Product Reviews

View the latest product reviews.

Local Boat Ramps

Information on the quality and location of local Boat Ramp facilities. Includes photographs, maps and some video content.

Family orientated

Promoting family fishing.

Fish for the future

FishingTownsville.net promotes catch and release fishing.

Great Fishing Locations

Popular fishing spots including GPS locations, sounder shots and maps.

Regular fishing reports

Regular fishing reports from our fishing trips.

Product Reviews

View the latest Product Reviews.

Fly Fishing

Chasing Golden Trevalley on the Magnetic Island flats.

Relaxing!

Enjoying one of the many beautiful beaches of Magnetic Island.

Sunday 16 March 2008

Boat is wet!

Well we managed to get the boat wet yesterday afternoon. Probably picked the worst weather for our first launch. But I figured if we could do it in 20knots, we would be right for any normal weather we would be going in. Was a pretty stressfull time, not knowing now the wind would effect the boat on the trailer. But with the motor in gear it was dead easy to keep her straight while Tania winched it back into the water.

Performance seems pretty good. We easily surpassed my old boats top speed of 23knots at about the 4000rpm mark. I never went WOT, but 30knots was easily achieved at a little over 4500rpm.

The motor was a little smoky, and a bit hard to start. But I think that might be due to the extra oil in the fuel that is part of the run-in period. I will have a chat to the guys at Rising Sun about it. But noise level was better than I imagined. Even Tania, who was sitting at the back, said the noise level was quite good.

Side imaging on the sounder looks impressive. But I will need to see it on my marks before I will be happy that the money was well spent. But I got a very nice image of the ramp as I went past, could see the drop at the end.

Steering is a little heavier than I would have liked. I can see why people go for hydrolic. But at speed the hull handles a tight turn like a dream.

All in all a good 1/2 hour or so on the water. I look forward to some nice weather and a proper fishing trip. And finally, thanks to the guys who gave Tania a hand reversing the trailer down the ramp. I was not keen on tying the boat to that dodgy jetty to go and get the trailer myself. Tania did a pretty good job, and will be backing like a pro in no time!