming stuck.

Craig, You've gotta make sure your chain is on so you don't leave your boat on the beach as a few did in 2006 and a well drilled team is gold! if everone is clear on what they have to do you won't have a problem on retrieve

Cheers

Rhys

[bugman]

I've only done Fraser twice with the boat - both times with a 6.2m platey.

Rhys continues to mention the key ingredient to the beach launch. Organisation and team work. We had 4 blokes and everyone knew what they were doing. One in the car - one in the boat and two to assist with the line up and winch. It should take all around a minute or under if you get it right and then getting the trailer bogged is not a problem.

We could launch and be out to sea or retrieve and be back up the beach having a beer while others were still mucking around.

The Landy didn't need a snatch vehicle to launch or retrieve either;)

Over Indian head is another matter. Hook up your snatch vehicle before you head over. It's a two minute job and can save half an hour of trying to pull out 5 tonnes of boat and car in the middle of soft sand.

Brett

[CT]

Thanks for all the good info folks. I like to be prepared!

Now to convince another boat to come and get on with the rest of the prep...

Cheers
Craig

[Reel Magic]

Also,

If you need to turn your tow bar upside down to get the extra 1" of height it is well worth it, you want to be as high off the sand as you can within reason.

Strap the boat down as tight as you can and when going through Indian as Rhyss said,dont even try it alone. Just snatch up and give it to her and you will get straight through, will save buggerising around gettinbg stuck.

12lb will look like your tyres are too flat - they are not 12lb is the go for both car and boat trailer.

I towed mine up (5m Cruisecraft) with some experienced crew in July, there were 21 of us from the Relands Boat club - had an awesome time.

Cheers Ryan.

P.S. - Dont scrimp on the snatching strap, get a good one, recommend 12T, and get a compressor.
Look out for the divots around champagne pools, I hit one with a full load at some speed and bent my trailer axle, had some fun repairing her on-site at the house - but we got her fixed all right.

Cheers..

[CT]

Yep, got the hitch upside down already. I've got a maxair compressor, so letting tyres down doesn't worry me cause they go back up quick!

Good idea on the strap. My poor old spanset is due for pensioning off anyway.

Cheers
Craig

[ARNIEMAC]

G'day CT...thinking of doing the same trip with some mates from work in our 5mtr tinnies round march after easter...i'm in the proccess of trying to organise a drawbar extention as well for the trip...ive got a redco rt400 mo trailer....do you or anyone else have some good ideas or piccies bout building a bar???? have priced a bar but they will only give me 1mtr extention from the factory.....fellas i'm going with recomend atleast 2mtr plus:-/ ..what size does everyone think...what size bar is recomended??????Arnie

[seatime]

G'day Arnie,

within reason, longer is better, but even 1m will help keep the vehicle out of the wash if the gutter is shallow. there are 3m home made jobs getting around that can sag, stresses are high?
I had a 2m swing away extention made up by Belco, it worked beautifully.
Hook it up on the hard just before launching, for safety try not to tow too far with the extention.
Try to make it as simple as possible without having to unbolt or stooge around a lot when rigging.

sorry the pics got lost somewhere.

cheers

[jackson4300]

Just wondering am planning on doing a trip up to fraser also, been there a few times as a kid but only ever fished from the beach and was wondering about taking the boat up.

Piccy of the boat, towing it would be a big red truck (F250)
how do you guys reckon this would travel?
also currently being pushed by a 130 2 stroke
looking at a 150-175 maybe 4 stroke

Fraser is a great place, easy to understand why so many people go there.

[block]

Hi Craig
Well there is not much left to say as there is some very good advice there from all the others. Here are a few things that we do.
When I get back close to the beach after a day’s fishing I stop about 1km out and use my mobile phone to call all the other people in our group who did not go out in the boat for the day to come down to the beach to help with the retrieve of the boat onto the trailer. They all know what needs to be done. As rves57 said, have 1 in a second 4wd ready. I have a glass boat so the people who go out for the day are the ones who have to get in the water and hold the boat straight so there is no damage from the boat coming down on the trailer the wrong way. 1 to hook on the rope, 1 to winch, 1 to drive the 4wd pulling the boat, rope man to give winch man a spell as he knocks up.
When boat and trailer are both safely up on hard sand have a talk about what went well and what you could do better the next time, this should be done over a cold beer.
On the way up when I we get to Indian Head we hook up three 4wd’s no matter what it looks like. Go for a drive first in one of the other 4wd and have a look. UHF can be a big help here and over the back to Waddy. If you have two boats, unhook one and uses that 4wd to help. Just get one boat through at a time. I leave one 4wd snatched up all the way to the house/camping spot as there can often be a few soft spots on the back track. We use the UHF to make sure that things move along at the right speed.
When it comes to the fishing there is no end of country. Each day you will find new ground. Last trip in Oct last year we were getting a few nice fish around North Reef [have a look at a sun map] but a lot of good fish were lost to sharks so we moved east to the shelf and found a show in the 80m to 100m mark and soon had our bag of pearlys then found more new ground coming back in at the 60m line. This spot come good the next day with a bag out of big Hussar.
Most days we go out just after day light and come in when we have had enough, 3-4pm or when the wind picks up. I want to fish over night as this would give the dawn and sunset bit but have not had the right weather to do so. If it is a north wind 15kn or more stay home and have a beer. Don’t be afraid to use big baits, cut up one of them big Hussar or any other fish for that matter and put the whole fillets on a strong hook in the 8/o to 12/o. I use 80lb mono and still get smashed from time to time. I will pm you a mark were can get some lives, they work will dead or alive or as fillets.
Do it once and you will be going every year. Just remember PLAN and TEAM WORK and all will be good.
Regards
Dwane

[CT]

G'day CT...thinking of doing the same trip with some mates from work in our 5mtr tinnies round march after easter...i'm in the proccess of trying to organise a drawbar extention as well for the trip...ive got a redco rt400 mo trailer....do you or anyone else have some good ideas or piccies bout building a bar???? have priced a bar but they will only give me 1mtr extention from the factory.....fellas i'm going with recomend atleast 2mtr plus:-/ ..what size does everyone think...what size bar is recomended??????Arnie

I'm aiming for a 4m extension. Probably 4*2 with a heavy wall. I'm going to mount a second hitch on one end and U-bolt a sleeve to the existing drawbar as a reciever. Slot the extender into place and secure with two drop in pins just like the 3 point linkage on a tractor.

When not in use it can just live strapped to the trailer.

Cheers
Craig