Bankc

I do it both ways. Sometimes I manually close it. Sometimes I just start cranking. I have to say, I don't know why I do it either way. They both feel equally comfortable to me. Whatever's driving that decision inside my brain to do it one way or the other, it isn't conscious.

Vinegar will clean it out really easily. The trick, is to take some paper towels, soak them in vinegar, and then place them on the areas you want clean, so that they stick to it. That keeps the acetic acid in the vinegar in place longer and prevents it from evaporating as easily. Then, after about half an hour, come back and wipe clean. You might have to make multiple passes with it, as sometimes the texture in the paper towel appears on the water spots, if they're bad enough. But further applications shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes, as you will have already gotten rid of most of it. It takes some time, but very little effort. Water spots are usually basic in nature (calcium or calcium carbonate), so dissolving them with an acid is the best way. CLR is lactic acid and gluconic acid. Lime Away is sulfamic acid. Vinegar is acetic acid and lemon juice is citric acid. Hydrochloric acid would also work, but it tends to be much stronger than you need, and may damage things if the wrong stuff comes in contact with it. The stronger the acid, the quicker it will work, but the more risk you take. The weaker the acid, the longer it will take to work, but the safer it is to use (both for you and your boat). The vinegar solution is great because it's relatively safe. It just takes a while, which is why I suggest the paper towel method with it.

The best way is probably a complete disassembly and submerging every part into an ultrasonic cleaner. But I doubt many people got that far. What I do is open up the reel, take a million pictures of the insides, and every time I remove a part, I take pictures of the reel again, and lay the part out, top side up, on a compartment tray I have. That way when I go to put it all back together, not only do I know where everything goes, but I know in what order it goes together, and the orientation of each piece. Then, once it's completely disassembled, I wash all of the plastic parts out with an old toothbrush in some soapy water. The bearings, if I can't open them up to clean the insides out by hand, I'll usually soak in naphtha or acetone for about ten minutes if they don't have any plastic parts. After soaking for a while, I'll swirl them around in the liquid, pull them out, blast them with some compressed air, re-soak and swirl for a bit longer in clean solution (so you don't reintroduce the old dirt), then blast with air again, then dry and get ready for reassembly. I take my time and clean one part at a time, being sure to keep the orientation and it's place in the tray on my mind, so I don't loose either of those bits of information. When it comes to reassembly, I don't usually need the pictures or a schematic because I'm so well organized, but I do have them available if I need them (you can usually find the schematics free online). It's not hard. It's just tedious and time consuming. That's why I usually only do this during the winter or dead heat of summer. Now, you probably don't have to go that far, if you don't want to. You could just break it down just enough to access the three spool bearings and clean the spool shaft, as well as the tensioner cap. That's where the problem likely lies. You're going to have to decide your own level of involvement in this project. I personally like tinkering with things, so I enjoy the work. You may not feel as comfortable with so many small parts, so you might just try to tackle the bearings, one at a time. No matter how you do it, unless you're really familiar with the inner workings of this particular reel, I'd take a million pictures on your phone at every step of the way while you're disassembling it. I also like to work on a white towel in a clean room. It makes finding small parts that try to go missing easier.

That's me too. Right around September. For me, I grew up fishing. It was THE family tradition. Then came college, work, family, and all of that everyday life stuff. I didn't have time for it. Then last fall I finally decided enough was enough and it was time to quit making excuses. Just about then, I had a buddy call me up and ask me if I wanted to go fishing with him. Then another. Then a guy at work. This was all pre-pandemic. Between myself and my friends, it was mainly just a way to get back to nature. We were tired of the fast-paced, hectic, modern life. We were tired of binging TV shows. We were tired of getting upset watching the news. We were tired of social media sucking up all of our free time and privacy. And we were tired of not being able to live in the moment and focus on the here and now. Fishing is a great way to get some peace and simplicity back in our lives. It forces you to tune out the outside world. As far as gear goes, I'm fine with limited selection. I have what I need. I learned to make do with what I have. And I'm not above making my own lures or fishing with a bamboo pole and some thread. Fishing, to me, is about not worrying. And that's why, while it's okay to want more and better gear, the gear I have is always good enough.

