Ben

As mention, depends on TM. If your'e using a standard TM, one that has the five or six different selectable speeds and not using a MinKota Maxximizer, or similar fully variable speed TM it doesn't hurt to run your electronics, (depth finder etc). If you are running the Maxximizer or similar do not connect your electronics to the TM battery. Get you a $20 lawn and garden battery to run them, it will last a long time just on the electronics. Run time totally depends on amp hour rating of battery and amp draw of the TM. A 105 - 115 AH deep cycle battery will run a 28 lb thrust TM for several hours - at slower speeds but probably about 2 hours on Max.

Don't stereotype. I've got a nine year old granddaughter that will out fish a lot of ya'll. She thows a Shimano 101B baitcaster as good as most. She's been throwing one over a year and I taught here the right way, cast with her right, reel with her left. She's very good with, spinner baits, a couple of cranks, a couple of top waters and jigging spoons. Fixing to start teaching here plastic worms. Here largest bass is only 4 1/2 lbs but loss one that would have gone 7 - 8. Here favorite story is how she skunked me one day. She caught two nice bass, and I loss one on the first point we hit. While moving to the next location, motor broke and TM'd back to ramp, so we had to quit. My dad named that point Ashley's point because that's where she skunked her papa. There have been several occasions where she has caught the biggest fish of the day when in the boat with me and my dad.

Small diameter braid on a bait caster is not a good combo. Get almost any kind of backlash and it's almost impossible to get out. Small diameter braids also don't handle wear. Any little nick and the stuff will come apart. You also have to remember, braids are extremely abrassive on the tip eye. If you don't have a guide set designed for braids, it will eat a slot in the tip rather quickly. If I use a braid, it's 30 lb or larger because the only time I'm going to use it is when pitching/flipping in heavy cover for large bass.. I will use the 10 lb braid when I'm bottom bouncing in deep water but I'm not casting it and if I feel it hitting stuff or catching a lot of fish, I will take several feet off quite often and retie.

As LBH eluded to, what type of paint, what size boat etc. Just bought some automotive red urathane that was $176 a quart. Also depends on if you have the equipment, compressor, spray gun etc and skills. Do you want it to look smooth and shiney? Most paints are not going to stay on a fiberglass boat for very long. There are some marine grade epoxies that do OK, but almost any paint you use, after it gets a few months age on it, will start to flake off when it get's chipped. If your'e thinking spay cans, forget it. They paint Corvets all the time and it seems to stay ok but that's an automotive application and doesn't seem to work well on boats.

Finding what retrieve works best is all part of developing a pattern.

Yes, the trailer hook is usefull, you are always going to get short strikes, now matter what lure you're using. I've taught my dad how to bass fish, and he's my fishing partner about 99% of the time now. He doesn't throw a spinner without a trailer hook and I don't throw one with a trailer hook. I have to go get his ten times more often than I have to get mine. Over the past couple of years, he's so hooked on trailer hooks he's putting them on just about everything he throws, rattle traps, crank baits, Pop-N-Spot for schooling fish, even on dang top water when whe're ripping them. If he's moving it at any speed, he thinks a trailer hooks works better. I curse all the time because I'm the one running the trolling motor and having to go get the dang things. Every now and then he will have a fish on the trailer, so he thinks it's great.

The size and type trailer is going to be determined by the size blades, weight and alignment of the spinner, and speed you want to fish it. The faster you want to crank one, the smaller the blades and thinner the trailer will need to be, If not, it will role or lay on it's side. A properly running spinner bait should run with the bait/hook directely under the blades, it should not lay over on one side or the other and definetly should not role. They also determine the depth you can run it. Improper alignment will cause one to run on one side or the other, that's just a matter of bending the jig head at the wire until it runs true. Want it to run deeper and not have to crank at a slow role speed, or want to burn it and it not role, use a heaver heads, smaller blades and thinner trailers until you get the speed and depth you want. Hate to double post but figured this might help you understand the spinner bait a little more.

When loss of a fish meant a loss of money, I never threw a spinner bait or buzz without a trailer hook. Now that I no long have to worry about weighing in what I catch, I never use a trailer hook because they greatly increase the number of hang-ups when working through cover. The few short strikes and missed fish are so few, it's not worth the extra hassle. As for fishing one without a split-tail or some other type of trailer, that will never happen. I might take a blade off, change blades, change skirts, put a #4 willow leaf on a 1/2 oz body so I can burn the crap out of it, but never will it go in the water without some type of trailer. Trailer hook is nothing but a big eyed hook. You stick the hook on the spinner through the big eyed hook and use a piece of surgical tubing to hold the trailer hook on. Just stick the spinner hook through a short piece so it won't let the trailer slide back off. Forgot to mention, if you're fishing cover, it will reduce hang ups if you slide the tubing over the eyer of the trailer hook and then stick the spinner hook through the tubing and big eye. This helps keep the hook from just flopping around back there.

