Team_Dougherty

What king of trolling motor it is? cable or motor driven steering? if it is cable try tightening it. Is the motor in the center of the boat? if not try getting as close to center as you can. do you leave your outboard down? if not try it. it acts as a rudder to keep your boat tracking straight.

I should have said I do the same thing. I make sure everything is away when I am finished using it or as I am putting the boat back in the garage. I am like that about everything. Everything has a place and everything is in it's place when I am done with it. I get wound up when I go to use something that my 12 year old son, or wife, used and did not not put it away. I wipe down the out side of the boat when every I clean the carpets. The $99 I spent for an electric pressure washer the best money I ever spent. one of these brush kit removes the scum line very quickly. http://www.pressurewashersdirect.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=474

I spend very little time maintaining my boat. There just isn't much there to maintain. I have a 16' aluminum boat with a 40 HP outboard. I change the lower unit oil and winterize at the end of the season. In the spring I start it up to burn off the fogging oil and change the plugs. Other than the 3 or 4 times a season when I hose out the spilled beverages, fish slime and other goodies off the carpet. There really is not a whole lot else to do. If you are adding trailer stuff to that. I just inspect and repack at the end of the season. All in all I spend maybe 3 hours a year maintaining my boat. The rest it is just fishing. The boat is a 2001 I bough it new and it still looks it. These picture where taken last spring during un-winterizing. It has my old 25 on there I got the 40 this spring. No pics yet. http://home.comcast.net/%7Eteam_dougherty/boat00.jpg http://home.comcast.net/%7Eteam_dougherty/boat5.jpg What are you doing to your boat?

For a trolling motor you can not go wrong with a minnkota. Get the biggest 12v one they offer, 52lbs I think. You can get bigger but it will be 24v. For a battery get the biggest one you can find. An AC Delco M27MF would be a good start. to charge get a fully automatic charger of at least 10 amps. by fully automatic I mean on that will charge your battery when it gets charged it will turn off the full charge and go into a maintain mode. i would recommend a http://store.schumachermart.com/ssc-1500a.html . When you return from fishing connect the charger to the battery and leave it there until you go fishing again.

FWIW my understanding of the whole outboard thing is, like cars, all new models, whether 2 or 4 cycle, will need to meet the new emission standards. The older ones will not be banned. They will just fade away as people upgrade their outboards. That being said. Some states may limit the use of two cycle outboards on some lake. Like Lake Tahoe. the only two cycles allowed are under 10HP or direct injection. The federal government will find it hard to ban old two cycles just from the huge amount of them. I have a 1990 40 HP and a 1973 9.8HP my friend has a 1985 25 HP and a 2000 9.9 and they are still running fine. I see no need to replace them at this time or my life time. They will have to pry it from my cold dead fingers.

Try one of those do it yourself window tint kits from an auto parts store.

I have a 16'6" crestliner that I had a 25HP on It would go 24 or so by myself with a 13" prop. If I had two more people, wife and son, I would switch to an 11" prop and would be able to go 20-21. If I kept the 13" on with that load I would be lucky to get 15mph. If you order the boat. make sure it has a tachometer so you can make sure you're getting max RPMs out of it at the load you are carrying. Also, get a couple of different size props so you can change it depending on load. I have since switched to a 40 on my crestliner and still switch props depending on load a 17" if I am by myself and a 15" if I have more people. The 5 minutes it takes to switch the prop before hand make a big difference on how you will enjoy the rest of the day.

if you are at planning speed by the time your fish finder shows shallow water it is already to late. Especially if the transducer is on the transom.

The way I saved for a new boat was to setup a "secret" savings account that I could not access easily. The only way I could get the money out was to drive to the credit union to get the money out. I then had my work put $100 a pay, every two weeks, into that account the rest then went into our joint account. With that arrangement I was able to save enough money to pay cash for my 16' Crestliner with a trailer in under two years. The only way to save money is if you can not spend it. I did not miss that 50 dollars a week. Instead of buying lunch everyday I packed. not only did that save money it was healthier. I would buy a case of soda on sale at a grocery store instead of buying two a day out of the machine at work. That saved alone saved $10 a week. Take a look at what you spend a week on stuff you do not need or you can save on buying in bulk. Does every one in your house have a cell phone? If yes, do you still need a land line phone? I am sure if you look closely you can find savings everywhere.

Bearing maintenance is pretty easy to do. It only requires basic mechanical skills to do. Here is a step by step guide with pictures. http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/bo_maintenance_repair/article/0,2021,DIY_13718_2277898,00.html If your trailer has 12" tires as apposed to 8" found on most trailers for boats your size you bearings will need a lot less maintaining. the bearings on a trailer with 8" tires are spinning a lot faster than a trailer with 12" tires. You will only need to replace the bearings if the ones you have now are bad. rusted or have been overheated from lack of grease. I have never replaced the bearings on any of the trailers I own. One is over 10 years old. They do get the needed inspections and greasing when needed. The boat trailers I takes care of once a year in the fall. The camper and utility trailer every other fall. They all have bearing buddies. They are not the best as pointed out above but they do keep the grease in the bearings. The most important thing with boat trailers is making sure your rear seals are good to keep water out. You can very easily blow those seals out filling the hub using the bearing buddies pushing in to much grease.

I agree the kipawa will give you much better performance. If there can be such a thing with an electric motor. http://www.kipawapropellers.com

try one of these http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0000844010095a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&No=20&noImage=0&Ntt=transducer&Ntk=Products&QueryText=transducer&Ntx=matchall&N=4887&Nty=1

Here is a piece of software that converts almost every kind of GPS data to another kind of GPS http://www.gpsbabel.org/ for example magellan to lowrance. Magellan to garmin, garmin to lowrance. check it out

I agree. If that where the case I would have to change the one in my 9.8 HP 3 - 4 times a year.

Do you mean 2 - 3 Years?

Yes, I am on a few fishing/boating boards. Those kits are easy to install. If you can change a water pump you can install one of those.

Try one of these http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5141291 cabela's has them too. http://www.cabelas.com/link-12/pod/0023861.shtml

DO NOT cut your transom. just extend your outboard order parts here http://www.marineparts.com/partspages/Accessories/acc8.htm

The motor should turn its maximum RPM no matter how big the boat is, Unless it is really over propped. A 9" prop should not be over propped. I have 9.8 Merc I have put on my 16' Crestliner with a 9" prop it will run 5500 RPM with no problem. It will only go around 6 or 7 MPH though. It sounds like it should go a lot faster. I would not take delivery until they can get it run the way it is supposed to.

For a little over $100 you can get an AC Delco Voyager M27MF from any GM dealer. I have had mine for over 7 years and it is still going strong. Some Pep Boys, some other places as well, carry them.

One thing to look into is a home equity loan. Interest rates are pretty low and tax deductible.

You should get a tach and find out for sure. There can be a 5 MPH between 4500 and 5500 RPM with a 13" prop

Please read http://home.comcast.net/~team_dougherty/fishingtips.html tip #4

The hitch pin I use has a loop in it to use a regular pad lock. It was only $5 at lowes and it can use any pad lock. Work very well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=5002