BassChump

Thank you so much. I never installed this because I though it would limit my run time. Apparently I should have done this year's ago.

Maxxum it is then. I'll install it next weekend. Thanks for your opinions. I'm curious though. How would I get more run time from a more powerful trolley?

I have recently been fishing Lake Powell a LOT. I have a 1995 Spectrum 17' Pro walleye boat. It's aluminum dual console with a 90 on the back. The trolley that is on there is the MK Pro Series 46 but I also have an MK Maxxum 54 collecting dust in the garage. It's the longer shaft (52 inches) with the variable speed. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are between the two? Is the Maxxum better than the Pro Series and if so, why. I'm contemplating swapping for the Maxxum because it has more power but I rarely use the one that's on there at full power. What, if any benifit would there be with the Maxxum over the Pro?

Hey guys. I'm the the guy that started this thread 10 years ago. I haven't been on this site for quite a few years but this thread was always in the back of my mind and I thought it would be nice to finish this story. It's a good ending to a very bad situation. I still feel badly that I even posted this at all. Dumping my problems on others is not typically my M.O. but without the help and generosity of the guys on this thread, I honestly don't know if I would even be here today. With that said, there is a happy ending. I stuck it out in Oregon until 2011. I stayed until my daughter graduated high school. I raised her as best I could and she turned out to be an awesome daughter and an incredible person. There were many, MANY times that i didnt know how i was going to keep the lights on. She is in college and will get her degree in business administration this year. She also attended a bible college in California and they liked her so well that they gave her a job and is now an employee at the retreat at Murietta Hot Springs for the Calvary Chapel. She met a great guy there and just got married there on December 10th. What a fantastic person she turned out to be and I couldn't be more proud although it saddens me just a little bit that there is now a man in her life that is more important than old dad but it's all good. I'm so proud of her. Anyway, I kept that old Bayliner bass boat until 3 years ago and it served me well. I had to get out of Oregon or I would have just sucked on an exhaust pipe and got it over with. I moved to Arizona in 2011 and that old Bayliner came with me. I needed some warm weather and sunny skies or I would have gone crazy so I am now in east Mesa (about 30 minutes east of Pheonix) and things have gone extremely well for me. I live near two incredible lakes. I'm less than 20 minutes from some great fishing. Saguaro Lake is 18 minutes from my driveway and Canyon Lake is less than 30. I'm working again. At least they can no longer keep me from working any longer. I've worked hard and payed off all my debt and now I was even able to upgrade to little bit nicer boat. I sold the old Bayliner for more than I had into it and I ended up getting a 1995 Spectrum 17 foot aluminum walleye boat that I love. It suits me well. It's not a Ranger but it was affordable and it does the job I need it to do. Mom is still around. She just turned 90 in November. She ended up moving to Arizona as well and had her own place in a 55+ retirement community until 2 years ago when I finally moved her in with me. She is still in good shape and can almost take care of herself with just a little help from me now and then. Anyway, I suppose I've said too much already but I did want to say thanks to all those that participated in this thread. You guys played a big role in keeping me sane in a horrible situation. There are a few guys that went above and beyond with their support and generosity. I don't know how they did it but they sent stuff directly to me to get me back on the water. A big shout out to Fishsticks. He sent a trolling motor that he was using as a back up. That was a great trolly. That is still on the Bayliner and I never had an issue with it. I talked to him quite a lot and he was a great guy. He just had a baby daughter. She should be about 11 years old now. I hope he is doing well. Also, I received a bag with all kinds of lures, a REALLY nice bait caster and whoever sent that even threw in a 100 dollar bill for my daughter. I still have and use that stuff. I'm guessing a guy named fishfordollars sent that stuff but being the great guy he is, he would never confirm that although he didn't deny it either. I see that he hasn't posted anything since 2011. Does anyone know what happened to him? I was blown away by the generosity of the folks on here and I'll never forget it and that's why I'm posting this now. If it wasn't for the people on this site, I don't know where I'd be in life at this point and can't say thank you enough for the help and kindness that both my daughter and I were shown by total strangers right here on bassresource. I did finally start catching some bass and my daughter and I have many fond memories on the old Bayliner and now on the Spectrum. I love my life now and I have you guys to thank for that. Getting through those few years in Oregon, I don't think was possible for me without your help and support. You guys can never know how important your support was to this guy and my daughter and I'll always be forever grateful.