I had an aluminum "Whale Tail" back in the 90's on my old ski boat. It worked really well. I don't remember there being a downside, but I do remember how much better the boat handled in rough water with it on.

I'm a printer by trade. I'd find a local print shop that has a small digital machine and have them print them for you. Here's why. We are constantly being approached by people who had small runs, like your stickers, ruined by online companies. The reason? Price. Online printers compete through price, not quality. Their main concern is turnover. They're profit margins are minimal, so they only make money when they print a lot. So your small job is only profitable to them if they spend the bare minimum amount of time on it. They're not worried about bad experiences, because they can usually get your bad online reviews removed or drown them out. There are companies you can hire to do that for you. Years ago, online reviews meant something and could be trusted. These days... not really. Now a smaller, local print shop might charge you a bit more (a few bucks on a small run), but they'll spend a lot more time with it and make sure it gets done right. They price the time and materials it takes to get it right into the job. And that will often save you money in the long run, because it prevents you from having to have the job redone later. Plus, they can do more to help you, like help you choose the right sticker stock, so that it will stay attached to your boat, even if it gets wet. And, if it's not done right, you have someone there you can talk to, face to face. That makes a big difference when it comes to customer service. If you look up print shops near you, you'll likely find a couple. You can call a couple of them up and ask for quotes. Then go to the one that sounds best and choose your paper when you drop off the artwork. They usually have samples available.

I don't think the SV would be worth the money for you. The SV spool makes the reel more specialized, and if you had a bunch of reels and needed to add one that was just for lighter lures or something, it might be worth the money to you. But if you've just got the one other reel, then I wouldn't start looking to add specialized gear just yet. Especially not if it costs more.

I set the drag to protect the line. Maybe around half to three quarters the weight of the line. I rarely adjust it afterwards, though sometimes if I'm caught up on something, I'll tighten it up. To me, that was always the point of drag.

I have a Lowrance Hook2 5 with SI on my kayak. The SI isn't nearly as detailed as the one in the Hummingbird shown above. I don't use it all that often. Actually, I use it a lot. But mostly I just look at it, realize I don't see anything of note, and go back to using the sonar, GPS, and DI. That could have a lot to do with the lakes I fish, as there typically isn't much structure that's hidden from view from the surface. But I definitely don't ever see any fish on it. I don't think it has the resolution to make them noticeable. Also, it doesn't have as many adjustments available in the menu as some of the higher end models. And I think that's part of the issue with the Hook2 series. They're cheap and they have lots of features for the money, but they're not as good as the higher end models. That being said, they're probably the best in their price range, especially when they're on sale. But, as with everything, you get what you pay for. As for screen size, that's a personal thing. Some people have bad eyesight and need large screens. Some people sit or stand further away from their screens, so they need larger screens. Some people have good eyesight and their screens are right next to them. To determine the screen size you need, you need to factor in both your eyesight and your distance from the screen. For me, a 5" screen is bigger than I need. But I'm on a kayak and have good eyesight. So that screen is never more than about 3' away from my head. Your best bet to figure out what you need is to first figure out the furthest distance you will be using it at, and then go to the store and test some out at that distance. Also, the demo modes at the models in store will show how well all of the features work, and allow you to play with the menu options. Everyone has a preference, but until you play with them yourself, it's hard to know what you need.

Adding oil to dirty bearings won't fix anything. You need to flush out the dirt first with a thin degreaser. I usually soak mine in brake cleaner, naphtha or acetone. Then reapply a very small amount of light oil. That'll likely fix the problem, unless you have a bad bearing or something.

