PotomacBassin

6 pounds 1 oz. Exactly.

This is a very broad question with very broad answers, but usually insurance pays for collisions with boats and/or submerged objects. They won't cover things such as breakdowns or other maintenance. The usual and costly boat costs are with the maintenance and repairs. Like if your stator goes out, your insurance won't cover that and this will be out of your pocket. If you need to replace your carpet, fix a leak or seal in your livewell or boat, this will be out of your pocket. If you hit a submerged stump doing 50-60 mph and blow out your lowerunit, the insurance (depending on what level you have) should pay for this repair. If whatever you hit cracks your hull and your boat sinks, they usually pay for the fair market value (FMV) of the boat. I'm sure there are options (with higher premiums) that allow you to get a brand new boat if your boat sinks. In addition, you can pay a higher premium to replace the tackle and other items on board. This usually comes with a standard amount, but you can pay a higher premium for higher amounts of coverage. The standard amount should buy you about two crankbaits Hope this helps.

It would be awesome if it had this. I'm stopping by my marine place this week to pick up some winterizing materials so I'm goign to ask them if it's anything I should worry about. On a side note, if I can pop off the top of my tank to access the inside, I'd really like to do this so I'm going to ask them if this is possible. Or if anyone else knows about popping that round metal disc off the top, let me know.

Fixed tank, unfortunately.

I agree that's a great catch, but I also agree it's no where close to 5 lbs. You can fit your fist down a 5-lber's mouth. Can't do that with this one. Doesn't matter though. Awesome catch and doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Especially when you caught it.

I usually shut down around Thanksgiving since that date until Christmas is pretty busy for our family, and then I start up when the weather starts to be bearable again. This is usually mid-late February.

X3 on the BPS Pro Qualifier. I have 6 of these and IMO there's no better value.

Does anyone know if I can take the silver round cap off my tank? It looks like a silver round cap with hoses coming out of it right in the middle of my tank. Does this disc just unscrew from the plastic tank? If so, I could easily reach inside the tank with a tool and grab it. Not sure how easy it would be to unscrew, if it was intended to do so. Anyone know what that is?

This is a great idea, but the only problem is that it's only 2 ft. long and I can't really see in my tank. The tank isn't clear and I can only see down the input tube about 10 inches. I think it would be like hitting the lottery if I actually was able to grab it.

I hear ya and thought the same thing. It'll just bother me forever knowing that somethign is in there. I guess I just don't think it's worth it to pay someone to open up the tank and grab it out.

Yeah, I have no idea what the pickup tube looks like and/or how big it is. I couldn't imagine the sucking pressure being that much to pull it in. I kind of imagine it kind of just sloshing around. I'm really hoping it just turns to mush and eventually goes away.

That makes me feel better. So you're saying it should disintegrate then? But possibly get in the fuel line? I replace the filters at the end of the year or beginning of the year anyways.

Well you know those cardboard discs that they put to seal you fuel additives from leaking. Well mine flew off when I unscrewed the cap and landed right in my fuel tank. Is this going to cause major issues with my motor? Or will it just disintegrate over time?

Stay on topic. Everyone's egos are a little sensitive on here. Sorry no dedicated ESPN channels. If you have DVR, just try to set automatic recordings for all the fishing shows which are on sproradically during the week.

Would you rather be on a 20 ft canoe 24 inches wide, or a 20 ft. boat 90 inches wide?

Like what Martin said, it may boost MPH by about 1-3 MPH. Just go on Merc website and go to the prop selector section. You just in put in which motor you have, what your WOT RPM's are, what type of boat you have, what you're looking for (overal performance, top speed, etc.) and it'll recommend 3-4 propellors along with the size and pitch to use. I have a tracker as well and plan to do this, so I was messing around on their page.

Would it be possible that the oil pump is pumping too much oil in? No idea really, but to me smoke means oil.

Yeah 4 hours sounds about right. I did mine last year but forget what my manual said. The motor's computer will continue to break itself in with double oil ratio for (I think) 10 hours. But the RPM/speed restrictions is all manual. Just can't remember the hours.

To break in the motor, you'll need to find the motor manufacturer's manual, not the boat's. Did you buy it new? If so, they should have provided the manuals to you. If not, the motor is probably already broken in and it would seem odd that the previous owner didn't have the manuals after only a year. But like Buck said try with tracker marine for the boat and call Mercury or whomever for the motor.

We've been catching them up to about 9:30 and then nothing but a few small dinks after that. If you check out the BFL results from this past weekend you'll see that it was a rough weekend. I told my coangler in our local tournament that we needed to catch them all by 9:30.... we caught our last one around 9-ish and didn't get our limit.

This is true, but it's a sunk cost and all new boat buyers know this going in. I was thinking I could make up for it by buying a Z8 for that cheap. Just felt like I couldn't pass that up. I think I'm going to hold off on this and hold on to this boat for 10 years or so.

That jig looks peeertyyy.

I throw SK tour grade jigs and haven't had this issue. I use 10#, but I think this is light and I lose fish at the hookset sometimes. I really like my 10# though so I'm going to stick with it... I would recommend 12#, possibly 15#. See if that makes a difference. If you're still bending hooks, then you could try switching to mono if you're using fluro. This will give you more stretch but I wouldn't go below 15#.

Yeah I would feel like I was getting ripped too much to take it to a dealer. We'll see what happens. I just feel like I can't pass up a 2010 Z8 for that price.

Let me rephrase that. I'm looking to zero out my note.