fishnkamp

I would not use rivets personally, to me it just opens up a chance for trouble later. I would use the 5200. Since we are talking about holes the size of small screws I would use spread the 5200 like body putty in a circle about the size of a quarter or a bit smaller. Once it dries totally (read the directions on the package) I would lightly sand it and find some spray can of paint that will blend inclose. Touch up the area and forget about it. Here is a picture of my friend Eds boat. He has been sanding around every rivet, removing some silicone "repairs" the previous owner did and then hit each one with 5200. It kinda looks like someone riddled it with bullet holes. He has more patience than anyone I know, but he is going to have a beautiful boat when it is done. Since that he has covered the entire bottom with several coats of bed liner paint in black. I helped him work on it for a while one day. It takes some time but he has made amazing progress. In fact tomorrow it will be dumped in the lake for the first time.

That rod is probably a little light for throwing those baits in that kind of cover. Their 6"8 Medium might have been better. In your case i would probably load 20 pound Power Pro Spectra. It is the same as 6 pound mono but will cut through the pads better. I might experiment with a 8 pound P LIne CXX leader but probably tie direct instead.

The JB Weld will work. So will this 3M 5200 sealant. It comes in different size tubes, can be spread with a popsicle stick or putty knife and comes in white or black. It is paintable also http://www.westmarine.com/buy/3m--5200-fast-cure-white-polyurethane-adhesive-sealant-1oz--9384629?recordNum=4 It is available from lots of places I used West Marine as an example, most good boat supply places as well as Bass Pro should have it. There is another brand called Life Caulk that.makes a similar product and I have used both over the years. I prefer 5200 but either one works.

What type of lures will you be throwing and what is the rod specs? Line size will depend a bunch on what you are doing. For an all around line I would throw maybe 12 pound Fluoroclear or 12 to 14 pound Halo. If this is a rod for spinnerbaits and chatterbaits and lightweight plastics I would go with 10 to12 pound, for jerkbaits, crankbaits or rattle traps maybe 10 pound, and for jigs, carolina rigs and heavier weighted plastics 14 or 17 pound test copoly or fluorocarbon. On braid i do not choose by pound test but rather if I were going to throw jigs I would pick a braid that was the same diameter as the 14 to 17 pound copoly or fluoro.

First what rod and reel are you using? I am not trying to give you any trouble but I have been fishing for 40 years and for the first 10 years or so I fished lower end baitcasters, it was what I could afford. So experience has shown for me to get good distance I need to fish with reels that "Retail" between $100 and $200. Now I have caught many of them on sale or online for less, but I find reels like my Diawa Tatulas and Shimano Chronarchs allow me to get much better distance. Next pay attention to your rod specs. Make sure the weight of the bait you wish to throw falls somewhere in the middle of the rod specs. So if the wake bait weighs 3/8 of an ounce make sure the rod specs for say 1/4 to 3/4 and since most wake baits and walking baits have treble hooks make sure your rod has a moderate taper. The rod bending further down the blank will allow you to load it up easier, so more energy will be released on the forward cast and also the softer rod will help with a delay to your hook set, thus allowing you to get a good hookset and avoid pulling the treble hooks out of thee fishes mouth. My last tip is to practice, and get your thumb well educated, so you can loosen up your reel more without having big birds nests. If you have to run your reel tight with lots of spool tension and heavy breaking it will be hard to get a long cast. Oh and another thing, if you have a good reel repair guy around, it may be worth it to have the reel professionally cleaned and lubed. Sometimes the factories pack their reels with way too much grease which can inhibit the cast as well

I am biased I admit. I consider the $100 to $250 range the most competitive rod market today, I believe that just a few years ago people like G Loomis stood out far ahead. I do not think they stopped building great rods I think companies like Dobyns, Powell, Irod and others offer very competitive rods ,maybe they caught up. Again I admit bias, but I really like Irods, Dobyns, Powell rods and certain St Croix. In the sub $250 category. I really like the Dobyns Sierra series, but I also think you should try to put an Irod Genesis II model IRG704C or IRG744C in your hand. These rod are light, very sensitive and feel good in my hand. They retail for $150. I also fish a Powell Max 683 CEF. It is the most versatile rod I own. I love both of my Powell rods, but they are the older model. I have not had the opportunity to test out a new Max3D. On this board several people have complained about a Max3D series rod breaking just like yours did. Again I do not know the real cause of their failures, but if I was spending my own cash based on my current stock I would order another one from them. Financially I can not afford rods like a NRX or St Croix top of the line rods, but I do carry 16 good quality rods in my rod box and my Dobyns, Powels, Irods and multiple G Loomis GL3 and IMX rods are in the group and I enjoy fishing them. Good Luck and keep us posted how it goes.

