HPBB

I have a Motorguide 109# Digital tour( cable steer) and its the best I have ever used. Had a few MG in the past any they were junk, but this one is great, going on 4 years ( boat see the water about 70-100 times a year) and have not had one, not one problem with it. Had minnkota's too and seem to be haveing them fix every year. I had a few Powerdrives and hated them. one got ripped of the boat.( that was great) The other I sold. I had to replace the foot pedel 3 times in 2 years that was enough for me. It will be MG digital tour for me from now on.

I was just checking out Lund's web site, and they have new for 2009 a 20+footer, 250hp tiller model. Yes, I said tiller. 250hp Merc optimax tiller. can you say wide open boat to. sorry, I have to go now and lift some weights just thing about 250hp tiller makes my arms hurt.

scam. It came up On Pittsburghs CL and I yelled scam as soon as I saw it. At least it wasn't the ranger this time

why would you have to remove a wally world battery in the winter? Mine sit in both of my boats outside In Pittsburgh ( its going down to 8 tonight) they stay plugged in and I never have any problems. If you feel you need to spend the big $$ on batteries then go ahead and get them.

if you not sure how the batteries hook up. I would take it to a dealer and have it looked at, before you buy anything. you might just have them hooked up wrong. your batteries should look something like this battery 1 has neg going to the TM, the pos jumped to neg of battery 2, and the pos of battery 2 jumped to neg of battery 3, and pos of battry 3 going to the TM battery 1 battery 2 battery 3 neg Pos----------neg pos---------neg pos to tm to tm

one thing, are the batteries hooked up right? not saying anything, but when you are cleaning and checking everything you might have hooked them up wrong. some times the easiest, most straight forward things, get overlooked. I run a 36volt MG TM and it will run on 12 volt just slow. also it might be your charger. I had one that would say batteries were at full charge and they weren't even close.

I was up fishing lake Erie, and had a MK PD go from stow to run postition at 45mph. ripped it right off the boat. greatest day of my fishing/boating life.

one thing to try when wirering up your boat when "speading" the batteries out. On my 15 footer if I put the 109 36volt in it I have two batteries in the back and one up front. this is a way to make sure you do not hook the wrong wires up. get different color. I use red for + and black for - just like everybody else. but the jumper wires use a blue or yellow wire. then you know what wire is what

if you transom is 16 inches, than you will be looking at at short shaft (15inch) outboard. I have a 15 foot starcraft V hull (1988) that has a short shaft transom my max hp is 35hp, the same boat with long shaft transom(20inch) has a max of 45hp.This is a tiller boat. Right now I run a 15hp merc 2 stroke and with two guys ( I am about 300) bow tm , 2 batteries and gear, we get 13-14mph out of it.Just me 15mph with my dad (he is only 175lbs) get about 18 by himself

go as big as you can afford. I run a 109# on my 17'6 and I wouldn't have it anyother way. 99.9% of the time I do not need all 109, even 50% of that, but it is really nice when I do. Now on my 15 footer I have a 52# and hate it. in fast water or wind it just isn't enough and it runs the battery down fast. as soon as I can afford to I will be putting a 82# on it. I have run the 109# on the 15 footer and it was great. was fishing a small lake and hardly started up the outboard. Like I said buy the biggest TM you can afford and you will not be disapointed

yes, the 7-2 was during the spawn. if your looking for #'s like 50+ a day , it is either spring time or you want to get out in the main lake, after the sring spawn most Sm leave the bay. You can still catch them but the numbers are low after spring. that being said you can catch 50+ bass a day ( Sm & LM ) in the bay . I had one evening last summer when a Buddy and I boated over 100 LM in one evening in the bay. The fish would hit anything. average fish was 14-15 inches Now when I am talking about main lake, you only have to go a few miles out of PIB and your in great SM water. Lake condition can change quickly. Most larger boats 18' bigger will handle it. I fish out a 17'6" deep V. But keep an eye on the weather and weather reports. I have seen that lake go from glass to 6-10 footer in the time it took to travel 5 miles back. then go back to calm in a few hours However I have been out in the main lake with a tracker ptx 175 when the lake was calm. Like I said you only have to go a few miles out of PIB and find great SM water. and if the lake is bad. the bay will produce

Just east of the city of Pittsburgh. If I can get the boat on it I will fish it.

Presque Isle is a great for sm. what are you looking for? best time? lure? area? spring is great may/june. the lake offers bigger fish( more big fish), but if you limited to the bay because of boat size. one great place is the "shoots" where the bay an lake meet, along the wall by the coast gaurd station. throw a green tube on a jig head and make sure it gets to the bottom ( 30 feet or so.) My best bay SM was 7lb 2 oz caught it in early june in 10 feet of water with a worm in the bay. I have yet to catch one over 6 1/2 out in the lake

that is a real nice boat. It is a pike master? as for starcraft, they are well built boats(almost over built) they can take a lot of punishment. most first time boaters learn from mistakes and starcraft boats can take some good hits .I have a 1988 15 foot Starcraft SS.(almost like that boat but tiller and red) it still looks great. it is a very stable boat and 3 can fish out of it easy. I know the 16 is wider and longer so it should work well for your 2 kids and you. They are also easy to tow. What size hp motor on it? for a first time boater, I think it would be a great boat.

