Ben

The 480DF has a 50Khz transducer that works better in deeper water. Unless you're fishing deeper than 50 ft, doubt you will need it. The 50khz doesn't have the resolution in shallow water the 192Khz. The main thing is the 192Khz has approx 20 degree cone which gets awful wide at 50 ft, the 50Khz has approx 8 degree cone which lets you pin point your target much better. Now, with all that said, I have a 480 on the bow of one of my boats and don't like it. I have the old Lowrance X-75 on the bow of another and on the consoles of both and like them much better than the 480, ever though the 480 is suppose to have twice the resolution. When Garmin first came out with the 240, I bought one of those, used it about three months and gave it to my brother, didn't like it either. I know the Eagle is made by Lowrance and it's suppose the be basically the same unit without some of the extra features. I've have two Eagles, the 240 and the 480. The 240 wasn't bad, but the 480 is not even close to being in the same class.

First, did the Durango come with the trailer light hook up. If it didn't go to a parts store or dealer and get the trailer light adapter. If you're trying to wire into the vehicles wiring, I seriously doubt you will know how to do that. I takes several diodes to build a harness. Next, as LBH stated, make sure you have the ground wire (white wire) in the trailer harness fastened to the trailer frame and it's clean bare metal under it. From there, it's simple wiring. Brown wire is park/running lights. If I remember right, the yellow wire is left brake/turn signal lights, Green is right brake/turn signal. The reason you need the factory style trailer light harness for the vehicle is the vehicle uses seperate lamps for turn and brake. The boat uses the same so you have to run the vehicles separate lamps into a single wire and use blocking diodes to keep them from back feeding into each other.

The lake I mostly fish is 95 miles. I go every other weekend. Usually fish friday evening when I get there and depending on conditions, friday night. Fish from before sunrise on Sat and Sunday til about 1 PM. On staturday go back to parents house, (they live just a couple of miles from ramp) eat, work on what they have saved for me to fix and go back around 4 PM and fish till dark or on into the night. Head back home sunday afternoon. I do this year round, Spring, summer, fall and winter. At today's gas prices and between the truck and boat, I burn about 60 gallons each trip, the wifes starting to question my going every other weekend. I said it's either go fishing or go look for another wife. I have thought about taking my 16' Fisher (tin can) with the 50 and leaving the bass boat with the monster motor. I also have an 17 ft Stratos with a 115 merc I leave up there we use some but when my granddaughter goes, it's a little small for three to fish. Keeps on I might start thinking about taking the 14' jon with a 25.

Withing driving distance of your home. Buying a pig in a poke ain't the best way to pick up a good, used motor. When you check into the cost of shipping, you'll find you can pay a lot more for a good local motor than the "DEAL" you might think your'e getting. 20 - 25's are going to be the hardest to come up with. That's probably one of the most popular sizes for small boats. I have two 25's but don't want to get rid of one.

I've been running seven (mor than one boat) Wally World batteries for years, back when they carried Stowaways and now the Everstarts and have never had any real complaints. I usually get two - three years from them. I've had a couple that died a premature death but the 18 month free replacement took care of that. Like they say, there's always a WalMark close by. I've never had a problem with run time, even when running TM on high most of the day chasing schooling fish. I not a Wal-Mart fan, hate to go in the place, but I there are a few things I do buy there.

I removed the recepticale in front, stuck my TM cable through the hole and hard wired it with large crimp connectors, soldered them after crimping and put heat shrink of the connection. I also connected both red cables together and both black cables together (the one going from back to front), connected my TM batteries in series and installed a 50 amp breaker on the positive terminal. I installed a 24V Battery Charge Indicator (BCI) in the front. If you feel you need to use a connector, get two of the flat gray 75 amp connectors like they use on golf cart chargers. Grainger's and BPS sells them. These don't work for 12/24 volt motors, you only have two terminals and need three with 12/24V motors. These connectors are the same, no male and female, one just flips over and plugs into the other. Crimp and then solder the lugs.

I think I was misunderstood just a little. In 45 years of bass fishing, I've never had but one break off at the boat and that was because I let my line get under a portable 6 gal tan, this was many years ago. Your could easily see the hammered place in the line but didn't realy know what happened to the line at the time but two days later, it got my rod tip, then I learned. I have bunches break off in cover, but never one in open water. As for getting the hook out, if it's suck down in his gills or throat, I cut it off with dikes and leave it alone. Experts claim it does more damage to get it out than to leave it in, so I follow their lead. I to don't consider a fish caught until I'm the one releasing it, and it does tick me off to have a big one get to the boat, say it's tired of playing this game, give my lure back to me and go on it's way, but I feel that's part of the sport and challange. If I can't land it without a net, it wins that round. Just like when I bow hunted, I used a recurve, couldn't give me a compound. Those things push an arrow faster than a 22 bullet. If I wanted that, I would use a gun. I play for the sport and challange, not just the kill.