If I could work out the upgrade I would go for either a Sierra SA703C or SA704C your choice. If I wanted to go a different direction I would go with a Avid AVC70MHF or a Avid X AXC70MHF which is closer to a SA 704C. Personally I like a split grip so it would be the Avid X for me. I had a chance to handle an E6 rod, several in fact, and for me I do not like the long full cork handle or the blank. G Loomis has made some of the best spinning rods I have ever handled. My wife and I own 7 total of them. I do not like many of the changes that have been made to them since the merger with Shimano. If you remember the cork and aluminum reel seats they used forever, well they have cheapened them so much they now have all plastic ones. The IMX rod I mentioned had their new plastic reel seat. The hood and lock rings were plastic also. Right from the beginning they would back off and I was afraid I would break them if I had to constantly tighten them. Finally I took my brand new $250 rod to a friend that custom builds rods. We decided to remove the entire cork handle, their plastic reel seat and the foregrip. All of that was replaced by an American Tackle Comfort reel seat and a Winn Grip split grip assembly. None of my G Loomis rods have ever felt that good before. I liked it so much I had my SJR 722 done the same way. In fact it still had my prefered stock metal reel seat. Now both are done as a split grip setup. Here is a before and after pic. So anyway I think G Loomis still builds nice blanks but I am not real keen on the rest of the components.

I have been using a Berkley Line Station for years This is a $20 dollar tool. It allows me to hold the reel secure and hold the new spool of line steady under tension. It is sold lots of places but look here so you see what I am speaking of. http://www.cabelas.com/product/fishing/fishing-line/line-winders-strippers-tools|/pc/104793480/c/104719680/sc/103939380/berkley-reg-line-winder/17 I do the exact same thing with every reel I own. I spool 1/2 the reel with 14 pound Stren Original Clear Blue mono or Bass Pro Shops Excel 14 pound mono. It costs less than 3 cents a yard to fill a reel with either one of these lines. I save money first, and second it allows me to tie it onto the arbor good and tight thus avoiding line slippage. If I fill it carefully, then I will get a nice smooth bed for the braid, copoly or fluoro to lay on top of. Since the 14 pound test went on tight ,there is little chance the main line will dig into it. If I ever make a terrible mess with the main line (and we all have had that happen at some time) or decide to change the type of line on the reel, it only takes 1/2 of a spool worth of line to be replaced. This cuts the cost of spooling a reel down a bunch. The typical low profile baitcaster holds 120 yards of line. So 60 yards of the mono would cost less than $2.00. Power Pro Braid would cost you $17.00 for a 150 yard spool. Using my method it would spool two reels. So filling one reel would cost less than $11.00 counting the cost of the mono. If you chose one of the most expensive Fluorocarbon lines on the market, like Tatsu from Seagar, a 200 yard spool of 20 pound test will cost $50. Using my method that line cost 25 cents a yard. You would need 60 yards of line at 25 cents a yard for a total of $15.00 so it would cost less than $18 to fill 1 reel and you would have enough for 2 more reels. Just for comparison, let's say you spool the entire reel with Tatsu, it would cost you $50 for the 200 yard spool and you would use $30 of that on one reel. If you do not want to spend the $50 bucks, you could prefill the mono and see if any fishing stores near you sold the Tatsu in bulk. You could pay to have your reel filled and pay for only that amount of line. Now if you want a copoly suggestion, I like P Line FloroClear. It is a fluoro coated copolymer line. In straight fluorocarbon line Halo. It is really strong and abrasion resistant. Do not go way overboard on this line. 6 or 8 pound test is the max on a spinning reel, 10 pound for lots of mid depth lures and 17 pound max for deep jigs and carolina rig type stuff. You will not be able to bite down and cut 10 pound test line with your teeth, it breaks closer to 18 pounds. It does have a bit of memory, so use some line conditioner and if you spool it on a spinning reel, drop the spool in some hot water for a few minutes. It helps.

