Traveler2586

I'll be there; I should have my boat back by then, Wednesday I hit a submerged shoal and tore off my skeg and part of the gear housing on my lower unit and banged up my prop.

When planning your installation look for a clean flat vertical surface under the lip of the locker where the LED’s will be out of line of sight; a good location is usually under the latch side of the compartment so the LED’s are facing away from you and shining across the compartment. Otherwise the light will be in your face making it very difficult to see. You only need LED’s on one side of the locker, one meter long at most. You may need to remove a strip of carpet and insure the surface is clear of any carpet adhesive; or if the surface is rough fiberglass you’ll need to do some sanding; again you need a clean smooth surface. Wipe all mounting surfaces with alcohol or acetone to insure the surface is clean. Plan a wiring route from your console to your forward starboard locker, then from there to your center lockers and then to your port locker. For your rear lockers and live-wells go from your console through the wire-way to the rear battery compartment, this should give you access to all rear lockers. Don’t scrimp on battery compartment lighting. Lay in your home run power wire (18 or 20 awg) to the furthest point from the console and make your first pigtail attachment from the LED strip, then dress the power wire back to the next pigtail and make that attachment, and so on, working your way back to the console. Use adhesive cable clamps to keep the wiring up and out of sight. If you put the LED’s on a console switch, IMHO, I’d suggest one switch for the forward lights and one for the rear lights. It’s helpful if the switches are illuminated so you’ll know when they’re on. I also strongly recommend that all connections are soldered and covered with adhesive heat shrink.

The LED’s come in a five meter reel that you can cut as needed. Every three LED’s there are a set of solder pads, two on the positive side and two on the negative side; you cut the strip between the two sets of pads using an X-Acto knife. Next you carefully cut away the RTV Silicone waterproof covering to gain access to the pads with the same X-Acto knife, about a ¼” will do, just make sure the pads are clean of silicone. Tin each pad and each wire with solder before attaching the wires to the pads, and make sure you have good solder flow to cover the wire on the pad; you don’t want a cold solder joint that will break after installation. The LED’s only draw 4.8 watts per meter so you can use 22 awg stranded twin lead (red/black) hook-up wire or 22 awg stranded Security cable you can find at the big box stores. After the wires are attached to the strip of LED’s cover the connections with RTV Silicone to seal the strip and set it aside for 24 hrs to let the RTV cure. Then cover the connection area with adhesive heat-shrink tubing to finish the job; you will find it’s necessary to cover one LED to properly attach the heat shrink, but that’s the cost of a good waterproof connection. Do the same to the butt end of the strip also. If you can do this, installing mag contacts and a rheostat will be a piece of cake. Next, I’ll cover attaching the strips inside the lockers. EDIT: 7/11/13 You only need to attach a pigtail of one foot max to each LED strip to facilitate connections in the boat later. EDIT: 7/12/13 added pic's. This photo shows the solder pads and where to cut the strip.

When I put the LED's in the lockers I also laid in the wires to ring the inside of the gunnel's with red LED's, but I haven't completed the project yet; some friends tell me it would look tacky, but I think it would be helpful. If I do complete the project I will put a rheostat in the circuit so I can control the brightness of the LED's, I only want enough light to see if I'm going to step on another rod. I'll also retro-fit the locker LED's with magnetic contacts (reed switches) so the locker will light-up when I open the lid. The reason for this is I sometimes forget to turn off the switch on the console. If need be I can walk you through how to install the LED's. First off, you'll need to be skilled in basic electronics grade soldering.

IMHO, do go down this path. Take a look at these water proof LED strips http://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Flexible-Adhesive-Olympic-Lighting/dp/B005EHHLD8/ref=sr_1_44?ie=UTF8&qid=1373334850&sr=8-44&keywords=water+proof+LED Here is how mine turned out As for the TM, 6 gage wire is standard, but check with your TM's manufacture for the current draw and what circuit breaker to use; it should say in the TM manual.

I vote for 4X4 also. I use my 4X4 on slick tidal boat ramps, and on slick rain soaked roads while towing. When the temps drop and conditions are right for ice on the shady back roads I'll lock in the 4X4 just for the added safety. If you can, get the factory installed towing package.

