Fishing Rhino

At the moment, it looks like a go for me. It depends on our younger daughter in GA. It looked like she might need surgery sometime in September, but, according to some tests, and an MRI, that might not be necessary. At least it's not urgent. Exploratory surgery is still an option. The bugaboo is that she has paid all the deductibles, and her insurance kicks in, so they will pick up any tabs for the rest of the year. If she does not have surgery this year, she'll have to once again pay her portion upfront for the new year, should surgery be called for. She will be having a second consultation in the next week or so before making a final decision. September and October are her two slowest months for her business of boarding and training dogs. Come late October through the Christmas/New Year holidays she is swamped with business. As of now, I'll be there and have an empty seat, two if need be.

The premium chip also has the same high-def maps as the platinum. The platinum has some extra features that you will need to learn about to see if they are worth the extra cost. Be sure to check out your state's list of maps on the platinum or premium chip. You'll probably have to download their online store to get that info.

It's not normal. When everything is turned off, you should get no reading on your voltmeter. Disconnect the accessories wiring, then check check each of them, including the starter circuit to determine which is drawing power. If it's the accessory feed, you'll need to see where that wire goes. It will likely go to some type of distribution panel, like a buss bar. Each cable at that distribution center will need to be disconnected and checked with a voltmeter to find which is the closed circuit. On some boats, prior owners who are do it yourselfers, may have wired in various accessories resulting in wiring that resembles tangled spaghetti. You should also check to see what that circuit is drawing for amps.

An important thing for you to consider. There are two types of maps on the navionics chip, high-def and non high-def maps. The high-def maps are very accurate, and have been charted by Navionics or someone they hired to do the charting. Their depth lines are accurate and plotted in conjunction with GPS. Every time I've been on a body of water that has a high-def chart on the chip, I have found them to be amazingly accurate. When the boat icon is over a tiny shoal, or a deep hole, the boat is in that position. On the non high-def maps, they use existing maps. These are not as detailed regarding bottom contours, nor are they accurately coordinated with GPS readings. If you go to the home page of the Navionics website, you should be able to find a list of lakes that are included for the area of the country that you fish. The list should show which maps are high-def.

Hey, do I get a prize for being the first to register a catch on Big O's latest bait?

It's not so much the years. It's the cycles, discharge - recharge, and the "depth" of discharge. Batteries don't have an infinite shelf life, but If you used them every day, for a few hours, they might not last a year.

OK, I put my Menaces to the test today. The first bass in the boat was a four pound largemouth caught in fifteen feet of water, caught on the Strike King, Rage Tail, Menace, rigged on a 1/8 ounce Jackall Wacky Jig Head. Did I get all my sponsors in? :eyebrows:

Hmmmmm, that must mean you're a figment of my imangination since I know I'm here. But if you are a figment of my imagination, it means you're not all there.

Do I know you? Where am I? What am I doing here?

Interesting. Nearly impossible to discuss without it becoming political. We all agree it's bad for boaters and others, but that doesn't seem to matter. "And that's all I've got to say about that." Forrest Gump.

Same here. but I was 56 years old. How did I survive?

The next cast, or if you prefer, anticipation.

Boredom is a state of mind more than physical. There are plenty of mind games available on the internet, logic problems, sudoku, word scramble, scrabble, hidden object puzzles, etc. Seems like you've got enough physcal activity, maybe some brain teasers will relieve the boredom.

Why take the chip out? It's probably a futile effort anyway. The systems in most new vehicles record the history of how the truck was driven and any adjustments or changes that have been made to the factory settings.

3/32 for the worms, and 3/32 or 1/8 ounce for the curly tail grubs. 1/16 ounce for small sluggos and similar baits.

Very good! I like those. But don't forget the ritual of kissing the fish before you release it.

If you ever have a daughter, I want an invite to her wedding. You'll need a couple of boxes of tissues just to make it down the aisle. Then you'll have an aching knot in your throat as you try to say "Her mother and I do", when asked who gives this woman to this man. I didn't get the least bit emotional when either or our two daughters were off to their first day of school. But walking our younger daughter down the aisle was a whole 'nother experience. I was fine as we got ready to walk the aisle, and prior to that. I was fine when I was able to join my wife in the congregation, after I finally squawked out those fateful words. The reception was fine. But that walk down the aisle with her on my arm was too much for me.

You left out an important consideration from your list. Which boat gives you the most value for your dollar? Another thing to keep in mind. One of my favorite sayings. A boat is a platform on the water to get you to the fish. The fish do not know if you are in a 70,000 dollar bass boat, or a 700 dollar jon boat. For value per buck, in a fiberglass boat, I'll make a case for the BPS Nitro. I bought a brand new Z-8 off the showroom floor in April of this year, for 28,000 dollars. It's "sticker price" was 32,000. It was a leftover and had been discounted by 3000 dollars. In addition, I got a thousand dollar gift card for BPS. The only options were trailer brakes, retractable tie downs, and a ratchet type Nitro boat cover. Just for jollies, I priced a new Z-7 with tandem axle trailer, with tandem (four wheel) brakes, 200 hp Optimax Pro XS, Spare tire carrier on the trailer, etc., so that other than the size difference, it had the same amenities. It priced out at over 35,000 dollars, seven grand more than I paid. That's more than a new (not leftover) Z-8 similarly equipped, by about three thousand dollars. I traded in a 2009 Z-7 which I had bought new at the same BPS, and there is no comparison between the two boats. The 8 has a much better finish below the decks, and is much smoother in a chop. I was not dissatisfied with my 7, until I got on the water with my 8. Your best bet is to look around, compare boats, take demonstration rides on breezy days to compare rides, and decide what best suits your needs, wants, and most of all, your finances. If you are buying new, and are getting serious about a 19 foot (fill in the blank) with a host of options, check on the next size larger, or upscale model, it may come with standard features that will cost you extra on the smaller boat, and you could end up with more boat for less money.

