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

[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