Kevin22

You're safe with these two boats, I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the towing issue if you consider other boats. You can look up boat specs on nearly all boats, and that will give you dry weight specs. Add in your extras, gas (7# per gal I think?), anchors, gear, coolers, etc to get your approx tow weight. Be sure to keep an eye on that hub on your way home. Stop after 10 miles or so and feel it (with cover off if it has one), if its hot you need to find the nearest trailer shop! Id stop again half way home and feel it. Last thing you want to do is lock the wheel on your way home.

You should still check your user manuals of course. Its been a few years since I worked with a dual pro so I was going off of how 95% of multi-stage chargers work. Charge at 14-16V until full, then go into maintenance (float, conditioning, etc) mode until they sense voltage below full. Some kick off, some charge at 13.2... I think my minn kota holds at 13.2 in float mode, yours must turn off output if your voltage dropped like it did. Its all normal. If you unplug your charger, within a few days they will drop to 12.5-12.9 depending on brand which is again normal. Auto chargers that shut off in float mode will sense the drop and kick on and bring it back to 13.5ish before kicking off. All sounds normal to me though!

Its going to "shift a lot" any time you go up or down a hill if it does not have a "tow mode" and you are in OD no matter if its 900# or 1900#. in any case, you don't want to be towing at near max rating for any long stretches of time. Going fishing locally once every weekend PROBABLY isn't going to be an issue. Not as big as an issue as if you were towing a 1500# work trailer every day or something like that. All-wheel drive is going to help you with acceleration, especially if you have to stop going uphill, but it wont make any difference on the highway at cruising speed. A word of caution, if you end up choosing a heavier rig, be VERY careful on steep ramps. There is a ramp on a lake near me that we call the "missile silo" as its almost straight up and down. Last year there were 7-8 rigs that I know of towed out of there. Guys using small vehicles to tow heavy boats. A couple couldn't make it back up the ramp, the rest didn't use emergency brake and locked the transmission.

You are correct on all points. The charger is telling you its full, but still "topping them off" at charging voltage, when it turns solid it goes into maintenance mode until it reads volts below 13 and charge at near 16V until it reads full (13.2ish) and then kick back into maintenance mode. That is why you will see that most fish finders are listed up to 17V now, so they are "charger safe" When you turned on your voltmeter and it said 16V it read what the charger was outputting, not what your batteries were.. Your batteries were not over 13.2-13.3 or they would be fried. When it goes into conditioning mode it stops outputting, which is why you saw the voltage fluctuate.

I don't like fishing 3 in my 17'. My buddy has a 16' tracker pro deep v and its cramped with 3 anglers. 2 and a child is different, but as he grows he is going to need some room to fish as well. The 1440 is a tiny boat. Once you put in a cooler for drinks, food and bait, a couple tackle boxes, and rods there won't be much (if any) room left for 3 people! You are hearing about the suzuki being bullet proof, well i'm here to tell you the 96-01 merc ELPTO are some of the best motors ever produced. Parts are available everywhere, and they are easy to work on yourself. I would choose the starcraft just for the added room in the boat. Is the above post correct about your vehicle towing limit being 1500lbs?? The starcraft will be close to 1200# loaded, the lund probably 900#. Something to consider...

And if it all checks out, call minn kota.

Each bank goes to a battery, doesn't matter if its rigged 12-24-36.

He came down quite a bit then. A buddy of mine looked at it last month and he was asking $12,500

Have a maxxum 70 on a ranger 17'. Never a problem, only thing replaced in 5-6 years was a prop pin $1.25 fix.

There isn't too much available in the area this time of year. I did see a nice Ranger, from the late 80's I believe, for sale at that storage lot down by caseys on 61 west of Dav, just before the turn to west lake. Not sure if its still for sale, but it was pristine condition. Probably not in your price range though. Try Moline Boat and Motor, he gets all of my familie's repair business and my Dad bought two boats off of him. Great people to work with!

They now have the option to use a boat and upgrades that are within specs, so they can fish in their sponsors boats. I believe they still have to be under 20' and with a motor no bigger than 150. Still has to be wrapped by MLF though. The last Ike event I watched Marty said "Ike is running all over the place in his BassCat"

My best advice is to go to walmart and buy a pack of eagle claw 3/16 worm weights (0.97), a pack of eagle claw 4/0 worm hooks (1.97), a pack of yum dingers (2.99) and a pack of zoom craws $2.99). That will let you go fishing for less than 10 bucks and will catch a bass anywhere there are... bass. Find a nice shady spot to bank fish and relax.

Yes sir!

I have one of those spools of 6# I scored for $10. Surprisingly it doesn't have much stretch! Pretty good line.

I'm old school. BANG garlic for me.

Burnt the top of my hands today because I didn't have gloves. Only part of my body that was exposed and they were cherry red. Not really worried about skin cancer on my hands, just hate burnt hands!

Check the livewell pump(s) for damage as well, running that long out of the water could have weakened them.

Not going to hurt anything as long as you don't get it inside.

Most of my tying supplies are hareline brand and I buy from reputable places only. Major retailers only!

I bought a pair of these to try this summer. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Glacier-Gloves-Abaco-Fingerless-UPF-50-Grey-Sun-Gloves-Large-X-Large-/301934856702?hash=item464cb849fe:g:0ZcAAOSwpDdVRam3

When you order parts dont forget to order a screen for the intake on your transom.

I use 5amp. If i fished tournaments i would get the biggest possible.

Yes that is the valve system i was referring to. Should be 3/4" hose on that model.

Your "to drain" in your transom should be an intake pump and should fill the livewell. Overflow to transom should be connected to your drain in the livewell. The hose just laying should be for recirculation. Double check the white connection on the transom doesnt have a pump in it. If it doesnt then its an incomplete valve system which i know little about (same pump takes in water from lake, then a valve is turned to make it take water from the livewell and recirculate it).

What the heck is a stock dam? A pond? Do you have shad in there? This is the right time of year for shad to be spawning, they run the rocky shorelines and drop eggs in clusters. Its pretty late for perch to spawn, here in the midwest perch are going at 42-45 much like walleye. Ours were done about a month ago. Crappies are already spawning, water temp 60-65, bass should be moving on beds within a couple weeks.