Often times there's a spring on the spool tension knob. You could make one to fit in there. I've done that before. Just buy a compression spring at Ace that's the right diameter and thickness and cut it down. Then you bend the cut end so it lays flush. But it's purpose is to just keep tension on the cap so that it doesn't wiggle itself loose or tighten over time. It doesn't effect the operation of the spool tension itself, just how long it stays in place once you've set it. I agree with BaitFinesse. Clean out that reel and relube it with a good lube. Be sure not to apply too much. It probably has too much oil in it, or too thick of oil, and that isn't allowing the spool to break inertia. It's not uncommon with new reels. Sometimes if you just use them a bit, it'll fix the problem. Sometimes you need to flush it out and relube. I think many manufacturers over lube their reels to make sure they don't get worn out before the warranty period is up, assuming that a lot of people don't take care of their reels. If you apply the proper amount of lubricant, you'll need to keep up with the maintenance a lot more often, but you'll get better performance from the reel.

Maybe. I won't rule out that it could have just been one bad example. But I did go through three engines in that thing before selling it to a scrap yard after the third went down. All due to cracked blocks, and they were all the inline 6. I think I got maybe 150k miles on it, total. To this day, that's the only car I've ever had to replace an entire engine on, and I did it twice. Luckily, the first time didn't cost me a dime, or I wouldn't have done it a second.

I'm thinking that the engineering and math behind their tow ratings weren't calculated from actual experience, but rather from theoretical concepts that the car was designed under. Then, when production starts, things change, but they don't redo the math. I'm also thinking that there's more behind how a car is made and marketed than what an engineer says. I have high respect for engineers. But I'm not under the illusion that they run the companies they work for, or make the majority of the decisions within them. Also, I think it's plainly evident by now that auto manufacturers don't worry too much about their products in regards to potential lawsuits, outside of the things that could become large, class action cases. Think about all of the recalls they do. They're almost exclusively related to safety items on a car, which is where most of the large class action lawsuits come about. They rarely recall an item that has more of an impact on longevity than safety. For example, I've had two cars with faulty transmissions from the factory. Both were clearly design problems, and neither experienced a recall. On one, a Nissan Altima, they extended the warranty to avoid a recall and settle some lawsuits. Ten years later, they're still having the same issues with those same CVT transmissions. On the other (that Ford Thunderbird), the manufacturer stuck their head in the sand, and an aftermarket company came out with a fix that should have been included in the original design. They don't care about the small lawsuits. They have a team of lawyers that can outspend most consumers. And if not, they can settle quietly for pennies on the dollar. They only care about the bottom line, and often it's cheaper for them to deal with the few lawsuits that pop up than to address the problem as a whole. And misstated towing ratings aren't something that will generate a lot of lawsuits on a minivan.

I've not used that specific cooler, but rod holders like that are found all of the time on fishing kayaks. They work fine for both spinning rods and baitcasters. So long as the rod has a long handle, they tend to be pretty reliable. Even if the reel won't slide down into the groove, there's still usually enough of the rod submerged into the tube to keep the rod in place. If the rod has a short handle, or has a pistol grip, then they have trouble holding the rods. But those types of rods are kind of out of fashion right now. Everyone seems to love the longer split-grip, two handed rods these days. Also, you want to make sure the butt of the rod isn't too big to fit in there. That's not usually going to be an issue for bass rods, but maybe with a giant salt water rod with a thick grip, or if you use a Cush-it rod float, they may not fit in there. They're not great for trolling or holding the rod while fishing though. You'll want something bolted to the boat for that. But for general holding of your rod while going from place to place, they tend to work great. You can add a rod leash if you're worried about them falling out. I use those on my kayak. Not so much because the rods fall out on their own, but I've popped one out with a paddle before, and didn't know it. I've also had some trees try to grab them and pull them out as I paddled away.

That's how I was raised. I'm always surprised at how many people talk about wanting ultra sensitive rods and lines, and no one ever talks about just placing their finger on the line. I don't even look at my rod most of the time. The visual information distracts me from feeling what's actually going on down there.

I've got a rule. One tackle box. One rod holder. If I want something new, I have to get rid of something old or find a clever way to make it fit. I've got a computer room, a music room, and a photographic darkroom. I'm done with hobbies that take up so much space that they need their own room. And both my cars have to fit in the garage, along with all of my tools.

Probably depends on the knot used. I use 30lb braid with a 10 foot 10lb mono leader on my Tatula, and I've never experienced any issues other than sometimes the knot rubbing my thumb on casts (which would happen on any baitcaster). I use an FG knot, and it slides through the t-wing, on both the cast and retrieve, with nary a hiccup.

