Fishing Rhino

Outstanding. Can hardly wait. I'll be disappointed if LongMike doesn't have a motion detector rigged to his alarm system.

Go to BPS. They have a fairly good selection. Don't overlook Dicks, Sports Authority, etc. Try them on, and find what is most comfortable for you. I had a kayak pfd that I liked. Light, comfortable, and had some mesh pockets. One day I left it on the boat when I headed home. When I got home, it wasn't there. Get the right size, and adjust the straps. You'll know quickly if it suits you or not. The inflatable are the least obtrusive, but also the most expensive. I've never had a problem fishing with the vest. Dangling straps are the worst annoyance. Have to tuck 'em under my belt. But I do clip my hemostats onto on of the belts. Always handy. On hot days, they are the worst. Not to be morbid, but they actually serve two purposes, the first is to keep you alive. The second is to make it easier to find your body if the first objective fails.

I dont' mind drilling holes, unless I drill them in the wrong place. Been there, done that. As for the antenna on the mast, I have no doubt you are correct, but, I did it that way because of things I read. Some locate them at the stern, others at the bow, or beside the console. I don't like the bow or stern, because I can be a clumsy oaf, and I'd be likely to step on it, or trip over it. I also read that a unit with its antenna having an open view of the sky will acquire the signal faster. How much faster? I have no idea. Probably an insignificant difference. Would that impact my use of the unit. Again, I'd say not likely. It's just that it seemed to be the ideal setup, and yes more likely than not, overkill. When I don't do something to the best for things like this, I have this little nagging voice in the back of my head that says, "You're gonna regret that." It's just me.

Mine gives accurate depth readings up to the point where air starts passing beneath the hull along with the water, somewhere around 45mph. The depth jives with the built in Lowrance with the through hull transducer. It did take a bit of adjusting to do it however. Lest I give the wrong impression, the antenna mast, fold down mount, and the Ram mount did not come with the unit. The parts and pieces to which I was referring were for the wiring where it comes out the side of the console.

The transducer mount is probably the easiest part of the install. Running the wires, and making a neat job of it is not quite as straightforward. This is what mine looks like. All the parts and pieces came with the unit. I opted for the antenna on a short mast with a lay down mount. The mast maximizes the reception. Nothing on the boat blocks its "view" of the sky, and it's out of the way, not where it can get stepped on. For the display, I used the largest Ram mount available, about a hundred dollars. But it articulates in every direction.

Do you have a step in the hull forward of the transom? I had the same problem with my Z7. I mounted it on the step, just to the right of the through hull fittings. I made one modification to the transducer mount so it could swing up and unfold if it struck something. I replaced the two metal star washers that lock the transducer in place to the bracket, with rubber washers. I got them at an Ace hardware store. They come in those little containers with the drawers that pull out. It allows the transducer to "unfold" from the bracket that trips up when a submerged object is struck. The step is not high enough to let the transducer swing up and out of the way since it will hit the hull. The rubber washers, if tightened enough will hold the unit firmly in place, but will allow the transducer to swivel in the bracket when necessary. The transducer must be mounted level front to back, and side to side, in order to provide an accurate image. There were instructions with the unit that showed where to place it in relation to the deadrise of the hull. The bracket is slotted for vertical adjustment. Position it as accurately as possible according to the instructions then mark for drilling at the center of the adjustment slots. This will allow for nearly half inch up or down, which should be plenty for fine tuning.

If you can find where it's rubbing to make the noise, try some silicone spray, or just open the lid and spray the edges inside and out.

Hit the tackle shops first. Gamble what the bait monkey let you keep after that.

Not really insane. Electronics are the number one priority. A boat is nothing more than a platform on the water to get you where the fish are, hopefully. Fishing without electronics is like fishing blind. You won't know anything more about the bottom in a 50K bass boat, than in a 500 dollar canoe. Electronics go where your eyes cannot, and shows you fish, or fish holding bottom you cannot see from above the surface of the water. The more info you can get about the bottom the better, regardless of the type or size of the boat. A regular sounder shows you only what is directly under the boat, and while that is significant, when you can also see, in great detail a couple of hundred feet each side of the boat, you cover a wide swath of bottom, not just a circle of the bottom beneath the boat.

I'll have at least one seat, maybe two, if my buddy who is a member here doesn't go. At the moment, it looks like you are considering April 9th or April 30th which are Saturdays, or the Sunday after those days. Sundays are tough for me since my wife and I help her 92 year old mother, doing chores at her home. Given enough lead time, I should be able to work out something with my wife, like doing that on Saturday, or the Monday after.

