crankbait2009

Over the holiday break, I came across an oversized Rapala Crankbait that I just had to have. this wall decor measures 29", steel hooks and all i need some suggestions on how to hang this on the wall. I thought about hanging it from the ceiling via fishing line but i don't think i'd like that. the appearance of it "floating" would look cool, but not sure how to achieve that. anyone else own one of these bad boys? how do you display it? any suggestions?

@Sethshaun is the trolling motor a game changer? that's a loaded question. with me never having a trolling motor before, it's definitely something I'm having to get used to. I only had it out a few times before old man winter came into the picture. After using the trolling motor those times, I'm definitely appreciating it more and more after each use. it's only a pain in the butt cause of "change" and figuring out a user friendly routine. Once I get it in the water, it's like...oh my goodness this is nice!! The trolling motor definitely adds weight to the kayak. not to mention the battery. I found that I need to remove the battery and trolling motor in order for me to load/unload the kayak into and off of my truck. I don't like doing that, but, it definitely makes loading a lot easier, shedding that 50+ pounds. Only issues I am having are all operator error related. Getting the trolling motor pedal to release and lock back into place when pulling the trolling motor in. Things I need to work out. I originally bought a trolling motor in hull deploy kit, but that was not working out, very frustrating. I resorted to having the pull cord being routed above, in the open hull area. That is not ideal for me, due to the possibility of it getting tangled up and wrapped around fish finder, bridge, and whatever else. but i'm still working with this. I'll figure something out by this coming spring. As for the TracPaks (the boxes on the sides). those are awesome. Those 4 boxes allow me to store an assortment of all my lures from the Planos in my blackpak. all the techniques I use, are in those small boxes. last time out, I didn't have to turn around once, to gain access into the black pack. those boxes make it very convenient. the blackpak ends up being a "just in case" or if I need to store additional items in there. if you do buy the small Tracpaks, just keep in mind that you need to also buy the sorting trays that go inside. the boxes come to you with nothing, just an open storage box. I ended up buying sorting trays for 3 of the boxes. one box with no trays hold all my new technique items that I want to try. I will be adding labels to the boxes to make it easier for me to identify the contents. As for the rod holders on the side of the seat.....I haven't used them yet. I did placed the rods in there a time or two just to see how they worked. But any time I need to put my rod somewhere, it always goes into the Scotty mount, or I lay it in between my legs on the floor. I haven't had a reason to lock the rods in place with the seat side mounts. With the fish finder bridge that I have in place, it sorta blocks the access to the rod trip protectors that you were referring to. As of now, I don't use those rod protector compartments at all. when I first got the kayak, first day on the water, I did not know that my seat was in the lower position. I thought it was as high as it could go. I fished that way for quite awhile. At that time, I wished it was a little higher. but even in the lowest setting, it was comfortable. My friend showed me how to raise the seat into it's max height position, and that's where it has been since. a lot more comfortable. I see a lot of kayakers use seat cushions as well on the seat, but I haven't found a need for that yet. Seat is comfortable for me, without one. this is my experience from having about 5-6 hours on the water each time out. Let me know if you have any more questions.

for me, the getting it into the bed of my truck has become a struggle due to the weight. I was trying to load the kayak in the truck while removing as little equipment as possible. last Friday I broke down and removed the 100ah battery from the rear to help assist loading. Although the battery is rather light, those pounds definitely made a difference. I think the only way to load without having to remove everything, is to get a trailer. might be my only option, other than unloading everything each time. I'll do that for now. but to answer your question........I load the kayak on to my wheels and I pull it to the edge of my bed/hitch extender. Once I get there, I lift the rear up as high as I can go till I can pull it onto the extender. Once I get it there, I go to the front and lift up and push the kayak into the bed of the truck. I'm finding that is nearly impossible for me to do while on the ramp or if I am on any kind of slope. All of my ramps are steep. so I have to load the kayak onto the wheels and roll it up to flat ground before I can load into the truck, as well as unloading. It really limits me to where I can launch from since I need that flat ground. but the wheels on the front of the kayak work wonders. I really do think having a lower trailer would help me since I wouldn't have to lift the kayak so high. but the trailer would take up a lot of room here in my garage, which is why I am trying to avoid it. I have read all the suggestions for the keel protector. I appreciate the feedback. now I just need to determine if I can place the guard on the keel as it stands now, or if I have it built back up, then apply the guard.

have you ever used jbweld on a keel? just weighing all options, good and bad

I have a Bonafide PWR 129. I currently transport the kayak in the bed of my truck followed by a bed extender. When I pull the kayak off the bed of the truck, it comes down nose first. As it comes off the bed, I have the nose coming down on my transporting wheels. I pull the kayak to the water from the rear handle, while the front is on the wheels. once I get to the water, I remove the wheels, set the nose on the ground and I pick the rear up and slide the kayak into the water. As you can guess, the nose then scrapes the ground. Over the last 3-4 times out, it has really shaved some plastic off the front keel. it's pretty bad. I don't have any holes, but the amount of plastic that has been grounded off certainly has me concerned. I am trying to find a local shop that can build the hull back into shape so that I can either coat with jb weld or some type of keel guard. for those of you that launch a heavy kayak from a bed of a truck, how are you unloading the kayak into the water WITHOUT jacking up that front keel? Suggestions would be appreciated. Short of getting a trailer, I'm not sure how to avoid this damage. All boat ramps are sloped so pushing the kayak down the ramp isn't helping.

