bassboy1

I would go with 2 Fishmark 320's. By far the best for the money. I did a lot of research before I got mine, and all roads lead to it. Sure, you can get better, but the quality/resolution to money ratio is the best tradeoff here.

Type of boat? Pics would help. It is usually pretty easy to chop 5 inches out of a transom. Show us your stuff. ;D

I think you could get by with a 15 just fine, even for lanier. We fish allatoona with a 12 foot vee and an Evinrude 4 horse deluxe just fine. Moves dad and me about 5 mph. Not a speed demon, but it is what we could afford, and is the second best motor ever made. (only an earlier Johnson 3hp with weedless drive beats it) IMHO (and all the other people I know with smaller outboards) a 1955 to 2000 Johnson or Evinrude motor is the way to go. Anything before OMC was sold to Bombardier. And definitely no small motors from BRP. The 50s vintage, and some 60s motors had pressurized tanks, which some find a pain to use. But a 70s or 80s motor will be just as reliable, and uses all the modern fuel tech. One thing, stay away from Chrysler/force. Unless you get it for free, in which time you should part it out on ebay. Plenty of demand for parts, cause people are always fixen' em. For the TM, a 40# hand control TM would work just fine. No need for the bow mount edge on a jon. Just get a transom mount with a longer than needed shaft (easier to reach the handle) and turn the head around.

The op center books are not all that good. They seem to be co wrote by Steve Pieczenik. I read the hunt for red october once in 6th grade, and again earlier this year. I am probably gonna reread patriot games soon too. I would also recommend you read books written by Clive Cussler too. My favorite author. His Sea Hunters and Sea Hunters II books are true stories of his adventures with NUMA as he is a big part of it. The rest are just good fictional books. His books do follow some order, but there is enough preshadow (the opposite of foreshadowing - can't remember the word) to understand what is happening. His older ones are a bit better IMHO, but all of them are pretty good.

You could get by with a 55 but would probably want something closer to 65 or 70. You will run closer to 3 times as long as the 55, but only use twice the battery. I was recommended a 50ish for my 15 foot Lund. I don't know how it will work as we are restoring the Lund, and it hasn't seen water since 93. But, I had the 50# on my 12 foot vee, and am wondering if I want a little more oomph on the Lund when I can afford it. We'll see, when it gets on the water. Being fiberglass, your boat is a bit heavier than my 'loominum rigs. You are probably want more. But, if you cannot afford it, and cannot justify spending 600 bucks for a motor and another 200 for batteries, on an old trihull, you could probably live with a 55 pound just fine. And, if you are not gonna be fishing rough water, I would just go with a 55. But, remember, in the winter, even small and medium lakes can have 3 foot swells. I am not sure a 55 would control you all that well. We have been in 3 foot swells on a reregulation lake that is less than a mile across. And, it is protected by a 400 foot high dam on the main lake half, and mountains all around. If you like large wintertime bass, go for broke and buy a bigger motor. It gets windy!!

Why not? Bearing buddies could care less if they were installed on boat or utility trailers. They use the same bearings on both types of trailers. One thing though, you are gonna want larger wheels than some come with. At my house we use a minimum of 12 inch on Jon boats and stuff, 13s on medium boats, and 14s and 15s on larger trailers. The little 8 inch wheels have to turn more revolutions per mile, and this eats up the bearings, even if you have buddies. Change them wheels out to 12s if your trailer doesn't already have them.

NEVER buy anything you cannot pay fully for. Be it a truck, boat, TV, anything. Except for maybe a house. If that means you have to go for a little while more bank fishing, just go for it. That way you are paying 35K for a 35K boat. You can afford a lot more in your lifetime if you pay in full. Credit cards are the worst scam. You should have the money in hand before you buy. Trust me on this.

If it is the type of boat like cabelas sells, the "dolphin 120" Which is more of the shape of the outdated boat style "trihull" the above trailer would work. Otherwise... If it is the true BH style pond boat, it would be pretty easy. Just a Jon boat/PWC trailer frame. 8 or so inch tires, and "V" shaped bunks like on some larger pontoons. That boat basically is a catamaran, which is carried just like a pontoon. Side guide ons would be nice on that, as it won't center as easily as a V hull boat if you come in crooked. No biggie. IMHO, money well spent would be on an aluminum jon boat, but, I cannot tell you not to buy that, and people do like them (I don't).

As long as you paint every surface, and especially the edges, you shouldn't have a prob. Just use a good exterior primer and paint. Otherwise, just keep it covered, and don't let water pool up.

Nicebass, check your PMs. Good info there.

Go to college! My dad didn't, and that was the worst decision of his life. Now we are feeling the effects. We had some unplanned curcumstances that required us to pay for 2 $400,000+ houses for 3 years. He had no plan of that when he was 20. He is also stuck in a job with long hours. It is pretty good job for someone w/o college, but it is not what he wants. The hours are long and now the whole family is feeling the effects. Not only can we not afford stuff, we have no time for anything, including fishing. Go to college!

Just one? We have two fridge/freezer combos and two freezers by themselves in the garage. One freezer holds just frozen beef, chicken, venison, turkey. Just about any meat. A fridge holds just beer, gallon jars of pickles and leftover pizza that usually gets forgotten about. No telling whats in the other fridge and freezer. :o

When the mast of your sailboat has a deerstand on it. When the deer head in the living room has more than one pair of panties (XXXXL's nonetheless) hanging on it. When people see your yard and ask if you are having a yard sale, and ya ain't. When a roll of duct tape doubles as: A doorstop A patch in the wall above your new DT doorstop. A beer can holder on the dash panel (what is left of the dash I should say) When you can hit a road sign down I-285 with a beer bottle, going 75 mph, FROM THE MIDDLE LANE When your girlfriends name is painted on the overpass, or better yet, the rusty water tower. If your front porch falls down, and more than 5 dogs die. If you think the nutcracker is something you done off the high dive. If you have ever misspelled something in Christmas lights. If you have ever financed a tatoo. (6 more payments and this bad boy is MINE!) If your snowman or scarecrow has a beergut. If you have ever taken Ole Besse (trusty 12 guage that hangs over the door for yall city folk) to a funeral for the "releasing of the doves" I am tired of typing. Actually, some (most) are from around the house. I cannot even spell some of the words I use. The single syllable shortening "all right" is unspellable. The 2 syllable shortening of "do you want some" I mean, what letter does that start with?

