fishnkamp

You don't say where you are located in PA. but you mention the Susqy, so you can't be too far from Harrisburg. I lived north of there back in the 90, and there was a company called Snyder's Airboats back then. It was a father and son setup. The son took it over. Last I heard he was building custom jet boats. I promise you you will not find a better boat welder. Here is his website https://snyder-jetboats.com/ He is located in Millersville, up along the river and not fare from where the ferry crossing was. Please don't ask me why I know how good he is at repairing Susqy river boats! lol I will just say I owned one of the first jet setups on the entire river back in 1990. I went where only his airboats could go, well all but once. I lived above the Clarks Ferry bridge near Duncannon PA. Beautiful smallies up there.

From the way you said it I thought perhaps you had gone to the sunny and warm climates in the south. lol. The Robalo boats look nice.

What waters are you fishing these days? Bass or a mix. Would a Lund Baron work?

Did you move south to ocean water or north to big laskes

How do you like the Riptide trolling motor.

What are you getting to replacer her with? That has always been a nice boat.

Take a look at eastern marine in Delaware. They carry all kinds or rim and tire selection. I really think you may find purchasing a pair of rims ad tires will be you safest thing. Remember those rims have been on that trailer for a long time. There's is some rust visible on that rim. Procraft built a nice boat so I would not take any chances. This might be a good time to service all the wheel bearings and inspect the trailer frame and springs. If you find any issues it is better to find them before you put any money into the trailer.

Guys you do realize this is a June of 2018 thread.

Well let me give you the opinion from an angler that has owned well designed fish and ski and standard bass boats. I have owned a dozen boats including some nice fiberglass ones. One of my best ever boats was my ProCraft 20 foot 205 Pro Combo. It was a fish and ski walk through window style boat that had BIG storage. There was the main road locker which held 7' rods (remember this is 1998 you did not see 7'6" and 8 foot rods back then). There were Big tackle storage and misc storage up front. There was a HUGE in floor carpeted ski locker that I built a rod tube setup in. That would have held 30 rods if you designed it to do so and it went all the way to the front. I ordered it with high end electronics, 3 batteries and an on board charger,24 volt trolling motor etc. Other than the windshield being there, in the way if you would swing your bass in wildly, I found it to be a great rough water hull and great fishing platform.When I wanted to take a bunch of folks out skiing, well I could easily fit 5 persons and all the necessary gear. I had the cushions for both front deck and rear deck and even had the tonney cover that stored back by the batteries. The boat had great big well aerated livewells too. It had a 200 EFI Merc on it and did around 72 mph by gps. Now I also have had some nice fiberglass and aluminum single and dual consoles. I really prefer the dual console, I fish with my wife most of the time. She also prefers a dual console boat as well. I realize I am in the minority. Today's modern bass boats give you options that never existed before. You can order the dual console and remove one when you do not want it with you. Slonezp had it exactly right when he mentioned some of the companies that make great boats like this today. I think it is amazing what Lund has done with the new models. Offering options like either the huge tackle holder that raises out of the back deck or the optional two jump seats is great. If you can not see yourself being able to fish out of a 18 or 20 ProV bass boat well you are stuck on owning a single console bass boat. Another thing is do not just look at fiberglass. There are some amazing new style aluminum rigs to consider (both new and used). I have sat in a Lund ProV 1875 and I have sat in a Vexus AVX1980 dual console. Both are at the top of the food chain, but there are others like an Xpress that have been around a while.

When was your water pump replaced and is there any chance you sucked up mud or sand lately? I agree with the previous posters thread. Do not run this engine before it is fixed.

I love boats that come straight out of the hole and tip over fast so you do not lose much sight of the horizon. That boat hull is sweet. It almost comes out flat and fast! Nice rig.

The part of the pedal your foot touches would only be about 1 to 2 inches off the deck, That is hardly the problem of the past, causing the angler to stand like Captain Morgan, 4 to 7 inches off the deck level with one leg. The choice is up to the angler which they prefer. You may not remember some of the old trolling motors, but the pedal for an old OMC foot controlled trolling motor was really tall, the Motorguide are pretty tall as well. Most anglers that prefer electric pedals are happy with them just sitting on top of the deck..The storage box just becomes a nice option for storage of the pedal.

The idea is simple. The typical cable driven foot pedal are really tall and for decades anglers using them had to do the"captain Morgan" stance trying to stand firm on one leg. In response, most boat builders started offering the foot pedal recess area, thus the foot pedal was almost level with the deck and the angler can stand almost flat footed, or at least a whole lot more balanced using that setup. Now the electric steer trolling motors have become more popular than they had been, mostly because the technology has become better in them. The foot pedals for these are really low, so now the opposite problem exists. If all the boats come with a recess and you installed your low profile electric steer pedal in the recess now your foot is below the deck level and you are again off balance. To answer this issue many boat builders offered a matching carpeted plate to screw down on the deck top eliminate the recess area. Apparently now they decided to make this a hinged lid, you stow the pedal when not in use and put it on top the lid when it is in use.

WRB that sounds like operator stupidity. I guess you did not learn from when the first cell phone went whizzing by your head! As for a persons preference between electric steer or cable drive sometimes it is just personal preference, sometimes it is about physical issues. Same as choosing to sit on a chair, leaning on a bicycle seat, or no seat really depends on your physical condition. See what works for you if have had feet issues or back issues.