I do not think you understand something about the way the warranties work. All of the manufacturers have an initial warranty that covers rods if they have defects in them. So if you bought that Dobyns rod and it just broke in half almost right away (within the specified time) they would replace it free. After that or even during that if you broke it by slamming the car door on it, a bear ate half of it, they do not care how it breaks the replacement policy is for you to pay a specified amount based on the retail price. That cost, to you, covers their expense to make and supply you with another rod. Think of it this way if you buy a car and during the warranty period you maintain it correctly but the engine blows up at 10,000 miles, you expect their warranty will cover the repair. The factory will not pay for your engine to be repaired if you drove it with no oil in it. This is sorta the same. Dobyns Fury rods are good quality rods for an economical price. You can pay about half the price and get it replaced. Also check with a Dobyns dealer near you. Often you do not have to order it and ship it from the factory, the dealer may do it right in the store. I have had two rods break in my lifetime. Both of them were G Loomis rods. I had to go to my local dealer and the store did the exchange. I do not blame G Loomis, they build quality rods, both times the rods broke because of something that happened while the rods were not in use but sitting on my boat's deck. It sound like flipping the fish onto land caused it to break, perhaps it had been accidentally damaged by a quick hit on a boat deck or something else and today the graphite just let go under stress. If you liked the rod, its size, its action, and taper but would like a more sensitive rod then ask to pay the upgrade to a Sierra or Champion series. Get the same model rod in the higher end series. I did just that with one of my G Loomis's. I had a 6 foot SJR-721 IM6 that I loved. It broke, my fault not theirs, so I went to my local dealer and found the newer model. Unfortunately it had changed to an uplocking reel seat which i hated. I paid something like $50 for a replacement and $40 to upgrade to an IMX version. I am glad I did. You say why not get a rod with a carefree warranty, the other rods will have the same type of warranty. Sorry. No free lunch. By the way I have had several of the new Doyns Sierras in my hand, they are nice, so are the G Loomis E6 and the ST Croix, but do not expect any of the manufacturer's to give free rods away if a factory defect is not the cause of the breakage. If you believe the rod broke due to a manufacturer's defect, and you believe it is still under warranty you can call and make arrangement to ship it back in for inspection. I would not bother myself. Your choice of course

An Interstate is one of the best deep cycles made.

Check these out as well http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Heavy-Duty-ClampOn-Rod-Holder/product/1606010436/ http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Rod-Holder-Twin-Pack/product/97536/ Cabelas has these to mount on the gunnel if needed and then you can use their own rd holders. It depends on your boat which type of mount works. http://www.cabelas.com/product/fishing/rod-reel-storage/fishing-rod-holders|/pc/104793480/c/104812380/sc/104538780/cabela-s-clamp-on-quickdraw-and-360ht-rod-holders-with-aluminum-clamp/1586262.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffishing-rod-holders%2F_%2FN-1105337%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104538780 or http://www.cabelas.com/product/fishing/rod-reel-storage/fishing-rod-holders|/pc/104793480/c/104812380/sc/104538780/cabela-s-360-ht-rod-holder/1586568.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffishing-rod-holders%2F_%2FN-1105337%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104538780

The Shumacher at Walley World will work fine for you. When I turned the Polar Kraft (the green boat ) into an all electric boat I had three trolling motors and 5 deep cycle batteries. I recharged them all using 3 of the Wal Mart Schumacher chargers. The exact model I posted. Thomas15 if you interested in a good reliable 2 bank on board charger I have been using this one from Bass Pro for the last 6 years and it has been solid. It supplies 10 amps per battery independently. http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-XPS-Intelligent-Technology-Series-Onboard-Marine-Battery-Charger-XPS-iT-10/10/product/10224686/ As it is you still would need to fish out the electrical plug to hook it up. As an alternative you may be able to install one of these in the back of the boat say near the splash well so you would have easy access to it. http://www.basspro.com/Onboard-Charger-Inlet/product/5205/

Cool let us know how it works out after you catch a big one on it.

