steveb1

And that light at the end of the tunnel........its.........its........Success!!!!!! I got back from China and the mail order steering cables were waiting for me to install. I took today off to do the installation (hoping to go fishing tomorrow). Almost everything went smoothly. Tied the rope to the dual cable and started pulling through the gunwale praying that they didn't get hung up. No problem they went right through. Then I lined up one cable to transom tube, right in, no problem. But the second cable wouldn't line up. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. The cable came out straight when I removed the old cable, why wouldn't the new cable line up to go back in. I was to point where I was thinking that I would have to enlarge the opening where the cable came out from the fiberglass, when it suddenly dawned on me what the problem was. I had brought the motor down with the tilt control, which lifted the tube out of alignment with the fiberglass hole. Great! All I had to do was tilt the motor back up to align the tube, when...... nothing...... one of the pump switches in the console had been knocked to the on position and the batteries were dead. Rushed over to Sears Automotive Center and got a 12VDC to 120VAC inverter. I then used the 12V car battery to charge the 24V marine batteries. The boat has a built in 120VAC charger. After charging the batteries, tilted the engine, and the steering cable slides right in transom tube smooth as silk. Buttoned everything up, and took the boat down to Pohick Bay. I was very nervous since this would be the first time I would be out on open water with the boat (any boat!). Bear in ,that I have never owned a boat before. So I keep going every detail 20 times in my head before actually doing anything. Boat started right up. Put the bilge plug in, check......Water spitting out, check.......oil level good, check....... Put the boat in gear, and started accelerating, on plane, adjust trim..... took it up half way to about 3000rpm, boat was doing ~35-40. Fast enough for me at this point. We'll see what she can do flat out another day, when I have a little more experience under my belt. We're in business! Bass you better look out now!!!!!!! So here's a question: Any general advice on what section of river near Pohick Bay launch would be a good spot to try tomorrow? I plan on staying close to Pohick Bay launch until I get some hours on the boat to determine its reliability.

I would love to get out. I have cabin fever really bad, but I'm flying out for a business trip. I wonder what kind of fishing they have in Dongguan China?

One more small side note to would be do it yourselfers. I highly suggest that you take your cell phone out of your pocket before you start crawling around under the dash. Wish someone had given me this advice..........

I hear you. But for an apples to apples comparison, if you want to use 1989 dollars for a new boat, then the proper comparrison would be to buying a used boat in 1989, which would be closer to 2K. You still have a 10X differential in price. Or, add in inflation, which would make 20K in 1989 closer to 40K today. Having said that, I basically agree with all the points you make, other than the conclussion, that I would be better off buying a new boat for 40K. I still think that amortized over the next 10 years the used boat with repairs will cost significantly less than a new boat. Now to your side of the debate, while the used boat will have cost less, the new boat will have been less of a hassle and have more features. Feel free to reply, but I don't want to take this thread too much further down this angle or the moderator will move the discussion to the boating section.

20K for a new 19ft Ranger with 200HP engine? Show me where, and I'll buy it today!!!!! The sticker shock I saw was a lot more than 20K. As far as the boat falling apart, that may have been the case if I had settled for a Stratos, but that's why I waited for the more reliable Ranger. ;D Just kidding, I know what you're saying.

I definitely plan on fishing the Potomac, and hope to hook up with the regulars on this board. Probably won't happen till late March or early April. Along with the Potomac, I plan on spending some time at Lake Anna. I live near Algonkian Park on the upper Potomac, and I have been out on my canoe here, and I have seen a lot of aluminum jon boats here, but I think taking a large fiberglass boat out on this section of the river would be asking for trouble. (Too shallow).

In regards to the cost, after I broke the helm I was ready to cut my losses and have a professional finish the job, so I took my boat into a respectible boat service center that had been recommended to me to get a quote. They wanted $700 for the parts and 3-5 hours for labor at $125/hr, for a total of ~$1100 to $1300. After picking my jaw up off the floor, I decided to work on it myself a little bit longer. It remains to be seen if this is the right decission.

