fishnkamp

I have used Rod Savers on each of my last 8 boats. They take up little room and do not cost much. I just had to replace mine but they were 6 years old and had begun to get brittle. Mine are on my Lowe bass boat that sits outside under a cover. Maybe some of these other boaters keep their boats uncovered, perhaps in boat slips. I would install a set on the left side of your front deck, that would leave the area on the right open to get up and down. Just my two cents.

Probably was not allowed to comment for now.

I guess my cut off for too old in a fiberglass boat would be around 1990, prior to that almost all boat manufacturers used some wood in the transom. That has no influence on an aluminum hull. I recommend that before you start your search go check out a website my friend Brian runs. Here you can read a great piece on this subject. Go to Baybass.com. When the main page opens go down and click on the "Forums" tab. When it opens choose "boats and motors" then slide down and click open his "The Under 10K Bass Boaters buyers Guide" Brian did not only write a terrific educational guide to buying a used boat, but he even followed its steps to a tee. His prize is a late 90's Ranger with a Merc 200 in mint condition for less than 10K. It was his favorite rough water hull, and in its condition he can fish off it for at least 20 more years if he maintains it properly. This guide will definitely help you get started. As for a big guy I am in the same situation. The better laid out aluminum boats like the Lowe Stinger, HP series, the older Triton VT's (which later became the Crestliner VT-17 and Lowe HP series), some of the older Skeeter aluminum 19s, which took 115hp outboards, and of course the Ranger and Xpress boats were good choices. In fiberglass I would look at some of the 90 to mid 2000s Tritons (TR186, TR 189 etc) some Rangers like the R80's, 518 vx, Stratos 18 to 19 footers, of course a Champion around that same time say a 186 or 190, 191's etc. Down in your area you may run across a nice Bass Cat, Bumble Bee or Javelin. I hope this helps some.

More like destroying the operations, preparing to shut down yet more competition and stealing better technology, just like he did when he bought ProKraft. I was pretty sure he would do this, just not this soon!!! Soon we will only be able to purchase his garbage boats. Hopefully he never gets his hooks into Skeeter, Bass Cat,Legend, or Phoenix. I guess Triton and Stratos will be gone soon also.

Lets answer a few questions first. Where do you fish? If you fish rocky rivers than by all means it would be aluminum. If you fish fast moving river currents than I would look for an aluminum with a tiller control engine. If you plan on trolling a little in lakes or big rivers than a tiller deep vee would be my choice. If you intend to fish ordinary mid sized lakes than a typical 17 to 18 foot aluminum side console will serve you well. If you intend to fish the same type bodies of water plus a few local tournaments than an 18 foot 150 fiberglass would serve you best. The choice should be made by type of water you fish, your financial budget, and your personal preference. If tournaments are not your biggest interest then there are a lot of good aluminum boats for sale. Look at the used Lowe's, Alumacrafts, Lunds, Trackers,Polar Kraft, Rangers, and Tritons. They will serve you well as a first boat. They are easier to use ( lower fuel costs, less expensive to maintain etc. ) and can be equipped with good electronics, bigger 24 volt trolling motors, on board battery chargers etc. My wife and I have owned 11 boats over 35 years, that includes a lot of aluminum and 3 fiberglass boats. I have enjoyed fishing from them all, but each one met certain needs better than others. Some of them were river boats, some lake boats and now tidal Chesapeake Bay boats. Good Luck with your search. If I can help any more with ideas or info let me know.

Almost all of the Merc with carbs or EFI have a throttle control box that had a center "button" in the throttle lever. The standard throttle handle consists of the handle and a lever located on its lower side. To go into gear you must pull up on the lower lever and then push the handle forward or backward. If however you push in the center button and lifted the lower part of the throttle handle and advanced the lever forward you would only engage the fast idle, leaving the engine in neutral. I know that sounded complicated but if you saw the normal side controller for a Merc you would understand it easily.

I can not help you with that specific boat hull but I did own a 15.5 foot PolarKraft with stick steering, these are usually referred to as panfish models. That was a terrific boat. It had a 20 hp Merc and the hull ran smooth even through a lake full of waves. I would expect that boat to run very well also. As for the fit and finish the boat was great. Good luck.

I built a Lowe Stinger 170 for the same type lakes. First if you have a four stroke stop you are done for! It will never get your boat on plane. I had one and went back to a 2 stroke carbed engine. These small Mercs have no trim on them. I started with a T&H trim plate (PT-35) installed the 2 stroke engine, changed to a smaller prop ( I apologize I do not remember what it was because I sold that setup added a used 75HP and now fish tidal waters) and added a Stingray Junior. On lake Marburg (Hanover PA.) it would take off and level out with the trim quickly then reach 18 mph by gps. The boat is a 1000lb hull. I run a MK 70 Maxumm with three group 30 Cabelas AGM batteries and a tournament load of other gear. I can not stress enough that you must have trim and tilt to make an underpowered boat work.