If it's over about 13 inches, I'm gonna release it anyway, so if I loose him at the boat, no biggie. I'm not into hanging fish on the wall, figure they are much more productive in the water so I don't use a net, it's much easier on the bass.

In 6" I use 4/0 EWG In 8" I use 5/0 EWG

I run a Motor Guide 60 lb thrust with variable speed on my 89 285 Pro and it does just fine, plenty of speed and power. Just be sure you get the biggest, baddest mount you can get with a 42" shaft. If you fish a lot of big water with big waves, you might want to get a 50" shaft, but you will have the head pulled up in your way most of the time in shallow water. If the water gets pretty rough from boat wakes etc, the 42 pops out a lot. As for battery life, if you get the variable speed, there's no difference between brands. I guess I should have mentioned, if you have the original circuit breakers you will need to change them. They are too small and will trip out when running on high for any length of time. Also don't recommend using that plug/receptical deal up front, it will overheat, won't handle the load.

Run good oil Decarb every 50 hours Change water pump impeller and grease spline on drive shaft every three years Winterize/grease and change oil in LU every fall. Don't run old, stale gas.

What it boils down to, check your setup, make sure there's no play in the steering wheel etc. The deeper the motor is in the water the more it's subject to walk. Three blade props tend to walk more that four. Now with all that said, if you want to go fast, you've got to trim up. If you trim up it's gonna walk. Now the bad news, to stop the walk, you've gotta learn to drive the boat. You have to make corrections before it starts to walk, once it starts, it's only gonna get worse, and dangerous. If you know someone that has one and knows how to drive it, get them to drive yours and give you some driving lessons. That will greatly reduce the learning curve.

It's not "when big fish won't bite" it more of learning what it takes to get them to bite and where you will find that bite. You've gotta remember, the reason the fish got big, they don't bite just anything that comes by them, they've seen most of it too many time. You've also got to realize they don't usually hang out in the same areas as the smaller fish There's a totally different mind set for catching big fish than for catching fish. Tournament fishing is not the best time to learn, under the pressure of needing to boat fish. One of the best things under those conditions is to be a backseater and pay attention to what the guy in front is doing.

Wouldn't be too quick on another prop. Get your jackplate on and motor dialed in with it. Raker is a good prop, it's just a crapshoot if you get a good one out of the box or not. In the hands of the right prop guy though, they are good props.

I'm affraid anything I told you might be wrong as to who or when the different foams were used. I don't deal in or work with boats, just my own stuff, so what little I know is from personal experience. It's just I've owned and messed with outboard powered boats and motors since 1966, and I have had a bunch of them since then. (used my canoe and jon til then) The only time you would really need to be concerned is when a boat is stored outside uncovered. I have more of a phobia about the transome being rotten than the foam being wet. I've seen boats not four years old with rotted transome where they didn't seal the engine mounting bolts properly. To properly repair a rotten transome will cost $3,000 - $4,000 dollars. Basically making a good boat junk but people will buy them as junk and then sell them to some unkowning sole for big bucks.

I've never had but one boat that actually caught a bass, so use it and enjoy your fishing. Any boat is better than no boat (well, almost). Oh! was night fishing in shallow water and I or something spooked a small bass and it jump in the boat with us. This was a low sided jon so it didn't have to jump very high.

I've never messed with the 60 degree motors so I don't know, I thought it was about 5,800. If it's a raker, it will have the size where the washer is under the nut. You might be able to read it without taking the nut and washer off. What ever it is, if your boat was not loaded for bear, the next size smaller would be better. For some reason people get hung up on thinking it they are running a bigger prop, it makes them think they can run faster, or makes them feel like they are running a big motor. I just can't get used to turning motors that slow. Two stroke motors just always last longer and perform better when proped to turn at/near their max recommend rpm. I could easily turn a 28" raker and probably a 30" but I run a 26". If that's with you buy yourself, what does it do with two people, full tank of gas, and gear? With two big people 40 gal's of gas a ton of gear and center livewell full, my boat litterly launches out of the hole. If you decide to try a jackplate, I think a 6" would help you. You have more than enough room for the gains in rpm it and winter will give.

Open cell flotation foam is like a sponge, it can become completely filled with water and is almost impossible to dry it out. Very much like the green Oasis the flower shops use to arrange flowers in. Closed cell foam forms individual little mini air pockets and will not assorb water. Approx 3% by volume is all it can assorb, where open cell can assorb almost 100%. A lot of boats used open cell when they first started putting foam in them but many had it a way they kept it somewhat dry. The old Stratos 285 Pro's floor drain, drains into the hull right on top of the foam and then out a hole under the seats. If the boat was level or bow down, several inches of water could build up on top of the foam and just sit there, soaking in. I don't think anyone uses open cell foam anymore and don't have a clue who did and didn't, or when they stopped. To remove it from my boat, I had to take the cap off, remove the floor and dig it out with a shovel. I took approx 22 cubic feet and weighed just a little over 300 pounds. Should have only weighed 40 pounds. To do this job you had better know what you're doing, be good with fiber glass and insane.

