Fishing Rhino

The cheapest gas in the eastern U.S.between New England and Florida can be found at the Pilot service center, exit 150 on I-81, in Troutville, VA. It was 2.03 in late February on our trip to Daytona. It's usually at least a nickel cheaper than any other station on that route, but most often it's a dime to fifteen cents cheaper. Are batteries included?

In Massachusetts, alcohol is prohibited at boat ramps operated by the state. And, there is also a 45 mph speed limit on all the state waters.

My guess, since I don't drink is that they are like Nitrous Oxide at the dentist. It doesn't kill all the pain, but you just don't seem to care. Speaking of the dentist. I got a good laugh out of my dentist just after I sat down in the chair. He was just putting the nitrous mask on when I said wait a minute. He withdrew the mask and I reached into the pocket of my shirt and pulled out one of those "breathe right" nostril spreaders and with a flourish, slapped it onto my nose. I told him I didn't want any of his laughing gas escaping around the edges.

I am of the persuasion that a strong healthy immune system is our best defense. I also believe that one attains a healthy immune system by challenging it, not protecting it from every sniffle, or cough, or boo boo that we get. We are born without an immune system. Nature makes up for that, at least in mammals, via a mother's milk. Aside from that we are defenseless. Part of the process is for our bodies to recognize intruders. If my high school biology serves, the immune system goes to war immediately with general purpose protectors while the chemical system in our body produces specially designed anti bodies for each intruder. I often wonder if those alcohol dispensers that are commonplace today do more harm than good by washing away or killing organisms before the body can begin to identify and produce the specific anti bodies to eliminate the invaders. In the past two decades, we've heard about super bugs that are nearly impervious to most meds, and the pharmaceutical industry is hard pressed to stay ahead of this development. I've come to appreciate the end of "War of the Worlds" The extra terrestrials were marching across continents, laying waste to our civilizations, impervious to our weaponry. In the end, they were destroyed by germs to which they had never been exposed. Just sayin'.

I'll defer to your experience with the Toyota look alike covers. Having said that, I've had the ones in the first image on my trailer without a complaint. They look like they did when I put them on two or three years ago. The bridges that cross the Cape Cod Canal are narrow with 18" high stone curbs. I scrubbed one last year, grinding away part of the rim on the wheel. It also ground away a lot of the hub cap, but it remained firmly attached to wheel. There has been no deterioration of the finish on any of the caps I put on mine.

Tracker quit making and selling them a couple or three years ago. They make wheels with the pattern shown in the image you posted. The hub caps were junk. Running over a pot hole would jar them loose. You can get a four pack of these on Amazon for 36 dollars. They have a variety of styles. Take a look. I've used them for the past three years and have yet to lose one. I've broken them on curbs and other obstacles and they have stayed on the wheel. I scrubbed them on the high curbs of the bridges that cross the Cape Cod Canal. They were totally scuffed and scraped, but they still held fast. These will give you a similar look to what you now have. Four of these are 30 dollars.

Speaking of catching things other than fish, I'll go back to the annals of history. While hauling lobster gear in Buzzards Bay a sail from a yacht , a 46 foot Hinkley, came up, tangled in our ground line. The next time we hauled that gear we "caught" the sail bag for the afore mentioned sail. Over the years we also acquired nearly five gallons of lead sinkers and jigs from the party boats out of Montauk when they dragged their baits across our ground lines. The real prize was when basking sharks would become entangled in our ground lines. It could take a couple of hours of cutting and splicing to get a trawl back in fishing order.

I haven't seen this mentioned. Could have missed it. With the high freeboard and the large center console how much will the wind move it compared to a bass boat which is nearly sunk at rest? If that won't become a problem for you, I see no reason not to "go for it".

Whood a thunk it, but the tilt control at the bow getting shorted is not a rare occurrence. I solved that by installing a switch to turn the battery off. The worst thing is not ending up with a lot of water in the boat, but travelling down the highway and having the motor tilt down because water intrusion shorted out the tilt switch.

Anyone on my boat wears a pfd at all times until they get ashore. Things can happen quickly on the water and a pfd is never more accessible than when it is being worn. Another rule is no alcohol on the boat.

That must have been the blind carpenter who picked up his hammer and saw.

It's really quite simple. Fish for a species you've never caught. If you are successful in catching one, it will be your personal best. But, it will also be your personal smallest.

Sounds like you used the charger in tractor pulls.

It is you. It is you. Stolen from Star Wars when R2 D2 and C3PO were reunited. C3PO said R2, it is you. It is you. I don't want to be known as plagiarist.

I didn't even make one of the most important of the old vs new. Safety. I do/did agree with the technology stuff. I used to do all my maintenance on my car. I enjoyed tinkering, but when they came out with computer controlled engines, that day ended. No pulling apart a distributor to check the points. The vehicle had to be digitally analyzed. I thought great, this is going to be a nightmare, and service would cost a fortune. Turned out I was wrong. The biggest problem and most common solution for the "check engine light" was the O2 sensor that had kicked the bucket. I remember when the PCVs first came out in cars, positive crankcase ventilation, where blowby was sucked into the carburetor, burned, and out through the exhaust. Prior to that, blowby exited the vehicle through a "breather". When an engine got enough wear, the engine went on an anti rust campaign and the engine along with other components got covered with a film of oil, which then collected dust and the engine became a slimy mess. Leaking rocker arm cover gaskets would start seeping oil. Sometimes just tightening the bolts would stop, or at least, slow down the oil exiting at the gaskets. Open the hood, do a ten or fifteen minute repair job and then spend a half hour scrubbing with lava soap or something similar to get the grease out from under your finger nails. In fact, as I recall you would find a fingernail scrubbing brush on the sink in most homes. 20 mule team Borax was another standby for removing grease. May as well have used 80 grit sandpaper. Garages made a small fortune steam cleaning engines and the engine compartment, and the drive train.