A have a little story I thought I would share with my fellow anglers in Virginia. A little background, I'm really into woodworking, so one winter about 4 years ago, I decided to build a cedar strip canoe. The canoe turned out really nice, but I didn't get much opportunity to use it. Two years ago I moved from Rochester NY to Virginia. I brought the canoe with me, and I finally had some weekend time to use it. Just paddling around seemed a little boring, so I decided to try some fishing. Well!!!!!!! This fishing thing is a lot of fun!!!!!!! Who'd a thunk!!!!! Only took me 50 years to figure it out. I am thoroughly hooked (pun intended), and now I spend way too much time watching fishing shows. Well, the canoe is nice, but after watching all the shows and seeing the other anglers out on the water, bass boat *** has set in, ( a very debilitating desease), and I decided I had to have one. Not wealthy enough to buy anything new (sticker shock just about stopped my heart), and being the bargain hunter that I am, I decided to check out the used boat market. Being the geeky engineering type that I am, I went into full research mode, absorbing everything I could on bass boats. I studied advantages/disadvantages of the differnt sizes, length, beam, weight, type, prices, manufacturer, stability, resale value, horse power, age, you name it .... complete with excel spreadsheet. In addition, I also asked for advise here, and got some really good pointers from several of you. I scoured ebay, craigslist and every other online used boat site I could find. And, eureka, I found the perfect boat just after Christmas. A gentleman had a 1990 18ft Ranger 150HP asking $4500. I got on the phone and I was the first person to contact him and we agreed to take it out for a test drive the next weekend on Saturday (the day after New Years). Just my luck, the cold weather settled in and froze the ramps near his location. Then things stayed frozen. Being that this is my very first boat, I didn't feel comfortable in buying a boat just hearing the engine run. But, someone else contacted him and agreed to buy the boat without a test drive. He was a gentleman and contacted me, and since I was first, gave me first opportunity to buy it without a test drive. I really wanted to take the boat out for a test drive, so I declined and walked away from the sale. Try number two was a bust. A 1987 Ranger 18ft, 150HP. Got there and took it out for a test drive. The engine was ok, but pretty much everything else was shot. Batteries wouldn't charge, I don't think a single gauge worked. The carpet had been removed and it was spray coated with some kind of rough gritty floor paint. The boat was a wreck. Back to the drawing board..... searching, searching, searching....... Finally, in late Jan, another boat pops up on the radar screen. This time its a 1989 Ranger 396V, 19ft with 200HP asking $4000. I rushed over and we tried to take it out on a small lake near his location. The boat had one issue. steering cable needed to be replaced. I was ok wth the steering cable, but I still wanted to hear the engine under load. We were able to get it in the water but there was too much ice to get out to the main portion of the lake. I was able to gun the engine for a few seconds. Everything else about the boat seemed perfect. So I swallowed my uncertaintly and made an offer of $3600. Sold!!!! So the next phase of my saga, I am now the owner of Ranger that needs the steering fixed. Back to research mode to study everything I can about replacing steering cables. It turns out that this boat has Teleflex dual cable rack steering. But around 1994 Teleflex makes a fudamental change to their dual rack system. On my boat it takes two seperate cables and the helm has two sets of gears for the individual cables. On the post 1994 boats there is a dual cable that terminates in a single rack gear. So on the newer systems when one cable goes, you have to replace both cables. It turns out the the steering works ok to one side but can only go so far in the other direction. So step one, determine which cabel is bound up, or better yet my little inner genius voice says to me, see if a little WD40 and effort, can free up the sticky cable. Here is where I want to kick myself for a fool!!!! In my effort to work the cable free, I broke the helm! Ok, so I need to replace the helm, how hard can that be, and they are significantly cheaper than the cables. Well, not so fast..... teleflex sells the old style cables (pre1994), but the old style dual helms are obsolete and they do not have any. After a lot of hunting on the internet, I found a boat salvage that had an old style Teleflex dual cable helm for $50! WooHoo! Back in business! I got the helm, and went back to the boat to remove the broken helm and install the new helm. This time I wasn't gong to force anything. I was going to just identify and replace the bad cable. As I took the old helm out, something bad became obvious. The old broken dual helm wasn't made by Teleflex!!!! I had not done my research thuroughly enough, it turns out the system that was in my boat was by Morse(no longer in business)! And even though Morse and Teleflex cables of this era are interchangable, the helms have different mounting hardware. The helm I got from the salvage did not come with the necessary additional mounting hardware. The good news is I'm only out $50, but the idea of only replacing the one cable is now out. The hopefully happy ending is just around the corner though. Even though replacing the entire package is more expensive, there are several advantages: The new replacement steering package adds a new "no feedback" feature. Since one cable was bad, the other was probably close behind. I found the complete Teleflex NFB dual rack steering package, in the length I need, for $320 online. I should get it sometime next week. So here I am all excited that my saga is finally about to come to a conclussion and I will be on the water next week, when I am told I have to go to China for the next two weeks, and I won't be able to work on it until the middle of March. Sigh, I can see light at the end of the tunnel, or is that the train lights coming at me?