That's way too much money for that boat with that motor. Go to Nadaguides.com and check out what they price it out at. www.nadaguides.com/Values/ValueManufacturer.asp?UserID=6448dfcd-cc12-41cf-b76d-f5d4b8a3edbe&DID=38620&wSec=4&wPg=1027&zipcode=31044 I have a 89 285 Pro. It had a GT 150 on it when I bought it, an absolute dog (lead slead) with that motor. I paid $3,100 for mine five years ago. You should be able to find a one of the 285 Pro XL's in an early 90 model for that amount. The 89 hull weighs 1,400 lbs, rides good but slow. The later XL hull is 200 lbs less and several mph faster. If the boat has be sitting out, there's a very good chance the floation foam is holding lots of water (uses open cell foam). My boat was almost 300 pounds heavier than it was suppose to be because of wet foam. To remove it would cost you about what you paid for the boat. Shoot, I would sell you mine for that price, with a freshly rebuilt GT 150. Boat's was completely restored two years ago, all seats recovered, new plush 20 oz carpet, fresh closed cell floation foam and new gel clear coat and blue printed hull. Very nice looking boat. If you want it very fast, I would sell you the motor I have on it but for a couple $K more. Approx 300 hp and pushes it a little over 80 mph.

You should be able to get the gear, unless it's a very old out dated model. Try this www.trollnmotors.com/ I've had several appart, you just have to make sure you get the wires marked properly because if I remember right, you have to disconnect all them to get the gear off. Might want to go ahead and get the bearings and replace them also while you have it off. You have to take it and the head off to replace them.

If your dealer says you can go back six inches without having to change steering cables, I would start shopping about for a good used Detwiler or similar make. You realy need to do something to get your rpm up. With your normal load you should be turning at least 600 rpm more than you're turning, 4,800 WOT is killing the performance of that boat. Right now, you are one - two prop sizes too big on pitch. You might think it's ok, until you get in one like yours that's set up properly and turning about 1,000 more rpm. Are you sure the Max factory recommended rpm is only 5,500, I would think it would be a little more than that.

Didn't mean to talk you out of the plate, was just saying once you add the plate and get everything else setup with a stock prop, a tuned prop would probably add another 2 - 3 mph. I wouldn't run a bass boat without a jackplate, most boats benefit greatly from one. Talk to your dealer and see what he has to say about the pro's and con's of adding one on your hull. See if you can install a 6" one on your hull without having to change steering cables. If you can, I would start shopping for a good used one. You can find good used 6" Detwilers, Slide Masters and a couple of other good brands for $150, sometimes even less. The next question would have to be what rpm are you turning now? You will probably gain a couple of hundred rpm when you add a plate. When the weather and water starts cooling off you will also gain two - three hundred rpm. Do you have room with the prop you have to gain 400 - 500 rpm this winter without going too far over redline? A couple of hundred over's not going to hurt but 400 - 500 is a bit much. With a jackplate dialed in, late in the fall and a light load, you may bumb that 70 mph you were wanting

That's a rather old motor, no where near as fuel efficient as later models. Then you have to figure the rings, pistons and cylinders are gonna have enough wear the loss of power caused by blow by is going to be rather significant. Then the carbon build up in the exhaust system, etc. All this adds up to loss of power and efficiency. With all that said, I would love it if I could run wide open for 20 minutes on five gallons.

That should get you better than you have but most likely, they are only going with their standard setup and an out of the box prop. There is no prop that comes straight out of the box that going to match the perfomance a prop tuned for your boat. There are a number of guys that tune props but Boger is about the best when it comes to these bass boats. He has also tested enough different props on different boats the can just about tell to the 1/4" what engine height to run, what's the best setback and which prop will work best after he tunes it. The prop is the one thing that connects the power to the water and that's the one thing most people neglect or don't want to spend the money for, yet makes the biggest difference in performance. My boat gained eight mph (74 - 82 mph) just by having a 26" Raker tuned for it. Now this is a very modified motor. A friends Stratos 201 with an engine I built (modified) for it went from 74 - 80 mph when he finaly got him to get a prop tuned for his. Now, these are high horse power modified motors that needed a custom prop to help hook that power to the water so you won't see these kind of gains. With everything else set, a 2 - 3 mph top end gain is common for stock motor and boats with a improved hole shot.

Just remember, when you start trying to get that extra 1 - 2 mph out of it, it can be a battle. First the jack plate and getting it tweaked for the prop you have, then trying different props and tweaking for each of those because they will all setup different. To save you a lot of hassle, check with dealer and see what's allowed on your hull so you don't void the warrenty. Then check with Rich Boger and see what size jackplate and prop he would recommend and let him build you a prop. That will give you the most bang for the buck and will save you counless hours of experimenting, and will actually save you money in the long run, but you will doubt that to start with when you get his price.