jbmaine

Hi all, I've used my Ultera twice now and am having spot lock issues. The first trip out I had multiple instances of being in spot lock and having it stop working. I would notice we were drifting and the remote would no longer have the anchor symbol displayed. I would hit the spot lock button and it would come back on. Then sometimes it would turn back off. I called Minn Kota and talked to a very nice lady who said it could be the remote, the foot control, or the power head. She said to not plug the foot control in, just use the remote. If it kept happening plug the foot control in and see what happened. By doing this we could pin down the problem and she would send me a new remote, foot control, or power head. Second trip out-- Just using the remote, spot lock turned off every 3-5 minutes. Plugging the foot control in it only stopped working once the rest of the day. When I got home I called Minn Kota and got a different person, who quickly started to annoy me. I described my previous conversation and what I did, and the results. First he said I must have turned it off myself. I told him the remote and foot control were in the front of the boat, I was in the back when it happened. Then he said I must have bad batteries. I told him the batteries were fully charged, the charger showed no problem, and stow and deploy, running the trolling motor all over the lake, everything else worked perfectly ( and I tried everything). Then he said I must have a bad GPS signal, I said it showed four bars. At this point I asked about the first person who said they would send me a remote, foot control, or power head. I said most of the issues seem to happen using the remote, Could he send me a new remote and start there. His answer was he didn't believe it was anything previously mentioned. He said it sounded Like an abnormal power draw on the motor and I had to bring it in to my nearest Minn Kota authorized service center. I gotta say I am very frustrated. I've had two " experts" tell me two totally different things. I don't want to be with out the trolling motor for however long it takes right at the beginning of the fishing season, but I really don't want to fight it every time I go out. It really puts a damper on the relaxing on the water and having fun aspect of fishing. Anyone else ever have issues like this, and or how did you fix it. Jim

My wife has a name for my rod........................... but that's another story

Thanks again everyone for the kind thoughts. As some of you may have read, I had to retire early, and not the way I had planned. Having this boat will allow us to stay fishing and enjoying our selves. All things considered we are truly blessed. Jim

Hi All, My Garmins have the ability to turn off surface clutter ( think that's the right word) so it doesn't show up on the screen. I guess my question is, when is it better to turn it of, or leave it on? Thanks Jim

Strike King coffee tube in varied colors.

Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone. Don't know why I wasn't smiling in the pics, I sure was on the inside. During the next break from the rain ( hopefully Fri. ) we're going to see what we can do to get some fish smell in the boat. I also need to see if I can isolate what's going on with the trolling motor. Thanks again Jim

Hi All, Finally got to take the new boat out for the maiden voyage so I thought I'd share my experience/ review on the boat/ fish finders/ trolling motor. Boat-- Lund Fury XL Sport--It's a small boat, 16+FT. But that being said it feels bigger and very roomy . Fit and finish are great, just what you'd expect from a Lund. Storage is ample and well thought out. Rod locker holds 6 rods up to 8 ft. there's plenty of room for me and my wife to stretch out and not feel cramped. The casting deck is small, but as I will be sitting it's plenty big enough. I can swivel my seat all the way around and not hit anything. Going through the water it feels " solid" and not at all "Tippy". With a 50 Merc it will top out at around 30 mph and slices through waves very smoothly. With all the breaking in and running around we did it took less than 2 gal. of gas to top off the tank when we were done. All in all we are very happy with our choice. Fish finders--Garmin echomap 73 chirp-- My old boat had a helix 5. These are only 2" larger but seem twice as big. Very easy controls and a super clear screen. Out of the box I was amazed at the side scan. Amazing detail of the bottom. Very happy with these. Trolling motor-- Min Kota ultera 60" shaft, 80 lb of thrust-- This is where I had a couple of issues. The first time I tried to deploy it, nothing happened. Tried the foot control and remote, nothing. Unplugged and replugged in everything, nothing. Read the manual and tried again, nothing. I was dialing Min kota and tapping the foot control when it finally decided to deploy. After that it seemed to be fine. I ran it through a bunch of stuff and it all seemed to work. However twice later in the day while using spot lock it just shut off. I called Min kota when we got home and they told me some things to try the next time we go out to isolate what the issue might be. Other than the issues I love it. My back wasn't sore at the end of the day, and I see us being able to really cover more water. My only critique would be shaft length. 60" is a little long for our boat but 45" would be a little short. If they offered something in the middle it would be nice. With everything else going on we did very little fishing, and didn't catch anything, but I didn't mind. Next trip will be will be all about fishing and checking out the trolling motor. Here's a few pics. Thanks for looking Jim

A couple of thoughts come to mind. Depending on size you might drill out the threads and then use a standard drain plug ( if the size is right ). Get a short piece of straight pipe sized to a drain plug and weld it over the tapped hole. Maybe a piece of pipe with external threads to screw into the existing hole sized up to accommodate a drain plug.

