dickenscpa

I also posted this on another forum in case some see it twice.

Check the grease cap on the back side (or inside) of the hub as well. If that is blown out, torn or just bad Bearing Buddies won't help any. I would replace the bearings and races on the inner and outer part of each hub (2 races and 2 bearings per hub), add bearing buddies and a new inner grease/dust cap on the back side of the hub. IMHO, even with BBs trailers and water just don't mix well. Of course with a boat you just don't have much of a choice.

I have the dreaded monkey WAY worse with my kayak than any boat I had. I’d pretty much buy a boat and have the dealer rig it out and just fish it. From 16 yrs old to 48 I always had a boat but traded often. Only had one boat long enough that I upgraded sonar and trolling motor. That’s all I ever did. Kayaks have a lot of cool gadgets that seep my wallet. I sold my kayak a week and a half ago and bought a Hobie PA12. Bad part is the dealer is 3.2 miles from my office. I’ve skipped a LOT of lunches and went to the shop. Last Friday and then yesterday I’m down $530 in doo dads. I have a very addictive personality as well so when I pick up an interest I go all the way. ?

Here's where it's hit me. I had to replace my truck this past Nov and my wife desperately needs a new car as well. She has picked an exact match of a vehicle that checks all the boxes and twice it sold before we could make a short drive to see it. The third "photographed" well, I'll give it that. I told her we would have to get something close. I do a number of big dealership tax returns as well as quite a few used car lots. My very best friend owns a big Ford dealership and he told me a few days ago that a truck going for $16k pre COVID was going for $25-28k today. Now on the flip side I got into kayak fishing Sept '19 and my boat hadn't got wet since Aug '19 so after a little over a year of walking around it in the garage I sold it. I got $1200 more than I paid for it originally.

I don't think a lot of kayaks no matter the price range come stock with an anchor trolley. You either have your dealer add it on or put it on yourself. I'm not a big dry storage guy. Previous boat had it and I wound up not using it for anything but junk accumulator. I prefer a big open tank well and an open bow storage area. I like to put my cooler in the open bow for those long tournament days. Plenty of water, snacks and lunch. I think "dry" storage is a bit of a stretch anyway for a lot of kayaks. I prefer to just be closed off and not worry about water getting in.

Another thing about a kayak is if I go to a spot and it is just bad, I'll pull out and go somewhere else. In my boat I just live with it or go home. I'd never pull my boat out, load it back up, pull somewhere else, unload it and fish another place. Due to my fear of speed on the water and getting stranded too far from the ramp if there was a problem, I wouldn't motor very far out either. I cover WAY more water on my kayak than in the boat. There's very little that can go wrong with a simple pedal drive and if it does, worst case scenario I paddle back. Hard to paddle back a bass boat with a half oar. Sitting in the middle of my boat and paddling like a kayak isn't an option either. LOL! I do 2-3 century rider per year on a bicycle and regularly do 35-50 mile bike rides with my club so I'll admit I'm in a bit of a different situation than most kayakers. My legs are conditioned to pedal all day on a kayak and never really notice it. Plus no hills! LOL!

I really enjoy watching and keeping up with all the major and minor tours and I can appreciate both 5 fish and weigh/release, BUT I will admit I can get turned around easily with the different twists and turns of MLF.

The bold above is another thing about my kayak, no one asks me to take them fishing. I do not like fishing on someone else's boat and sure hate somebody on the back of mine. Oh Lord they get on my nerves. I bought the office Suite next to the one I already had for the sole reason of my employees are in one suite and I'm in another by myself. No one uses my bathroom, drinks my coffee, etc. I really like enclosed and solitude

