Ski213

If I’m understanding it correctly, use jack you have and get as high as you can. Use some blocking that almost reaches the tongue. Lower the tongue to it with the jack. Remove the jack and place it with cribbing under it so you can get it higher the next time. Raise and repeat till you get there.

To be clear I have no real wisdom on your engine. I own a same year Johnson 225. That’s the full extent of my wisdom. Pretty much everything I know about it is courtesy of way2slow and his willingness to help on here. That said, my thoughts are if you have the plastic carbs it could potentially be that your carb bodies and/or bowls are warped and leaking. Could also be just a leaky connection in the fuel system somewhere. For a few years I had the leakage. Mine was warped carb bodies. No performance issues that I could tell. Evidently it can get to a point where you’re sucking air and there are performance issues with that but mine was mostly just an issue with everything below the side covers getting covered in 2stroke mix. I resurfaced the carb bodies and bowls and so far no more fuel everywhere. Hopefully @Way2slow will jump on this and help you sort it out. I hope you have a lot of hurrahs left. I’d probably clean it up and run it if it seems to run alright.

Like most everyone I’m looking for a monster. I’ll take what I can get though. Just happy to get bit some days. My favorite days have been when I got a big one but my most memorable days have come when I caught a quantity of fish in the 3-4# range. Again I’m just glad to get a day on the water and hook a few.

I’m so sorry for you and your family’s loss. Hopefully with time he will start being able to enjoy himself a little more. I’m sure it’s difficult for all of you but it sounds like you’re doing the best you can to get through it together. I think that’s important.

@N Florida Mike that was a close call. It no doubt would’ve been on the ground when you got back home. @12poundbass that is insane. Lightning really does what it wants I suppose. Pretty much everything is a good conductor when there’s that much voltage involved. It’s just looking for ground but in your case it sounds like it picked several inconvenient paths. @Way north bass guy I’d imagine that was a quick descent from the scaffold. I was on a warehouse roof once when a storm rolled up. It was a big warehouse but a fast exit. Not sure how many ladder rings I skipped coming down, but it was several. @Glenn money well spent. Not just for lightning. My parents house had an electrical issue a few years ago. The neutral and the hot got together on the service drop. They did not have whole house surge protection. Additionally, a plumber had replaced some cooper lines with PEX. He removed the ground from the water line and didn’t replace it. In the absence of an easy path to ground the power went looking everywhere. Anything that was on a surge protector survived. Anything that wasn’t, didn’t. The surge protectors didn’t survive but did their job. They had a couple light bulbs physically explode. Every appliance in the house was smoked.

I’ve always had a healthy respect for lightning. Pretty impressive stuff. I’ve always enjoyed watching a storm roll through. I’ve been pretty up close and personal with it several times through the years. Never had it in the house as an uninvited guest till last Monday though. We had some storms roll through late afternoon. Not severe but bordering on it. They were mostly past us by 530. Around 6 I was in the kitchen doing some paperwork. Hadn’t even heard thunder for a bit. Out of nowhere, boom. Like right there. Blue flash and then the sound of water spraying out of something. Was an exposed water line behind the washing machine. Shut the water and electric off as quick as I could. We have great water pressure to be out in the country. Amazing how much water can come out of a small hole in a short time. I opened up the tub faucet to try to drain down the system as quick as possible after shutting the supply off. Had a friend go to town to get parts to repair the line while we cleaned up. Looked like maybe it came in on the water line and jumped to the washer outlet. That’s where the hole was. Got everything cleaned up and repaired. Went to shut off the tub faucet before turning the water back on. The handle was warm. Seemed odd touched the other faucet, also warm, touched the floor by the tub, hot. Went to the crawl access quick like. Fire. There was a soft copper gas line that fed the water heater (not code) close to the supply lines for the tub. Lightning got it as well. Luckily it lit off and didn’t allow gas to build up. I kind of went reverse order for that situation and knocked the fire out and then shut off the gas. Luckily it hadn’t lit off the floor joists yet. I’ve said all that to say this. If you think your house has been hit by lightning, call 911, even if you don’t see an immediate issue. I got lucky. Many things went wrong but just as many went right. Know how to shut off your utilities. If you’re not comfortable doing that, evacuate. A good run is always better than a bad stand.

