RobDar

Alpster/Ronnie... I think that may have scared me to! LOL!

The "trailer emergency items" post got me thinking... What is the weirdest / worst / funniest travelling experience everyone has had on their way to fishing? We have had several goofy things happen..if I had to pick one.. It would be blowing the trailer bearing in the upper penninsula of michigan on our way to Canada. We felt something weird while towing...had a friend go look to see if he could see anything, he didn't ( apparently the smoke and tire wobbling that a passer by commented on was not a clue) ...but when we stopped at a toll booth the tire fell off. We had to leave the boat on the side of the highway and go searching for a trailer bearing. We drove to the nearest town and started shopping. The thing about the upper penn is that in the off season most things close at noon or there abouts. We went to the first marine place, they sent us to an auto place, who sent us to a closed farm and fleet...a helpful cop sent us to a friend of his...who sent us to another auto place...who sent us to some backwoods guy who does trailer and truck repairs...who made some calls while we played with his dogs...which led us to another place that, though they knew we were coming, went ahead and closed anyway...there was another marina across the street...who sent us to a NAPA...who had the part. after 3 HOURS OF DRIVING AROUND ( and the wife getting more and more angry with each passing mile)....we could see the first place we had stopped into from the parking lot of this NAPA. This NAPA was just around the corner from the first marine place. My wife was so angry...she cried. I laughed so hard I almost pee'd myself. It was so ridiculous it just has to be funny. It was almost like the folks up there had planned the whole thing. I could not keep from laughing. ( which just made the wife more angry and she did not talk to me for hours. ) When we got back to the boat another hour later there was a cop there...who darn near gave us a ticket. If it had not been for the wife's teary cheeks I would have gotten a ticket to boot. My second choice would be the time we were driving to go fishing and some guy, also towing a boat, had to slow quickly and swerve slightly to stop for heavy traffic ( he was talking on his cell phone I might add) His boat broke loose off his hitch...you should have seen the loook on his face when he got clipped in the rear and then his boat pulled up beside him! I was fairly sure he was going to die of a heart attack right there in the drivers seat.

a bit off topic commentary on VRO's VRO failures are not as common as most mechanics would have everyone believe. The old man who does the work on my boat and used to be a Johnson Service Tech trainer ( he trained Johnson service guys when Johnson still did factory training) said that this is a hold over from the days when gas used to have alcohol in it. The alcohol dried the diaphrams. He said it just does not happen like it used to...and most mechanics look to the VRO first when they should be looking elsewhere. He also said it is also the default answer mechanics used when they have no damned idea what is wrong. When my alarm was going off...I was told by 4 places my VRO was bad...I took it to him and he immediately opened my oil tank and pulled the oil float out...it was satuarated with oil and sticking in the alarm position...he replaced the oil float for $14 and AMAZING...the alarm quit going off. He said most marine service places would have changed the VRO...and then found the bad oil float after when the alarm was STILL going off and changed it...and your bill would likely have just been for the VRO...and they would make you feel like they did you a favor by giving you a new oil float for free...when all you actually needed was the $14 oil float in the first place. So you just paid $450 for a $14 dollar repair...because too many mechanics automatically assume the VRO is the culprit.

way2slow hits it on the head again... you can tighten the wingies with a pair of pliers though...the wrench and nut is not necessary. I seem to remember, though do not quote me on this, that battery manufactuers recommend 40 foot lbs of torque? Which you can easily get with a pair of needle nose. I may be off on that, been a long time since I did any serious DC/battery cell wiring. Clean everything with a wire brush till it is all shiny and clean... Make sure everything...crimps on connectors on cables etc...are tight... Tighten everything down good and snug... you can also put a "grease" called Pentrox on the connection...it is an electrically conductive anti oxident but also helps disapate heat. If you are still getting heat...THEN I would check the batteries.

I would bet more than 50% of the guys I see shore fishing pay absolutely no attention to size limits... seems especially bad a the State Parks.

cooler with a aerator is a good idea.

not a state boating requirement...it is a Coast Gaurd requirement. In Indiana it is also covered in the Electrical Code. It is in the NEC as well ( National Electrical Code)

if you are worried about bearings and such, replace them, it is real cheap and easy... put new ones in now and use bearing buddy caps and you will likely NEVER have a problem. I blew a bearing on my old trailer on the way to Canada...nothing too bad happened other than being in the upper penninsula of Michigan on a Saturday, off season, and everything closes at noon. We started at one place and each place kept sending us to someone else...most of whom were closed...and finally ended up finding the bearing AFTER 3 HOURS of driving....at a place IN SIGHT OF where we had started. my wife cried she was so upset...I never laughed so hard in my life.

