DanielG

I don't know much about them but a neighbor had one for years. Not quite as big. It was very nice and he liked it for it's stability. Smaller lake here but he'd regularly take it up to Sebago and Moosehead in Maine. Very large lakes. Water to the horizon. Swells can get pretty scary. The whaler, as I understand it, is known for being able to ride that out. They are also popular here on the ocean too.

Gluten does that....My knees know for sure.

I've got to admit. It's early February and it's been a mildish winter here in southern Maine. We've had a paultry two or three six inch snowstorms and some ice and rain. We've had a couple of weeks total of cold weather but we've been waking up to the mid 20's and warming to the mid 30's. Almost like the January thaw never left us. February could turn colder but it's the 3rd now and we're slated for more of the same warmth with highs reaching 40 degrees. After February not much chance for long term cold and snow. For the past ten years, more or less, we've averaged a month longer fall, and spring coming a month earlier. Winter/summer used to be split about 8 months/ 4 months, now it's about 6/6. With the exception of that polar vortex year a few years back. They predict climate change will affect us less than most areas. Maybe more rain. Maybe a hurricane making it up hear more than just a big wind. I do know that it's having an adverse affect on our economy. The Maine lobster that's on our license plate is destined to be a dead industry very shortly. It's already suffering, along with our Maine clams and a few other things. Times are a changing.

So, sort of related question here. I'm just curious and wondered if anyone could give any insite. When I was a kid, in the 60's. My family had a 60 hp Mercury outboard on a glastron hull. It had a two blade prop that wasn't great to pull up skiers but it would fly after the boat planed. The motor was only 60 hp but it was a vertical 6 cylinder model. You may have seen one or remembered them White at top with a black center cover. At the time, that boat was the fastest thing on the lake. The 18 ft glastron would be out of the water with just the tail end bouncing at full speed. I don't know the speed but remember people talking that the speedometer read about 45 mph. Later on we got an 80 hp 4 cylinder Johnson on a glastron but it wasn't nearly as fast. I live on a lake now and I see outboards commonly between 100 and 200 hp printed on the side. And yes they're fast, but it seems that 100-150 hp seems to be about the speed of the old Mercury 60. Do I imagine that?

I have a niece and her husband who in their 30's are building a safari hotel in Kenya and have teamed up with a local company to do sightseeing safaris. We're from Maine but he spent a couple of tours in Afghanistan and is used to being abroad in unnatural situations so it's working for them.

My dream career was to be a Science Teacher. I became one and did that for over 30 yrs, and at a Jr. High at that. It was great until the latter ten years when things started to change. I still loved to teach but regulations made your hands tied a bit taking all the fun out of it and making the job very difficult when it didn't have to be. And yes it's still the same today for those in the job. But it was a good living for my family and I did a good job as best I could and tried my best to keep it fresh. Would I do it again? Knowing what I know the answer would be, I would really want to but probably wouldn't for a variety of reasons. that would be a hard decision. I encouraged my two daughters to do something else unless they couldn't help it. I always told them, "Do something that you can make a decent living at, where you'll be respected, and where your salary, medical, and what you do for work isn't decided by a group townspeople, who know nothing about how to do your job, make all decisions (i.e. public school boards)." Today, in their mid 30's they are doing well in other fields, in jobs they like, that fulfill the above criterion. And they're making double and triple at this point what I did just before retirement with a masters degree. I'm very proud of them.

I've never had a crankbait swallow the lure. And, I use them and swimbaits a lot. I crank in 20-50 ft of water. Sometimes up to 80 ft. of water in the summer. They dive about 5-8 ft. The fish are suspended here. Lucky if you manage 2-4 while out a few hours. Tough but fun.

I had an 8 footer like that when I was a kid. As I got older the rear got lower and lower in the water to the point that as a young adult it wasn't a good boat to go far from shore in. That along with my 3 hp motor was not possible at that point. Granted I probably weighed in at 170 lbs, but to me anything under 12 ft for an adult would be a little bit questionable. Then again I haven't had anything like it since...

