carrying extra load

I am extremely keen to get into jetski fishing and have been researching ski's for the last few months and believe that the yamaha is certainly the pick. I am looking at taking it to moreton island from brisbane for weekends and looking for tips on carrying extra gear over ie crab pots tents etc etc... can these be strapped in a marine bag on the back of a rescue sled successfully or am i over estimating the limits of the craft to be more than just a day fishing exercise.....am interested in hearing if anyone does any of these adventures and what the best accessories are to carry extra gear.....hound

Welcome to the forum Hound!!

I am not 100% so check it out with someone who sells the sleds, but I am pretty sure they are good for like 120kgs + which sounds like a heap of extra gear to me !!

Best of luck

thanks extreme ! have been having a good read through the forum and a lot of my questions are getting answered 1 love it ! hopefully will be kitted out in the next few weeks and can share some pics and stories

Hi Hound.

Welcome

I have an FX 160 HO and have towed three people on the back on a biscuit. Plus I have a watcher on the back of the ski as well the load would have easily been 160 kg on the biscuit alone and 190 kg on the ski.

Also if you are cleanngi the engine with Salt Away, Mac's (which i think is a good idea) or something like, that you should close of the inlet from the pump with vice grips this ensure the good stuff goes through the motor and not back out the jet unit.

Another thing I do is the pump out and replace about 1.5 to 2 litres of engine oil every 10-15 hrs. Of course the oil filter get changed every year as well (or sooner if your doing the hours).

Cheers Keith

Hi Hound the photos below will probably answer all your questions. We left from Bribie Island and camped for the weekend at Tangalooma wrecks. All the gear in the photos including 3 people was taken easily aboard two Yamaha fxho jet skis. We fish of them and the fish boxes are used to carry the beer food and camping gear. We had a solar shower, camp stove, deck chairs tents food and off course plenty of cold beer. Have Fun Cheers Hoot

a couple more pics of fully loaded ski ! don't forget gear can also go in front locker and some extra gear can go int the engine compartment if required ( nothing to flammable off course )

thanks guys ! hooter that is exactly the sort of trips im looking at doing ! good to hear the amount of gear you can take ! any tips on size, type of eski to grab and rod holder mounts to put together a similar setup to yours ?

Hound

Hi Hound once you make a base the shape of your ski you can pretty much bolt as big as ice box as you can fit. The photo below shows different home made boxes. The Guys in New Zealand seem happy to go with the smaller light weight ones that Andrew sells, If you want to do Moreton trips I suggest you make one as big as you can. Cheers Hoot

just so i understand correctly you make a base plate that ties onto to the back of the ski (that i assume is not a permanent fixture or is actually bolted to the ski) then fix the eski onto the base plate locked down with bolts into the bottom of the eski ? do you have photo's of the base plate system?? if not i think i get the picture...sorry to be a pain... it just looks like the perfect system for what i am trying to achieve and i dont want to damage the ski.... also i am at the stage where my friend and i are about to purchase a ski...can you recommend any reputable dealers.... we are looking at 2 yamaha fx 160's at the jetski warehouse....but i have heard some negative reports about them from various sources.... i am sure everyone will have a negative story or two about a dealer but better to be safe than sorry and see if you may know of anyone that you could recomend in the purchase of a couple of used ski...and the sort of rule of thumb on price...seems for each year they get older they come down 1k and have been looking at 2005 fx 160's with low hours for around $14k

Hi Hound. There is no need to make any permanent holes in the Jet ski to attach it to the box, .The base bolts onto the ice box then sits on the transom of the ski. It can be lashed to the tie down hooks with rope or or stainless wire with a turnbuckle and shackles for easy removal. I have drilled two small holes in the seat handle on mine but a turnbuckle attached to the ski tow hook works even better. I do have a contact at Yamaha Iain Mcleod is the sales manager if you email him I_MacLeod@yamaha-motor.com.au and tell him Ian from the Fraser fishing comp gave you his name he should be able to put you in touch with a good dealer close to you and he may be able to organise some kind of deal for you.

Thanks for that ! Those pics answer my question...I thought that the Eski was flush with the ski...but note the base now in your pics... Spent yesterday at BCF looking at all the bits and bobs i need to put it together... cheers H

Can anyone give me tips on what to make the base plate out of that will secure a cooler to the ski. I like what you have done hooter but cant quite see what material you used and how you fashioned it...

Hi Hound
I used a piece of marine ply then some surfboard foam shaped with a file and sand paper then liquid nailed to the bottom of the ply then I fibre glassed over it with some chop strand Matt and flowcoated the whole thing. I then bolted the fiberglass cooler box through the bottom in each corner with stainless steel bolts, You could off course make a stainless steel light weigt frame in you prefer,

Cheers Hoot

Thanks hooter !

Have finally got the ski and have been using makeshift baseplates that have been successful thus far but require a bit of time setting up and taking off. Thanks for that tip ! Great idea.

cheers
Hound

Hi

Looking for a box to stick on the back of my RXP to make camping a bit more cumfy. The bread gets a bit squashed in the hull at present

I seem to do just fine fishing and diving using the normal 40L factory bin in the front, mostly use handlines. Can stowe telescopic rods flippers wetsuits snorkels and masks pretty good in the front generally lift out the bin and stash them in the hull upfront.

Found this 120 litres

50x77.5x53.5 (cm) (W x L x H) http://www.techniice.com/english/iceboxes.asp

Also what do you guys use for anchors when doing overnighters I have the normal boat sand anchor with some chain but it takes up some space. Tried some other anchors but you tend to spend the night wondering where your boat may have gotten to rather then sleeping.

Any other suggestions?