I had an easier time finding parts and props for my MinnKota than I did my MotorGuide. Seems everyone sells MinnKota...makes things easier I think.

look online for rebuilt powerheads...( www.iboats.com is one place)... alot of the time there is not huge differences in rebuilding and replacing. having one bad cylinder says to me it is likely the boat was run hard and maybe not maintained as well as it should have been. I would worry about blowing another cylinder ...thus the comments on replacing or completely rebuilding. The rebuild that someone told me I needed for my 60 horse Johnson was about $1600 ( turns out my 60 horse is SUPPOSED to have low compression on its center cylinder...it is a delimited 70 horse they made into a 60 by limiting the center cyliners compression...glad I check with Johnson first!)

If I were you...you have waited till this late in the season...I would wait now until the new model year ( spring, early summer) and try and pick up a boat when the dealer is trying to make room for the 2007's

it is illegal in most states... as well as you run the risk of ruing your buddies pond and killing off any fish already there. The immune system of a fish is supplemented as well as adjusted to its home body of water...sometimes even a particular area of its home body of water. With risks like LMBV and other infectous diseases...I think it would be highly irresponsible to move fish from one place to another. Why not just get a permit and stock your buddies pond?

I have been boat shopping for awhile now...G3 is one of the boats in my top three. I have made ALOT of phone calls and read ALOT of reviews in the past year. LOL...actually...this works the same as it does with HVAC suppliers and Electrical WholeSalers...it is their way of protecting the dealers profits. It is how they ( the manufactuer) sell being a dealer for their boat brand. I just had an electrical supplier contact me with just this tactic. " We do not sell to homeowners so you can buy at wholesale and mark up the product as high as you like because they cannot compare prices" ( which is bullcrap when you consider any moron can go to Home Depot or Menards and get a farily good idea what things actually cost) G3 prices You will find G3 prices all over the board depending on where you are and what competition is in the area. Example...I talked to a few G3 dealers about a the same boat with the same options and the prices range differed by $3,000-$6,000. The G3 dealers can charge rates competitive with other boats of different makes but the same " style". I found the G3 dealer in Illinios ( cannot remember the name...Riverside marine???) to be cheapest, but his local competition are makers like Tracker and Polar Kraft. One of the other Dealers I talked to whose competition was more expensive brands Ranger and Triton were more expensive. I found some dealers on the G3 site who were getting out of the G3 boats and were selling their stock at really good prices...so calling around may be of some benefit. When I called and talked to a few G3 dealers I was calling about an 18' Eagle 175 with a 90 or 120 horse outboard...trolling motor...yadda yadda yadda...I was getting prices in the low 20's.

when the wife and I prefish a tournament we usually do it in the late morning or mid day. If we can find the fish then, we should have no problems in the morning. Our "reverse fishing"...fishing later in the day and then hitting those same spots real early at tourney opening, has shown us that the fish do not really go very far. The places where you are finding fish in the mornings...is near where you will find them in the afternoon. EXAMPLE: If we are fishing a line of rip rap along a bridge in the morning in about 3 foot of water...in the afternoon the fish are still there, only they will be a bit deeper or on structure where the water remains cooler and better oxygenated. If we fish 10 yards out in the morning...we will fish at 20-30 yards out over deeper water in the afternoon...we will move to the drop, hole, shelf, or deeper water right there in that same area. this is so long as there have not been some other major weather changes from morning to afternoon. ...and in the afternoon we find we have to fish much slower than the morning. Afternoons are our finesse fishing times. I actually just made a map of an area of the cal river for my cousin that kinda demonstrates this...the GREEN LINES are morning spots....the RED LINES are afternoon spots.

All too well!! My boat is 13 years old, I have been there countless times! Just wait until you get into tracing an intermittent short or my real favorite.... the occasionally faulty ground!! > > > > ;D ;D It is like you conquered the world when you finally find and fix it! ...lol LOL flechero... I had an issue with a short in my horn...I know, I know it is just the darn horn...( my wife gave me that...you are such an idiot...look when I wanted to fix it). I messed around with it for about an hour...then gave up and just replaced all the wiring for the horn! It is nice to know I am not the only obsessive one on here! LOL! The livewell line is another good suggestion. I will have to check both that and the speedometer line as soon as it quits storming long enough. thanx again guys...

do yourself a favor...take the trailer in and have it sandblasted. I know it seems like spending the money is silly sometimes, but after a few long days with the grinding wheel you will thank me. LOL!!! Sandblasting is the best way to get the trailer COMPLETELY stripped! then you can treat or cut out and repair any rust and get a good coat of primer and paint on it. If you use the bed liner be sure not to cover any rust with it...have to get all the rust COMPLETELY removed...it will actually make it rust faster by sealing moisture against the trailer. If you just want it to look prettier...and not do all that work...strip the rust, treat it with rust treatment, primer and paint it but do not use the bedliner on it. OH and.... Herculiner will not stick to any product with Alcohol in it...which ALOT paints and primers do have. Also the bedliner will not stick to metal...it has to be primed at least for it to adhere. Sherwin Williams makes a good, no alcohol, metal primer that is also a rust inhibitor.

