ThomasL

Update!,Well i went to edsmarine in va saturday and bought the merc 15 hp fourstroke,boy is that place huge with hundreds of motors in the boxes but none on display which seemed odd to me,even there jons didn't have motors on them.I had to take the boat to a local marine dealer he glass filled the two johnson outboard screw holes and drilled two new ones lower down for the mercury.Will have to water test soon,as for looks ,alot better on that breakup pattern camo than that white motor was!Watch out duckies!!!Quack Quack Quack! BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!! ;D

Oh boy! one up my alley! First 100.00 for a pair of waders is cheap,my simms waist highs were 350.00! One thing to remember neoprenes are basically a thing of the past unless you are fishing very cold waters in winter time conditions.Most people now use breathable waders.Some made by cabelas or hodgeman in the 100.00 range can be found,boot foot or stocking foot ,the later being more expensive.I personally like waist highs,the waters i'm in flyfishing i seldom will come to (can i say this) crotch height! One more thing if you are not flyfishing you better check the regs in the stream you are fishing and make sure you are within the law,it could be catch release,flyfish only,delayed harvest etc. Thank god for game wardens!

When my dad would put up the boat for winter,normally a couple weeks before hunting season,he'd always replace the oil in the lower unit,take out the bottom screw,drain the oil,take out the top plug pump oil in the bottom hole until it came out the top hole,put the plug back in then the bottom plug.

Thanks for the replies,having considered my options and extra money to spend after the motor sale,i'll have to stick with the merc 15 fourstroke for 1799.,a yammie two stroke 15 for 1899.00 or the two stroke 25 for 2299.00 from edsmarinesuperstore.I will agree about weight on two strokes and maintenance but remember the hp i'm referring to.Not many small two strokes made anymore.Also won't cubic inces make some difference?The 15 two strokes are basically around 15-16 cc's where as a fourstrokes are 18-22 cc's.I would think the extra displacement would equal out the fourstrokes dissadvantages verses the smaller displacement two strokes.As for weight the merc is 114 pounds,yammie two stroke 25 is 105,yammie 15 two stroke 79,yammie fourstroke 99 lbs,so the two stroke 15 is the lightest but at the most 30 pounds difference in the lowest to the highest.

In NC insurance is a option not manditory.

Boat monkey made me by a boat,trailer,outboard that just got sold,monkey will return to upgrade that one!,trolling motor,battery,tempress seats,depth finder,all the other little extras. Bait monkey made me buy sage xp flyrod,T&T flyrod(2),loomis glx spinning rod, glx casting rod,shimano stella reel.. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wheres the GUN got to kill them monkeys!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

Ok i sold the 9.9 that was on my war eagle 1436 with front deck,it is rated for a 20 hp engine.I have been told that only coast guards can give tickets for overpowering not game wardens so i'm thinking of a 25 on her.Other than that i have found a honda 15 for 2599.00,20 for 2799.00 in four stroke of course.A mercury 15 hp fourstroke for 1799.00 and a yammie 15 for 2299.00,20 for 2599.00.I was told by some dealers the fourstrokes were not as strong as the two strokes and some told me the oppisite.The boat would plane with me and the wife sitting up front but if you backed off the throttle a little it would start to back down off plane.The price on the merc is for a 2004 but is new but i don't know if i will tell a difference from the 9.9 even though the cubic inches go from 18.1 to 19.7.I don't want to go through the buy sell thing again!!!

Burley,i took back that exact charger to walmart yesterday,it was 44.95. I used my trolling motor from 8 am til 5 pm,put the charger on it two days later,i have a agm battery,hooked it up set it to agm setting,the charger came on and automatically shut right off and said the battery was 100% chargered! Now people you know if i used that trolling motor for 9 hours off and on with the trolling motor and also have my depth finder running all day it would have drained that battery some...So the charger went back to the store.In search of a new one now...

If i would sell the aluminum and buy fiberglass i would be happy with around a 16' boat max rated for around a 90 whatever brand makes that size boat now.Wouldn't burn much gas,still light enough to easily tow and could handle three people on board and not cost a arm and a leg!

I have a jon boat with a lowrance x86ds depth finder and it is ran off my agm group 24 battery that also runs my motor guide trolling motor and the only thing i can see happen is when i hit the button to run the trolling motor a can see the voltage drop from 13.1 to 12.9,12.8 but as soon as i quit running it she goes back to 13.1 but thats normal. One problem i have is when i get up in speed with the outboard i'm experiencing cavitation turbulance around the transducer that messes up the reading on my depthfinder,it'll read 15 ft then 88 ft! I don't think thats a drop off a ledge,if so i need to stop and fish that!