These two are Rocco and Molly. Rocco showed up on my porch when he was about 10 months old. There are a lot of theories on what mix he is, but it doesn’t matter. He’s been very difficult at times. Super insane prey drive and he is real assertive. He’s a working dog but usually he freelances. He has been and continues to be a great dog. He’s 14 now and although he’s in great shape for his age he is certainly in his golden years. Fighting a little arthritis from a torn acl and maybe a touch of cognitive dysfunction. We are keeping that in check for now though. Molly was dumped at a friends house most likely because she had a severe fear of storms or was sensitive to pressure changes or something. I called her my k9 meteorologist. When I first got her, if the wind shifted I would have a gift in the kitchen when I got home. She was super nervous about everything. I’d guess she was 7 or so when I got her. I only had her for about 5 years. She died from kidney failure 2.5 yrs ago. She was a sweetheart. Rocco and her bonded and I think he really helped calm her nerves. She never 100% got past the storm thing but she had zero fear outside of that after a year or so. I miss her. This is Diesel. He showed up last January. We had him for about three months. He showed up one day at the front gate. We went through the usual shelter report and social media stuff to try to find his owners. We resigned ourselves to the fact that maybe somebody dumped him given there was no response. He was able to live at my then fiancés house until we could get he and Rocco properly together. After quite a bit of accelerated training we got them together and shortly thereafter found his owners. It was kind of bittersweet but we were glad to get him back home. He busted a lot of pit stereotypes. He was young and tough to deal with sometimes but also eager to please once he started figuring it all out. I love my dogs. The only bad part is that we have to say goodbye.

Looks like it might be an interesting Wednesday. Neal started off right with a 6#.

The Berkeley power lizard of the late 90s. That was my go to night bait back then. There was also a soft plastic color, I believe they called electric blue, that I haven’t seen anything in for years. It was almost like a baby blue and white swirl. The worms I had might have been renegade. Closest color I’ve seen was in a Berkeley flipping worm and I think those have been gone for some time as well. Might be more of a nostalgic thing, but I caught a lot of fish when I was a teenager on those.

This is a terrible deal. Hoping for a miracle.

I have a similar farm pond out at the house. I’ve tried a lot of different things to present a lure close to the bottom with pretty limited success. I have had luck with a drop shot from a boat but that’s the best I’ve come up with. Still catch a lot of gunk but also catch some fish. Outside of that I’m not sure that I’ve ever caught anything but moss off the bottom. I know you don’t want to limit yourself, but if you’re able to catch fish higher in the water column, I’d roll with that.

Wheeler is on a good roll right now.

I’m out of Lexington. Been slacking on my big water fishing the last year or so. Typically fish CRL, Cumberland, Green, and Barren though when I get the bigger boat out.

This event has been my first time watching this format. Typically I don’t get to watch much of the live stuff in any tournament format. I’ve read a lot of good and bad but I have to say I have enjoyed this thus far.

Can’t help you with that specific rod as I don’t have one. Even if I did, what I like balance wise might be different than what you’re looking for. I don’t know what is local to you but if you’re primarily interested in the weight/balance could you maybe try some cheaper reels on till you get the balance you’re looking for and then find something higher end that is equal weight? No substitute for actually putting the reels you’re interested in on the exact rod but sometimes that’s not feasible. The weights on the rod butt are also a good option though.

As far as the finishing process see the above posts. Those guys know more about that than I for sure. I’ve done it, but have limited experience with the rust converters/encapsulators. When it comes to final paint finish I like a satin or maybe semi gloss on a trailer. I don’t know anything about rivets that are heavier duty. May work great. Some of the brackets are slotted I would think a bolt would work better in that application but I could be wrong. I think the bunk guides could be beneficial. For sure something to be thinking about. Just an opinion but I would start with ensuring the trailer is solid for the road first priority or what it’s going to take to get it there. Coupler is good, tires good, hubs good, trailer structurally sound. You don’t have to address all those items before refinishing cause often the less that is there the easier it is to do the prep, paint, etc. but you’ll want to know what you’re looking at having to do in total.

What @BoatSquirrel said is accurate with KY lake. Cumberland is deep and it’s large. Not KY lake large and not as rough by a long shot on a windy day though. Good shot at largemouth and smallmouth there. Fishing has been good there for the last several years. Cave Run isn’t as large (6000 ish) acres. Lots of standing timber not as deep as Cumberland. Typically not as productive as Cumberland either. There are fish there though. Id go with Cumberland the way things have been lately. It’s I think 60000 acres which can be overwhelming if you let it. Tons of large creeks off the main lake. I generally pick one of the larger creeks and work my way around it. Beaver, Indian, and Fishing creek are all pretty popular but there are many others.

