Further North

Makes sense. I'm betting you have a storage plan for next winter all worked out.

Had a German Wirehaired Pointer that could let himself out of his kennel...watched us open it many times, than just did it himself...so we put a stick in the latch. He pulled it out. We put a lock in the latch...after he proved to himself that he couldn't open the lock (tooth marks all over), he just climbed the 8 ft. fence in the corner... Same dog figured how to open doors in the house, and kitchen cabinets. Started with lever-style handles, but eventually figured out round knobs as well. Lotta dented knobs... He got himself locked in a bathroom once, two doors, followed my roommate in one, was sniffing around when the roommate left by the other door and closed it...must have bumped the first door closed of something. When we got home, he was curled up in the living roomfeet and muzzle covered with what looked like flour...He'd dug through the wall next to the door... Had a German Shorthair pointer who figured out how to unlatch the kennel we used in the car....Came out a restaurant on a hunting trip to find her sitting in the driver's seat. Figured we'd just forgotten to latch it properly, popped her back in the kennel, stopped at a hardware store, double checked the latch... She was back in the driver's seat when we got out. Right now, we've got a 2 year old Brittany that will retrieve food...started one evening, I'm on-line (probably here) snacking on a couple crackers and cheese. She comes prancing out of the kitchen, head and ears up, tail up and wagging...sits down in front of me, expectant...I ask, "What do you want?" and she leans forward and deposits a cracker I must have dropped on the chair. Couple days later, same deal, but she comes up from downstairs...sits in front of me again...this time I put my hand out...and she gives me a jelly bean. God knows where she found it. Gotta love dogs...

I had a guy ask if I could go up on my roof to take a picture of a boat I was selling from the top. My reply? "Really?" Years ago a neighbor had a garage sale...he put a pair of Allen Edmunds shoes out, worn once, for $5. I was out in my yard doing something or other near the end of the day when I hear the neighbor ramp up... "Will I take fifty cents? Fifty ****ing cents? Are you out of your ***ing mind? I'll throw them away before I'll sell them to you for fifty cents!" I look over and see a guy backing away from the neighbor... "Wait! On second thought, take the ***ing shoes, and these pants, and that mirror, and all the kids' ****ing toys...but do it and get the **** out of my yard, and never come back!" At this point, the guy is walking away, fast, head down, hands in pockets, checking over his shoulder every few steps... I went inside, grabbed a couple beers, walked over and handed on to my neighbor, "Here, sounded like you could use this." People had been doing the same thing all day, and he just lost it.

My experiences with previous generations of Power Drive models was not the best. The pedals were awful, the mechanism to deploy the trolling motor was clunky, at best. They may have improved them, but based on the pictures on the Cabela's website, I wouldn't have high hopes. I moved on to other Minn Kota models and have had very positive experiences.

That'll help with depth...and stop us from running it aground...in most TMs, the transducer is already there, would it even need a depth finder? Rocks, trees and stumps underwater will be in front of the TM...docks and other boats will be above the water and in front of the TM. I'm not criticizing or challenging...just pondering...

Nice rig! I'd have a hard time letting it sit if I knew it was ready to go...

How would the 2nd feature know about obstacles like other boats, underwater rocks, stumps and such?

Another happy MyWedge user here. I also run a Suzuki DF140, and I go the "belt and suspenders" route and use two, one over each cylinder. I had a transom saver similar to @slonezpon one trailer and it was a disaster, but, and this is important, that trailer was very close to the ground...the back of the trailer dragged coming out of a lot of parking lots and on more than one boat ramp. I wouldn't hesitate to use one no had I not moved to the MyWedge.

...and that...right there...is why I love this place! Thanks, Glenn.

Yeah, I get you on the my fat azz thing...bit we don't have to tow that... I save #s on the Talon, the livewell (mine is 100% empty, all the time), I trade off for the 360°, extra battery, extra charger, and a ~1,300 hull weight. Your Predator is a kickazz rig. I'd have bought one in a heartbeat had I not tripped over the CMV first. I want to see one of the new Bass Hawks in person. Not that I'm gonna buy one, I just need to understand my options if one of Wisconsin's 9X drunks wipes out the CMV...

Thanks for helping me clarify...you're spot on with regard to my boat not being a cookie cutter aluminum Mod-V. I did a poor job of setting that up. The Lund Pro-V Bass, current Crestliner Bass Hawks, and my semi-ancient CMV are nothing like the "standard" aluminum bass boat out there. Different animals completely. PS: Your tin's a heavy girl... mine is somewhere around 2,800, absolute max, on the way to Canada for a week, but only the last 45 miles with full tanks. Typical is down around 2,400. PPS: I love your rig. If I could steal it, I would keep it until I died, if I didn't have the CMV.