One reason I suggested Tom is he lives within 1 hour of the OP. He is within a 1/4 tank of gas away. So there would be zero shipping cost and no worry of it getting damaged in transit, Tom is very fair on labor and you are correct on most of the cost of materials. He uses any blank a customer wants, but if you ask him for suggestions his favorites are the MHX, ST Croix, and the Batson Rain Shadows. As for a completed rod cost my suggestion was to contact him directly. Hogsticker most of the St Croix SCIII blanks cost between $95 and $120 on Mud Hole. Do you think that is overpriced?

Here is the one I use. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-SpeedCharge-15-Amp-Marine-Battery-Charger/13005745. It is the same brand as briansnat uses but it is designed to charge 3 types of batteries, lead acid, agm or gel cells. Lead acid is a normal battery like a car battery. The AGM and Gel cells are more expensive batteries and in fact I use three huge AGMs. Here is what I do. What makes these battery chargers different id the microprocessor has 3 different charging programs built in. So I hook up the charger and make sure to let it work till the charger says it is charged 100 percent. It will speed up and slow down the charging rate automatically. Now once the charger is done remove it. For the best battery life recharge it immediately after use. That is it. As for the case I recommend a battery tray or case. If the boat has a raised bottom, I usually drill and mount it using the small screws and hold downs they come with. If it does not have a raised floor ( and I do not think yours does) then I cut a piece of plywood to fit across the floor in the back so it will not slide around (mostly for safety going down the highway) Both the trays and most battery boxes come with a strap, two hold down brackets a a few screws. If I go the wood option I usually get a piece of outdoor plywood and give it a couple of coats of paint on both sides to seal it. You could carpet it to make it look nice but totally unnecessary Man you had a busy day yesterday! When does dad get to see it?.

Interstate makes a good deep cycle. You should be looking for a deep cycle not necessarily a'deep cycle starting battery" The deep cycle and dual purpose will give you between 100 or 210 reserve capacity and may be between 600 and 1000 marine cranking amps. Something like these As the reserve increases so does its time of use per day. I run a big boat and a 24 volt system so I use very expensive group 31 AGM batteries but a simple group 24 or 27 should meet your needs. You may even find something useful at Walmart but I could not find it listed on the internet. http://www.interstatebatteries.com/m/category/marine/deepcycle DEEP CYCLE/STARTING A battery used to start a boat and provide power for lights and accessories whether your engine is running or not. BCI Group Part Number CCA MCA1 RC Hours of Ampere Load2 Dimensions (inches) Warranty 5 amps 15 amps L W H Free Months 24M HD24-DP 405 505 100 11.6 3.1 11 6 7⁄8 9 1⁄2 12 24M SRM-24 550 690 140 15.5 4.2 11 6 7⁄8 9 1⁄2 12 27M SRM-27 600 750 160 17.2 4.8 12 3⁄4 6 3⁄4 9 1⁄2 12 29M SRM-29 675 845 210 19.5 6.0 13 6 3⁄4 10 12 4DM SRM-4D 1314 1645 390 44.3 12 21 8 1⁄4 10 3⁄8 6 1Calculated performance 2Actual average test performance Summer Tips

I have gotten in a safe habit of always wearing my vest when running the gas engine. If I hit something in the water like say a log I have no fear of falling out and drowning, nor will my passenger. Once I shut down the outboard and use a trolling motor or drift I take it off. Believe me, several incidents have occurred over the last 40 years of boating, but all was okay because I follow best safe practices. I had to do this in tournaments so I just do it all of the time. If the life vest is on me it is buckled or zipped up, and the "kill switch" lanyard is attached to the controls. I am not sure if your outboard has one

Do you have a Battery Warehouse near you?