I'm a bit different. From 16 yrs old until about 3 mos ago I've had a bass boat (I'm 49 now). Now from 16 until maybe 25-27 I had fiberglass bass boats but they were used and I might've been 3rd-4th owner they were so used. LOL! I am the absolute opposite of claustrophobic. I like being in my little cocoon and having everything at hands reach. I'm a shallow water guy, terrified of speed on the water and HATED fooling with my boat. The cost, maintenance, gas, etc of a boat never bothered me. I just hated fooling with it. I LOVE to fish but in the last 6-7 years with a boat I'd go out once, twice and one year none. With a kayak I go 2-3 times a week and started tournaments. I have limited time running a firm and the owner of the firm, especially Jan-Apr and Jul-Oct. My office is 41 miles from home. I tried pulling my boat thru rush hour traffic ONCE to fish an afternoon. Never again. I have a kayak trailer but there have been many times I throw it in the truck, carry it to the office and fish on the way home. When I get to the water I literally take the sleeves off my rods and get in the water. I don't wait in line at the ramp, I don't even use the ramp and I don't wait in line to pull out. With pedals I cover WAY more water. I had a two month old brand new bass boat leave me stranded in 2008 4-5 miles from the ramp and I guess that affected my psyche because I would not venture out very far in my boat even when they were new each year. I kept my boat a little over a year after buying my first kayak and in that time it never got wet so I sold it.

I'm TERRIFIED of speed on the water. I've been a bass boat owner since I was 16 (49 now) and I sold my boat and got heavy into kayak bass fishing. I've only fished as a co-angler once and it was a two day tournament. This was a long time ago and for the life of me I can't remember the trail name. I want to say before it was Toyota it was Costa and I fished it before it was called Costa, but I could be wrong. My boater on day two wrecked and almost killed us so it's a blur. Anyway I posted to say that my boater was a different guy on day 1 & 2. So in that tourney we didn't fish with the same guy both days.

The tournament trail I do started doing the Zoom deal for the Capt/Pre-tourney meeting. They started doing this because of COVID last Spring and TBH I kinda like this system. Now like all things COVID related a lot of things don't make sense. After the time limit is up we all have to meet back at the ramp together and handle business. LOL!

Oh no, my battery was way more expensive than $27. It was just the solar panel was $54 so a second battery would be way more expensive than half the solar panel ($54). In the end I bought a second battery identical to the one I had. It come with a charger so now I have two and I'll keep one charger in the truck so if I need to I can charge it on the truck or pull into the launch mid tourney and recharge at the truck in a have to situation. I only got bit twice last season but plan on doing more tournaments this year and if I need a second battery just once it's worth it to me.

Most days fishing I'd be pulling the trailer to the waters edge and taking off and weight is no factor. I did think the solar charger could pull double duty for some multi day backpack camping. Our last one we hiked in 12 miles and after that kind of hike you don't spend the night and walk out the next morning. You want to stay a day or two and enjoy the woods. I didn't catch that it was 3lb. Putting 3lb on my kayak is nothing but I'm not carrying an extra 3lb in my pack on a backpack camp. LOL!

My battery was more than $27. As far as iPhone goes I own a CPA firm and my phone gets used like a business phone and replying to emails, etc. I'm grateful for all of my clients, I really am, but they don't care if it's after 5, weekends, during Church - they call all the time. My wife and son can go 2 - 2 1/2 days on a charge. Sometimes I can't make it thru a business day. We all three have an 11ProX. I actually have a small portable thingy I bought at Bass Pro a year or so ago that will charge my phone twice or my phone once and my watch once. I can only plug in one at a time though so can't charge both overnight while I sleep. So while fishing my phone is technically taken care of AS LONG as I remember to charge that little thingy. LOL! My Fishfinder battery on the kayak is what I'm more concerned with. We have two tournaments this year that I will more than likely hammock camp at a camp site that has a boat ramp, but no electrical hookups for two nights. I could charge my phone and watch via my truck if needed but not my kayak battery. I thought it would be super helpful on those long backpack trips for 3-4 days. I only have gour things I camp with that take batteries - gps, watch, phone and headlamp. Weight is a MAJOR consideration when backpacking but extra AA or AAAs for gps and headlamp are no factor but can't bring extra batteries for watch and phone. I don't have a lot of faith in reviews read on the store's website that sells the product but even with that said the reviews are 50/50 crap or heaven sent. LOL! I was hoping to keep it charged out in the sun while fishing but it doesn't seem like it will do the job. Thanks, at least I didn't waste $54. Since posting this I did watch a YT video where this lady was hiking the Appalachian Trail thinking she could strap the solar panel to her back pack while she hiked and it didn't work as planned for her. Reviews for these things are all over the board.

