WIGuide

It will slow you down some, but I would think with the bigger displacement it'll have a bit more torque than the older model and perform more consistently with the heavier loads.

I've got the spring master catalog since the mid 90's. I'd was a crazy kid. I'd spend hours going through those catalogs making wish lists, checking out what was new for the year, drooling over everything I wanted to try haha. I'm happy to know I'm not the only one who saves stuff like that. It's cool to look back and see what was offered.

I've only got the top at the moment, and after a few years it's one of the best purchases I've made. It's kept me dry in the rain and warm during the cooler months. You can buy the liner to make it warmer, but I found that the liner for my Columbia winter coat zips right in so it keeps me comfortable right until ice up.

I've got some 3/4 and 1 oz Xcalibur lipless crankbaits that I'll toss around every now and then. Not very often though.

That's pretty good! Any idea what they're running for props?

Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper

Sounds like you've got things covered.

But BRO! how are you going to sink that 150yd shot with a putter??? Haha sorry man, I actually agree with your statement, but I couldn't resist.

Welp, we know who makes bank! haha Nice collection.

You can double your run time if you put in another battery and run them in parallel. Then if you feel you need more power, you can add the bigger tm at a later date. You might even find a good used one and save a ton of money. (Lots of people switching to the new electric steer tm's) As for locators, I'll second what gulf captain said about buying locators that you can network together. Power poles are hydraulic, and use battery power to run the hydraulic pumps. They make the micro power pole that is battery operated. If you're putting one of those on your boat you can hook that up to the starting battery, The battery pack is meant more for kayaks and canoes that don't normally have a power source. You could use the battery pack if you want though. As far as batteries go, a good 24 series battery will handle electronics, pumps, and starting for most fishing trips. If you fish long days or tournaments you should get one that's at least a 27 series if you can get it to fit. That way you've always got enough power to crank your engine and get back. Also going to x2 on what Al said. don't rush out and buy all this stuff right away. Fish with your boat, see what upgrades are important to you. Upgrade over time unless your pockets are overflowing...in which case pass some my way haha.

@Firefish Tracker I'm thinking your boat will run in the upper 30's with your current prop. That's if your 115 can run that 17 pitch up to the 6000 RPM mark which I think it can. If you look at perfect theoretical speed of that prop/motor/lower unit combo it comes out to about 46 1/2 MPH. That's assumed with 0% slip which isn't realistic. Race boats will run in the 5% to 8%, and a well setup bass boat will be right around that 10% slip. These are with stainless props which usually have a better grip on the water and their hulls lift more to decrease drag in the water. Being that your boat is a bit bigger and of a deeper design than a bass boat and has more of a weight forward design, I think it's going to be slipping more than 10%. How much is the question and pretty much the only way to tell is to run it. Given your boat and motor combo, I think the difference between aluminum and stainless props will be a night and day difference if you get the right one. Best thing you can do is get out there and start testing it out! Here's a good read on basics of setting up your boat for more speed. http://www.kencook.net/Setupart.html

Haha I hear ya! Definitely a sweet setup! If I had a new enough motor and the funds to do it to mine I would too.

Welcome to the forum! The bass bug bites hard around these parts.

That'd be super tough to narrow it down to just one company. I have quite a stack of favorite baits but a they all seem to come from different companies. If I did have to pick just one though, I'd probably have to go with YUM.

For me it's the A rig, and buzzbaits. Jigs would be close. I've caught some fish on them, but I've never had a great day with one in my hand. Don't give up on them yet. Think of it as a finesse spinnerbait. Throw one with a small boot tail as a trailer something like a swim'n senko/swimmin' dinger or a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper. When your spinnerbait bite slows down usually the swim jig bite picks up. Or if you've went down a productive stretch with a spinnerbait, throw on a swim jig and double back and more likely than not, you'll pick up a few of the stragglers that you missed with the blade.

power to boat ratio for tm should be however big you can get and fit on it regardless the size of boat. I had a 45 lb thrust tm on my last boat when I got it. It was a 15' 10" fiberglass and even with that small of a boat I got blown off spots when it got windy. I stepped it up to an 82 lb thrust and never had that happen again. Was it overkill...most of the time, but there where times I used every bit of power it had and was very happy I had it.

Very cool stuff, although since all you were looking for was engine temp, wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper to buy a water temp gauge?

Check out the Pro Tec line of products. Even though I haven't used them yet, I plan to try it this year after hearing many good things about them. http://protecproducts.com/

On an investment like that, you are going to have it a while. If I were you, I'd be getting the 80 lb thrust. Even though the difference won't be night and day difference, there will be some and it's always better to have more power and scale it back than too little.

That'd make for a nice looking combo!

Welcome to the forums Chris!

Yep you absolutely can! When I started out I threw everything on spinning rods. I was the one to get my dad into baitcasters eventually, but he's still more spinning dominant and it works for him. If your finger hurts at the end of the day...you're doing it wrong :/

I'd probably have to go with 10 or 12 lb Berkley XT. It wouldn't be the best for all situations, but it could get the job done.

Bass and Walley Boats Magazine (now defunct) used to do performance tests on a lot of outboards and would list the speed and fuel consumption of the motors. You might be able to find a comparable motor to yours to see what it gets. Yamaha has performance bulletins on their motors doing the same thing. For comparison a 150 hpdi (fuel injected 2 stroke) on an 18 1/2' skeeter topped out a 5 1/2 mpg 22 mph, at WOT it dropped 3.93 mpg at 56 mph. Being that your motor is older though I doubt it's that good of mileage.