Ya can't call it a truck if ya put a tonneu cover on it. ;)Skid steer loader cannot dump in the two tons of gravel, or 20 crossties with one in the way. You can't take a full load to the dump, and when you go to the scrapyard, they can't unload with a magnet. It ain't no truck.

Who the? :-? :-?

More time to get the kids into fishing.

First of all, power trim is a MUST. When you hit full throttle with it trimmed up, you draw less water. The nice sky view doesn't hurt. Secondly, the foot controlled TM is real handy. Right turns just improve the "eratic" type of fishing many pros are starting to use. Lastly. Make sure the daggum fishing seats are loose. It will make you want to drive a rapala into your leg when you can't get them off. ;D ;D ;D ;D

You missed the crucial part. You measured free board and weight, but the fiberglass boat and the deep Vee have more hull under the water. Kinda like a keel on a sailboat. Your tracker and the express have less underwater mass and the under water slope is a gentler slope the the glass boat and the deep vee.

Check your PMs. I have a good place where people do this often.

Not necessarily. It could be that he is restoring the boat, and being an oceangoing boat, it probably has a big engine that is impractical to test in the garbage can. And, if you are truly repairing a motor, running on the muffs doesn't cut it. Their is no load on the exhaust and you cant go much higher than 1500 rpm. As long as he is fixing it at the prep site/parking lot, or on the backside of a courtesy dock, no harm no foul. It could be, that he wants to start it, run it just past the no wake zone, hit it up to full throttle, and come back home, knowing his motor works. In the restoration/motor repair field, that is quite common.

Ya know. That is my favorite song of all time. But, I seem to like the Hank Williams Jr. remix. It is played more often, and it has been a long time since I have heard the original one. I, of course, listen to only country. I like old and new. I listen to C.W. McCall's trucking songs from circa 1975, and I listen to much of the modern stuff. Other than "A Country Boy Can Survive," Montgomery Gentry has to be my favorite.

My dad builds both houses and furniture and just about any other thing under the sun too. Wood, metal, mechanical, etc, no biggy. Has built three houses just working after work from about 8 pm to 1 am and working all throughout weekends. He is also a perfectionist, and refuses to have ANYTHING meet code, it has to exceed with flying colors. Lets just say he wouldn't make money in the real world for a living. I know yalls tricks, the more corners ya cut, the more money you make. He does all the woodwork himself, every bit of wiring and plumbing and any other thing except heating/ac cause ya have to have a permit. He also builds furniture too. We have the rough tools for building houses and many of the finesse tools for furniture. He also refuses to cut corners there, and uses real wood instead of particle board for 90% of the furniture. The rest has 2" of wood glued and buscuited to the edge to provide a nailing surface. He also can work with steel and aluminum and we have welded a couple of boat trailers and other things recently. He also does anything mechanical. He was a mechanic on British cars for a number of years, and now is a manager for a shop with mainly german and japanese cars. Lets just say, he has to help out the younger mechanics with some of the overcomplicated crap on the highdollar foreign cars. He also can do almost anthing with 2-stroke motors. When he was younger, he used to have a few sport bikes, that he would "cruise" (150 - 200 Mph) down a windy mtn road. He would often overhaul and bore out motors for more power. The reason I am telling all this, is that I am taking to this real well, and someday, am gonna know all this and more. Right now, I know more than the avarage person. How many of yall let your 14 year old son use the welder or any of the tools in the shop aside from the radial arm saw?

What exactly is defined as "power loading?" It seems that there is no definite definition. When we load our 12 footer, it takes a bit to get down the ramp with an empty trailer as you can't see it until it has turned to far to be straightened. Then, I idle up to the trailer. Once the bow has cleared the back crossbar, I will give it a little more power, but never more than 1/3 to 1/2 of the max. (4 horses, not as much as it sounds) Then when it seats on the bunks, I will leave it in idle for a sec, and shut it off when dad has the winch hooked. Would that be considered power loading? I see when people idle to the trailer with there 300 horse opti and punch it to inch up the trailer bunks, and that makes it hard to load my little boat properly when they are right next to me. Mine never stays above idle for more than 5 seconds while loading, and it is usually 2 or 3 as it loads pretty easily.

Oh man, as was me. And I am only 14. I was raised old school. I thought maybe that ten pound box of 1/4" flat washers for 59 bucks got ya.

My dad didn't go to college. That is the main reason we are in such a bind right now. He has a good job for someone who doesn't have a degree, but it isn't what he wants. He works an hour+ from here and has long hours on top of that. It doesn't pay what he wants. We got into a bind when we had to support 2 $400,000 plus houses for three years. Add four kids to that, and his job no longer makes what we want. As why I am stuck buying my own fishing stuff. (it ain't all bad, i get jobs at 14 and it puts me on a better track to future life. Also keeps ya humble) And, with his long hours and long commute, he has very little time to get done what needs to be done at the house. That runs right over on me, so I average less than one fishing trip a month. Zero fish a trip. Go to school. You don't know what S*** will happen later in life, so be prepared. We wouldn't be having these problems had we not owned both houses so long. He never knew that would happen. Don't put your family in our position.