I'm 65 but still do much of the stuff I was doing at 40. last summer I was loading a couple of sheets of plywood in the truck at HD. A 40ish year old guy comes up to me and says "want some help there young fella?". Geesh... am I there already?

My first segmented crankbait with a cloth hinge that sort of hides the segmentation. There's a video of the build... I also do my first fly tying. Well, actually a trailer treble hook fly. It came out sorta okay for my first fly. I can always exchange it if I make a better one.

I've watched all his vids. He is the reason I started bait making a few months ago. He's one of those handful of youtube channels I wait to post to watch. He's not only informative but he's also my entertainment as he has a fun style to watch.

Well, 4 ft of ice on my lake right now so at some point it will be water and it will still be cold.... I'll give them a try. I like hard baits anyway.

Same experience. Good question. I'll be watching. thnx.

My 2 cents of lack of experience might not be worth much but I fish mainly crank baits, casting and trolling. I have two rods I use, a Dobyns fury M that's pretty much okay for cranks but I managed to get a Dobyns MHF 7.3 glass. This rod is wonderful. I actually don't want to use my others. Then again, I don't have that many to begin with. Oh well.

The amperage rating of a charger indicates the amount of amps it will put back in your battery in an hour. I have 100 amp batteries in my electric boat. If they drain to 50 amps each it takes about 2 1/2 hrs to bring them up to speed. If I had a 4 amp charger it would take about 12 hrs. My charger has two 20 amp banks in it. I charge two batteries almost every night in the summer. Another note: A lot of chargers (especially marine ones) these days have auto battery detection for the type of battery you have and they charge in stages that assist in battery longevity and automatically cut down to a trickle when the battery is full. This is the one I have and it gets a lot of use... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F5EBS66/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Interesting point... then again we stick sharp hooks in their throats too....so. I don't think the 7up thing helps though. Maybe, but why would it? It's carbonated water. Water with bubbles. I like it though. I'll bet Moxie would work. It's the state drink here in Maine. I've seen many people grimace and squish their mouths up into a small pucker when they drink it. It might close an open wound the same way. And it originally started out as a snake oil medicine long ago. Maybe it still has medicinal effects today. It's my favorite soda. My mother in law used to describe it as carbonated tar oil.

HA! darn autocorrect.....It does read very funny though doesn't it. 'I troll cheap swimsuits'.

My 2015 f150 xlt 5.0 V8 gets an avg 21.3 mpg mixed driving no towing. In the last 15k miles I'm avg 19.1 mpg. That's with regular mixed driving and the towing I do with a camper trip once and awhile. And the computer mileage matches my hand calculated mileage by two tenths mpg. So, just about the same. My previous truck a silverado v8 was about 16-18 mpg max. Older truck of course. I think maybe the aluminum body on the Ford might have something to do with it. Great truck anyway and not enough of a mileage difference to make me jump on an ecoboost. And, I embarrassingly admit it. I love the drone of a v8 when I step on the gas. It's something that I still smile about. Sad but true.

Re: Turbo Fords. When I bought my f150 in 2015, it was the first year of the aluminum bodies. I took a chance on that. They had also made the turbo's for a short while. I didn't take a chance on that. I got the V8. There were lots of claims of ecoboost problems at the time. I think that situation has improved markedly though. And, the turbos do have tremendous torque. Some of them out torque a V8 easily. But.... The other reason for the V8, for me anyway. The gas mileage on the turbos was better... overall. And it is better, until you step on the gas and engage the turbocharger. It drops dramatically. When do you have to do that? When you tow. I'd imagine it's running all the time while towing. especially under load on a hill. I tow a lot with a camper. Not many times a year but when I do it's 5000 miles or more at a time. The gas mileage while under load of an ecoboost engine is not good. It pulls like crazy, but at a cost. And the idea of using a turbocharger to wind up and get more out of an engine than it normally would be able to doesn't appeal to me. Naturally aspirated is heavier and possibly more sluggish than an ecoboost but I trust it. An ecoboost engine that runs without the turbo most of the time except maybe when you want to pass a car or do some ocassional towing will get great gas mileage. When My V8 tows some weight, the gas mileage changes just a little. So, overall in that situation my gas mileage, in my understanding from friends and relatives who have the ecoboost, is just as good overall as theirs is if they did the weight pulling that I do. Upon my next truck, If all Ford has is ecoboosts, I think I'd have to pass this time. Here is a video from a few years ago about technicians and engine choices. Remember it's a few years old now.

