fishfordollars

You will like them on a t-rig, but you will love them fished wacky style. One of my number one fish catching lures. Don't cut them down either. Fish catching lures that are hard to beat. Try some in the watermellon/red. You will not regret it.

did not stop me. FYI, I have several pair of like new crutches I'll send you if you like.

X2, exactly what I'm running on my skeeter. A straight 24V model.

Before you go beating on it just carry it to the shop and have them remove it for you. You can do more damage than you care to pay for if you are not careful.

Again, do not just replace the impeller. You need to replace the entire assembly. It is obvious that the water pump has lacked the attention needed in the past. I normally change the impeller every year and the entire assembly every other year. Just as the above post stated, do a compression check as this motor could very well have been overheated if it was run with the pump assembly in this kind of shape. Better to catch it now than doing even more damage by running it without the check. While your at it check the poppet valve located on the starboard side of the motor. You can take it off and disassemble it, clean it, and reinstall. It is located down low and is about the size of a silver dollar. It has an internal diaphram that has a screw in the center holding it together.

Probably been on the shaft way to long. After you remove the cover from the drive shaft the impeller should slide off. On occasion I have had to split the impeller with a hammer and a chisel if you are unable to drive it off the shaft with a hammer and a punch. Be sure to remove the key from the shaft. Remove the face plate and seperate it and throw the inner gasket away. It will need to be replaced. If it is so equiped remove the flush plug and gasket from the gear housing. DO NOT replace the impeller only if it is in this bad of shape. Go ahead and install the complete assembly.

If you are flying, just go into Laredo. It's a short drive south/east to Falcon. Zapata is the largest town down at the lake(About a 40 minute drive). Plenty of nice hotels to stay. Amistad is north/west of Laredo up at Del Rio. I'm sure you allready are aware that if you cross the border, stay on the main streets, and be aware of what's going on around you. Personally, I've never had a problem across the border, tons of fun.

Sam, I had that problem. I run a 522cigps and a X135 on the console and a X97 up front. I tried to cut down on the wiring and run the units together to the cranking battery. They did the same thing. Once I ran a dedicated wire set for each unit with a seperate inline fuse for each I have had no further problems.

I replaced the cable in my Skeeter last year. 110.00 bucks and less than an hour's job. Just measure to get the correct length and it's a very simple job. Mine had two bolts at the steering arm on the motor and the other end just fed into the mechanism under the steering wheel. Just feed it in and turn the wheel and it adjusts and locks itself. Your attachment may be different. After it was done you could steer it with one finger trimed at any level.

Been in my signature since the day I joined

bottledgt, you have some great info to pick through in the above post. I was a little rough on you in my post, but no appology coming from me. Do yourself a favor and stick with it. It will pay off sooner than later. The first time you hit a fish with a plastic, you fail to move him an inch, and he hits you back harder you will know all the frustration will be worth it. Keep us posted on your progress, and remember, giving up is for loosers. Now go stick that toad in 20' of water. Jack

Get you some 1/2oz traps tied on to some 17# or 20# mono(The line weight will help keep the bait up higher in the water column). rip it through the tops of the hydrilla and hang on. Most of the bites will come when you rip it free from the grass. You will need a stout rod for this also. Enjoy, Jack

X2,

Stick to the weeds and the shoreline, you have allready given up. Do you think we learned the offshore thing in a couple of months? It's a lifetime of learning and having the patience to get out there and try to figure it out. I spent three hours on a 600 yard point that droped off in the river several years ago and never had a bump. Another hour checking it out with the electronics trying to find the sweet spots. I never did and have never caught a fish off this point(I keep checking it though). Same thing with humps, drains, ridges, and river ledges. It takes time and you never quit trying. Some produce certain times of the year and some at other times. Heck, we hit offshore spots several times in one day trying to figure them out. Some times they do, sometimes they don't. Giving up is great for the ones that take the time to figure it out. Just leaves the fish to them. Now get back out there, quit feeling sorry for yourself, and figure them out. Welcome to the forum, and good luck. Jack

Great story. We need more of the idiots to think like that. At least we won't have to feed and clothe him. Sadly, the three women will hang around the system for years leeching off anything available.

Sam Rayburn Toledo Bend Falcon Guntersville Fork Choke Canyon Ray Roberts (Now that the slot has been removed, the pros will shock you with the weights next year. The next big thing). Been lucky to have fished them all, just not as often as I would like.

No big deal. They have a responsibility to take care of the buyer. They completed the sale, so they weren't too unhappy. They are probably watching the street for a dozen more buyers just like you that have the credit or cash to complete a deal just like yours.

You can do the compression check yourself easily. Go get a compression gauge, bring the engine up to operating temperature, pull all plugs, screw the gauge into each cylinder, and spin the motor over. Anything more than 10% difference is not good. A leak down is a little more complicated unless you have the equipment to do it. It allows you to pressurize each cylinder and record the amount of pressure lost over a given amount of time.

Thank goodness you got warranty. Allthough the prop can cause this issue, the 25 you have on there should be no problem. Any mercury dealer can do the warranty work if it needs to be done, doesn't have to go back to the original dealer. FYI, the last Mercury I scattered had 19 hours on it, so it can happen to any at any time. Good luck.

Livewells should have no bearing on this boat coming up on plane. That 150 should have no problem sticking it up on top. Unless you have a working water pressure guage be very careful how you start jacking that motor up higher on the transom. I would start with a leakdown and compression check. The motor may be down on power. One of the first signs of a weak cylinder is problems getting up out of the water.

24 v. Minn kota (Riptide) on my skeeter. Never regretted it.

Not at all. Bananas in the boat, however, is another story.

Chainsaw and cables

Uh, nothing. It was titled to me free and clear when I backed it in the driveway. Skeeter

If I'm marking spots for a tournament I use water bottles. I know I'm not supposed to leave them out, but I do overhight and then retreive them as I cover them the next day. Used to work great, but now a lot of guys come off pad whenever they see one and check it out. Lots of people doing it.