Thats a good idea

got the kayak out today...i'd say I had about 4 hours of getting used to the new set up and actual fishing. slow day on the water, but pulled in a small largemouth. at least I didn't get skunked. Seems like everyone I talked to was struggling today. now with the kayak completely rigged out, first observation...this d**n thing is heavy! certainly heavier than what I previously had. I certainly need to figure out a better routine of loading/unloading. last night, I installed the trolling motor pedal lock release system. that definitely needs to be reworked. I didn't install it right so it was not deploying as I'd hoped. locking and unlocking was a struggle. certainly operator error. but I know what I have to do there. easy fix. I couldn't tell you how many times I was moving along and I reached for my paddle that was supposed to be in my lap, but wasn't. force of habit, I need to move around a stump or tree, i'd quickly grab my paddle, redirect my path, and continue on. but this time, it wasn't in my lap. it was stowed away in my paddle keeper. I was quickly reminded that I have a remote control to do this. having to maneuver around obstacles, this trolling motor responded quickly. I was impressed with that. it turned when I needed it to without any hiccups. when I first got into the kayak, I hit the left/right button way to aggressively and it did a strong jolt in that direction. scared the crap out of me. I thought I was gonna go overboard.....but that was just cause I wasn't expecting it. note to self, don't do that again. once I got the hang of how quickly it responds, all was well. at top speed, with winds around 5 mph, I was able to hit 4.3mph (per my Garmin). I didn't compare this to an app on my phone. but at 4.3mph, I was able to cover a good amount of water at that speed. I was content with that. I had it at top speed from my final fishing spot back to dock. I failed to keep track of how long it took me to get back, but it was certainly faster than it would have been with me paddling. It is certainly different not using a paddle. takes some getting used to. I am going to drop the depth of the trolling motor propeller next time out to see if I gain more speed by dong that. i'll update this thread with my experience once I do. auto-pilot - that's frickin awesome!! I like that. there were times I had to correct the direction I was heading but it did pretty well at keeping me on track. with winds being very minimal, I didn't have the opportunity to use the spot lock. even when I turned the trolling motor off, I didn't find myself drifting a whole lot. as I mentioned above, I was really impressed with the response time from the push of the button on the remote, to the time that the trolling motor responds. That was like RIGHT NOW. I assumed there would have been a delay of some sort, but nope. no issues there. I was playing with the speeds all day long while fishing, but I found that at the lowest level, I was able to maintain about .5 mph. that was a good cruise and fish speed. for those of you that use a quick release base for these trolling motors and that have to remove them while transporting. before transporting, I need to remove the quick release bracket and that SMALL hitch pin. that is gonna get lost, I know it will. what do you do with this pin, or what kind of routine have you come up with to replace that pin with something better/bigger so that you don't lose it? Once I remove the bracket and pin, I don't have any place to put it other than in the truck or set it down where I'm at. which will lead me to losing the parts. until my next time out, I think that's all I have for now.

The XTR doesn't have a rudder? I've never owned a Bonafide kayak before. The PWR has one, i assumed they all did. my last kayak that i had for years was a Perception Pescador Pro. It definitely had no rudder.

from my experience so far, i really like the Terrova as you see it in the photos (in the garage) 😄. That's as far as I've gotten with it. It hasn't seen the water yet. I am hoping to get it out for it's first ride this coming Saturday. until that happens, i can't really give my opinion on it. once i do, I'll definitely respond back. I've never had a trolling motor before on a kayak. so it's all one big learning experience for me. A friend of mine has a trolling motor with spot lock. I watched him maneuver while we were on the water and i was sold!! that feature is awesome. so that led me to the Minn Kota. As of right now, that was the feature I was most excited about. When were on the water, I had my paddle with nothing more. It was windy, and I was constantly trying to right the ship while we were side by side talking. it got annoying after awhile. i was asking him how he was able to stand still with ZERO effort. he then explained the spot lock. I was jealous!! man oh man from what i have read....the Minn Kotas and the Humminbird work well together. They can be paired together. Since i don't have a Humminbird, I haven't looked too much into it. As of right now, I only plan on running the single graph. The graph I have installed is the Garmin Striker Vivid 9SV. Never had a graph this large before. This is definitely a step up from what I've used in the past. I never looked into the Garmin trolling motor, didn't know they had one. I saw Minn Kota Kayak trolling motor with spot lock, and my tunnel vision kicked in.