This might take awhile! :.I have been going over a brochure i have from a aluminum boat dealer that list all there brands of boats with listings for each length,width,etc and there is something puzzling to me.First when the coast guard sets hp limits does it consider welded,riveted or fiberglass in the equation or the weight of a boat?For instance you have four or five 1648 boats built by lowe,roughneck(*lowe welded),alumacraft,sea ark,weldcraft.There are slight differences in side height*(1" usually)maybe a inch or two difference in beam width,but then some are riveted boats and others welded.Some are rated for a 40,some a 35,and some a 45.How can such slight differences effect the ratings on a boat that is the same in length and bottom width,10 HP differences.I have seen where if a console was added it would up the HP rating by 10 and if a floor was installed another 10-15 hp added= tiller 40,console 50,console & floor installed 75hp.I would think the more weight added the less HP could be added because of weight,wouldn't you?Shed light on this for me please? :-/

Or save the trouble and buy one with a deck already on it. Lowe,alumacraft,war eagle,xpress,lots of others now have full front decks on 1448's and larger

I flyfish for trout and panfish mostly,smallies with the four weight,speaking of four weight if any of you are in the market for one ,at flyanglers online i have a brand new unfished 7'6" 4 weight loomis glx for sale at over half price,cost 540.00 selling for 250.00.I bought two extras when i found out they were being discontinued,already sold one,this one has to go to!

Fishbear not to be smart $ or anything but is the unit in demo mode? I know mine in demo reads 72 degrees also. :

I believe aluminum is cheaper in price than fiberglass,you can use less hp to move it compared to fiberglass,weight is lighter,aluminum might oxidize a little unless painted,gel coat on fiberglass will fade and chalk over time because of ultraviolet rays.The main thing is how much you'd like to spend and how often you will use it.No sense in buying a 30k rig to sit in a garage or driveway 75% of the year,waste of money to me... The xpress,triton and war eagle are the top three in aluminum,and in price also.The thing with war eagle they will build it basically like you want with a larger front deck,low deck,flat bottom or v hull,etc,these boats are better known in the duck hunting community.7 CAMO COLORS! 8-)

I was on riversmallies.com in the classified section and a gentleman had a lowe 1448 jon with livewell,briggs&stratton 5 hp motor and a nice looking trailer all 2006 year models for sale for only 1400.00 dollars :o .he's selling it because of health issues.i know the briggs engine isn't big enough but sell it and buy a larger one for that price!

Burley,not to put a damper on you'r hopes but when my late father was looking at stratoes,javalins,and such a glasstream was placed like a bayliner runabout,many problems and no one seemed to want one used,could buy them easily on the cheap...But like the other poster get it outside wash it off,check wheel bearings since its sat for a while,crawl under it and look at the hull for damage,but for 2000.00 you can't get stuck but so much! :-X

www.akmccallum.com in fayetteville nc

Fishbear they make a trolling motor bracket for bow mounts that attach to that front short deck with sheetmetal screws and the mount screws onto that.I know a boat dealer near home ak mccallum(may be spelled wrong)sells them and could ship one to you,you'd have to paint it though its lowe green!

I am learning that alot of boat motors are now built by different companies. I was looking at a four stroke mercury and considering it as a option for a HP upgrade.The lady told me the 2004 model she had new was built by mercury in the fourstroke but the new models are actually tohatsu!I knew johnson four strokes were built by suzuki and nissan and tohatsu were the same,now three motors are the same,mercury,nissan,tohatsu. I have found that the only engine built in smaller fourstrokes are yamaha suzuki and honda.Don't mercury and johnson have the technology to build there own fourstokes,or is it a money issue.

Briansoupy,may i make a suggestion,pontoon boat instead of a tube. You sit higher out of the water,most have a padded seat like a boat, you can move around with the oars or install a trolling motor,can be used on small lakes.What i would do is get a good sheetmetal shop fabricate you a plate in front of the seat to place your feet on instead of hanging them on those front pegs,take a look at em. 8-)

I knew a older man once had a pond that he put some chemical in to kill weeds years ago and had to put out signs warning not to take and eat the fish from there,he didn't let but a few people fish there anyways.

Fall fishing to me is bass moving shallow again to bulk up for winter catching them on spinnerbaits,topwater,shallow shad colored crankbaits one of my all time favorites speed shads,then as the waters cool more jig,pigs and large inlines(mepps aglia's) fished deep!Oh trout time in the hills also(gods country!) ;D ;D ;D

Is there another mercury dealer near you to adjust it,or is there a tohatsu or nissan egine dealer nearer,since tohatsu makes mercury fourstrokes in the portable models?

I regulary see other camo boats with the engines completely camoed as to it even being hard to tell the brand much less the horepower it was.Will think on it and ask a few smaller dealers that would trade the 9.9 fourstroke with.