I like my Mauie Jims I got at BPS. Granted though not everyone wants to dish out $180 for a pair of sunglasses. However, I would not recommend cheap sunglasses either, they can actually be more harmfull to your eyes than not having any on. As someone mentioned, not all polarized glasses are created equal. Bassmaster's had an article about them a while back, both guys in a boat had on good polarized glasses, one could see a nice big bass on the bed and the other couldn't, they swapped glasses and both could see it. Pointing out even in good glasses, different polarizations work different for different people. Recommendation was to try them before you buy them. With the cheap glasses, it doesn't matter, they all just have a polarized film stuck over them and they all pretty much work the same, about half***. To answer ones question do cheap polarized work as well as expensive one, no shape form or fashion. There is a world of difference in the polarization between cheap and high quality lenses. There are many ways of polarizing a leans, cheap lens use the cheapest methods and just barely rate as polarized. When you try a few of the high quality lenses against the cheap lenses you will readily see the differences. I've got a set of $90 RayBans I keep in the boat as spares and there's noticable difference between them and the Maui Jim's. I used those until I tried a set of MJ's.

Doesn't matter as long as the vehicle has a towing capacity rating for what you will be towing under the conditions you will be towing it. You hook a 3,500 boat behind anything less than a 3/4 ton pickup and go hauling down the interstate at 75 mph or up through the mountains and you can expect about half life out of your transmission. I with Glenn, if you go to a lot of different ramps, you will really appreciate four wheel drive. The ramp I use most is not real steep and paved but slick as grease when it's wet. Two wheel drive vehicles have a hard time getting enough traction to come out with a heavy boat. I watched a guy launch his boat and half his truck backing down one day. He was launching one of those ocean size boats and when he put on brakes he just slid until the boat was far enough in the water it took the weight of the truck. The only thing left out of the water of the truck was the part of the cab and front. Luckly he did't sink the motor and was still able to drive out. Probably had to change pants though, and not because they were wet.

First, you will want to have the breaker at the battery terminal. If the manufactor of the motor thought it needed six guage, he would have used it. The motor pigtale is short enough the wire they use is fine. The further current has to run through a wire, the greater resistance. That's why you use a larger diameter wire from the battery to the front of the boat. Current also travels the outer surface of a conductor, that's why you should use the fine wire battery/welding cable. The surface area of this cable is much greater than solid conductor or standard multi-strand six guage wire. If you use standard wire, you should use at least a 4 ga. Where the two cables are connected together is where you need to concentrate. This is ususally the point of greatest resistance. Make sure to use a connector rated for load plus 50% or use lugs that can be bolted or crimped and soldered. What kind of 50 amp breaker are you using. 50 amp is rather large and you should be using one that's rated for the voltage and current you will be using. That has an effect on when the breaker will actually trip. A 50 amp AC house breaker is not going to trip at the same point a 50 amp 12 VDC breaker

98 degrees in the shade, humidity about 80%, how can you be thinking about winter? Yes, here in GA, I fish year round. In Jan and Feb I do concentrate on the strippers about as much as the bass. We start the moring off bass fishing but after a couple of hours, when the strippers start, we change to them. When stripper's quit, we go back to bass fishing. If the gulls are active early, we skip the bass and go straight for the strippers. There are times we have caught over 30 in one morning that went between 12 - 16 lbs. Catching these with Storm swim baits on 7' medium rod and 14 lb test line are tons of fun. When you get into them, if it didn't take so dang long to get one in, you could catch more. Forgot to mention, a very good thermal suit, a couple of dozen pairs of gloves and a couple of those Coleman pancake looking heaters help greatly. I've spent bunches of money on just about every kind of Gortex and every other kind of glove to keep your hand dry and haven't found one yet that works. Those cheap, brown cotton gloves and the heaters are still the best thing I've found. when the cotton gloves get wet, change to another pair and use the heaters to warm your hand back up.

Pond fishing the same pond on daily basis is going to teach you bass are a lot smarter than you give them credit for. First, you have to learn to use a number of different presentations for the same bait. When they (and they will) quit hitting that bait, change to another. If you drive to the pond, start parking farther away, it doens't take long for them to relate that ground vibration to the fact you are there to fish for them. If you use a boat in a small pond, same thing, that noise will shut them down in a heart beat. Leave the pond alone for a few weeks and then fish it, you will see a big difference in the bites but that will be short lived if you go back a couple of times in a row. Add the fact that the summer time heat has them slowed a lot and it can make bites almost impossible. I have three small ponds on my land, all three have plenty of bass. I know for a fact me and my dad are the only ones that fish them unless someone is willing to walk about a mile through the woods to slip in. I can leave them alone for a month or so, go fish them and catch a large number of bass. Fish them a couple of times in a row and you are lucky to get a bite.

