Bolar

I just checked mine and it looks the same. I had mine come apart after I first got it, but I was messing around with everything and figured it was my fault. If anyone does start to mess with this connection, have a rag ready. You will drain the lines of gas when it comes apart . I also have that small gap between the connectors. When I push it closed and it opens to that small gap again. I can pull on it, and it stays together, so I don't know. No leaks...so far so good . Kind of like a lot of things on this boat, it's not perfect but getting by .

Wow, now I have to go and look. Does it need a hose clamp?

Yep.

I just got a letter from Mercury today. They want to replace my fuel pump or fuel system. Great.

I think you will find the performance similar to your 175, if not a little less with the 40hp Merc . I was out last weekend in some 20+mph wind and did OK. I had to anchor to fish in any one spot, but moved along under power with little splash in the boat. My second trip out I went to a larger lake and had some wind and waves. I did get some splash at full speed but I was able to control it by slowing down some. This is my first boat, so I don't really know any different. As long as the shinny side stays down, I figure I'm good!

So I went out yesterday, our first 80o day. It was windy, 20mph, gust 25+. The trolling motor did fine into the wind. I was definitely set on max speed and made decent progress. Although I saw some people who might get on plane with their trolling motors. I was wondering about the recessed trolling motor peddle boxes. There are a lot of videos how to install, but few about after the fact. Are the peddles fastened into the box? I don't think mine would stay not screwed down. It doesn't even want to sit straight on center of the boat with my foot on it, because of the stiffness of the cable. I was wondering about those boxes that are plastic and if the peddle is screwed down, how long before that pulls away with the constant tension? I only got a couple of small bass. It looks like we fell from winter right to summer .

Complaints?

Ha, it is a rats nest under there!

The drive sleeve is suppose to give also .

The fix is you bend them a little so they are on tight.

The boat comes pretty complete. You have been out twice so you have PFD's. You and the boy could take a boating course. You will both learn a lot from that (I did). Spare tire, extra boat plug, extra kill switch cord, maybe some basic tools in a small box. Lunch. Food/water is always a good thing. That's all I can think of as necessities.

Wow, that's a little pricey! Will you have to purchase the whole 96"?

Ha, you mention a boat hook. The last time I went out a guy was launching the same time as me. There was a dock between us. I had tied up and was going to park and I heard a bit of a struggle. The guy next to me didn't tie up very well and his boat got away from him. He ran back to his truck and quickly grabbed a boat hook, but by the time he got to the end of the dock the boat floated to far out. I went back and untied and idled over to his boat and towed it back in. He thanked me. I was glad the new guy with the new boat was able to help one of the "old" guys . As I was pulling out there was another rig waiting in front of me to get out of the way. I didn't notice him until I was pulling out, so i don't know how long he waited. I know there is the dock etiquette thing, but i didn't think it right to park first while this guys boat floats away . Fashion .

I've had problems with the pedestals unscrewing. As you swivel you unscrew them. You really have to crank them down to stay tight. I have a strap wrench I'm going to try next time out. I've never had much luck with a strap, so either it will work or I'll break the wrench . I do have a plan B if the strap thing doesn't work. I've had some creaking from the seats as I swivel, which was very irritating. Just a small amount of lithium grease at the top of the pedestal will take care of the noise .

So a few pages back I posted my fix for storing the stern light. The foam was awfully white under the console. I don't have any brown but I do have some orange paint on hand. Heritage orange. That's pretty much it and modification for awhile. I might get some transom straps, but it's not a priority. I'll run it as is this summer and see what I want to change, maybe a bimini. I'll be glad when more people get their boats and see what they do to them.

It's about two months for me and I don't have my $400 card yet. The other day I flashed them the e-mail on my phone and they used that .

I got them from Amazon. They are the Flagship Plus White Face with Chrome Bezel Family Gauges. The thing about Amazon is they don't show pictures for the gauges on their site. You have to know the part numbers. https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00N6DCAGU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00N6DAXHS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If you want to see pictures with part numbers, Mercury is a good site: http://www.mercruiserparts.com/flagship-plus-white-face-with-chrome-bez

OK, so I wrote awhile ago about maybe adding some gauges. Right now from what little time I have on the boat, I decided that I want an hour meter and voltmeter. I put one of those cheap wrap around the spark plug wire meters first thing when I got the boat, but I have to lift the engine cover to look at it and I figured since there is a matching timer, why not? I've done some searching and noticed not many people have a voltmeter for their trolling motor. I'm not sure why, I guess once it's gone it's gone and you can't charge it anyway. Anyhow, I want to see my TM voltage and my engine voltage, so I put a switch on the meter, down engine voltage, up TM voltage. I put in fuses for each battery, playing into the fuse theme already on the dash. In case anyone was wondering, the carbon fiber dash is fake. It is most definitely plastic . I had a heck of a time finding a matching disk retainer for the switch. I went to BPS and they had to look it up, and it was some other brand, not something that Tracker sells. I found a couple online but with shipping it would have cost me the same as I paid at BPS. I still have to get some lettering for the switch, but so far so good.

I tightened up my caps and they are on pretty good. If they go they go. I'm going to run with them

Same here .

I've smacked mine around often enough. I even kind of got stuck on one. What do you plan to do? Are you going to go back and look for the plate?

I just checked mine, they are still holding strong. It does look like they used nyl-nuts there. How bad is the fender, it's hard to tell from the picture?

So in my quest to find new places to launch from, I noticed the marine forecast for Lake Michigan had wave heights of less than a foot yesterday. Most people go pale when talk to them about going to Lake Michigan, but I knew I was going to try it when I bought the boat. It was fun, but it is a small boat and there is a lot of rocking and rolling even with what looks like no waves out there. This is a good time to see if you get sea sick easily. Zooming along at full speed can be taxing, you do tend to jump the small waves and get hull slap. I found it easier to cruse half throttle or less. I didn't do any fishing, but it was fun to get out there and explore. The lake water temperature was 37 . I spent a coupe of hours on the big water, then came back and fished a couple nice tributaries for the lake. Caught a couple small bass. I'll be back .

I don't know so I'm asking...wouldn't it be more beneficial to have the bigger finder at the bow where you are fishing and driving the trolling motor?

Well...no. I had a one and he jumped off when he got close to the boat. I guess he wanted to check out the new boat . I bought a 12lb river anchor and I'm really liking that. I was a little worried it might not be heavy enough, but it worked out great with a steady wind.