UPDATE-- Thanks for the help everyone but I just got a call back from Garmin. From what they tell me you can't change the font size on the Echomap chirp. Jim

A-Jay, I tried your advise. I was sitting out in the boat going BRMMMM, BRMMMM,. About the only thing it did was make the neighbors laugh.

I'm back from the doctors office and now waiting for a call back from my case manager. And so the day goes.

OK, I went back into overlay numbers, but it only lets me turn them on and off. I'm sure I'm missing something simple, but I'm not sure what. Any chance you could give me a step by step. I sure would appreciate it. Thanks Jim

After a long hard winter it's finally here. Time to take the first trip in the new boat. Need to break the motor in, try out the fish finders, play with the Ultera. The ice went out two days ago and it stopped raining. Life is good. Got a couple of days before the next batch of rain hits. Todays forecast, sunny, calm, high of sixty. Only problem is six weeks ago I made a doctors appointment for late morning today. Can't get out of it, and with the lake over an hour away there just isn't enough time to get out this afternoon. When I made the appointment there was a foot of snow on the ground. What are the odds I would pick the most perfect day ever, an mess it up by making a doctors appointment. Checked the weather for tomorrow, It was looking great but this A.M. they changed it. As of now it will be plenty warm, but the wind picked up, the forcast is for 5-10 mph with gusts up to 20 +. Then rain for the next few days. Tomorrow is doable ( as of now) and we are going, but I'll be kicking myself all day today. Jim

Around here water clarity can go from 3 ft to 10 ft depending on body of water. We almost always see perch, sunnys etc. Fishing shallows or weeds we often see pickerel and bass.

Thanks, I had found overlay numbers but it looked like I could only turn them on and off. I try looking again tomorrow. Jim

Hi All, I've been playing around with my new fish finders and am getting good at swapping screens etc., but so far I can't figure out how to change the font size on the displayed info ( depth, temp, etc.) I've found videos showing how it's done on earlier versions but nothing on echomap chirp units. Can anyone give me directions on how it's done? Thanks Jim

Never heard of fuel treatment ruining an engine, but have heard plenty of stories of old gas screwing one up. I have used Star- Tron in all my engines for years and never had a problem.

Just an update-- I finally found a cover to fit my boat. Ordered it this P.M. Thanks again for all the input everyone. Jim

As I said earlier, if I could find a reasonably priced cover that would fit, I would go for it, but the dimensions on my boat seems hard to find a cover for. A poor fitting cover would let rain water, pine needles etc. in which is what I am trying to avoid in the first place. Thanks Jim

Thanks, Is your Rebel the sport, with the full windshield?

Thanks for the input everyone. My situation is I only trailer my boat for an hour max and don't see the need for a travel cover. I am hoping within a year or so to move to a house with a garage to keep the boat in, so spending big $$$ for a custom cover is probably not needed. That being said if I could find a reasonable $$ cover that fit my boat I would go for it. However my boat ( Lund Fury XL Sport) seems to be an odd size. I had a cover on my last boat from Empire covers and really liked it. But when I called about a cover for my new boat I found they don't have a cover to fit it ( I gave them measurements on my boat ). Apparently the windshield is the problem. I measured from rub rail to rub rail across the top of the windshield and came up with 150". The closest cover they made for a windshield that size was for a 20 ft boat. Mines 16 ft. I thought a cover for A Lund Rebel XS Sport might fit, ( they make one for that ) but was told the windshield on that was only 108". All this makes me wonder if a tarp is the way to go. If I spend $$ on a bad fitting cover am I really any better off than just using a tarp. As A reference, If I could find A good fitting cover from Empire, I could get it for around $ 200 or less, I really don't want to spend any more than that. Thanks Jim

Thanks that's the info I was looking for Jim

Hi all, I don't trailer my boat covered, but when it's sitting in my yard I like to cover it to keep out rain, pine needles, bird poop etc. It seems you could buy several good tarps for the price of a cover, yet most people seem to have covers. I was wondering what your thoughts are on the advantages, disadvantages of each, just for when the boat is sitting. Thanks Jim

In my opinion, no matter where you go or what you do, most people are polite, kind, courteous , do the right thing, others not so much. Unless there is a safety issue I let people do what their going to do. Some one crowds into my fishing spot, pushes at the boat launch, cuts me of in traffic, etc., so be it. Life is to short to let it ruin my day.

Hi All, I have a new Ulterra, but due to the crappy weather I haven't been able to try it yet. My question is, the first time I deploy it, can I stop it before the shaft extends all the way down? I know the trim up / down button will trim it up / down, but I have a transducer cable guard on it, and if it looks like it's going to hit or snag, can I stop it where it is ? Thanks Jim