Well, that's kind of what I thought. This hull isn't designed for speed. It's more of a utility boat that does it all. It's a great boat and it does everything well but excels at nothing. It's a good all around fishing boat, it's a fair ski boat and it's a very good sightseeing and pleasure boat. I'm very, VERY happy with it but just a little more speed would be nice but if I can only get a couple mph out of it with a new prop, then I'll live with what I have. No complaints. It's a fairly deep V so I wasn't expecting miracles. It sure has a nice ride though. It's an aluminum hull and being so light, I thought the ride would be rough but it's as smooth as silk. So I thank you guys for your input. I do appreciate your opinions and it sounds like a situation of "if it ain't broken, don't fix it."

I have posed a question about the prop on my 1995 Spectrum Pro Avenger with a 90 hp Force hanging off the back. I originally asked about a good prop for skiing but now I'd like some opinions on a prop that will add a bit of speed. After having the boat on the water a few times, the prop that is on it spins up to almost exactly the redline of 5250 rpms. A half tank of gas, all my fishing gear, trimmed out and smooth water, I get 39 mph out of it. I've hit 40 a few times when the air temps was a little cooler but that's tops. The prop is a 13 X 19 aluminum. So my question is, if I went with a 20 or 21 pitch prop, I realize I would lose some RPMs but would I gain any significant speed? Just curious... Thanks for your suggestions.

I live in Phoenix now so with little rain and humidity in the single digits, I don't have much mold problems but I moved from Oregon last year. It's so wet up there that not only was there mold problems with almost everything, I even had problems with grass growing out of the carpet of the boat while it was under cover for the winter. My solution? Just spray a little mixture of bleach and water in there once in a while. Just takes a minute and it always kept the mold at bay. Just keep some pre-mixed clorox stuff for the boat. I'd spray once every couple of weeks and that took care of it. It won't hurt typical boat carpet as it's made of polypropylene instead of Nylon. Just don't saturate it. Just a spray or two will do it.

UPDATE: I installed the 40 lb. 12 volt on there and when I took it on the water, that was actually plenty. It moved the boat quite well. Unfortunately I came across a problem that I hadn't anticipated. The shaft is too short so if there is any wakes that come my way, even small ones, or if there is just a little chop on the water, the prop comes out of the water and spits water everywhere. I have one trolly that is a long shaft. That's the 24 volt 70 lb Motorguide but I don't have any room for an additional battery. Do they make much smaller batteries that can do the job? I have the depth for two batteries but not much width. The worst case scenario is that I can reconfigure how the rear deck is supported but that would take some work. Any suggestions?

I'm thinking I'll go with the 24 volt 54 lb. because it's a Minkota. The Motorguide foot pedals drive me crazy. I find it easier to tip my foot to the left on the ball of my foot rather than try to tip my foot to the right. I took my new boat out this morning using the old Motorguide and I just didn't like it. The 70 lb. that I have is a motorguide and I think the smaller pedal would bother me but just in case, I'm going to keep the 70 in the garage as a spare.

Hi everyone. I'm in an enviable position. I just bought a 1995 Spectrum Pro Avenger. A 17 footer with a 90 hp on the back. I took this out on the water last week and I absolutely love the boat. It's perfect for my situation. I have a question about the trolling motor. It has an old MotorGuide on there. 37 lb. thrust. I've got several other trolling motors around so I get to pick which one I want. I have 12 volt 40 lb. 12 volt 50 lb. 24 volt 54 lb. 24 volt 70 lb. I kind of just picked these up over time. Long story. Anyway, the Spectrum has a spot for one trolly battery up in the bow but I have some room in the back for 2 batteries if I choose one of the 24 volt trolly's. The boat only weighs 840 pounds dry and with the battery up front, that extra weight really keeps the front down in the hole shot but once on plane, it makes it a little nose heavy. I've always heard that bigger is better when it comes to a trolling motor but with the boat so light, even a smaller trolly does just fine. The 37 pounder that is on it now does surprisingly well. I'm leaning on moving the battery from the front to the rear, adding another battery and installing the 70 lb. up front. Is that overkill? Is the extra battery worth the penalty in weight? What are you're thoughts?

Hey guys (and gals). I finally got a boat that will hopefully do everything I need. I loved having a bass boat but circumstances have changed and I needed something more flexible so I bought a 17 foot Spectrum Pro Avenger aluminum with a 90 hp Force on the back. Yeah, I know. It's a Force but I like the simplicity and I've had good luck with those motors. I love the tinny and all the room. It's a little slow at 38 mph but it's "fast enough" to do what I want it to do. The only issue is the prop is a little chewed up. I will be using this for fishing but also water skiing and cruising when visitors come around. I want to buy a new prop that has a good hole shot for skiing as well as fishing. A few people have suggested getting a 4 blade aluminum. I was just wondering what your opinion is. The boat is a 1995 Spectrum. 17 feet. 840 lbs dry. 1995 Mercury Force. It currently has a 13 x 19 3 blade aluminum prop that spins up to 5100 rpm on a local lake this morning with just me on board, all my fishing gear and a 1/2 tank of fuel. Air temp was about 80. What prop would you suggest?