This used to come up every now and then in my bass boat fishing back to back days, but I rarely fooled with the boat two days in a row. For two years now I not only wear my kayak out I fish in two day tournaments. Twice last year I was on my finder quite a bit and forgot/failed to charge my battery over night. It was really only super serious once and went completely dead on me early in the day but got annoying quite often on long outings even when I plugged it in. Thought about adding a solar charger to just make sure it stayed topped off. Also, in the inevitable event I forgot to plug it in one night. Might help keep my phone charged to take pics and release fish for TourneyX. Anyone had any experience with these solar chargers? I thought maybe I could use it when I backpack camp as well. I was looking at this one: https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/coleman-10w-solar-battery-trickle-charger-and-maintainer sorry for the link couldn't figure out how to get the pic in my post.

I was having this discussion with my brother Sunday. Our Dad is 74 VERY poor health and he had a wife of 30 years. THey were sending him home 1/24 saying "nothing we can do" but his wife was in quarantine until 1/26. So he was gonna come home with me two days and go home to his wife. Thursday before he was released I was talking to his wife on the phone making arrangements, etc and the phone went silent. She dropped dead of a blood clot while on the phone. So I wound up planning and paying for a funeral and she's not my Mom and I have a new roommate. Dad wants to bring his Yukon to my house but it would have to be in the driveway. My brother thought it was absurd but I told him I knew the deal when I bought the lot and built on it so I can't really gripe about it. Whatcha gonna do though, he's my Dad and there's NO WAY I'd let them stick him in a home by himself to just die alone. Luckily I have a phenominal wife and the kids are stoked to have PaPa here so not too bad.

I have a similar deal in my neighborhood. I have a 5 car garage, basement level, two car on wife's side and 3 car on mine. My wife needs EVERY inch of hers to park, LOL! My side is a 3 car with an extra 15'. On my side I have all my lawn equipment and tools, boat and trailer, kayak and trailer, Harley, ATV, archery section with press and draw board, reloading station, home gym and other assorted junk. I have to park my truck in the driveway and they just charge me a monthly fine. Time to get my oldest son a vehicle and when we do I guess that fine will double.

Yep, I remember when I was a little kid I went with my Dad and he was buying a new truck. He looked over the inventory and a sales guy came up to help and he asked to meet the service dept. He told the service guy that the sales guy might convince him to buy the first truck there but it was up to him to sell him the second. You did good, but I'm the most impatient man in the world. LOL! I rarely order online I like to hold, see it etc. and I hate waiting on shipping. Unless the one in stock was just some fugly color I probably would've grabbed it. LOL!

I carry 6 on my kayak and only carried the same 6 on my boat. I do 5 baitcasters and one spinning rod. Spinning rod is ned rig and the other 5 have a specific bait on them. Those are the only six baits I can fish so I have a rod for each. Whether I was on my boat or in my kayak I HATE changing out a bait on the water and if I go from a crank bait to say a T-Rig I just grab the other rod. I hate re-tying on the water (or even in my garage) and it really reduces my bait changing down to just the essential changes. Like line is getting worn, break off, maybe a color change, etc. Even a color change is really just hard plastics, on soft plastic you just pull it off the hook and slide another one on. Did I mention I hate re-tying on the water. LOL!

