tnriverluver

Document everything and if the motor fails soon from an oil related issue it should be on the dealer to correct his mistake.

All I can tell you is I have purchased 2 motorcycle batteries from Advanced and neither have lasted 6 months. Autozone and Wallyworld batteries have both worked very well for me.

Even the little 20 is a heavy beast. If you can spring for PT get it!!!!

I fish alone 100% of the time except for having my dog with me. I let the wife know which body of water I am fishing in case I don't come home. Figure it will save search and rescue a lot of effort knowing which lake to drag.

Tilt steering wheel. Many newer boats have these now.

I find that very very hard to believe. I seriously doubt the 20 being less than even half the rated HP could even plane a 165 much less the 170. I love my 20 but I think that might be stretching the limitations just a bit. If and I stress IF the 20 can get the boat on plane it might push it 20mph. I just don't see it happening unless the hull has been gutted!

I have a Tracker 1542 with a 20hp 4stroke Merc and have the boat fairly loaded down with floors, pedestal bases, depth finders etc. With me and my 65 lb Australian Shepherd I run 27-28 mph and am very impressed with the stability of these boats. My last boat was a 201proXL Stratos and I have wobbly legs due to back problems. My 1542 is much more stable than my slightly larger decked out 16 Alumacraft Angler bassboat with a 50hp and only 2 mph slower. Over on Tinboats.net a lot of people have decked these boats out with all the bells and whistles and are still happy with the stability.

How would you possibly access 10's of thousands of acres of water without a boat?

1973 when I was 12 y/o

I had one of those when they first came out back in the late 70's early 80's and it was a neat little motor albeit loud since it is air cooled. EBay has always been my best bet for finding old discontinued parts for boat motors and motorcycles.

The last time I did something very similar to an old Merc 115 tower of power I ended up burning 2 cylinders because the timing was now out of sync with the throttle linkage. If you don't know what you are doing please take it to a Professional before you have an expensive lesson like I did.

Looks like the whales knew exactly what they were doing. Maybe a little close for comfort!

Depends on how big the waves are and how fast you plan to hit those waves. Of the ones listed except for the ProCraft which I have no experience with there is really not that much difference. The Ranger will get the nod but I think it's mainly because the Ranger is also slower.

No advice on the boat you are looking at but someone had one similar at a lake that I camp at often and it was an awesome rig that is perfect for smaller lakes under 1000 acres. I think this one was a 12 footer with a 20 hp 4 stroke. I had never seen a pontoon that small and he had 6 people on board.

That is the old small TWRA operated Carroll Lake. Not the new Carroll Co 1000 acre lake. 40 plus year old spillway gates broke after a heavy rain.

I have a friend that keeps a camper down at Crazy Doe and he told me the weed problems started about 5 years ago.

Probably around the end of Aug-1st part of Sept when I was there. Unfortunately the Carroll 1000 Acre lake has much the same issue. Again I have been to neither so far this year so things might be different.

I use to fish Beech a lot up until about 12 years ago. Actually lived on Eastern Shores. It was always lots of open water and very heavy pleasure boating and skiers. I went there last year for the first time in many years and the lake was so choked in weeds I could barely run my outboard out on the main lake much less run a trolling motor anywhere else. There was only about a 100 yard strip down the center of the main lake that was open. I don't know when this lake became weed infested but it has bad problems now and this is not the kind of grass you want in a lake. If you go make sure you have a very long push pole. Even in 20 ft the weeds are THICK!!!!! I have not been this year so it may be different after the hard winter we had.

My very first trolling motor was a 10lb thrust MK bought in 1981. It was advertised as weedless and lived up to the name. Still have it to this day and it still works fine but of course is too weak to be of any real use. The prop on it looks about the same as what is on my current 45lb MKs yet they get anywhere near weeds and they become a wrapped up mess. I don't know what they changed on these motors in recent years but they are no longer the weedless motors that put them on the map to begin with.

Tempress!!!!! but bring a thicker wallet. They are worth the price plus they are American made.

Wasn't there a post on here not too long back about a Nitro that the hull had hooked bad and they took care of him with a new boat. That looks like a defective hull if I have ever seen one. Found it http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/126061-hooked-hull/?hl=%2Bnitro+%2Bhooked+%2Bhull

I have the 8ft Bass Baby and haul it either on an 5 X 8 utility trailer but most ofter it rides inside my toyhauler camper. That boat will easily go into the back of any fullsize pickup on the road however as long as you are able to lift one end and get it up on the tailgate and then just push it in and tie it down. DO NOT haul with the seat frames inserted as they will blow out!

Good idea with the lights. I need to order some like that for my BassHunter.

If it needs a floor it most likely also needs new stringers and transom. Have fun as it is a major repair job.