tntitans37216

I can only afford used, but if we all had the money we would all buy new. You also have to think about it as in cars also. As soon as you drive it off the lot it is considered used and loses a certain percent of it's cost.

It would depend on how far you would want to go from the boat ramp. A trolling motor battery will last just about all day and that is even if you use it a lot. But your not going to get across the lake very fast either. So if you had 2 deep cycle batteries you could troll all day as long as you wanted to.

Oh yeah and with any 4 wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicle just the fact that the front wheels have all the engine weight on them helps them keep traction when the rear wheels may lose some traction. We all know how rear wheels can be in snow or rain.

If you really look around and do research a stick shift can usually pull more weight then a automatic mainly because their is less moving parts. I prefer a automatic over a stick shift because if I'm on a hill I don't want to roll backwards. Stick shifts do last longer, cheaper to replace, and get better gas mileage but when towing it is nice not to have to worry about down shifting to get up a hill or rolling backwards. Getting out of a boat ramp just about any truck can pull bigger boats out as long as you understand how truck's rear end works. I have a Dodge Dakota V6 but it has a limited slip rear end. If I floor it the tire will just spin really fast and I wont move much. But with the limited slip I just barely give it some gas and even with balded tires it has no problem pulling out. With the bald tires I can feel it grip and start moving and if it looses grip it stops and starts and keeps doing it to get traction and it will pull you out without problems. Once you understand how your truck works in that situation then you won't have any problem pulling out of a boat ramp. Of course the bigger the truck the easier it will be to pull and stop what you are towing. Stopping is my biggest concern, not really pulling. That is what you might want to keep in thoughts. That's why I love my 2003 Dakota because that year they came with 4 wheel disc brakes, so stopping is no problem even with a car being towed behind it.

I love the open area in the middle

Here is my first boat, 1972 Terry Bass Boat

I would say if the boat needs work don't even look at it. For the price to have it shipped it would be better to keep looking you can can find one that would be cheaper and need a lot less work or no work needs to be done. I would just keep looking locally or within driving range for a boat.

I know here in TN you just need a bill of sale, but when I was talking to a guy when I bought a boat in IN he said if you have to get a title for the boat trailer to just go to a local police department and they will come out look it and stamp it or something and then you can title it. So you might want to see if you can do something like that with your local police station. I would also call your local boat sales centers and see what they do in the case. I would also call you local Wildlife, or whatever authority, (in tennessee TWRA) that monitors your local lakes, and ask them.

I don't know how much the porta-bote weighs so I don't know how well this will work, but their are foam blocks you can buy for kayaks and canoes. They have a nonskid side that keeps them from sliding on the roof. You can look into something like that, you would need more blocks then a canoe would but you can get a idea. Then if you strap it to the bumper, across the middle (hook straps under car), and strap the front to the front of the car. I would use ratchet straps, just make use if a racket is touching your car to out a sponge or something to keep it from scratching.

My boat did that and there ended up being to much oil, so I would take the plugs out and see if they are all black from to much oil. If they are you can take them down to any auto store and they can get you a new set. I actually carry a extra set in the boat, just in case it happens out on the lake.

Their are three types of batteries. Deep cycle, dual purpose, and starting. The differences are, I'll use a standard battery, is the spacing between the metal plates inside of them. A deep cycle's plates are farther apart so the current doesn't move as fast which is great for accessories (lights, fishfinder, etc..). A starting battery has plates closer for a lot faster current for starting a motor, because the bigger the motor the more cranking amps you will need. A dual purpose is between the deep cycle and starting, they can start the lower HP motors (I have a 55HP) but they might not have enough cranking to be able to start the bigger 150+HP. I actually have my fishfinder, running lights, and a seasense dual light all on during the night from about 7/8pm to about 3am before and I still have about 40-50% of the battery left. I use a deep cycle on my trolling motor and a dual purpose battery on my main motor (and all the acc. I said earlier) and I haven't had any problems. Just make sure to charge them as soon as you use them so they will be fully charged and help them last longer. And the good thing about having two batteries is if the main motor does out you then have 2 batteries to get you to a safe place of back home because a trolling motor is about the most dependable thing on your boat, well for me so far.

When I went last year to BPS to look to getting a new fish/depth finder, as I looked at talked to some local guys and the sales people. A color one is a lot better then any grayscale one. Even if the grayscale unit has more pixel or a bigger screen, the color unit will still give you a better view. I have the Lowrance x67c and it has been great for me. It is small but still big enough so see the things and details. The x67c also has sonar features that you can pick between different screens like for ice fishing, night fishing, and some more. My fav is the bottom tracking screen. It gives you a better idea about the bottom and certain shades you can tell if it is a rocking bottom, sandy,and if you are going over brush or the bottom is actually changing. I like it. My opinion is go with a color one, because I've never heard anyone switching from a color to grayscale while just about everyone upgrades from grayscale to color. But go to a local fishing store and see if they have any on display you can play with to see the difference.