A few years ago, I had a friend that bought two for both his jet skies when he stored them for the winter. Next spring when he was getting them ready for the lake, batteries were stone dead in both.

KU hit the nail on the head. Everybody thinks what the have is the best there is. If it satifies their needs and they are happy with it, they have a right to feel that way. That's why there are so many different flavors of ice cream. If there was truely a "BEST" of anything, best quality, best price etc, that satisfied everyone, there would only be one kind made. I think any of the top name boats are quality boats, just depends on what you're looking for. Some ride better, some make a better fishing platform, some are faster, some try to make a happy medium between all three. They all have one thing in common, they are expensive, some a lot more so than others.

Home Depot or Lowes, in the elecrical dept. If it's like what's in most, it's nothing but twist lock electrical connector. Make sure you measure yours and get the exact pin configuration and size, there are several different types/sizes. If it has a number on it you can see would be even better, probably on the side under the mouting though.

I have a 89 285 Pro and I hope you know what you're getting into when you start ripping out all the existing wiring. The wiring/cables run through loops glassed into the cap to hold the wiring up where it runs down the gunwall. It's most likely tie wrapped to these loops also. If you start tugging on them, the loops rip off and everything is laying in a pile down the side. If you pull everthing out, it a good chance you will never get it suspended back up there in a neat manner. There is also no way you're going to come up with cable that has the connectors you have on the factory cable to make a clean, neat installation. The age of the circuit breaker panel is probably going to create problems trying to get all the nuts off them to disconnect the wires. The trim guage works off the motor wiring harness, it's not uncommon for the sending unit on the motor go bad but check it first, they are fairly expensive. Tach also works of the engine harness until it gets to the console. You need to make sure you have the proper signal voltage to the tach. Mine had a bad tach in it when I bought it, so they do go bad also. Might want to check ground wires, they share multiple connections on the back of some of the guages. Using a VOM it's fairly easy to trouble shoot. Check your voltages from the Power switch to the pump switchs. Turn them on and make sure the switch is good, then find the wire the switch is controlling in the back. More than likely, you will find the pumps to be bad if they are still connected. Look for a little white band near the end of the factory wiring, it has typed on it what pump it controls.

Rickracer.com has cables. I most cases, you can add a 6" plate and still use the existing cables. You will need the number off your existing cable.

Unless someone has hacked it up, all the wires should have wire marker lables on the ends in the tank/battery area identifying what they are suppose to be connected to.

Just about any of them that are variable speed. That's fully varialbe, not one of those 12/24 things with the five position switch. The variable speed motors use mosfet controllers to control speed. By design the speed is controlled by the on/off cycles of the mosfet. Since the motor is not constantly drawing current because of the off cycle, it uses much less current at slower speeds. The closer to max you run, the less benifit you get. At max speed there's little difference between any of them with the same thrust rating.

I would recommend taking it off. You will have to hit it fairly firm licks to straighten it If you have some way of supporting it just above the gearcase where the water inlets are, you could do it one the boat but you need to use something like a 2x4 turned flat ways against that area. I have made a T-shaped brace like this, backed the motor close to a solid object and braced it. As for replacing the skeeg, if this is on a fairly fast boat, would strongly recommend against that. I've seen too many perfectly good skeegs broken off on boats that run in the 80's and it can give you a fairly wild ride when it does. Most of these have been skeegs that had the torque tab welded on. If any heat is applied, it really needs to be take apart and the whole thing heat treated. It's better to use no heat than heat in a localized area.

Depends on how much it's bent. I've bent and straightend more than one and have always used a big soft face mallet to straighten them. That's only when they have 1/4" - 3/8" offset. Now if you're talking a serious amount of offset, I would have someone with experience advise you.

Connect the TM cables to the two TM batteries. Connect all other wires to the cranking battery. If you have two reds and two black TM cables one red and one black go on each TM battery. Make sure you connect them properly, usually you will get an arc if you try to connect them wrong and can trip the circuit breakers, hopefully you do have circuit breakers on the TM batteries. The only time I would vary from this is doing a lot of night fishing and using high wattage lights, then I would connect them to the TM batteries.

Again, not much on black, but normally, you can slide the impeller off. It may be stuck at the bottom where it's been running but you should be able to get it to slide up the shaft after you clean the shaft off good. A manual is a great tool.

ProMariner hands down. If you understand how it works and how the others work, there's no comparison. It's smaller, lighter charges twice as fast than DualPro, Guest or just about any other brand. There are a couple as good/better but nothing in the price range you can get the PM for. ProMariner also makes the BPS line but not in the larger size chargers. If one of those little ones is what you had in mind, might want to look at the BPS. If you have the $300+ get the Pro Tourney 300. I bought my third PT 300 in Feb, BPS was wanting about $350, I offered a local dealer $320+tax to order me one, saved a $30 plus the shipping.