Further North

Same here...there was a well meaning gentleman on another forum...probably well into his 70s at the time who made the same claim about on-board chargers. When pressed, he'd known one person, a couple decades plus back, who had a fire in their boat while it was stored over the winter who thought the charger was the source...and denied that it could have been mice gnawing on something. Everything else was hearsay - friend of cousin's uncle's best pal named Bob kind of stuff, or he'd read it, "...on a forum somewhere..." ...so what it boiled down to was one data point in 50 years of boating. and that was probably 5, 6 years ago. To me it's a lot like the folks who claim composite trolling motor shafts break...but they've never seen it happen...

Or in my case, doing a poor job of communicating. ?

OK...I've not been saying this right... What I'm getting it is that I run my 36 volt trolling motor at lower speeds than I ran my 24 volt trolling motor...so I wind up using less stored power. I'm trying to equate it to getting better "gas mileage" because the motor is turning at much lower RPMs and doing a bad job of it.

Mmmmm...wrong. I'm on record all over the place that people should get what pleases them. ...and we still don't know how hull material creates "superior storage". Nailed it, IMO. Thanks, that's a start...now let's talk about price points: Are they comparable? Size wise, are they roughly the same? Like @J Francho said, we can't compare a Tracker to a Ranger, not that I think you're doing that...but it can look that way if we don't ask questions to figure out where we're at here.

I'd have a professional look at it, or at least provide a bunch of photos for folks here to look at... ...but I'd tilt hard toward option #1...

Agree on 24 volt on a boat that size. I will never own another boat without an onboard charger for longer than it takes me to buy one, have it delivered and get it installed. Why anyone would want to mess around with any other system is beyond me, unless they cannot afford it...and that is what it is. All the major manufacture's chargers will be fine. Buy what fits your budget. That's true...if that's all the further you take it. a 36 volt system will, just by default, last longer than a 24 volt system. You won't run it as hard. You won't run it as long. You will have more capacity when you want/need it. I still think 24 volt is plenty for a 16 ft. boat, but that's a different subject...

"softer ride" compared to what? I can think of any number of tin boats that ride like a baby's bottom on a pillow in a cotton ball factory... We need to be careful to compare apples to apples here...lets compare $$$ to $$$, weight to weight, length to length, beam to beam...hull structure to hull structure... Otherwise we're just flingin' stuff around... ...and I have no idea how "superior storage" has anything to do with what the boat is made from...help me out there, please? I really want to understand.

Dude...I feel for you...

I Know this isn't gonna be what you want to read...but...summer smallmouth, to me, means rivers. Relatively shallow ones, where wading, canoes, drift boats, or maybe john boats are going to be best... ....but I'm not sure what you've got near you.

@Jon burrows we'll need to know what kind of depth finder and what kind of trolling motor. Most can get to what you want to do, but the "how" will depend on what you have.

That's how I'd bet.

Sounds like counseling is in order here...but I'm not sure if it should be for the fish, or for you... ?

Weirdness here, north of Eau Claire as well. I was out of town for the opener, May 5th, but the ice went off the lakes around here on the 3rd. From friends, I learned that water temps were mid 40s. By the time I got on the water the afternoon of the 13th, water temps were 60° about noon, to 65° when I got off the lake at dusk. Smallies were starting to make beds. By the next Sunday, there were a fair amount of fish on beds, but most were females. Water temps were pushing 70° in some spots. The weather has been all over the place since then, from mid 40s to 100°, storms, floods... Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes…The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria. ...you know...all that stuff.

Great advice! All the top selling brands do a great job and a feature here and there doesn't make any real difference...but if the menu system is a pain for you to navigate through, you won't use your equipment. Clearer this, stronger that and deeper that other thing make no difference if getting to them is confusing to you. Hummingbird menus make the most sense to me, so that's what I buy, you may find you like something else better.

Good stuff folks, thanks!

I used to fly kites off fishing rods...

Bad A-Jay! Bad!

When I got back into fishing, I bought a Calais DC as a way to short-cut re-learning to through a baitcaster. It was worth every penny, just for that. These days, that reel sits on a rig set up to throw big in-line spinners, big spoons and other pike/musky baits that don't make the jump to "big". On a 7' 9' TFO MH rod, the combo will about put a 1 1/8 oz. spoon in orbit...into a 20 MPH wind... With the Curado DC coming in ~$250...it's on my radar.

Pretty much how I'd have written it. Deeper hull aluminum (Lund Pro-V Bass, Crestliner Bass Hawk, and my old Crestliner CMV) ride well, don't get blown around much and go as fast as I need to go. My boat with a 150 Yamaha will see 60, and I'll bet the newer ones rated for 200 HP will beat that. I don't even need/want to go that fast, I simply don't need it onthe lakes I fish and it'd just be a way to spend money on gas. My biggest reason for picking my boat didn't have anything to do with what the hull is made from (because I don't think it makes any real difference at the end of the day). I bought my boat because the layout and size are exactly what I want.

I'm very interested in how this turns out. I've toyed with the idea for years...but everything works so well now that I'm just not inclined to mess with it. I'd have to be pretty sure I'd see serious improvement, or get some other quantifiable benefit to spend the money.

The Gobee is like a set of headlights, you'd easily see enough buoys...if I can see a floating log... It's high enough for me, probably about level with my eyes. ...I don't much care what's behind me ? If I need to look back there, I've got a rechargeable 1500 lumen flashlight that gets 'er done. I had Brinkmann lights for years (there's one floating 'round the garage as I type this), they also get it done...but I need one hand on the throttle, one on the wheel...and I don't have prehensile toes.

What if you fish by yourself?

I run this on the bow: https://www.cabelas.com/product/Golight-reg-Gobee-Stanchion-Mount-Light/701634.uts ...standard white-light-on-a-post on the stern. Why the Gobee? It only takes one floating log, unnoticed hazzard, or cooler that fell off a pontoon to ruin your whole week...or longer.

While I admire the dedication of folks who can take one presentation and stick with it, I'd go outta my mind if I tried that. Flies seem to be getting left off the list, so: Baitfish pattern Ol' Mr. Wiggly Just about any popper Regular gear: Smokin' Rooster, Texas rigged #5 Mepps Senko

Thanks again. Added to my "database" for consideration and pondering.