WIGuide

Welcome to the forums Lee!

The 3 most common sizes found in boats are the group 24, 27 and 31. 24 is the smallest, and 31 is the biggest. A lot of it depends on what you can fit in your storage. For instance, with my boat for my 24 volt tm I've got to run two 24's because I can't fit 2 27's in the back. I've never had an issue going well over 8 hours with a set of 24's though. For your situation, I'd be looking at running 2 batteries in parallel. Try to squeak 27's in and 24's if you can't.

Welcome to the forums, if you haven't done so already, head over to the introduction section and introduce yourself. That particular boat has a max hp rating of a 3 horse so a 2.5 will be just fine. You're also right on track with the trolling motor. A 55 will be plenty of power for the boat. Just be sure to get one that has a variable speed selection instead of something with 4 or 6 preset speeds. They usually cost a little more, but they are worth it. It seems like with the preset speeds one speed will always be just a little too slow for what you want but the next one will be just a bit too fast.

Yeah there's one little lake by me that I fish quite often that's the exact same! I can't fish it too early in the spring or fall unless I'm fishing with someone because there's no way to get out of the vehicle other than stepping in the water. On the other extreme, there's a ramp on a section of river that looks like it'd be gradual from the lay of the land, but the actual ramp drops off really quickly. Half the bunks are out of the water when you go to load up, and on my boat, the hole where the steering and throttle cables come through the hull actually gets dunked under water and you hear it pouring into the hull.

Is there also something in that menu that changes what happens when you zoom? With mine, if I go to zoom out some and push and hold the button briefly to go more than one level, it zooms WAY out. Like a few states are within the frame then instead of say half the lake like I wanted.

If you want to expand on your system, stick with the HDS, if you think the stand alone unit will be all you'll ever need, then go with the Elite.

I definitely think you'll be happy you stepped up to the 24V. You can always turn it down if you don't need the power, you can't turn a 12 up any more than max when you need more. I'm one of those that subscribes to the buy the biggest you can afford. I don't want to drive to a lake only to find out that I can't fish where I want to, simply because I skimped when I bought a tm. My boat's only a 17 footer and I've got an 82# thrust Motorguide and if I had the room for the extra battery, I'd be running a 36V 109.

It all depends. If you're like me fishing 30 or more different bodies of water every year it's worth it's weight in gold. Not only does it help me find fish, but it allows me to not tear stuff up as well by avoiding otherwise unmarked hazard areas. Take a look at your different options. Around me at least not all lakes are mapped as well by certain companies. One lake may have a great map on the lakemaster chip, while the navionics version has next to no detail, yet the next lake you fish might be the exact opposite. I run Lowrance, and it's nice they have Insight Genisis which allows me to go out and make my own maps.Not only does this help me get more detail, but it allows me to make maps on lakes that have no mapping at all around me.

Guess you learned your lesson on why you should always test out a boat before buying it no matter how far it is to get it to water. It would be nice to be able to take everyone's word, but the way things are these days you just can't do that.

Congrats on the new ride! It'll be a great feeling fishing out of a bass boat again!

I'll toss in another vote for Dual Pro chargers. My dad's 99 Ranger still has the original charger in it and has had zero problems. I bought a used one for my last boat from a guy upgrading to a 4 bank and it's been in my last two boats without problems as well. The other good thing about them, is if something does go wrong with them, they are serviceable, unlike most that are more so disposable.

^^ It sounds like you're in too deep dude. Pull it up a bit and you should be good especially with 2 sets of bunks under the boat. The steeper the landing the more bunk you will need to leave out of the water, and the more gradual the landing you'll have less bunk showing to get it on. Part of learning to load your particular boat is to learning how much is enough for each situation.

You can also carry an old towel with you and wipe the boat down with it as soon as you pull it out of the water. Lucas slick mist is also a great product. Quick, simple, affordable.

I've used a few different things over the years. I started with Rapala pliers with carbide cutters and those worked great until I lost them and I didn't like that the pliers themselves weren't stainless steel. I used the Mustad KVD line cutter/split ring pliers and those worked well for about a year for cutting braid, but the split ring part was a joke. It was easier and quicker to use a fingernail...even if you had to wait to grow out a fingernail haha. This past winter, I got a pair of Rapala braid scissors free with an order and so far they've been great. Basically a stainless pair of Fiscar kids sissors, but a portion of the blades are serrated and the grips are made for a normal sized hand. One of my friends always uses some sort of surgical scissors. He said he buys them in bulk online and they're great because they're stainless, and have fully serrated blades that cut through all lines well as well as being heavy duty enough to cut musky leader wire.

That might work, but if it was my trailer I wouldn't be doing it. The problem is even with holes you aren't going to be rinsing everything that was wet when it was submerged. Not to mention the fact that it might void any warranty, or weaken the trailer to the point of failure. A better bet is to find a boat with a galvanized trailer, or at very minimum one with a C channel or I beam design which allows you to completely rinse everything.

Point is you don't NEED a Corvette as a daily driver, especially if you can't afford it.

Yep totally normal. Your water pump fills up all the cooling passages in the block while the motor is running. When you shut it off your water pump is no longer turning, so gravity does it's work and drains the motor. All you're seeing is some of that draining process while the rest happens under the water.

Trail Star trailers (made by Tracker) would not be a trailer I'd recommend for use in salt water. It's a closed tube style trailer that fills up when you back it in and then it drains out. Because there is no access to the inside of the tube steel, it's bare metal from the factory, and bare metal and saltwater do not play well together especially when you can't rise it off.

Congrats on the new ride! Now if we can just get some decent weather to enjoy using it that will help!

Congrats on the boat! It should treat you right. One suggested purchase is a stainless prop. It'll make you love your boat that much more as take off and handling will be better and you'll probably even gain a little extra speed out of it too.

It all depends on what valves are installed and where. You should be able to get it to fill by having your recirc pump on recirc and having your "livewell" pump on with the valve either open or closed. The reason they have an open valve, is to drain your livewell. Pump outs are usually for tournament fishing as it give you an easy access to fill your weigh in bag instead of crawling under your boat to get to the drain. Also, for those of us that have weather that gets below zero, you don't want to leave water in hoses as the water will freeze/expand and wreak havoc on the whole system.

Sea Nymphs are a middle of the road type boat. Nothing wrong with them at all though. It should make a solid boat if the price is right.

I run ethanol free gas, but I run a can of Seafoam through it about every month or so.

Sounds like waters for either a small jon boat with mud motor, or one of these They make a 1 and 2 seater, top speed of 35 mph, and looks to have a pretty shallow draft too! Here's the link to the site: http://www.aquanami.eu/#!jetkayak_gt/cxip

^ I can vouch for this. I've had mine for a few years now and it's been worth every penny. I live in one of the states it has to be worn at all times to count as a PDF and fishing in the heat of summer it's remained super comfortable. There have been many times I've gotten off the water and sat down in the truck only to realize I still had it on.