thought I'd share some photos of my Bonafide PWR which shows my Terrova Kayak Trolling motor installed. Didn't go to crazy on modifications, but once I use it more and more, I'll see what mods I want to add. you'll notice a "mess" of wire in the front hatch. the amount of cable that comes with all the accessories is insane. I have a good amount zip tied together and stashed behind the dashboards. but as you can see, there is still a lot of cable not hidden away. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet, but for now, its not in the way. only thing in that hatch is the 50ah battery for my lights and fish finder. I do have a "smart" battery box for my 100ah battery which controls my trolling motor. I don't have it installed. i lose a lot of floor space in the far back behind the seat. so I decided to get a basic box for now. with me using the trac packs on the sides, that will limit my need to get into the large back pack in the rear. so I might move the black pack pro back quite a bit to allow the smart battery box to be used. but we'll see. I have my batteries all connected to my phone via bluetooth so I don't exactly need to check the status of the battery from the box. we'll see. here's what I got going on: front hatch - front dashboard which holds the Yak Power 5 switch relay control module and a red hull light. the push button control module is linked to my cell phone. so no need for me to need access to these buttons. I like that I can hde that module in the hatch area. fronth hatch - rear dashboard which hold the yak power 5 switch relay. you'll notice a hinge right above the speaker on the bridge. that hinge is to stow the ketch transducer mount in the upright position. the hinge that you see under the speaker was meant to use the transducer mount as well. but for those with a captains bridge, the bridge interferes with the bottom hinge. so adding the one above the speaker, allows me to keep the transducer upright if need be. under the seat, I have an Anderson plug for easy access to plug charger into. here's what I have in my backpack pro. no photo, but my worms are in the top compartment.

coming back to this, but now my question is on the battery charger end of this. as I mentioned above, I have a 50a Anderson plug with #6 wire on the kayak side of all this. for the battery charger, I have a smaller wire with a 15a fuse on it. the wire is a lot smaller than that of the #6. Can I crimp that smaller wire into the 50a plug with zero issues? I would think, as long as it fits and the crimp Is strong, then that's all that would matter, right?

I definitely have a LiFePo4. im good with the correct charger too. Thanks for the response.

Although this is for a kayak, I dont think that really matters. Here's my question I have a lithium ion battery. From that battery, it connects to a circuit breaker, which then leads to an anderson plug outlet which plugs into the trolling motor. I want to be able to disconnect the anderson plug and connect my battery charger when its time to charge. My question is, can this be done even though the circuit breaker is in line on the positive side? Can everything remain as is so its a simple unplug/plug in and be done? Does the circuit breaker change things?

Not sure who that was directed towards, but ill entertain. I was able to get the rest of the items needed to complete my trolling motor and fish finder install, and all should be here this week sometime. Ill post some pictures once things are in place.

I bought the same trolling motor for my Bonafide PWR a couple weeks ago. I have it mounted to the kayak, but haven't used it yet (still hooking up the electric). I initially thought about the 40+ pound weight, but with the kayak being able to easily carry 500 pounds, I think everything would handle fine. Guess time will tell once I get it out on the water.

Ive heard about di-electric grease. That seems popular for that task

@FloridaFishinFool - this might be another one of those "overthinking it" situations. I have seen plenty of the screw down connectors like what you show. Maybe that's all I'd need, but the two different wire sizes needing to be joined are making me nervous. If it's as simple as insert, screw down, and shrink tube it....then I need to stop thinking 😄

I am wanting to join a #8 awg wire to a #4 awg wire. (for my trolling motor and outlet) I am trying to come up with the best way to do this. with it being two different wire sizes, i'm struggling to find a for sure method. I looked at the anderson plug, but those look like they only work for similar wire sizes (in and out) I see the screw type barrels where you slide the wire in, and then tighten the set screws down, followed by shrink tubing I also see the option of buying a barrel and crimping it down, followed by shrink tubing. since I am dealing with two different wire sizes, I need some help. what's the best way to join these two wire sizes?

@Motoboss Off topic, do you have your Anderson plug mounted to your hull? If you do, mind posting a photo? Im trying to decide which outlet will be best for my set up. Ive been seeingseeinggandersons as well as the twist plugs. Curious how you have yours set up

Wow. I saw the "extension" length too but assumed it was from the trolling motor to the battery. With that "extension", i come in at the 10ft range. Which lands me at the #4.

thread is a little old, but I am tinkering with this idea as well. I think I have it narrowed down to a Lowrance Elite FS9 and a Garmin Strker Vivid 9SV. still window shopping at all options in the 9" screen size and price range. but it's slim pickings.

@Tennessee Boy - i understand voltage drop and how this all comes into play, but is any of this decided on the amount of heat that will be in the wire when running the trolling motor at top speed for a long amount of time? can running a #4 wire opposed to the #2 cause any damage to the trolling motor? if it's strictly a power source that's in question, then i'd agree with the #4. that is certainly cheaper. more help please - if i get a 50a receptacle for said trolling motor, those look to have #8 wire leads on them (both the receptacle and the plug). Can you join a larger wire to the smaller without any issues?

well, I definitely want my battery in the back. its roughly 12ft from the trolling motor. So that makes the wire size needed, #2.

Well, I think id prefer to stick with MK's suggested wire sizes. Certainly don't wanna cut corners. Ill make a final determination tonight as to where my battery will be placed. Ill get wire size based off worse case. So if I ever wanted to move the battery forward or back, I have that option and the wire will already be in place. So it'll either be a #2 or #4

Ive heard to use marine grade, tinned copper wire.