I fished two tournaments in a bass boat, one as a co-angler and one in my boat. I was MISERABLE as a co-angler and almost as miserable in my boat and my Dad was my co-angler. I love my Dad and we have a great time just going out fishing for fun. I'm also TERRIFIED of speed on the water, did I say TERRIFIED. LOL! My 250 on the back of my boat does me no good when I about wet myself when I hit 35mph. It brings my Dad joy though and he laughs his tail off at the faces I make at every wave and bump. As a co-angler I got back boated bad which is part of the game but just a miserable day. When my Dad and I fished out of my boat I couldn't concentrate on fishing and position right because I was constantly worried that I was back boating my Dad. I bought a kayak last Sept and fished my first tourney this past May. Got absolutely skunked in a two day tourney but had a blast. I now fish the KBFTN trail, Cumberland trail and TNKATT and just can't get enough of it. I realize I'm mainly a donor but it's cheaper than a movie with snacks and I enjoy it way more. Since that first one I've got my 5 fish limit every time but I'm usually just outside the money. I did win a $250 gift certificate to Hook1 which I've bought all my kayaks and accessories from them and probably paid their light bill the last year. But all the sudden they just up and went out of business on 7/31 without warning. Even the employees were surprised. I may have to frame the gift certificate. LOL!

LOL! That guy had gotten up for some reason and when I first sat at their table it was just her. She never said a word, I wish she had I would've recognized the voice wasn't my wife's.

You think boating/engine is bad - I'm an avid bowhunter but also very involved in target archery. It's a given that the bowtech at a big box store is a high school kid that was in the shoe dept yesterday but the techs at so called "pro" shops are horrible. I wound up investing in a bow press, draw board, arrow saw, fletching jig, etc. I do everything down to building my own arrows. I reload for every caliber I shoot as well. I remember when I was little my Dad was working on our lawn mower and he looked at me and told me that whatever I bought that would need maintenance or be fixed in the future, learn EVERYTHING I could about it and take care of it myself 'cause no one cared about my crap like I did.

I'll tell this one on myself and I'll stop, LOL! I'm 100% opposite of claustrophobic. Closed spaces don't bother me at all, I could live in a cocoon. I think it's because as soon as I was able to walk my Dad had me doing electric and plumbing in attics and underneath houses he was too big to get into. Anyways I MUCH prefer to be on my boat alone. I don't want to be on someone else's and no one on mine. I think this is why I have fell so in love with kayak fishing. My wife tells her friends ALL the time I have a boat and I'll take their husband fishing. So I have this honey hole and there's no cell service. Makes it difficult to upload fish via TourneyX. I get stuck taking this guy fishing, that I don't know and he's asking a blue million questions. I ask him to stand "over there" so I can launch and please don't talk so much. I swear it was unintentional but I forgot all about him. I took off leaving him at the ramp, fish two hours and come back and he's sitting on my tail gate. He rode with me and had no way to get in and no cell service. Even though he got on my nerves I'd never do anyone like that on purpose. I felt so horrible. I bought his dinner where ever he wanted to go and bought myself a pass to take him fishing just about anytime I went out until they moved about a year ago. I never felt like anything I could do made up for it. I felt so bad and always thought how I'd feel if it happened to me.

I had something similar happen at a restaurant a few years back. I can see fine 10' out - 10' in I can't see anything. I went to the bathroom on a rare occasion my wife and I didn't have kids with us and when I came back I sat at the wrong table with another man's wife. No glasses and she looked like a blonde headed blur. Neither were too happy with my conversation topic I thought I was having with my wife knowing we had a house with no kids waiting on us.

I was pulling out after sundown and my boat wasn’t on the trailer right so backed down to let it float and settle. Someone knocked on the window and kinda startled me, I hadn’t seen a soul in the parking lot. He was new to the area and was asking me questions and we talked about ten minutes. We said bye and I go to take off and forgot I was in reverse. I plowed the water backwards and slammed the brake a bit. When I slammed the brake I must’ve had enough momentum my strap broke and my boat goes floating into the night. Luckily the guy hadn’t took off yet and when he quit laughing I got in his boat to get to my boat.