CONGRATS!!!!

sounds like you are explaining a tri hull...what some old timers call a "super chine" hull. It was real popular and still is somewhat popular in recreational boats...not so much on fishing boats. They are actually very stable boats. Not alot of roll or pitch from movement inside the boat...do not lean like a normal V hull and do not SLAP like a Jon or flat bottom. This is why they were so popular for ski boats and such. They do not corner or turn as well though and have fallen somewhat out of popularity these days. My father had a Browning Mustang Ski boat that was a tri hull. It was a nice riding boat, but you had to be careful turning in rough water unless you were at full plane ( with the front of the hull out of the water) or moving real slow...at moderate speeds the boat would sometimes catch a wave sideways and the outside hull point, the outside chine, would grab and lurch the boat real hard. Have you ever heard anyone say always cross a wave or wake at 45 degrees? That belief actually started with these tri hull or super chine boats because of their tendency to grab water crossing the hull at any angle steeper than that... Cobra boats still makes a super chine fishing boat...called the Sidewinder...which is actually a racing hull adapted to a fishing platform.

got a bilge and all that... and I realize that it really is not a big deal that it leaks...it is just a point of agggrivation with me. Its like I have put this much time and effort into, now I will not be happy until I get it stop leaking. Now it is kind of a challenge ya know. I did replace the drain plug...but it would not hurt to try another one. I will try that and see if it changes anything. The speedometer tube huh...hmmm...I would have neer thought of that...that is a really good possibility actually. I will definately have to look into that... thanx guys...

fish have a very limited central nervous system. Do they feel pain? Science says NO. End of discussion as far as I am concerned.

I would start down by the dam as well and hit the point and drops near deeper water...the nose looking point on the north side near the d**n.

we did not catch what we were fishing for...Kentucky Lake, early october...we we fishing for smallmouths and got into stripers. We almost moved, but were having way too much fun. It only lasted an hour or so, but every time the lure hit the water we caught a fish...I do not know how many we caught but it was enough.

a wee bit of a saga made as short as possible.... So when I bought my boat ( Tracker Pro Team 175 ) it has a wee bit of a leak. I am fairly sure it had been run aground at one time. ( why did I buy a boat with a leak? I did not know it had one when I bought it) I himmed and hawed as to what to do about it. I toyed around with the idea of pulling the deck and floor and re-riveting it...that promised to cost more than the boat was worth. Plus I really have nowhere to do that kind of work and the thought of being outside in January in my Carharts fixing my boat was not very enticing. I then found a company who sold sealed cap blind rivets I thought may work...but that proved a little too scary. Drilling holes in my boat was a bit more stress than I could manage. Then I thought...well hell if I am going to do it, lets do it right and just get the sucker welded... I could not find anyone who would touch it with a ten foot pole. ( and by the way the guy before me had used JB weld on a spot or two...apparently JB weld, even when removed with a grinder, prohibits ever having aluminum welded. Something about it changes the properties of the metal and makes it unweldable ) ...so then I moved on to some sort of epoxy...I researched epoxies for months...talked to manufactuers, technical reps...the works...finally settled on an expoxy...which worked really well...but I still had a leak. so at someones suggestion I filled the boat with water... I was leaching water at a previous weld repair...so back on the phone with the welders. A guy who has a mobile welding business stopped by and told me that whomever welded it before had welded it too hot and the weld was actually pourous...and once saturated will leak. Oh freakin wonderful... He suggested I cover the welds with the epoxy. I went a bit further... another few weeks of research led me to using Herculiner Paint on truck bed liner. ( everwhere except where the bunk boards go) I stripped the bottom, cleaned it with a special acid, stripped in again, primed it with a Sherwin Williams aluminum primer and painted on the bed liner... I still have a freakin leak...but now it only leaks some of the time. When I fill the boat with water, no seepage or water anywhere...it is well sealed..but on some days I still get a slow leak. I cannot figure out where the heck the water is coming in at... one of the through the hull fittings? I would expect that to seep when the boat has water in it through a rivet again... same as above...I would expect some seepage... so all of that work and now I have seepage I cannot find, which frankly does not seem like much of an improvement to me... anyone have any ideas?

I have never heard of Ultra High Density Polymer Carpet...sure sounds pretty though... My father in law and I both replaced ours with the same carpet we redid our deck carpet with...havent had any problems.

what era trailer lights are we talking about here??? the waterproof enclosed style or the older exposed bulb? since you said you changed the bulb I am guessing the exposed bulb...