Twelve foot Sears jon boat, and a pair of oars. Circa 1966.

It's easy to boycott their merchandise, not going to the games is another matter. Most, or at least a good portion of the seats are season tickets, already bought and paid for. The NFL and the teams don't care if they don't show up. They've got their money. And since they paid out the money, the fans may as well get what they paid for. If the season is cancelled or otherwise altered, I would expect the ticket holders could get a refund. Having TV ratings go in the toilet would likely be the most effective message to send the two parties. Lower ratings make their product less valuable. While it may be baseball, Steinbrenner could always win the bidding wars because of the fabulous money he got from television rights, not ticket sales. It will be interesting to watch it play out.

The best price I found on my Navplanner2 was at Tiger GPS. Check them out. I didn't check their chip prices. Ordered in the a.m. went out that afternoon, had it two days later. They ship from New Jersey.

My wife just got the Droid Incredible. Make sure you know what features are included in your plan, and what will add to your bill. We have a 500 minute per month Verizon plan. We never get close to using them. We tried the nav system for a short run and it worked fine with one glitch. When we made a turn, a blue arrow appeared in the bottom left corner. If you did not click on the arrow, the image would stay at the interchange/intersection until you touched the arrow. There is a two dollar charge per 24 hour period, and it seemed the minutes were ticking while you were using the navigation app. There was a story in the news recently about a man who got his son one of the smart phones, not realizing there were charges for using some of its apps. He got a bill for 18,000 dollars the next month. The company eventually rescinded the fees. Toys are nice, but sometimes they come with a hefty price. Check your plan carefully. Make sure you know which features will incur additional charges. When the phone info was transferred from her regular cell to the Incredible, the only info put into the contacts or person app was the mobile/cell phone numbers, no home number or work number, and there seems to be no way to enter it into the contacts page. When a contact is to be entered, the page that opens has a line with mobile phone on it. There is a button to the right which on a computer will open either a menu or a list of options when you click on it. Nothing happens when it is clicked on, which seems a bit odd. The instruction book for the contact feature only shows how to enter mobile phone numbers.

Before you junk the unit, it may not be ruined. Water and cell phones do not mix. Not necessarily true. While launching the canoe two years ago, my cell phone fell out of its holder into a little over a foot of water. I didn't notice it had happened, but went to use it and it wasn't in the holder. Looked around the canoe, couldn't find it. Six hours later, when we were done fishing, I looked for it at the ramp, and there it was sitting on the bottom where I had stepped into the canoe. Pulled the battery out. The unit was full of water. When I got home I unfolded the phone, set it on the floor and set my wifes hair dryer on the floor next to it, blowing hot air against it. After a couple of days, I installed the battery, and it took a charge, but the keyboard was doing strange things. Out with the battery, on with the hair dryer. In another couple of days some of the keys worked ok others entered all kinds of strange numbers. So I bought a new phone, but still did not toss the old one. Interesting, the Verizon store was able to retrieve and install the info from the baptized phone to the new one. I still didn't throw the phone out. Left it on top of the dresser. A couple of months later, I put the battery back in, charged it up and it worked perfectly. Still does today. I can't use it because they had switched the service to the new phone, but if I call out I get the message from Verizon that the phone is not activated for use. Even the water streaks on the display are gone. But should my new phone take a bath, I'll get the old one activated. Camera, flash and all that stuff works fine. Try it with your Lowrance before you chuck it. Who knows?

That is a bummer. The only advice I can give you is to call customer service at Lowrance. Did the warranty expire, and if not, does the remainder transfer from the original owner to the new owner? The thing that kept me from buying a Lowrance was the reviews that others had the same problem you experienced. Supposedly they got the problem resolved, but when I saw the units in person the reason water gets into them is patently obvious. It runs down the face of the unit, behind the door with that feeble magnetic closure. and into the machine via the chip slot. In fact a couple of the units on display would not stay closed because so many folks had apparently played with them. The slightest bit of debris will ruin any watertight integrity the unit may have had. While the Humminbird has the chip slots on the front too, at least they have a positive Zeus type of fastener which makes sure the door has plenty of pressure against the seal. Those chip receivers should be on the bottom of the unit with a ridge around them to shed water that runs down the face. They should also be sealed with a rubber plug similar to what is used on cell phones at the recharging port. Both are poorly designed. But at least the Humminbird closure is solid.