There are three basic features that may be beneficial on a kayak. First is GPS mapping. You may want a fish finder with GPS maps that come with it. Sometimes you can buy the maps afterwards and upload them to your fish finder, but they tend to be pretty expensive that way. So if you want mapping, it's best to get the maps with your fish finder. The different companies of fish finders use different mapping software, but they're all fairly similar. The biggest difference will be whether or not the company you choose has the lakes you frequent mapped out. Some lakes will be on one companies software, but not another. But that other company might have a different lake. To know ahead of time, you might have to do a bit of research online. You can usually go to the companies various websites and see which maps exist for which lakes. And some maps are better than others, in that some have more detail than others. Second is down imaging, down scan, or structure scan, or whatever they want to call it. It's where the fish finder has a high frequency option that gives a much higher resolution picture of the bottom of the water body below you. It doesn't pick up fish, so it doesn't replace traditional sonar, but it is useful for looking at what's on the bottom (tress, rocks, sunken ships, etc.). Third is side imaging, side scan, or whatever. It's the same thing as the structure scan, but it points out to the sides, rather and just shooting straight down. The down side to this is they usually require much bigger transducers. So basically, you'll want to determine your budget (remembering you'll need a way to mount it and power it), and then decide on which features you want. You can get by without GPS, because your phone will likely provide that. Down imaging is useful, but you can often tell what's down there anyway by seeing what's around you (like if the bank is rocky, then it's probably rocky below you), and by reading what the traditional sonar tells you (big trees and rocks will usually still be identifiable on them). The side scan is nice, but just like the down imaging, it doesn't tell you a whole lot that you wouldn't already know. Then there are other options on bigger, more expensive fish finders, but they usually include stuff like wifi (to connect more than one fish finder on a boat), trolling motor controls, automatic, over the air updates, etc. Basically stuff you're not likely to need on a kayak. The only things your absolutely need are a good sonar, color display, and temperature reading, and pretty much all of the fish finders these days from the major brands have those. I have the Lowrance Hook2 5 with side imaging. The transducer is about a foot long, so I have to mount it over the side of my kayak which pulls the kayak off to the side a bit. The one without side imaging has a transducer small enough to fit in a scupper hole. If you have good eyesight, then a 4-5" screen is plenty big, because in a kayak, you'll never be far away from it. Also, the smaller screens take up less space and require smaller batteries. Your best bet is to just find a couple in your price range, and then view some YouTube videos on them to get a feel for what they provide. For the most part, anything from Garmin, Hummingbird, or Lowrance will be a quality product.

No worries. Electronics can be a bit tough sometimes. Like for me, looking at a layout, like what you had pictured, is confusing. I need the old schematics with all of the symbols to really understand a circuit. But for most people, that's even more confusing. Since this circuit only runs at 12 volts, it's not likely to kill anyone or catch fire if you do it wrong. It likely just won't work at all if you wire it incorrectly (though try it out before you take it out to make sure). And like most things in life, there's more than one way to do it and have it work. If you have a DMM, it would be a good idea to hook everything up and make sure that the motor and the USB port are getting (around) 12 volts. If not, you can use the DMM to trace back your path and find out where the problem lies. If you don't have a DMM, you can pick up a cheap one at Harbor Freight or Amazon or somewhere. You don't need a fancy Fluke brand or something like that for stuff like this. A $10 unit will tell you all you need to know. But it would probably be a good idea to own one and learn the basics of how to use one (YouTube has videos on this), if you don't already, for this and other electronics projects you'll likely encounter through the years.

