How far off shore would you go?

[Maxrock]

Hi,
I purchased 1 1/2 years ago a 17.5" Swiftcraft half cabin. Nice boat with an 150 HP BlackMax on the back off it.
I have soo far only shipped around Moreton Bay, and made my experiences with the Moreton chopp.
I am now thinking of planning a trip with the Boat from 1770 to the Islands and reef 30nm out off sea.

Question is, has any of you done something like it? With a similar vessel and engine?
I am aware that wind could be my biggest enemy, but if forecast is predicting nothing above 15kt I should be fine,right?
Well I would appreciate some experiences from others.
Thanks
Maxrock

[shy guys]

mate if you can plan a trip with fellow ausfishers or someone you know would be your best bet its a long way to fitzroy or masgrave got to plan your weather right swell forcast and wave duration is a big thing and wind direction. another thing make sure you have enough fuel to make it there and back if the weather gets abit ordanery food water and so on its a trip you need a bit of planning for alot of the ausfish blokes do it quite often read over some of the 1770 m&g threds when were you thinking of heading up if i have my new boat by then might be keen on a trip to fitzroy as we didnt end up makeing it there on this years m&g there is a hervey bay m&g coming up next month if your keen to meet and have a chat to the boys allways a good weekend away

[Dicktracey]

Rule of thumb offshore is as comfortable as you feel you could get help if needed, or get back if it turns to shit !
Do you know what range offshore your VHF works ?
Its how I judge how far to go.
Dick

[NAGG]

It's all about preparation , your knowledge , skill , confidence , crew , safety gear , other boat traffic & the reliability of your equipment .
Up in Qld a run of 30nm would not be considered out of the norm ....... down off NSW you would be pushing it - Vic , SA , Tas ...... you would get strange looks .
I did those sort of trips off NSW - but I ticked off most of those points mentioned .......

Back to you ...... How confident are you with your kit ? if your boat fires first time ( every time) .... your radio (s) dont have issues - fresh fuel & extra fuel ...... etc etc - then go and find another boat to do it with (safety in numbers) or pick something a little less ambitious if you have doubts ( I think you do ).

Realistically - 1770 is not exactly remote if you carry the right gear

I hope you get to do it ...... but don't risk it if you are in doubt

Chris

[Maxrock]

Thanks that's great info.
I am convident with my boat however it is different if you go to areas you have never been out on. It does sound like there is quite a few boats out there? I was thinking of staying out on Musgrave for a week go snorkeling and fishing for a bit. I wouldn t tell my boss that I'll be back on time , if weather turns rough I simply stay longer.
Shy guys: havent even thought about time to head out there as yet. But I will certainly put a thread out when I am getting closer.

Also just had this idea put in my head from a friend to hook a small rubber dingi on the back of it to be able to have heavier things like water and extra fuel in it when crossing?
Would that be something possible?
Max

[johncar]

I could not advise you without knowing much more detail about your boat and your experience and preparations you have made. I am wondering why you haven't ventured offshore beyond Moreton Island assuming that is the area you are in mostly. On a good 5 - 10 Knot day particularly weekend there are many boats on the water off shore and a good time to test your communications and handling your boat in open sea conditions. Go with another boat and experienced skipper. Ask them to check over your boat and safety gear, batteries, radios, epirb, etc.
Heading off shore isn't necessarily hazardous if you educate yourself but can turn nasty if you are unprepared so to start with try and tee up with people who do it regularly and are sensible and learn what you can from them.
There are a lot of precautions that you can take and things you need to think about. I am near Bribie and happy to talk to you anytime about it.

[FishHunter]

I regularly go 80 to 90km out but there are lots of islands around. I am probably going to do exactly what you are planning next year.

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk 2

[Jarrah Jack]

.
Up in Qld a run of 30nm would not be considered out of the norm ....... down off NSW you would be pushing it - Vic .

Chris

Do you know anything about what you're saying? Mate, how about a Haines 445 going 80 k's out from the ramp off Cape Otway chasing barrel Blue fin or about chasing the same fish out at the horse shoe off Portland. Sixty k's into the southern ocean, all sorts of small trailerable boats head out there regularly during the season.

In South Australia you get 5 mtr boats going way out to Greenly island off Coffin Bay that stay the night. Southern ocean again with swells you would find hard to imagine.

