Wintersun

It depends on the dingy as some are very seaworthy and others are designed only to ferry people and gear to and from the dock to the big boat. Great deal of variation on how much effort it takes to move them along as well with some that are very efficient, i.e. a wherry. There are ways to attach trolling motors and extend the range and utility of a rowing boat.

These boats have been sold with 25, 40, 50, 60, and larger motors. The people with the 25HP were as a whole unhappy with the boat and felt it underpowered with 2-3 people on board. Similar comments from people with the boats with the 40HP outboards. The deep V has its place but on a protected reservoir it provides little in the way of benefits and you do have a tippier boat for a casting platform.

I would pay attention to the after sale support of any boat. This is where Lund is far superior to Tracker. After trying to get parts and support for my 2009 Tracker deep V boat I will never buy another Tracker boat.

Not easy to weld 1/16 thick aluminum and not blow through the material. Safer to rivet again. Question then becomes whether to use aluminum or stainless steel rivets as the aluminum will have minimal galvanic response but be a lot weaker than the stainless steel rivets.

http://www.centralcoastbassfishing.com/about.htm Fellow operates out of Atascadero and hits multiple lakes in the area. If you phone the store at the marina at a lake they can often recommend a local guide though many of the stores will not start to open until April or May. A great book on fishing spots in California is the book by Tom Stienstra who has been actively fishing all over the state and writtting about it for more than 30 years.

I see used fishing kayaks for sale on Craigslist.com all the time. Often one bought new for $700 is listed at $400 or less. The very inexpensive new ones are usually much heavier or much shorter or both and not much fun to paddle any distance and not much room for gear.

I dug two holes in the yard with a post hole digger and put in two sections of 4x4 PT in concrete. Then I bolted on 4 crossbars using 2x4 PT lumber. Rack is 40" above the ground and holds 4 kayaks. I could have gone a little higher with the posts and used the standard kayak J hooks but that would have added $200 to the cost of the project and as it was I got by with scrap lumber and a couple bags of post hole mix. I did not want to attach anything to the side of the house and end up with termite or dry rot damage and with kayaks up to 16' in length storing them inside had gotten to be a pain.

I use Bearing Buddies that are pushed out as grease is added. Makes it easy sto keep the bearings fully greased after each trip. I carry a grease gun and if the bearings are hot when I get to a launch area I will add grease before putting the wheels into the water. Otherwise the wheels cool down rapidy and create a vacuum that sucks in water. With a big boat trailer the cost of oil bath type bearings is well worthwhile.

For cranking I use an Exide AGM hybrid marine battery but for trolling I use a Napa deep cycle flooded lead acid type battery. The flooded cost half as much and last longer with partial discharge and partial recharge cycles - i.e. boating. The Napa I bought from a local dealer as I try to buy as much locally as I can and keep the money circulating in the local economy instead of having it go to Bentonville. The Exide I bought from Amazon to take advantage of the free shipping.

I mounted the transducer for my finder to the bottom of the trolling motor. When I remove the motor the transducer comes off at the same time. It is protected from impact by the skeg on the trolling motor housing. Having had many items walk off from my boats over the years I avoid leaving anything of value on the boat that is not "nailed down" and that includes the fish finder, trolling motor, and their batteries.

Thule and Yakima cross bars can be used with the rails on a roof if the car has them or with the gutters or without gutters. The bars and mounts can be easily moved from one car or truck the next one with only the need to possibly replace the 4 feet. The Porta-bote is only 4 inches thick when folded so easy to strap it to the bars directly. I have bought the split foam tubing designed for insulating hot water pipes at the local building supply to cover the bars. The foam has a contact glue strip on each side so they stay on the bar. With the slight give in the foam rubber whatever is strapped to the top stays snug with a couple rachet straps. For the rods Thule makes a 84" long storage box that is designed for skiis and is a good fit for most rods and some tackle. The ski type boxes also have a lower profile and provide less wind resistance. I would avoid putting much in addition to the rods in the box to avoid damage to the rods. There is also the option of mounting a section of ABS pipe with capped ends to the rack but the storage box is more versatile though more expensive.

There are boats made more than 25 years ago that are still in active use. Early models had a canoe stern which was OK for mounting a trolling motor but not an outboard. New the 12' boats sell for $2000 so you got an incredible deal.