Tom nailed it. Also, the amount and angle of light, and light penetration, all play a part along with the style of presentation. At one time there was a seven inch curly-tail ribbed motor-oil worm that the bass just would not let go of; I can't find that worm any longer, but I still look for it.

BPS has a good one. The pole is sold separate from the duck feet. See http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Telescopic-Push-Pole-or-Push-Pole-Duck-Feet/product/6087/ The pole may appear costly but it will last you for decades, my has served me very well.

Motor oil has been working on the Potomac for me over the past three or more decades because of it's color abilities.

Depending on the type of weed, using a TM to cut through them can actually spread the weed throughout the water body faster as the weed cuttings re-root elsewhere; it can also make the patch of weed your fishing thicker over time. Using a Push Pole properly does no harm to the area other than steering up some mud; and you get to build your mussels to boot.

X2 Don't use your TM in the weeds, you'll spook the fish big time. You want to go in to the weeds, or the slop, as quietly as you can; if possible, let the wind or current carry you in. When your done in the area and don't care about the noise, then use your TM to get out if you want; I use my pole both ways and have done so for decades. Something to think about is the load a mess of weeds, or beating your way through EAV, puts on a TM. A Duck Foot Push Pole is the way to go.

Actually I believe the material is "Pot metal", also known as "monkey metal". Here is a good read for you to use when talking with AG. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_metal From wikipedia "Pot metal can be prone to instability over time, as it has a tendency to bend, distort, crack, shatter, and pit with age. The low boiling point of zinc and the fast cooling of the newly-cast part often allow air bubbles to remain within the cast part, weakening the metal. Many of the components of pot metal are susceptible to corrosion from airborne acids and other contaminants, and the internal corrosion of the metal often causes the decorative plating to flake off.[citation needed] Pot metal is not easily glued, soldered or welded."

If you haven't done it yet I'd contact Abu Garcia Customer Support and send them your photos; it looks to me like it's a bad casting with an air bubble at the break point which probably weakened the stem, this I believe would be a manufacture defect.

X2 on whatever Sam says.

From WTOP.COM David Burd, Sunday, 06/30/2013 Snakeheads are catfish with attitude The Potomac Snakehead Tournament wraps up Sunday and whoever catches the most of what can be a tasty dish walks away with $1,500. I wish I knew this tournament was going on, I'd like to see the weigh-in.

Hi Wayne, Is that Nav Planner 2?

Use the Route function. See "Help" "Route" for details. Navionics needs to work on waypoint functions as it's very difficult to do individual waypoints to mark fishing spots. It's easier to just do a route from your ramp to a fishing spot using "Manual Route"; zoom in on the map to your ramp location, tap the screen for your waypoints to your spot then tap "Go", then tap "Route", "Stop" this saves your route in "My Route Archive". Be sure to edit your waypoints the way you want before tapping "GO" . One thing that I find frustrating is Navionice starts a route from your current GPS location even when you have "Start From GPS" turned off. EDIT: Forget what I said above, I like Kevin's way better. You can find and edit your markers in "Menu" "Archive". But you can't hide them as far as I can see at this point, so your map could get very crowded.

In the mobile app how do you get to your "Gallery" post pictures, or your "My Content" on your phone?

What section? This time of year look for deep holes on bends near wood cover. I'd try spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaite, jigs, and TX rigged worms to start.

X2, your wife is a keeper be extra nice to her.

I've done this on occasion, but find the full version so much effort to monkey with so I can read anything and accurately control selections, I'll wait until I can get to my laptop. To me if the laptop is a 10, the mobile version is a 7, and the full version is a 2 on the 0 to 10 scale.

X3

How? EDIT: Never mind, I got it Thanks Felix77

I have been accessing BR for maybe close to a year on a iphone 5, but still find it difficult to log-in and navigate using Safari. I find that of the nine icons (Messenger, Notifications, Members, Forums, Pictures, New Content, Status Updates, Search, and Mark All As Rear) as a user I only use three or four at best (in bold red); there is no "My Content" icon, I have yet to find out how to get to "My Gallery" and/or post photo's, and at times I end up in Never-Never-Land. It would be nice if I could touch on my screen name and get the same menu as on-line; that's my only suggestion for an upgrade. Is there a better way to access BR from my iphone? Or can someone post a tutorial on how to get to pages as we do on-line

Happy Birthday Mike.