NSW. Try thinking about the Bluefin grounds way out off Bermigue. A lot of small boats go there every season.

Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it doesn't happen Chris.

[NAGG]

Do you know anything about what you're saying? Mate, how about a Haines 445 going 80 k's out from the ramp off Cape Otway chasing barrel Blue fin or about chasing the same fish out at the horse shoe off Portland. Sixty k's into the southern ocean, all sorts of small trailerable boats head out there regularly during the season.

In South Australia you get 5 mtr boats going way out to Greenly island off Coffin Bay that stay the night. Southern ocean again with swells you would find hard to imagine.

NSW. Try thinking about the Bluefin grounds way out off Bermigue. A lot of small boats go there every season.

Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it doesn't happen Chris.

Hmmm ..... dont know about it

I spent plenty of time off the south coast of NSW - particularly Bermi & Narooma ....... It was very rare to see a sub 5M boat out beyond the kink .... except during the tuna runs around May - when lots of boats where out . ..... but most still fished around Montague Is or maybe fished out to the 12 mile
I did plenty of fishing out at Browns mountains (Sydney) & wide of Port Stephens ...... It was an exception to see a 5m mono out there ........ to the point of my boat (a 5.35m CC was nicknamed psyhco ) I was out at the carpark off port stephens back in Feb and there were SFA little boats of the 100 plus that were out there ....... some 5.5m Haines were about it
As for Victorians ...... They like there bigger glass mono .s - specially when not fishing in the limits of westernport or PPB .

But then again - I might not know shit !

Chris

[Jarrah Jack]

I don't think all that many 5 mtr or less boats go out but the original question concerned a 17.5 foot boat and plenty around that size go out a long way and don't get strange looks. Go to Portland in June and you'll see what I mean.

[TREVELLY]

Max, just my opinion mate but if you have any reason to ask about your boats ability offshore on a longer trip then i do recommend that if you have an excessive load you consider doing two trips rather than bogging your boat down and certainly not towing a smaller boat - like trying to tow a drogue - with a loaded boat in tow you will get into trouble before you even knew it could happen.

With smaller loads what I mean is just make sure you can comfortably get the boat up on the plane and not be a displacement hull and flounder if the conditions rapidly change as they can readily do in the tropics.

With GBR you have choices and some places offer island hopping so you can do what seems a series of smaller runs behind these islands and before you know it you are a lot further offshore than you think - three island hops at 20km each seems a lot different to 60km open sea run.

Just my thoughts take them or leave them.

[Noelm]

I guess what it all comes down to is.... the size of the boat makes little difference, as long as you have power, and a good person driving, then almost any boat will go anywhere, even if it does come up rough, with time (and fuel) you will still get home, kind of agree with Nagg a bit on this one, QLd sees a lot of long distance trips for almost any sort of fishing, for me (NSW) a Snapper trip would be around 2K's, ad maybe a "big" trip would be 5K's, a marlin trip in the summer will be about 30-35K to the shelf, so the distances are not that big, now I know at times people travel big distances in "small" boats to catch Tuna in certain places, but that is not the "norm", just a seasonal thing.

[Spaniard_King]

If I could offer anything it would be to gauge your fuel usage for that trip and add %50 more.
Take 2 sets of anchor gear for reefs... you cant just drive the boat up to the beach.

Contact the boat company who run the "spirit of 1770" and see if they will carry supplies out to you and there costs , they run daily and in some prety average conditions.

[Maxrock]

Thats all good input, start liking this chat forum. Just signed up yesterday.

To be honest I would prefere to charter an 30ft sail boat and go across with a few mates. However I seem to have trubble finding a charter business in 1770.
Thats why I started looking into the use my own boat option. Would be certanly the cheaper option, but not as compfy. Also the fuel problem would not be existing.
I have a 130L tank I use 25-30 L/hr, by the time I get there I will have used 50L. The 80 L left over, have to last for fishing around for a week and getting back... I may fit another 20L jerry can in the boat.
Not sure but is there any sort of service delivering fuel out to the islands?


If there is somebody out there chartering a boat 30-38ft out would be great to know. Have a couple of mates with plenty of sailing experiance under their belt, but dont own big enough boat at the moment!

[Spaniard_King]

Max I fish out there fevery now and then and I take 400L and rarely come back with more than 80L over 3 days fishing 6.3m boat with 225 Honda

Load ya boat up and ya fuel useage will double