I don't think so. My son in laws Subaru has a turbo in it and he has to use high octane fuel. But he considers it a little muscle car. I have a Ford V8 but I can't imagine all their other engines, being ecoboosts taking high octane fuel. I'm almost positive they're standard octane.

You could work on older vehicles, they were simpler but at 100k in mileage you had to think about a new one because by about 130-140k it would need a lot of work and/or the frame would be ready to break in half from rust (in the rust belt anyway). Today, you don't often have any issues till 100k or later, then you tweak a few things for yes some $$. And get ready for the second 100k instead of having to sell it to the junker guy for $400. I've had cars since 1970 and I've been able to keep them longer with less trouble in the last few than all the others combined..... except that 2003 silverado.... So many issues. I hated that vehicle. Payed for it twice with repairs. Today I can't work on them much, but I don't have to like in the older ones.

No issues with me about this. Sometimes a worn flag, as long as it won't blow away, is a solemn thing to see. Our country has been through the ringer and back a few times for our freedoms. It's bound so show some battle scars.... so to speak.

I agree with the sentiment of all here. That being said... Let's not 'appear' to tag all people of a certain age by saying a 'millennial'. Just like they say now, 'okay boomer'. Many, many people that are younger have a reverent view of the symbols of the sacrifices made by our country. And they're able to come to that conclusion without the experience of coming close to loosing it. It's like if a millennial said, "A boomer I work with doesn't care anything about the environment." It seems like it's all older people. It's not true, many do. So the blanket statement isn't fair. I'm 65 and recall that what seems like the largest, most media reported, flag disrespecting time ever, was people of my age. We're the same ones talking about millennials today. You could witness a flag burning on the steps of some federal building once a week on the news participated by hundreds or even thousands of people. Every night on the evening news, it consisted of three things 1. young (later to be boomer) war protesters, 2. race riots in various city streets. and 3. stretchers being carried to helicopters in Vietnam. My parents talked about my generation being wasteful and spoon-fed because we didn't save the tin foil and string like they did during the depression. What goes around comes around I guess.

This is hard to watch.

I'v got a 2015 F150 alt with a 5.0 V8 in it. 70,000 miles and nothing but maintenance. My tires and brakes will both get 80,000+ miles before needing replacement. I've pulled a 14 ft V nose cargo conversion camper that is at least 4,000 lbs with absolutely no issues. no sway bars or trailer brakes needed. You don't know the weight is behind you. That being said..my trailer is 7 ft tall. The wind resistance is a killer on mileage, but the mileage without the trailer aves 21.3 mpg. with the trailer 13.5 mpg. When I had a popup I only lost 1 mpg. So, as far as gas is concerned it's not the weight, it's the aerodynamics. A boat should be pretty good in that respect. This is the best vehicle I've ever owned. Even topping the 2000 Tahoe I had awhile back which was pretty decent. Regarding the electronics. I've found electronics in vehicles a positive thing to have. Way back when, the cars with barrel carbs and distributors would inevitably become worn over time.These electronic controls seem to keep the vehicle continually metered to keep it running smoothly, and they don't seem to go bad much. I'll take them over the old style any day. These vehicles will also go into limp mode should the computers have an issue so they still work. And this truck, according to my manual will if overheating because of a radiator issue will run a short time by alternating the firing of pistons 4 on, and 4 off to keep the temperature down.... strange right? Best vehicle I've ever owned, and it's a nice ride to boot.