I too have a 2010 Lowe, it is a 170 Stinger. Like you, I had trouble with the trailer/boat combination. This is my eleventh boat. I have been boating over 35 years. This trailer/boat combo is the worst I have ever owned. My problem is the trailer was improperly matched to the trailer. Karavan built a strong durable trailer that was improperly designed by Lowe. They built exactly what Lowe asked for. The bunk boards are mounted to a pair of low slung crossmembers. The boards are permanently mounted on non adjustable brackets. The trailer has the same poorly designed side rollers you have. When the boat is sitting on the trailer it is supported by the bunks perfectly flat (parallel to the ground). The boat has a "Mod Vee" front hull that transitions into an almost flat bottom. This means the trailer bunk is too low to contact the hull in the rear and too high in the front when the trailer is on your typically angled ramp. As you try to drive on, the rear of the bunks do not help line up the hull and as you power on to the trailer you actually are powering down into the bunk about 5 feet forward from the rear. This means I have to get out and winch the boat on the last 5 feet. I do not appreciate that in December when striper fishing. After many conversations I finally spoke with their incompetent engineer. After great effort, he finally understood his mistakes but could offer no help. I educated him on how the trailer should have been built, as I have already corrected most of his flaws. If you have the same problem purchase adjustable bunk brackets and raise the rear of the boards about 6 inches and try to lower the front boards about 3 inches. Now remove and throw the useless side rollers away. I used a Dremel tool and their 1 1/2 cutting wheels. I notched the sidesteps and installed 24 inch side boards made by CE Smith and sold by Bass Pro Shops. If Lowe made the typical deep vee fiberglass bass hulls then maybe their setup might have worked but they do not. What made the whole thing really bad is after I humiliated this idiot enough he admitted he had never tested his work, meaning he never took the boat/trailer combo to the lake. If he had he would have seen it did not work and re engineered it. Instead I spent about $300 to fix his mess. My last update was to remove the bunk carpet and install Tie Downs Self Centering Bunk Glide ons, these are polymer 4 foot sections that replace the bunk carpet with a very slick surface. They make a boat slide on really easily. I also promised to take pictures (before and after) along with a complete explanation and send it to the owner of Lowe boats. I suggested he update his resume as well. If you have the same problem try my suggestion to make yours work

Try contacting Roy at Lowe Boats. He is at 800-641-4372. Pick option 1, then option1, then option 7. Let him know what happened and see what he says, maybe you are not the only one with this problem, but a galvanized trailer should last years. I would push for Lowe to replace your complete trailer. Let us know what he says.

Well I am sorry to say but if you do not call Lowe directly you will not hear from them. I just have been in contact with both Lowe and Karavan also. My issue is with my 2010 Lowe Stinger17 which came on a custom Kakavan trailer. The trailer was designed with cross braces the dip in the center (low slung) and custom bolster brackets with no adjustment. The way the boat sits on the bunks the boat wont drive on the bunks. When you splash the trailer in the water, stopping just before the side rollers are underwater the front of the boat drive directly down into the front of the bunks. Go deeper and the side rollers are useless, pull out more and you can only get half way up the boards. The problem was the boards are too low in the rear and the too high up front. This mens you must get out in the water and crank the boat on the last 3 feet. Not what I want to do in December. I was told by Karavan they do not engineer the setup, but rather Lowe designed it to look like a fibreglass bass boat low and sleek. I contacted Lowe and worked my way all the way up to the person involved with engineering the trailers. I finally got him to admit he never launched or recovered one, but they have had some "contact" about the issue. They had no solution. I will fix it by removing the factory side rollers, adding adjustable bolster brackets and adjusting the boards underneath correctly. Then I will cut up their custom aluminum rear steps and add adjustable side boards. In other words do their job for them. This is my 11th boat, so I know what to do, but you would expect better from a company that proclaims "Boats built for fishermen by fishermen. This is a supposedly painted trailer. I do not believe the trailer will survive another 5 years due to rust. I will never buy a boat with a Karavan trailer again. I will stick to ShoreLander or LoadRite.

Look for a good local prop shop. That type of damage is easy to fix for a good prop shop. Here in Baltimore MD. our local shop would charge about $75 to fix that.

You are looking at a boat that would be overprice if it had the original motor for sure. The newer motor is adding a lot of value to its price. Check the condition of the boat over really well, then ask to get the boat out on the water for a demo. If all that is good then start talking price. Most people's, especially dealers, suggested price is not their final price. Offer them 10,500 to 11,000 see what they say. Good Luck

Here in Maryland we have a guy that is factory authorized and is really good at these type repairs. Check with MK to see if they have a guy near you. It truly is your best option. I needed to fix a magnet problem. He had my unit apart, diagnosed, parts pulled from stock and my 70 Maxumm back together in 45 minutes. I think it cost me less than $75 dollars.