It also depends on what kind of batteries you are using. A lot of batteries it isn't good for them to have a lot of vibrations, so those the transom mount is better because it doesn't bounce as much. But other batteries the vibration doesn't hurt them and those are better for the bow. Then also if you mount a battery in the front you will have more wires to run to the back which doesn't look great, when you could just put a fin on the motor to make the boat ride higher.

My BPS is only 20 mins and on the way to the lake so it is really nice having it so close.

I have that fishfinder on my boat and I got it at Bass Pro for about $250 or so. I really like the unit. The bottom tracking feature on it, a sonar picture feature, is a option that a lot of others don't have. I use the bottom tracking screen the most. It also has other screen types for ice fishing, night fishing, etc... I also like the quick release, I bought another cradle and put it up front. So when I am fishing I unhook it from the console and put in up front, put you have to buy the extra cradle. Lowrance is also, from everyone I talked to, is one of the top (if not the top) companies in the fish/depth finders. I really enjoy the x67c, I would say it is the top one without going up to the super fish/dept finders that have GPS or lets you see the bottom like a camera. I think it is the best one for the price and what you get. My best advance is to go to a sporting store that might have one for display that you can play with to see for sure it is the one you want. I spend about 1-2 hours at Bass Pro playing with each one to find the one for me.

maps.live.com have black & white and color, it just depends on how recent the photos were taken and how many times. Like on my lake, Percy Priest Lake, the north end has a lot more views so you can get a 360 view, but the south side doesn't have as many for some reason. So some only give you 1 shot 90 degree angle or so or it is in black and white. So it changes.

The solar charge is a great idea for if your boat is going to be sitting for a long time, but not if you use it a lot. You will need to still plug in a home charger to get the batteries back up to full charged after a long day or weekend.

How much difference is a 60HP to a 75HP? I know 15HP, haha, but how much difference does it make with power (when you have other people or equipment) in it or top speed?

I don't have a tach on my boat, but when I'm by myself the boat shoots to top speed quickly, no planning time just shoots straight to top speed (20-21mph). So I wouldn't think it would be the prop, I could see when I have other people the in boat it might drop some in speed, maybe even 3mph per person, but not drop in half by one person and still go the same if their is 5 people as if only 2. I have heard from another guy that works on boats and he said that the Chrysler engines are actually underpowered engines. I don't know if this is completely true but he said if you put it on a dyno test a Chrysler 55 hp is 525 and a 60 hp OMC motor is 1275. Does anyone know if this is true?

vs your current style.

I don't have a tach, but when I give it gas it revs up and sounds the same as when I'm by myself, just not moving as fast. I figured even the same HP but one with the exhaust coming out of the prop, with the bigger prop would make a big difference. VS my older smaller prop engine. I'll add a picture (sorry it's not the best) of mine vs the exhaust props.

I bought my first boat last jan., & it came with a 1972 55HP Chrysler outboard. I don't think I am getting all 55HP out of even thou the compression levels on both cylinders were great. It pushes me (by myself) at about 21mph, it is a 16ft fishing bass boat, but if someone else is in the boat it drops down a lot (my guess 10mph so). So that's why the upgrade. Just looking to upgrade so I don't lose so much speed when people are with me. My question is. I was talking to find who has been boating for years, and he said I should look at a new engine (90's) same 40-50HP would be better then a 80's 75-85HP. He said I would be better to get a newer engine with less HP then a older with more HP. He said the newer engine may have less HP but it actually perform about the same. I was thinking about getting a 80's 85HP or so, but now he has me on the fence about if I should stay in the 50HP and get something newer. I was wondering what your thoughts were?

As I know Staybil is the good to put in anything and is really good if your storing the equipment for a long time. I have also heard that it is ok to run your boat on ethanol gas, but I wouldn't suggest to let it sit for a long time. I heard it's not good to have ethanol gas sit for long period of times, so if you did then I would use Staybil or Seafoam type of gas treatment.

I learned as growning up about some light electrical wires (car audio, etc..), no home wiring, but I learned about wiring. Basically as long as the positives stay to together and negatives stay to together you should be good. You should have some kind of fuse (fuse box, fuse block, inline fuse) on your positive wires. If your wires are smoking & melting then a wire may have came lose (fell off terminal, switch, or connection, etc...) and when a positive and negative touch they usually will spark at first, and then start melting the wires and smoking. That usually happens when you don't have a fuse, because the fuse will usually blow to keep that from happening. Wiring isn't that hard but it's something you just need to learn a little because if you do it wrong you can mess something up, but if you know enough then when you need to add a something to your boat or car you can. Like when I got my boat it has a lot of wires and I have been able to clean up some of the areas and make it look nicer, and now if I need to add a acc. (light, 12volt, etc...) I can do it easily. But I would still try to keep all your wires on the other side from you gas tank. I think most peoples problems like this is because a wire fell off. No matter what everyone has that smoke at some point. My seat broke from the screw to the floor and when I went back I hit the bilge pump switch it knocked a wire off and hit a neg part of another thing, but I quickly moved the wire to keep it from doing anything bad.

I tell people how my fishing was, but since this was my first year getting into it everyday wasn't a great day while someone else might have had a great day.