Hmmmm. You can have all the cars of the bygone era. If you had a car or truck that hit 100,000 miles it was an exceptional vehicle. They all started burning oil by the time they had 30,000 miles on them. Replace points, condenser, and rotors at ten thousand miles and spark plugs as well. Now, spark plugs don't get changed until you reach 100,000 miles. Shall we talk about the rust buckets of yesteryear. Today's vehicles have it all over those of yesteryear. You rarely see a vehicle leaving a plume of smoke behind. They were common place fifty or sixty years ago.. Once upon a time I thought the old cars were better. They were made of manly steel. Rattles and wind noise were common. When you consider the systems in today's autos, it amazes me that you can go down the road without something acting up. Instead, they go for years, and with regular maintenance and a little tender loving car you can get many thousand miles of carefree driving. Oh and shall we talk about the oil leaks of those old cars. You could tell where they had been parked. Puddles from the rear end, the transmission, and the engine left their evidence. And one more thing. Exhaust systems. When was the last time you had the car in the shop for mufflers, resonators, and tail pipes. Midas Muffler is now called Midas Auto Car or something like that. "Midas : Brakes, Tires, Oil Change, All of Your Auto Repair ... https://www.midas.com Midas offers complete auto care for your vehicle. Whether it’s time for your next factory recommended maintenance visit, a routine oil change, new tires, or repair services on your brakes, muffler and exhaust, suspension, air conditioner, or any other mechanical or electrical component of your car, Midas is in your neighborhood and ready to serve you" As a disclaimer, I started driving in the mid 1950s. They were saying the same things then. They don't make 'em like they used to was said back in the good ol' days. They were wrong back in those days, and they are wrong today.

Fiberglass resin by itself, does not play nicely with plywood. The best thing you can use is an epoxy resin based product such as Gluvit. https://www.amazon.com/GLUVIT-EPOXY-WATERPROOF-8-lb/dp/B0149I886Q/ref=asc_df_B0149I886Q/?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=&hvpos=&hvnetw=o&hvrand=&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584070138401886&psc=1 I can hear the howls of disagreement but here goes. Polyester resin is not waterproof. It can absorb water. When that happens the bond of polyester resin to plywood is compromised. When that happens the outer layer of plywood will expand.and the resin cannot stretch enough so it cracks. As time goes by the cracking accelerates. To correct the result requires sanding the plywood to remove all the remaining resin. Then coat it with resin and it should be good for the life of the boat. If you want to save a couple of bucks use vinylester resin. It is waterproof. I'd use a quality exterior house or a marine grade paint to coat the surface before I'd coat it with polyester resin. https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/protecting-plywood-with-polyester-resin.14325/

Care to elaborate on the "other things"?

I know "anti" means to be against or opposed to something. But a google search of PICATION yielded .……………………………………. nothing. Sorry. The devil made me do it. Edit. clarification. I did a google search of cipation and came up with this. Urban Dictionary: cipation https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cipation Not giving a s##t, as in, the opposite of anticipation.

Well, I don't know how accurate this is. But, when I see parking areas at ramps that can accommodate 30 to 40 rigs with only a half dozen of those spaces being used that something is up, or down to be more accurate. A popular pond, only minutes from my door step is the best indicator I know of. When the fishing is good the ramp is crowded, even on week days. The parking area can accommodate maybe ten vehicles, fewer if most of the boats are trailered.. It's an unimproved ramp, but when the fishing is good, cars will be lined up on both sides of the road. The access to the pond is like riding the jungle cruise at Disney World, but without the tracks. Mostly car toppers, or boats in the bed of a pickup are used. The few with trailers use boats that are beaters. It's all but impossible not to hit a rock or several on the winding channel that gets you to and from the pond. Here's a hint. To get some indication of how the fishing is, take a ride around the ramps in your neck of the woods and see how many rigs are in the parking areas. Keep in mind there will be more cars on the weekends. If the lot is packed, chances are the fishing is good, or it could also mean there is a tournament(s) on that day.

Here's the problem with that. When you hook up a trailer to your vehicle some of the weight goes on the rear wheels of your tow vehicle. It also takes some of the weight off your front wheels because it creates a lever with the rear axle being the fulcrum. Any time you add weight to the hitch, it exerts a lifting action at the front axle reducing traction. What you can get with a two wheel drive is a rear axle locker. I know you can get them on light duty pickup trucks. Not as good as four wheel drive, but definitely an asset.

The height is best determined by you. It should be high enough for you to stand up easily.

I remember when the Coast Guard implemented the new policy. A clever fellow got into the business of towing, naming his business "Any Towing Company". When the Coast Guard would get a call for a non emergency problem the Coast Guard would ask the owner who they could contact for him, the usual response was "Any towing company". It drove the other towing companies crazy.

Thin ice can do serious damage to wood, fiberglass or plastic. It can act just like a saw at the waterline. Be careful, and check the hull often when you are breaking ice.