To answer your question, the best choice is the breaker and a thermal breaker is my first choice as it requires you to do nothing to reset it. It will cool internally and automatically reset. It makes no difference if you choose a manually reset or thermal breaker the install is the same. First you decide on your mounting location. The positive battery supply will run through a 6,8 or 10 gauge wire to the breaker on one side and out the other side to your trolling motor receptacle. The plug is installed on your trolling motor wire and all is good. I have custom wired many boats and this has worked fine. Often I run two number eight wires for supply to the breaker then two number eight wires out to the receptacle. This is due to long runs on a bass boat, The motor pulls all of the current it wants but since it is running up the two wires each leg only transfers or carries half the load so less current is burned up or lost through resistance in the wires. This has afforded me some very long battery usage during a long day on the water. Just one of the tricks of the trade, but one that is often overlooked. Wires weigh a lot less than an extra battery does, especially in a rig like yours where weight will definitely matter. Be mindful of the size of the body of water you will be boating on as to how many batteries to carry. Nothing is worse than running out of juice far from a launch point.

I have had several Mercury outboards from that time. I had a 35 HP, 50 HP, a 75HP and a 115 HP.. They share a lot of parts just more as the number of cylinders increases. If your 115 is the inline 6 115 then have your dealer check the power packs( ignition modules) I know that in the 1986 and 87 models they had a batch issue. Over the years I replaced a pack in each engine. If you replace one pack replace them all as the weak ones will fail shortly. After replacing them I never had to do it again. The symptom was always like a dropped cylinder and a loss of spark in that cylinder. If that is your issue the repair is pretty simple, just costly.

That statement that all fuel lines boat manufactures used after 1984 are supposed to be ethanol safe is bogus. I have a friend with a 2001 210 ProCraft powered by a Mercury 225 OptiMax. This exact problem reared its ugly head just this summer on his boat. I spoke with my local dealer ( he sold both Ranger and ProCraft) to get his advice. I have run Mercury motors on nine of my last 10 boats. This list includes the 1998 ProCraft 20 footer I bought from him new. Unfortunately I had no experience with the Opti motors. He told me that his service department has seen more fuel\fuel line issues within the last three years than any other type of issues. They replace all of the fuel lines from the tank to the engine, the smaller on engine lines they take off and blow out. Then they replace the small mechanical pumps, open the filter/pump housing, replace the filter, clean out the housing, clean up the internal float assembly and clean and test the electrical pumps. Often they have to replace the electrical pump because they get burned out. All my friend knew was his engine would run good, then shut down, or upon restarting after fishing the engine would be hard to start or shut down. He would have to pump the primer bulb again to restart it. The junk was hanging up the float assembly so the electrical pressure pump was starving for fuel till he reprimed the system manually. That is what we did. We replaced the lines and filter. Then cleaned out the housing and fuel jet/ float assembly,tested the electrical pump (thankfully ours was good) and reassembled it again. Things ran fine after that. I also recommend you do as I do always add Startron fuel additive in with every fill up of your fuel tank. Mercury Marine actually recommends either their fuel treatment or Startron. All of the troubleshooting advice given before me still goes, do not over look the little things, but I would start by opening up your filter and inspecting the inside material for debris, this can clue you in fast.

I have done exactly what you are looking to do, so please let me share what i learned. I lived in Maryland and set up a boat to fish Lake Marburg in Hanover PA. It too is a 20 hp lake. There were two boat dealer there, one sold Triton VT-17s which was a 1000 pound mod vee shaped hull. They set them up with Honda 20's. The other F&S, sold Alumacraft and set them up with Yamaha 20s. Both installed a T&H Marine PT-35 Trim/Tilt plate. On an under powered hull trim/tilt is of major importance in order to perform well. My choice came down to either the VT-17 or a Lowe Stinger 170. I chose the Lowe because the hull was identical in weight but I liked the storage and deeper front vee on the Lowe. Lowe later bought Triton aluminum boats so now the VT-17 is called a Lowe HP-17. My boat came from the dealer in Marysville PA(near Harrisburg) Big Bee Boat and RV. They have a great rigging department there, so a I let them rig my 2002 25 HP Merc (decaled as a 20 of course) and a ton of goodies like an on board battery charger, a 24 volt trolling motor, front electric anchor, and two gps/ depth finders. After a little prop experimentation, a little adjusting the plate and the addition of a StingRay Junior hydrofoil, the boat came out of the water almost level and top end was 18 mph. If pictures would help just e-mail me and I can send you some. That boat set up that way has been down on Lake Anna, and several lakes in Tennessee as well. Those lakes were 60 miles long between dams and we ran all over them. I will say this the deeper front vee on the Lowe rides much better than the Tracker hulls you were considering. I have test drove some of each. Since then I moved to the Bay so I replaced the PT-35,and motor setup with a used Merc 75 and chase bass and stripers on the Chesapeake Bay now all from that same boat. I hope this helps.