No, they came with the boat. The guys at BPS thought they were to protect the shaft on the trolling motor. When I saw the channel on those, I knew what they were for. I've searched the internet and have not been able to find them. They are pretty slick, much better than using zip ties. Maybe nitrodoogie knows what they are called, and who sells them. You think Humminbird and Lowrance would sell them as accessories for mounting transducers on trolling motors. I wish I could return the favor.

Here's another possibility. You can stand in it. I have. That means just about anyone can. Plenty of room for gear, and very stable, though it is possible to fall out of it without shipping water. Don't ask how I know. It is heavy at 118 pounds, but 44 inches wide. http://www.dicksspor...ductId=12634053

What you say about new cars is true, but I would not want to go back to the cars of the 50s, 60s or 70s, before the days of computer controlled engines, trannies, etc. I used to love working on cars when I was a kid. They were simple and you could work on them without having expensive diagnostic equipment. In spite of that, cars today actually cost less to maintain when you factor inflation into the equation. When the spark plugs were fired by a distributor which contained points and a condenser, and a separately mounted coil, cars needed to be tuned up every 10,000 miles. Today's cars get their first tune up at 100,000 miles. In that light, consider this, back in the day, if you had a car that lasted a hundred thousand miles, you had a rare vehicle. Leaving tune-ups in our wake, the exhaust systems lasted two years, if you were lucky. First it was the muffler that went. Buy a muffler to replace the one that rotted out and you had to "pursuade" the muffler to be separated from the exhaust pipe which was between the muffler and the engine, and the tail pipe, which was behind the muffler. It was nearly impossible to get them apart without distorting the pieces you did not want to replace. The next section to fail was the exhaust pipe, or if the car was so equipped, the resonator, which was a smaller "muffler at the rear of the car. Should we talk about how often ignition wires needed to be replaced, along with distributor caps so the car would start in damp weather or you could drive through a puddle without killing the engine? I can remember cars being called rust buckets. Rusty Jones, Zeibart, and others made a fortune coating cars to inhibit rust, because if your car lived in an coastal environment or where salt was used on a regular basis, to melt ice and snow, the finish on cars began to blister because of rust. It usually began at the rocker panels and the bottom of the doors. The rusting condition was commonly referred to as cancer because once it appeared, it spread rapidly. Engines started burning oil at around 30,000 miles and it was not an uncommon sight to see cars trailing plumes of smoke so thick that cars following them would practically need radar to stay on the road. I should not neglect the oil spots which splattered parking lots and driveways from leaks around rocker arm covers, front and rear main seals, plus tranny and rear end seals. Both my wife's car and my truck have over a hundred thousand miles on them. Neither burns nor leaks oil and neither has had a single seal replaced. Open the hood of any car back in the day and it was likely to have a wonderful coating of black grime on the engine from the blow by which came out of the vented oil filler cap, and the breather on the bottom of the engine. The upside was that engines rarely rusted. They had a thick protective buildup of engine vapors, road dust, and grime. Should we talk about generators and regulators vs. alternators? In the good old days, you could remove the cover of the alternator, and there were two or three adjustments which could be made to adjust the maximum output of the generator, and the level of the charge in the battery. It was not a good idea to tinker with those adjustments. We could also talk about how the safety glass of that bygone era used to get milky between the two panels of glass. We could also consider how long shock absorbers and other suspension pieces such as ball joints and king pins lasted regardless of how often they were greased. These were pieces that also contributed to greasy spots on asphalt and concrete areas where cars were regularly parked. After long dry periods, rain would make roads almost as slick as ice or snow. So much fluid leakage would occur on busy highways that when it finally did rain, these busy roads literally had oil slicks on the water covering the road when it finally rained. The good old cars do have a lot of nostalgia, but in reality, compared to today's vehicles, they were junkers.

What's going on here? First Glenn says all his teachers looked like you, regarding their less than lovely looks, and RW says you are "such a girl". Did you correct some of their spelling, or grammar?

It means without a doubt, that your number is up.

Dang, you've got to be older than me. I don't think I could have cranked a model A at less than a year old. I'm using my deductive powers and guessing the the 1937 must have been the year of your birth. I checked your profile and your age isn't listed, but you have given it away if my guess is correct.

A life preserver is worthless unless you are wearing it. If you can't swim well, and even if you can, what happens if you fall out of your boat and strike your head on a stone, or have some type of seizure? You either need one with a hydrostatic system that will inflate the device, or the bulky old fashioned type. The manual type work well, provided you are conscious and coherent. Other than that, they are worthless. There is one other reason that has been stated here before. If you have a heart attack and drop dead, your body will remain afloat, and you can readily be found. Fall over the side and sink to the bottom may necessitate dredging the bottom with grappling hooks attempting to snag your carcase. In the meantime, your loved ones are riding a roller coaster of emotions, hoping against hope that you are still alive.