I run an '05 Crestliner CMV. It is a virtual twin to the current Bass Hawk. I use a 36 volt, 112 lb. thrust Ulterra as my bow mount, it works great. An Ultrex would work great. I chose the Ulterra as the ability to power trim the trolling motor was important to me - I wind up moving back and forth between shallow and deep water often, and I hated having to re-set the depth on my old TM all the time. The more I look at your rig, the better I like it!

You can occasionally find one of the predecessors to the Bass Hawk (and, conceptually, the Pro-V Bass), a Crestliner CMV. They were made in the early to mid 2000s (mine is an '05) and are atypical of aluminum hulled "bass boats). The 1850s are 8 ft. wide, have tons of below deck storage and are all casting deck where it matters. The last few I have seen on-line have sold in $15K - $16.5K range. There was a similar Crestliner series right before that (a neighbor used to have one), but I am CRS-ing on the name. A friend has a glass boat the same size as mine...there's no real difference between ride on choppy water, assume you drive them right...and the "blowing" in the wind comparison is usually made between a fiberglass bass boat and a multi-species style aluminum boat with much higher sides. We see no difference between our boats regarding wind...mine actually sits lower than his and gets moved around a little less, but we are pretty convinced it's a weight distribution issue - his boat is heavy in the back end and the bow tends to get moved around. Easily, and invisibly countered with a Terrova/Ulterra/Ultrex.

Looks cool...also looks like it'd knock 50 pounds off my tow capacity... Do you have a link to it? Never mind, found it: http://www.rhinohitch.com/product/2-aluminum/ It's only 25 pounds...

...so the small Lund for quick runs after work, the "good" boat for weekends... That would require more planning than I do (my gear stays in the boat), but where you live, it's what you have to do. Up here, you build the 2nd garage around the boat*...with room for future direction changes in boat selection. *or, in most people's cases, around the boat, ATVs, Snowmobiles, lawn tractor, a couple canoes...

That'd drive me batty. ...but you gotta do what you gotta do. I admire your dedication!

Keep in mind that this will move the ball up by 1/2 the size of the hitch bar, and the drop...so 2" total if you have a 2" hitch bar and a 1" drop now. I've done this several times on different vehicles, and it works...as long as 2" isn't enough to move the trailer to far into the opposite condition...

Both are great. Buy the one that you can get, that does what you want it to do, for less $$$...Or that has the features you want. Ignore all brand blind static and noise that says anything else. I've run Minn Kota because: I like the features. I like the foot pedal, and the remote. iPilot is the cat's pajamas, Link just makes it better. Minn Kota integrates with my Humminbird electronics...MG can't do that. I get a screamin' deal on them. I have hundreds, if not thousands of hours on my Minn Kotas, no issues that have not been user error...and I had friends running Motor Guide that can report exactly the same. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

If we define "bass boat" as "Boat we caught bass out of", 12 years old. 14 ft. Starcraft, Johnson 9.9. Got 'er done... If we stick to a narrower definition...still haven't...

I agree, and do most of my own maintenance...but to me, there's a step up between maintenance, fixing broken things (see above references to English sports cars, classic SxS shotguns and old boats) and another (huge, IMO) in taking on a restoration project (which is what this cool project looks like to me).

Upon reflection, I believe the opposite is where the truth lies... ...and I'm delighted to have passed whatever the test was.

That always makes me laugh...but I gotta go on record as disagreeing with two outta three. I want my boat, set up my way. I dislike the idea of fishing out of "rental" boats so much it has kept me from doing a fly-in trip in Canada... I'll let you guess which of the other two I disagree with, but I'll tell you that I've been exceptionally happy being married to the same woman for 27 years...

I couldn't be more aligned with that statement if I spent a week trying to write it myself. I've been on the classic English sports car journey...bottom line, I want to drive, not fix the thing... I've been on the classic SxS Shotgun journey: bottom line, I want to shoot, not pay for a gunsmith's kids to go to college. I've been on the "buy an old boat and fix it up" journey...bottom line, I want to fish, not work on the boat. What I learned from all of those journeys was that while I love the classics, and genuinely admire the time, dedication, hard work and raw talent it takes to get them up to a usable state and maintain them...they are not for me. For example, both the SxS shotguns I own and shoot these days were made less than 15 years ago... I really like other people's classic cars, other people's classic shotguns and other people's old boats...

I dunno. in 1980 a friend and I built a VW kit car...Aztec 7. Had a buncha fun.

This is going to be fun to watch, thanks!