Close. You have the USB and it's fuse box connected before the RC meter, which means the meter won't give you as accurate of a reading because it's not recording the entire draw from the battery, but rather just what the motor is using (which will probably be most of the draw anyway). What you have will work though. If you don't use the USB ports or don't plug anything with a heavy draw into them, then whatever they suck up will be negligible, and could probably be ignored from the meter's perspective, without consequence. Also, I'm not familiar with that fuse box that you have connected to the USB ports. It looks like you're intending on hooking up both the positive and negative wires to it. You don't usually do that. Most of the time, you just hook up one or the other (usually the positive in this case). If you terminate the circuit path at any point, the whole thing shuts down. So you don't need to protect both sides. Also, I'm not sure how that fuse box is internally wired, so it might be okay to hook it up that way, or it might cause a short. I'd have to see a schematic or have it in my hands to know for sure. And to be honest, you could probably do without that fuse box. You have the 60 Amp fuse there to protect the battery and the trolling motor. Most likely what you're going to plug into a USB port will be sensitive electronics with a battery. In other words, things like phones, tablets, laptops, etc. And the battery will protect them from small power spikes and stuff. And in the event of a big spike that gets past the battery, a fuse isn't going to blow quick enough to save anything. So me, personally... I'd leave it out. But that's just me.

I would connect the 60 amp fuse to the battery directly, then connect the meter after that. Then I would run the USB port and it's fuse box (the fuse box in series on the positive wire) in parallel after the meter, so that the meter reads the USB power draw as well as the motor, giving you a more accurate reading. From there the motor is run off the meter, in a separate parallel loop. The 60 amp fuse goes before the meter to help protect the meter, and I'm sure the USB port won't put a significant load on it, compared to the motor. So it should be safe to run everything through that big fuse. You have to connect the motor and USB in parallel with each other so they'll both get the full 12 volts. So the accessories fuse box comes between the meter and the USB port. It probably isn't necessary, to be honest, but as long as you have it, it shouldn't hurt anything (unless it's underrated for the load). If the meter blows, you'll lose power to everything. There's not going to be a good way around that and make the meter useful. It's just the nature of the beast. The odds of the meter blowing are probably on par with the odds of a connector, fuse, battery, or motor failure, and a paddle will take care of all of those possibilities. So I'd just take a paddle as a backup plan in case of failure, and not worry about the meter.

I had a '91 Jeep Cherokee that had a tow package and I cracked the block twice towing things with it. The first was under warranty. The second was towing an empty trailer. It claimed a 5,000 lbs tow capacity, and I never reached half that. And even then, it struggled mightily. My next car was a '94 Ford Thunderbird. It did not have a tow package. I installed a hitch, transmission cooler, light hookups, and upgraded the brakes. It towed my ski boat and lots of other things beautifully. The transmission did go out on that car, but those cars are notorious for having transmissions go out at around 100k miles. And I wasn't towing anything when it happened (In fact, I was driving 25 mph in a neighborhood). My point being, I think the manufacturers ratings are just made up. To really know how well the car will tow something, you just have to try it out for yourself and see.

The USB port goes in parallel, and the RC meter and fuses go in series.

It's supposed to start getting up into the 100's this week. That's not normal this early in July, but not unheard of either. Anyway, when the daytime highs get above 90, I start going in the early mornings before the sun rises, and head in by around 11:00. It's still too hot at sunset to spend much time outside, especially since I'm in a paddle powered kayak, so it's early mornings or nothing for me. Especially with this humidity! My best tip, is to try to slowly acclimate yourself to the heat all throughout the summer (and the cold in the winter) so that your body can tolerate it better. It's tempting to avoid the extreme temperatures when possible, but unless you plan on spending all of your time indoors, it pays off to spend lots of time being uncomfortable so that your body learns to tolerate the extremes better. I don't spend as much time trying to acclimate my body as I should, but I can definitely tell a difference when I do.

Careful thumb and good brakes. A lot of people like baitcasters with a light spools for this, since it need to rev up quickly and momentum is not your friend. The Tatula SV is a good choice. Also, a lot of people seem to like the Shimano DC line of reels for this. Usually, to set up a baitcaster for skipping, you have to set it up in a way that makes it virtually useless for anything else. Not that you can't change the set up back and forth, mind you, and do both with the same setup. But the reason most people have a skipping specific setup isn't so much because the gear itself needs to be made for skipping, but the gear itself needs to be dialed in for skipping. And most people who have the room and money would rather not be constantly changing the settings on their reels. They'd rather just grab a skipping specific pole when they need to skip, and go back to their other poles when they don't.