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As long as your gelcoat is in good shape I'd suggest Macguires Flagship premium marine wax. It's got a built-in UV inhibitor and UV rays are the thing that eats gelcoat.

Ebbtide was building bassboats in the early 70's. The Dynatrac moniker came from their V hull design.. I have no idea what happened to the company. Not a really popular bassboat builder but I don't believe it had anything to do with the quality of their boats. The fact they're out of business really is of no consequence, the boat itself could be worked on by any fiberglass shop and the motor as well. As for specific hardware for that boat? Even if Ebbtide was still around they probably wouldn't carry anything model specific for that old of a boat.

Yep, I'd check the axle alignment before you go replacing it.

Spectrum was low end, entry level junk. Fisher was actually an aluminum boat builder for many, many years, built some good stuff. I don't recall the whole story but Fisher started making fiberglass then Tracker marine bought them. Of the few people I've heard of that own the Fisher fiberglass boats, I haven't heard any complaints but then again, not many of those were sold either.

If you're fishing up creeks and rivers you sure don't want to mess with a fiberglass rig.

New boats, besides being extremely expensive, depreciate quickly, as bad or worse than a new car. Consider that when purchasing especially if you're not putting much money down.

A lot of these guys with those rigs can only afford it by taking l-o-o-o-ng loans out on the boat and truck. Like 12 years plus. Insane.

Not a big westerns fan but a few that come to mind are, in no particular order Outlaw Josey Wales The Longriders Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Oh yeah........one more on my list for why I'd never buy another MK power drive trolling motor. Here's how I did mine and you really have no options other than this. After you install the transducer. find the highest spot on the shaft, at the bottom, that you can tie off, or tape the cable to and attach it there. Then I ran the cable through the hand grip and then tied it off at the top head of the motor. You have to leave enough slack in the line so the motor can slide through. Is this a pain? Yes. Will there be excess transducer cable loose in the water just waiting to catch on tree limbs or boat dock protrusions in the water? Yes Will this probably lead to a severed cable along the way? Yes Is there a better way to do it? No Just another reason in a long list of why I wouldn't buy a Minn Kota power drive trolling motor.

I redid mine last year and I let the boards sit a month before I ever messed with them. That wood is usually drenched when you pull it out of the lumber yard and the moisture needs to leach out.

If the old trailer is rusted you really need to have it sandblasted. Not a good idea to have the boat on the trailer when you're doing that.

That's a lot of oil there. I think I'd have that checked out.

I bought my first NEW boat in 1978. At the time, a 17 1/2 foot with a 115hp motor was the standard rig for the day. I bought a 1977 model that was left over from the previous year and got a deal. I still paid a whopping $5500 for that sucker. A new '78 model would've been around $600 more. In 2007, new boats are averaging 7 times that amount or more. My salary hasn't gone up 7 times in that same time period. I see a problem. I love working on older boats and restoring them. More guys are doing it these days rather than trading in for a new one with the prices what they are. As nice as the new rigs are, I can't justify the money for them nor the extra $$$ needed to pay for the tow rig and gas to use it.

I asked about why the price of shipping a rod skyrockets so much even though the weight of rod and tube isn't all that much. I was told that since the package is over 6' long, the thing can't go down the usual conveyor belt system and must be "hand carried". OK, I'm paying more for something to be hand carried but if that's the case, why should a hand carried package get damaged easier than something rumbling down a converyor belt system?

I'm planning on putting one on my boat. Another company makes the same thing in stainless steel. They usually have an epoxy you use along with a set screw or bolt. Pretty straight forward installation.

The cost of SW fishing is almost directly proportional to the size of the fish and species you wish to fish for. You can bottom fish for Grouper or snapper fairly inexpensively. A decent boat rod and Penn 113 isn't anymore expensive than a typical bass combo. Inshore stuff is the same way for Reds, trout, Snook, Permit, flounder and other inshore species as the seasons dictate. It's when you start talking about 'hoo's, Marlin, Sails, Bull Dolphin, Kings, Big Tuna, etc that the price suddenly shoots waaaaay up there. Not only are you going to sink a ton of $$$ into a boat and motors that can safely take you many miles offshore but the electronics on that boat will also set you back a small fortune.

As W2S said, if you're chine walking you're up on pad and the foil would be out of the water anyway. Moot point.

Don't know how you're boat is laid out. In mine, I can pull the gas tank and have complete access to the backside of the livewell. Now, to actually get to it I have to put my body into some unusual positions but you look like a young guy and would have no problem. As for just sticking something down into the livewell like a pump. Well, I'm not sure how you'd mount the sprayer head and keep the thing in one place. Those fish would probably knock your whole setup around.

Not even one.....but on a high note, I only live 45-50 miles from Lake Fork. So I will get another chance at her. You only live 45-50 miles from Fork and you've got THAT boat? I think you need a bigger boat.

Gelcoat thickness varies but it ain't much. Like maybe a 1/8 of an inch to as much as 1/4 or a little more thereabouts. Your idea with wetsanding with the grits listed is a good one. There are some gloss urethane based clearcoats like MinWax Spar Helmsman, available at Walmart, that would work. Those are brush on and self leveling.

Bad news for LBH and company. Hope his equipment gets there.

Much longer that 8 - 10 seconds for sure. I often just leave with the load times so painfully slow.

These Will make for a very comfortable day on the lake. The spring loaded seating system makes them feel like a car seat. $274.99

I've got an Extreme EXT05, a smaller finesse type reel. I like it.

Saltwater guys run all the time with rods up. Make sure you have some sort of bungee type device to hold the rods down in the holders between fishing spots.