It is powered by a Force 90 hp engine but I've had good luck with Force engines. I've had several and I find them simple and easy to work on. Also, I'm planning on re-powering it sometime in the future anyway. I'd like to put a 125 on it eventually. I got a great price on it and I love the layout. I haven't had it on the water yet. I'm installing new graphs and a new trolling motor. So far, I'm happy with it. I just wanted to know what others thought of them.

Either these are really bad boats and everyone is afraid to tell me or nobody is familiar with this boat. It doesn't really matter at this point. I bought it and will be picking it up in a few days. I'd still like to hear any good or bad about this boat though.

I was looking into getting a Crestliner Pro Am but it turns out that we couldn't make the deal. I've been looking around for an aluminum boat and I found a 1995 Spectrum Avenger. A 17 footer with a 90 hp on the back. It's all welded, it's on a shorlander trailer and it is pretty clean. It does need a few things but nothing major. I haven't been able to test it on the water as the throttle control needs some attention so it doesn't go into gear with the shifter although I ran the motor and shifted it manually and all is well except for the shifter. They have all receipts from the regular maintenance they regularly performed. They took care of it. Anyway, I already committed on it and I'm supposed to pick it up in a few days. I was just wondering what you thought of those boats. I realize those Spectrums were on the inexpensive side but it seems like a solid boat. So if you have ever owned one or fished out of one, let me know what you think. I'd appreciate it.

I was in the same position although I'm not anywhere near 19 years old. I wanted a good bass rig but I couldn't afford much. Not only could I not afford an expensive bass boat, I couldn't afford much to run and maintain a boat. I ended up finding an older Trophy bass boat. A 16 footer with the original 85 hp engine and I've now had it almost 5 years now and I couldn't be happier. I am currently looking for something a little larger but this Trophy has served me well, it's been very easy to maintain and it gets me to any spot on any lake just as well as a 60K boat. Just not as quickly. It does about 35+ with two guys, a full tank and all the gear. So if you really want a bass boat, you might look for something older that has been well cared for. There are nice older boats available that will fit pretty lean budgets but do your homework on them. The motor and transom are the big things to check out. Buy a compression tester at Harbor Freight and run a compression test on them, jump around the interior to see if there are any soft spots on the floor and if there is, there is a better chance that the transom may have some problems as well and you don't want to get into that. I've bought and sold several boats in the last few years and when someone says, "it ran fine two years ago when I stored it" or " it only needs this little part, that's why it doesn't run", I run away from those. If it doesn't run but they say it's an easy fix, then why didn't they fix it before they put it up for sale? I don't care of a boat is dirty or the carpet is in bad shape or even if the seats look like crap. Is it solid, does it run well and is the trailer in good shape. That's what I look for. I can recarpet, I can get new seats and I can do a little work to shine it up, but if I don't do those things, I can still fish out of it but if it has major unknown issues, I walk away very quickly. And something to think about. Smaller is better in many cases. In my case, my little old Trophy does everything a 60K bass boat does, just not quite as comfortably, not quite as fast and not quite as flashy but mine does it for VERY little money while those other bass boats cost a fortune to run and maintain. I can go out on my Trophy for two days on some fairly large lakes and I'll burn little more than 5 gallons of gas. I'm pretty happy about that. The fish don't care what your in so who cares. Anyway, my point is that there are a lot of really nice older bass boats with low hours that run perfectly and they are cheap. So if you know what to look for and don't settle, you can find something nice that will work great for you but as I said, don't fall for the "it's an easy fix" sales pitch. If it was easy, they would have fixed it. Also, don't fall in love with something and buy it too fast. Again, do some homework. If you know someone that is good with engines, take them along to see it BEFORE you buy something. Preferably someone that knows boats as well. Take your time and be patient. There are great deals to be had out there and do not, DO NOT be afraid to low ball someone. When I bought my Trophy, the guy was asking $2800.00 and frankly, at the time anyway, it was worth close to that. I offered him $1200.00 because that's all I had and surprisingly he took it because he had already bought a new boat and just wanted to get it out of his yard. All I did with it was put in a new impeller, change the gear oil and I've been on the water ever since. It has been a great boat to me for the last 5 years and I've caught TONS of fish off of it. I've even used it for Salmon fishing in Oregon. It's not very good for that but I got several 20+ lb. salmon in the boat that day. You never know what motivates people to sell something. Usually it's the money but now and then the motivation is to just make it go away so they can just move on. Good luck and let us know what you end up getting.............