With friends like that, who needs enemies. I'm glad I don't have to use your suburban to tow my boat to KY for the road trip. My 13 - 14 mpg looks pretty good right now, and that's towing one of those bloated, inferior, fiberglass scows.

I believe it was the biggest money making sport in the world when they did the same thing 25, or so, years ago. Just remember, to make that kind of money, they need to get it from someone, or a lot of someones. An old Yankee (as in New Englander) told me years ago, "If you want to make a living, provide something people need. If you want to get rich, provide something people want." Both sides, labor and management, are on an ego trip as much as a greed trip.

It was beyond words. What fascinated me was the surge that looked more like an avalanche of trash and debris. You couldn't see the water. Where on earth did all that stuff come from?

I don't know how you feel about unions,but this is going to hurt us as far as a country goes on what happened in Wisconsin.If the rest of America does this the common working man will be in jeopardy. As far as football thing,it's greed on both parts....Wouldn't surprise me if it's more on the owners part than the player's part though. Oooops, getting close to starting something political. But I'll add one thing. My mother worked in a sweatshop in Fall River, Mass. She was a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. This is where it gets interesting and totally different from what unions advocate today. All the employees from those who cut the materials according to patterns, and those who stitched them together got paid by piece work. The more you produced, the more you got paid. There was no guaranteed hourly wage. So, if an employee turned out twice as much work of the person next to them, they got twice the pay.

You must be a champion. Remove do away with the "ion" at the end, and it's still the same.

It does extend the life of carpets in a house. I'm not so sure about a boat. On further reflection, I'm not sure closed cell foam is a good idea. Once moisture gets beneath the padding, it will remain trapped. The boat carpet breathes enough to allow moisture to evaporate. Closed cell will not allow air or moisture to pass through.

"For as long as I could remember, I've always wanted to be a gangsta." Uh oh, sounds like your dangerously close to being a wannabe. ;D

The assistance from the taxpayers, that the owners demand, was another reason I dislike the stick and ball sports. If it isn't worth their investment, it certainly isn't worth yours and mine in the form of tax dollars. Take your dammm ball and bat and go somewhere else to leech off the public.

Of course they wouldn't care if we lost our job, much like football players get cut (lose their job) all the time and no one notices unless its a big name player or you follow the sport closely. That's not the point, and it's more than just one guy losing his job. I don't know what you do for a living, but if your entire industry shut down abruptly for a year I bet people would notice, maybe even some football players. I'm not interested in taking sides in the labor dispute between the players and owners, I just enjoy watching NFL football and would like to do so next fall. Maybe your life wouldn't change in any significant way if there was never another football game, but that's not true for everyone. If fishing was outlawed it wouldn't change anything for millions of people, but I'm assuming you would be upset or you wouldn't be posting on this site. As much as I like fishing, and as much of a part of my life it is, if it were taken away from me, I'd find something to take its place. For me it would probably be playing more golf. Fishing or following any sport should not be like a drug which makes you absolutely dependent upon it for your joy of living. Nothing in life is certain, or forever. A vital part of enjoying life is to accept adversity, deal with it, and move on. In other words, you should be in control of your own life, not depending upon others to make life fulfilling and rewarding. I was a die-hard football fan for years, until the last players' strike, and a season of substitute players. I realized that I had allowed football to dominate my life, and was disgusted with the players and owners, all of whom were far better off than I. Both sides were acting like spoiled brats, and I kissed them off. Strange think was, I suddenly felt free, like a weight had been lifted from me. I no longer needed them, or even cared about them. Being freed from such bondage is exhilarating. That may sound quite dramatic, and it is. But it is also reality. I understand that, and as much as I enjoy football, it doesn't consume or control my life by any means. Still though, most Sundays during football season I'm watching the Bills, either on tv or at the stadium. If there's no football, I'll have to find something else to do on Sundays, and I'm sure I'll get by just fine. I'll probably do more hunting and fishing which will be completely fine by me, and maybe I'll end up not missing football at all. Nevertheless, by being forced to replace one enjoyable activity with another, my life will change in some way. It will change, just like mine did. You'll find something to fill that void. All in all, it's a healthy thing for us. My first reaction was disappointment way back when, then I got angry about it. That's when I said fugget it. They're not worth it. They don't give two hoots about me. They were then, and again today, acting like petulant spoiled brats.