You could do what I did. I started at the back of the boat. Using a floor jack and a few boards I lifted the rear of the boat up and supported it with two jack stands. I then moved my jack forward and lifted it up a little above the trailer. As i did i rolled the trailer forward. I then adjusted the trailer wheel up so the trailer tilted up in the front and down in the back. With a little more work I had the entire boat lifted up and setting on wood and jack stands. I like to use 2 by 6 wood for support. I wheeled the trailer out, did a lot of trailer work and rolled it back under. Tat was a 17 foot aluminum bass boat.

This may seem to be stupid, but if you replaced the, Merc primer bulb with either an after market primer bulb or another factory primer bulb that may be your issue. I know you just replaced the fuel lines so maybe you replaced the primer bulb too. I have troublshot several boats and found issues with the factory brand new primer bulbs and fixed it by using only johnson evinrude primer bulbs. I even had a bad one on my Lowe bass boat right from brand new.

The specs I found online showed that motor to have factory specs for compression of 105 to 110 and now cylinder should be more than 15 pounds off. So that motor seems in very good shape. I would get his money together and tell him you have it and all you would like is to meet him, splash the boat, and go for a demo run. Make sure he shows you the power poles, go for a drive and if trim and all works well pay him and bring home your new boat.

First quesion is what are you looking for in your next boat? Are you looking for an aluminum or fiberglass rig? What size are you thinking and how old are you willing to go? Most important what is your budget? There are plenty of internet sites to check like boat trader and boats.com. There is another very good fishing page I can tell you about offline (just im me), but the first most important thing is determine the answers to the above questions. Here are just a few examples https://www.boats.com/power-boats/2016-crestliner-vt-17-6935369/?refSource=standard listing https://www.boats.com/power-boats/2010-nitro-z-8-5864471/?refSource=standard listing https://www.boats.com/power-boats/1999-stratos-273-v-7002104/?refSource=enhanced listing

Pay attention to many of the top bass anglers on the big circuits. Many have gone to electronic controlled trolling motors with both a keyfob and pedal. To answer the question WHY anyone bass fishing would want one here you go. Most of these units are connected to the gps in their depth finders. This means they can use spotlock to "anchor" on a spot too deep to use a Talon or Power Pole. They can then just cast and cast to an area without worrying how the wind or current will affect their boat. They also can use a feature that lets them memorize a run along a drop off or depth contour. Next they return to their beggining spot, and allow the trolling motor to run the boat while repeating the run they just memorized. They will set the power to say 30% and then just fish as the auto pilot feature handles the boat. If they snag and break off, they hit spot lock and sit down to retie. In my world I bass fish a lot of tidal water. To fish a dock I always have to adjust for wind and tidal currents. Spot lock would be a great asset. I am considering changing to a salt water RipTide version with those benefits.

I see you are on the Eastern Shore of MD. If you need it there is a MK repair center here on the Western Shore. It is located off Route 83 near the PA line. If you need parts they should have them and be able to ship them to you. look here. https://www.facebook.com/Daves-Minn-Kota-Sales-and-Service-634034259985871/ He was a great help with my trolling motor a few years back.

Well I would check the boat out carefully and ask if the owner would get a compression test done on it. I would offer to pay for it to be looked at by a Merc mechanic, but only if I was really interested in the boat. Skeeter made good boats and those were good engines. I had a 1998 Procraft with a 200 EFI Merc and loved that motor. If the motor has good compression and the mechanic says it is good I guess I would get the boat.

When you are looking at aluminum boats check out Lund, Xpress and Vexus. These are some of the top dogs. These are all boats that are big, wide, well built, and handle higher horsepower motors like 150 to 200 HP. They are well laid out and ride well. A 19 or 20 footer will meet your needs on larger water. In fiberglass take a serious look at a Phoenix, Ranger, Triton, Charger, and even Nitro. You will find some are built more for value, like the Nitros. They afford lots of anglers a chance to get out and catch fish. They are just packaged up with smaller electronics, lower powered trolling motors etc. All of these can be upgraded at the time of purchase, but now they are not less expensive compared to some of the other brands.

Cgiroux86 Where in MD do you live? I am located in Middle River. I have owned 10 boats including a reservoir rig my wife and I ran on several MD electric only bodies of water. If you would like someone to go with you and look it over I would be happy to. Many of the members here will tell you I often meet with others on this board. Sometimes it is about fishing techniques, sometimes it about casting help etc. From what I read, he said it had "newer" tires and other things. It would be easier to evaluate in person. If you are interested in my assistance just send me an email to fishnkamp at comcast dot net and I will get together with you. The price is about right if the complete package is good. I actually had a 15 and a half foot rig very similar to that I used. It was a fun boat to fish out of and i loved fishing both Prettyboy reservoir and Piney Run. WRB the owner says in his ad that the tires are newer. For what that is worth. He3 also says he is selling to upgrade. As for how do you use both trolling motors here is how I did mine. On the back were two 55# Minn Kotas hand controls. I used them to get from placc to place, just like a gas outboard. I had four 12 volt high capacity batteries that ran them. Each trolling motor was hooked to a pair of batteries wired in parrallel. Up front I used a single 12 volt battery to feed my 12 volt 60 pound bow mount trolling motor. That was used to fish with. If I was alone I moved from seat to seat. If I had someone with me they ran the back motors till we arived at our fishing destination.

Just put it back in when you return home and before dropping your trailer of your tow vehicle. No problem.