I ran into "Switchfisher" at the Hillendale swap. He has a great website with a ton of info on canoe and kayak fishing sites all over Northern and Central VA.

Is it a fishing flea market? Post the details.

Don't know about Beavercreekdam or Burke, but Occoquan Resevoir allows gas engines up to 10hp.

By the way Jay, I plan on buying a boat this winter. I'll PM you when I get it, and we can go out fishing in the Spring. Probably won't get it for another couple of months.

with such powerful words you may have just got a permanent seat in my boat!!! Ok. I see how this is going. It going to be a bidding war! Haha.... I'll meet your raise of beer and sandwiches, and in addition raise back - refunds for any lost lures! ;D

I'd be interested in going, if anyone has a seat open. I'll buy the gas. PM me if there's an opening.

I just looked up Pickwick Landing on Yahoo Map. It struck me funny that down stream from the dam is Kentucky "Lake", and upstream from the dam is Tennessee "River".

So what is considered the "normal" fishing season on the Potomac? Is it year round including Jan and Feb? Or are there a few months off due to cold weather and/or just that the fish won't bite.

Wow, they must have just stopped this week. I rented one last weekend. $11 for the whole day. Brought my own electric trolling motor.

I've been out to Beaver Creek several times in my canoe and caught a few bass. One of my favorite places because it is so peacefull and beautiful due to the limited access. You can also try Occoquan Resevoir at Fountainhead park. They have canoe and jonboat rentals there.

Since several people had mentioned it, I went down to Riverside Park and tried fishing at Little Hunting Creek. I used Google Map, and it looked like I could get my canoe into the water at Riverside. Unfortunately, the shoreline was just a little to rocky and steep for me to the canoe into the water. Went over and shore fished the creek for a while, but no luck. Someone came by in a bass boat and tried the other shore for about a half hour. He didn't have any luck either. Got in the car and headed up to Gravelley Point. I was going to put the canoe in at the boat ramp, but the wind had really kicked up by then. Shore fished off the dock, but no luck. There looks like a culvert leading over to a bird sanctuary on the other side of Washington Pkwy. There were two people down by the culvert and several more fishing off the dock. No one caught anything while I was there. The culvert looks high enough for me to get my canoe through. Does any one know if fishing is allowed in the bird sanctuary? Anyone have any luck fishing at Gravelley Point? Going to try Riverbend again tomorrow.

Good ideas to think about. In particular, I hadn't thought about the transom, (mentioned by soccplayer). But that makes a lot of sense, the transom has to be the single most stressed point on the boat (unless you hit something)! I will follow up with PM on boats I am looking at, I don't want to take the toppic of this thread too far off course. But I will mention that in general I plan on starting cheap, $2500 to $4000. This way, if I make a blunder, it isn't too expensive. And then after I use it for a year or two, I will have a real idea of exactly what I want, and then make a more substantial commitment. Amazingly, I am seeing fiberglass boats (18 ft, 100+ hp) in the price range I mentioned above. Steve B

Hi All, Just wanted to chim in and start by thanking everyone for the great information being shared on this thread. I moved to the NOVA area a little over a year ago from Rochester NY. I have been fishing the Potomac from my cedarstrip canoe mostly out of Algonkian and Point of Rocks. I've also been to Occoquan, Lake Anna and Beaver Creek Resevoir. Excellent results during the summer, not so great lately. I haven't tried the tidal region yet, but am planning to. I tried Riverbend last weekend, which was a bust, high muddy water. No bites at all. I only started fishing the last two years. It now looks like the fishing bug has really sunk its claws into me, and I am planning on going up to the next level and purchase a bass boat. I am seeing a lot of really great bargains on Craiglist, but I am relative uneducated on what to look out for. I think I have the basics covered: Must have clear title Engine runs good. More HP is better. Trolling motor and electronics. No leaks Trailer in good shape Any other important criteria I should be checking? I have never actually been out on a bass boat. I would love to go out with someone who has a bass boat to get a feel for what features are good/bad as I make this decission. Please PM me if you would like to take a fellow fishing addict out fishing some weekend. Short notice, but I am available tomorrow (Saturday Nov 7) if someone is planning on going out and wants some company. Steve B