Man congrats on the new boat. I like it a lot and let me explain why. The trailer is in the best shape of all of the ones we looked at. Next let me tell you Suzuki made great motors, from their small ones all the way up to the big 250 HP outboards. Most people have little experience with them because they did not have a huge dealership network. I have had two friends with them on their bass boats. I would buy a used bass boat with a Suzuki on it way before I would but an Evinrude or Johnson from 1989 to 2010. I would also take one way before a !996 to 2004 Mercury Optimax engine. The carpet is there so I would leave it till next year. To recarpet it would be low on my to do list. Honestly I would leave the wood benches alone but once they deteriorate I probably would find a welder/ sheet metal guy and have him install some new aluminum benches and reinstall your seats. They easily can be replaced with wood but once aluminum ones were installed the boat will never need them to be monkeyed with again. So here is my opinion. I think it was a great buy so long as it does not leak. I doubt it does because of the way it was kept, so I expect you got a great deal. As for the other boat with the seats removed, the trailer leaning, and the engine was broken That is more of a project piece yp mr. Here is what my to do list would be. Get both the trailer and the boat registered Next I would add a deep cycle battery in the back along with dads trolling motor. It is easier to run from one driving position. Pick up a mushroom anchor like a 8 pounder. Pick up a couple of life vests. Here is a good economical option http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-DualSized-Recreational-Life-Vest-for-Adults/product/12082505423213/ Next I would add a couple of fishing rod holders like the Bass Pro Shops twin pack or even the ones Cabelas sells that just clamp on. It is nice to be able to put a rod in a holder while messing with a fish or to troll for walleye, perch or whatever. When money allowed I would go find a deal on a new fish finder/gps. Something like a RayMarine Dragonfly or Lowrance Hook model, These can be purchased for around $200. It is something for the future. Other than that get dad, some tackle, a cooler with some drinks and go catch some fish.

The suggestion to have it checked out is the correct one. As for Suzuki engines they were hot motors. They were made well and were fast. The problem was simply not enough dealers for them. I knew two guys that had them and were very happy with them. Both happened to be on Gamblers, just coincidence

i hope all ended up going okay

Call Tom He will help you select a blank, and components and it will run somewhere around the cost of an Avid maybe less. He is located off I 95 near Bel Air MD. Give him a call he builds incredible rods Bo look through his galleries on his website. http://www.tomscustomrods.com/custom-rods-galley Then go look att the reviews on this website http://www.baybass.com/forum/index.php?board=2.0. There are at least 25 of us on this site from MD and Northern VA using his rods. I have known him to build rod from the 1980's to today. He works out of his home and what makes it great is if you meet with him he will help you pick what you want and put rods in your hand to feel the components before you decide. I have his phone number myself but he has a "contact us" drop down menu click on it and fill in the blanks on his contact form. Tom is first class all the way. Another neat thing is he makes themed rods for some that want it ,so it might be a sports themed rod or a friend had a rod made with the colors and logo from his military group. he custom designs and prints the work right there.

The OP asked if we pre tied rigs for bass and basically none of us do. Our solution is to have many rods each designed to do one or two specific techniques. I myself have at least a dozen rod with me in my rod locker. I had not been on a guided fishing trip in several years so when i was sitting in my boat deciding what to load on the guides boat ( Back in April we were fishing Dale Hollow Lake for smallies) I had to pull of my rods out and determine what 3 rods were my most versatile, not my favorite or favorite for one thing, but truly most versatile. It took me about ten minutes to decide on them and about 5 minutes to retie different lures on each. Most all of us have too much gear on our boats but we do rely on being able to grab tackle, cut a line and re-tie to another lure quickly.

Go get it it is nice and clean and the trailer looks to be a real nice one. I would call the guy tell him it is yours and you are on your way. StarCraft made a nice solid boat and that Suzuki will run forever if taken care of. As time goes on just add a nice little dept finder, some simple rod holders to troll with and maybe a strip of rod holders to hold extra rods while fishing. Dad is going to flip Here are some ideas of what i wa talking about http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Horizontal-Rod-Rack/product/1403041223/ http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Rod-Holder-Twin-Pack/product/97536/

i would go in order https://us.letgo.com/en/i/14-fishing-boat-trailer_aecb571e-6295-4747-ba1f-bdc54d9c96da https://us.letgo.com/en/i/12-bass-boat-with-trailer_87be6ed8-975e-4d8f-a21b-93dc8d6a24e6 I spent a few minutes looking at the twelve footer. All I would do is make a mod to the rear deck under the rear seat. I would lift it up and look if there is still enough room to attach an engine to the transom once that tall board is removed. If i can mount a motor back there all I would do is notch the lid ( under the seat ) to allow clearance for it. If the carpet is stapled I would peel it back cut my wood and restapple it. If it is glued down I would simply take a jig saw and cut enough wood and carpet to make room. If there is enough room under the lid to mount my trolling motor and operate it without it interfering with it I would leave it alone. Ther trolling motor and later a short shaft gas engine need to be able to mount and freely operate.