Tinnies or tinnys or aluminum boats!

Hi all, we are going with an inflatable and motor to start with. Not intending to go near any croc infested waters in the short or long term with it. Mainly to explore some inland waterways e.g. Lake Eildon etc. Figure we needed something that either one of us could lug around just of accident etc. This will fit nicely in the back of the Effie. I would be worried about getting a tinnie up and down off the Effie being such a high vehicle but this will be at waist height (or in my case arm-pit, being so short and all). Angie

I'll say it again, www.porta-bote.com I've still seen no rational argument against going this route, other than price. Griff

Hi Jay, First I wouldn't go less than a 12ft for 2 people and your gear it would be too restricting, we find that with the 12ft we can go a little way off shore in good weather as well as up rivers etc. Second: Loading. We have an electric winch on the front of the Troopy and a roof-rack that was included when we bought her so we decided to uterlise that. Terry welded 2 rollers on either side of the back of the roof rack and on the bull-bar he welded a piece of box section steel about 10"long we have a roller that fits into this with a bolt through it for easy removal. To load we simlpy lean the boat up against the rollers at the back of the vehicle, the nose of the boat has a rope with a loop at one end attached to it, this reaches to about windscreen leval where the winch hook is hooked in, the winch cable then goes over the front roller the strain is taken up then Terry goes around the back to guide the boat and I opperate the winch from the front. After a few practise it works realy well. To unload we just do it in reverse, hook up the winch pull the boat back by hand till it is ready ot slide then I let down with the winch, no struggel no bad backs. Oh we also had to weld "L" shaped brackets on the sides of the roof rack as a standard rack is not wide enough to suport the boat, these we lined with hard rubber for the boat to sit on so you don't have metal on metal. I would include photos but I'm not that computer literate yet. Caravan Parks in the Whitsunday's: Adventure Whitsunday is a Big 4 park with a four and a half star AAAT rating; very nice also very popular so book ahead. Ph 07 49 461166 or www.adventurewhitsunday.com.au Airlie Cove; don't know much about it but the number is 07 49 466 727 or www.airliecove.net.au Flametree Tourist Village is a Top Tourist Park 07 49 469388 or www.flametreevillage.com.au Island Gateway also a Top Tourist Park & proberly the closest to Airlie Beach though they are all no more than 15 minutes away Ph 07 49 466 228 or www.islandgateway.com.au They all seen to be nice parks not that we have stayed at any of them, hope this can help. Would love to catch up when you are in the area, that goes for any BT owner, we can be reached on 49 470 171 or 043 826 94 57. Tight lines Lynne & Terry

Griff Just as a matter of interest, and in the words of the "Little Doer" - tell us the price, son!!! ( ) The concept seems to be really good !! Regards Jeff

Jay, The folding boat trailers, Little Bull Dog, or Flip'n easy, both allow you to flod it up and carry it on the caravan or tow vehicle. When you get to a camp site, you unpack the boat trailer, Take the tinny off the roof rack and put it on the trailer. Attach outboard motor and all the fishing / safety equipment and then tow boat to launching ramp as per a normal boat on trailer. When you retrieve boat it is the reverse, only if you are using a trailer, at least you can tow it somewhere and wash the salt off before it goes back on the roof of your vehicle. The the rear tray and canopy that you are having made it should be easy for them to make it so that a boat loader will fit on. As Kerrie said, one person can load and unload a 12 foot tinny using a boat loader. For the ones who don't like the exercise of winding a handle, you can also have a 12 volt motor do the winding for you. If you have a look at the photo albums, the last one on page 3 is on boat loaders. Mine is the Blue F250 and the silver one is Andys. Just something else you have to think about when setting up the F250 and Bushtracker. Where am I going to carry the trailer and the outboard as well as all the boat stuff. There is a mixture in the BOG group with some on the van and some in the vehicle. I don't think that there are any 2 setups the same. Terry & Rose who love their fishing have just returned from NT and they said the crocs were a bit big so they are going the next step up from a 12 footer. Brian

Griff I have written to porta-boat to find out price and specs. Do you have any specific information or are you still going to carry a tinny? What about croc waters? Wouldn't go there with an inflatable; would you go with a plastic boat? Cheers, tgintl

Uh- Oh !!! I have this feeling of "Deja Vu" ...... the old hands will know what I'm talking about.[smile] I never thought I'd see .....porta-bote ...tinnie ...or anything from the Genus Crocodylus in the same post again ....... [18ftSaltwaterSmile] Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

Anthony, Now that you old hands have done the wink wink regarding my question without providing an answer, I might understand the response relative to the porta-bote based upon known experience (do you know of problems?); however, why did you include tinnies in the same yuk yuk?

Hi! Jay , I ment to include this in my last message. For the keen fisherman out there there is a great book you can get off the net it's called NORTH AUSTRALIAN FISH FINDER it has lots of maps; aerial photos and info. You can get at www.fishfinderbooks.com or ph 08 8981 0621. We love ours. Good fishing Lynne

FYI, the largest porta-bote imported into Australia is their 12 1/2' (3.85 mtr) rated for 4 persons. Folded: 4" x 24" x 12 1/2'. Will take a 5 hp (20 kg) engine. Hull weight is 69 lbs. Beam when open is 5'. www.porta-bote.com PRICE: $2790.00!! Cheers, tgintl

Thanks, tgint. Its nice to see someone else doing their homework! On the vexed question of Deep North usage, and those large anachronistic reptiles, it is a simple matter of applying Bait's Law to the question of Vessel Survivability during Prejudicial Loadings. Bait's Law States: 'S=1/(L1-L2)x(M1-M2)x(CCVx(CHaK/KGH))x100+DLCM2' Where: S = Survivability L1 = Length of encountered organism L2 = Length of vessel M1 = Mass of encountered organism M2 = Mass of vessel CV = Combined Contact Velocity CHaK = Contact Height above Keel KGH = Keel to Gunnel Height DLCM1-2 = Distance Locus of Centre of Mass encountered organism to Locus of Centre of Mass of Vessel at moment of contact It is clear from the above that the further the length and mass of the organism exceeds the vessels and the higher the impact velocity, the height above the keel and the more the organism gets its body on board (courtesy of the excellent training provided by tour operators wishing to see how far out of the water The Beasties can be encouraged to jump in persuit of tasty morsels), the closer Survivablity approaches 0. In other words, the more you resemble bait. Caveat Hominids Griff

One question tgintl, my figures quote 3.7m, 31kg & 8hp. Would be interesting to see which are more current Griff

Griff WE are both correct. 31kg = 68.2lbs; I simply said it would take a 5hp; probably will take a larger hp up to a weight of 54 lbs/24.5kg. Cheers. PS: Survivability exceeds weight of the boat/ease of handling by a factor of "x"! Guess I too am looking at a Stessl /Edge Tracker Lite. Now to figure out a reasonably price way of handling the sucker on and off the ute. Cheers. tgintl

Jay, I wasnt yuk yuk ...ing tinnies or portabote per se. Some time ago there was a portabote/ tinnie debate ad infinitum and could see it going for another spin round the track ... which is probably good as the same crocs are 1 ft longer now. The tinnies and fantastic plastics are longer now also .....[smile] Regards Anthony Explore this Great Land ...Do it Easy ...Tow a Bushtracker

There is another option re weight that is the Tarpon boat weighs about 45 kgs,carbon fibre. regards Peter Mackenzie