The angle grinder with wire brush is excellent for paint/rust removal as way2slow mentioned. Sometimes some various wire brushes and a drill are handy for detailed stuff as well. As far as bunks you can probably find some brackets specifically for bunks from a shop that specializes in trailers or online. Maybe adjust the existing roller bunks to get the boat positioned right then install the 2x4 bunks with brackets. Also check the wheel bearings and tires. It’s hard to tell from the pics but the tire looks ok. There should be a dust cap of some sort on the hub though. If it were mine I would probably repack the bearings and try to find a dust cap that fits at a minimum. How much money and time I’d put in the hubs would depend on towing distance. If you’re just going down the road a bit you could probably get away with a lot. If you’re gonna be interstate speeds for any distance I’d spend some time making sure it’s exactly as it should be.

Just an opinion. My first thought would be Cumberland. Good opportunities for sm and lm and has been a solid producer for the last few years. Nothing wrong with the others either. If you go by general opinion cave run can be tough. KY lake may be in decline right now but it’s still not the worst lake in KY to fish by any means. What type of lake are you guys most comfortable on? Those are three very different bodies of water. That might factor in for me if I were you. You may well already know that though.

It’s my understanding that with the eco boost there are performance and fuel efficiency gains to be had running higher octane fuel but that it’s not necessary. When it comes to turbos and super chargers I have very little knowledge. I understand the concept but it’s not something I have real world experience with. If I do some rough math with fuel prices from today, on a 500 mile trip it’s a wash. That’s figuring 12 mpg for my truck (probably being generous) on 87 and a vehicle at 15 mpg on premium. The 15 is prob a little low from what I understand. I really appreciate everybody who has weighed in on this. It is for sure helpful. How well the truck gets the boat moving is important to me but the biggest concern I have is controlling it with an unexpected stop or a quick turn. Best thing I can do I guess is hook it up to these different trucks and see how it feels. I have a newer Chevy 6.0 and Ford 5.0 I can hook up that belong to friends so I just need to find a dealer that’ll let me hook to a 3.5. And maybe a dealer that’ll let me hook to a gas F250. Thanks again and keep the input coming.

I’ve heard that called planned obsolescence. I do most of the wrenching on the truck myself but I have a buddy who owns a shop. My truck was down there a couple days ago and he was telling me what they had tied up in their scanner and updates. It was crazy. Thousands of dollars. Anymore a mechanic is as much a tech as anything. Vehicles are getting like computers and phones where by the time you buy the technology has been replaced.

@Way2slow and @SuperDuty y’all are not making feel good about buying a newer truck. That’s the reality of it though. It wouldn’t be so bad if vehicles were priced as throw away. Some of the stupid stuff I see go on with $60k trucks makes me a little sick. There are a lot of features that are for sure nice on newer vehicles but I’m one of those guys who is thinking of how much those things are going to cost down the road to fix. Some of them you can just leave broken but as mentioned by @Glennsometimes something that shouldn’t make much difference shuts down the whole operation. My truck could absolutely leave me sitting at any time but it’s going to be a legitimate event like no fuel, no fire, something actually comes apart, or one of the maybe 15 sensors or ecm fails. Not because the computer gets a bad reading from the windshield fluid sensor. I’m not against technological advancements or dogging newer trucks though. Obviously I’m in the market for one. I love the mower example. I had an old rider that I got for free and put maybe 100 bucks in to get running that would make a yard look like a golf course. Didn’t mow at 30mph but it got the job done. It was 20 yrs old. I got tired of throwing parts at it and now I have a new one that I’m already throwing parts at 10 hrs and in all honesty is half the mower.

@bassfisher444 curious why you would avoid the eco boost trucks. If I went the F150 route I’m primarily looking at the 5.0 but here there seem to be a lot more of the eco boost trucks. I have some concern with the replacement costs for the turbos but was wondering why you mentioned avoiding them.

I appreciate the input. Keep it coming. It’s been exactly what I am looking for. @A-Jay I agree. The numbers aren’t everything. It’s how it handles it as much as how much it can move. In motocross (and I’m sure the term is used elsewhere) the tool used to assess real world function was the butt dyno which of course factors in a lot of other things than power like suspension, braking, and weight distribution.

I’m so sorry for your loss. You will continue to be in my prayers.