3dees

I could only dream. awesome boat.

I agree with this except for stabilty. I guess it depends on the boat but my Crestliner VT19 is as stabil as any glass boat I have fished from and my last two boats were 19' Stratos'. again, for your budget you may have to settle on an older boat with a narrow beam which can be a bit tippy if it's a small boat.

I have an HDS 7 with insight and an Elite 5 with Hot Spots pro. for natural weedy lakes in my area I actually prefer the Hot Spots. the Insight is better on the larger popular lakes.

I had the Elite 5x DSI for less than one season. yes you must be moving to get the best picture so they are'nt very good for drop shotting. the bad thing with these Lowrance units are they are DSI only. I missed the 2D too much. this year I have an Elite 7 HDI with both. you can get a grey scale 5" unit at really great prices.

while Lund is an awesome boat, to my knowledge they are multi-species boats and not bassboats. I think it was around the late 90's that some boats were built without any wood. for your price range you will be hard pressed to find a descent glass boat. you might have better luck with a tin. Crestliners and Lowe are built without any wood while Tracker has I believe has wood floors. in any case you are limiting yourself on what you will find in that price range.

I have tried every kind of line out there and I keep going back to Silver Thread Xcalibur. I use braid for the thick stuff and flouro for drop shotting. Xcalibur for everything else. I fish rocks a lot and that is where this line shines. low memory, low stretch, and really abrasion resistent. the only down side is finding it. I have to order online. BPS no longer carries it.

good job on the upgrades. may I ask where did you get the carpet graphics?

for 150hp and above they are almost a must although my last two boats were 19 1/2' Stratos's w/ 200 hp and niether had one. I don't like them and I don't usually fish huge lakes. now I have a 19' tin with a 115 and I don't feel I need one. I think the biggest thing to get used to is pulling up to a dock. I know they used to sell one that let you use either the foot or hand, but I have'nt seen them for a while.

try contacting Nitro. I removed the broken unit from my dash and Crestliner sent me a cover to match the console.

I can't comment on Lowrance cs because in 35 years I have never had a problem with one. do not get the built in transducer if you are thinking of side scan or down scan. won't work.

white vinegar and water has worked for me. I even have a tiny spray bottle on the boat to clean the screen while on the water. will also take the water marks off the motor.

lots of different opinions on the new Curado's. I have 7 Curado cu201's and 2 cu101b's (all lefties) and I'll stop using them when they fall apart. best Curados ever made.

I have rod gloves on all my rods. spinning and casting. no padding but the material is thick enough, but I do have rod boxes in my boat. I actually prefer them to built in rod holders.

my moms yard is the size of a 2 1/2 car garage and I back in from an alley. boat goes between a fence and stairs. luckily I'm a retired truck driver so I don't have any problem except when I want to work on or clean it. I have to pull it out and away from the fence so tandem trls are out of the question.

I started drop shotting a lot last year. I'm retired so a 300.00 rod is out of the questiion. I bought a St. Croix Eyecon. it's a walleye jigging rod and I use it mainly for the drop shot. for 110.00 it's a great rod.

I lived in an apartment for 20 years and would never trust keeping my boat there. I kept it at my moms house about 5 min. away. I could'nt find any public storage facilities that had electric. charging the batteries before a trip is a bad idea if that means that it's being stored discharged . best way to ruin them. I have seen larger complexes with bassboats stored in the lots but don't know how they keep them charged.

Lowrance may be cheaper in the long run. if you want to upgrade to a bigger or newer unit, you can still use the lss. with the Birds, you must buy the complete unit.

I had it for half a season and sold it. you have to keep moving to get good readings and it's better suited for hard structure, foundations, bridge pilings, etc. it's just about useless for drop shotting. the new Elite 7 has the DSI and 2D. I found myself really missing the 2D.

I plug mine. why add the extra weight.

thats a light boat. I pulled my VT19 tin with a Ford Edge (rated for 3500 lbs.) with no problems. of course there are no mountains in Illinois.

I just can't see paying that much for the touch units. I mean, you still have to raise your arm, you still have to point your finger and press. so it's the screen instead of a button. you can get the non touch HDS7 and LSS2 for hundreds less. I see the 12" touch is like 3500.00. getting a little silly if you ask me. not knocking anyone for buying these. it's just out of reach for this retired guy. for the lakes I fish I don't really need ss. I'm thinking of replacing my Elite 5 with the new Elite 7 which has built in gps, di, and 2d sonar. at 700.00 I think Lowrance will sell a lot of these units.

I read that they will be available mid Febuary.

this years xmas gift to myself. will replace my Elite 5 on the console. trying to decide if I need the unit with the downscan or not. I had an Elite 5x dsi on the bow and was not impressed. replaced it with an HDS 7.

great advice but why remove the batteries at all? I have been storing boats outside for 35 years and never removed them for winter. just charge them for a day every few weeks. I'm guessing some may have to do it if there is no electricity available.

look at the Crestliner VT17. 30 gal. devided well.