Hey, there is a 3rd one in that boat. If you have the room to keep two boats. keep the sea nymph and get a bigger boat. That is what I did. I have a 15 foot Starcraft with a 15hp merc and when I got a bigger boat I was trying to sell it, then I realized that it wasn't costing me much to keep it. I have the room so why not have 2 boats (I really have 3, ok 2 1/2, my father in law and I went in on a boat). Yes, the kicker on a big boat is worthless. even if you only use the small boat 2 or 3 times a year, you will be glad you kept it. Hey and if you have some extra $$ look in to a 20 or 25 for the SN and get some extra speed out of it. On those Tracker 175, If you can get an older one with a 25 2stroke your looking at 22-23mph, one with a 20hp 4stroke your looking at 20mph on the boats I have 1. Starcraft 15foot V hull with a 15hp Merc on it 2. 17'6" Sea Nymph GLS 176 Deep V with a 75Hp on it ( I am looking to put a 115-125Hp on it soon) 3. or 2 1/2. a 2005 Tracker PTX 175 with a 25hp 2 stroke merc

I have a Humminbird matrix 87c on the bow and a 787c on the dash, This year I have them networked with the "interlink", and is the best thing I have ever done.. they can share everything with each other and work great. it is so easier and faster to just look down real quick instead of turningaround and looking at the one on the dash. also easier to mart thing, don't have to walk all over boat

There is something you might want to re-think? look at you last post and see if you see it? you said the water is 42degree and only get down to 41degree in jan-feb. then later you said you know where the fish are becasue you have killed them in the past this time of year. you see it yet? Ok,its Nov now. the fish might not be where they ussialy are this time of year because it as cold as it gets in jan-feb. the fish are mostlikely not where you think they are. I have caught bass in temps as low as 40, most if not all of them off of a jig (jig & Pig and tube). and when to hang it up? when the water gets hard. If I get a free day here in the near future I plan on getting out.

I had to replace a trailer on a similar boat a few years ago. i have a 17'6 sea nymph deep V with a 75hp.. It wasn'y that hard to find a trailer, just the right size took a while. There are some nice newer trailer on ebay, some place in Michigan sells many. Check you local boat shops. people switch out trailer all the rtime when they buy a new boat, and some just don't buy a trailer. I ended up finding a 4 year old (new, never used, never titled, never had a boat on it) trailer, the local dealer , he had several that he bought from a shop that was going out of buisiness. He had them to fit from 16 up to 24 feet. how to measure the boat so the trailer fits. what is the weight of your boat? you need this to some cheep trailer just do not hold a lot of weight. I found some for 17-18 foot boats that only help 1000 pounds. not good/ ok measure the with between you fenders on your old trailer and the with of you boat were it site between the fenders. on some trailer boats sit ubove the fenders and some they sit down between the fenders you want there to be enough room for the boat to fit between the fenders. and measure the lenght from the eyehook to the end of the boat. that is the lenght you want from the winch post to the end of the bunks. you don't want the boat hanging over the bunks. some trailer the winch post will adjust for some fine tuning. One last thing. is there any thing on the bottom of your boat? or is the hull smooth? My boat has 4 ( not sure what they are called, but they are like finns that run the lenth of the boa)t and I had to make sure the bunks would fit beteen them

I have a 2 fishing buddies that have Dakota's, both are 4x4, ext cab one has a 04 with the 4.6L V8 and pulls a Nitro 911 with it and it does it fine. even in the hils/mts in western Pa. other has a 03 with a V6, pulls a 17 foot astro, and has troublepulling the boat in the hills. (when he fished with us he doesn't run with us to the lake anymore, because he just can not keep up with us) FYI; I would go with the V8 not the V6. also put an extra Trans cooler on it as soon as you get it, even if it has a fatory one, add another one to it. Both of them did not have a cooler on theirs and both have had to put new trans in their trucks.

I have 2 boats plugged in 24/7/365 with promariner chargers and I really see no different in my electric bill. It keeps the batteries 100% all the time and I would say help the batteries be ready anytime I want to go, and battery life? not sure, but I get 3-4 years out of my batteries ( use them about once a week) It will not hurt the batteries to unplug them after they are fully charged, but when the charger is in maintenence mode, it really does not use much power. Its up to you. but I would just keep it plugged in.

run fuel stabilizer in it fog it and change lower unit oil good to go

hated motorguide for years, always used a MK then I used a Tour series Didital motor by motor guide. that changed my mind. I bought a 109# 36 volt Motorguide Digital tour series and would not get rid of it for any other motor. I have had both brands. I do hate the PD MK. I have one and it is way to slow for me. will be selling it soon. I have many feinds with both motors. so like , some hate.. I do have friends that have Motorguide motors that are not Digital motors and all hate them. everyone that has a tour seies digital Motorguides loves them. the tour's do cost alot more $$ but in my mind worth it. also my motor has never gotten stuck in any grass/weed yet no matter how heavy.

leave my batteries in both of my boats (7 batteries in all) all stay on the onboard chargers 24/7/365 outside up here in Pittsburgh pa and temps get low and freeze and never have any problems with mine

I don't use a DS that much, but this past weekend I prefished for a tournament and fished one. during prefishing I found out that the DS was what they wanted. well it worked sunday and I won the tournament. the one thing I have a question is. do you guys that use a DS get snagged alot. It seemed that I either caught a fish or got snagged. I used 3 different sinkers and they all snagged. one was a mojo rig weight, other was a round DS weight, and third was simple bell sinker. the funny this was the cheep bell sinker snagged the least, but all seem to snag alot. my leader was about 12-14 inches. is there something I might try different?

I would go for the tracker 35-40 MPH with a 80hP merc.. that sounds right. I have a 2005 tracker ptx 175 and with a 25hp it will run 22-23mph on gps and my 17'6" sea nymph V hull will top out at 37mph GPS( heavy load) with a 75hp How much for your boat? well you didn't give much info. what brand? year? have trailer? both motors going? what year are they? Brand? and it goes from there but I would say $500-$1000