immortl

I put the Lowrance equivalent (Point 1) on my kayak and found it worthwhile. As mentioned above, helps with showing the kayak orientation on the head unit and in my case, also corrected the error with the FFS sonar cone, so the head unit actually shows where it is pointing on the display. Not terribly necessary but appealed to my "I want it all to work and display correctly" inclinations.

I have with trout. One decent rainbow had a florescent green Wooley bugger in its jaw. Another rainbow broke me off on hook up one. A few casts later was hook up 2 and I landed it and was able ro remove both hooks and release him. Have video of both.

Disclaimer - I'm just getting back into bass fishing and I am not yet good at it. I don't even qualify as a rookie yet. I get out when I can but I try to arrange when I can to coincide with overcast days leading up to rain. That said, if I can get out, I go, even if it's blue bird skies after the rain. I do bounce back and forth between stream trout and pond/lake bass fishing. As of a month or so ago, I have my kayak mostly outfitted and running well so we'll see how the bouncing back and forth goes for the fall and winter. During the summer when river temps are near 70 or above, I tend to leave the trout alone and my fishing outings are for bass. I have much more success trout fishing.

Try searching ebay for 'vintage fishing book'. The listings results usually have a thumbnail of the cover. Might stumble across it there. Also try your favorite web search engine (google, duckduckgo, bing, etc) for something along lines of "vintage fishing book" or "vintage book freshwater fishing" and click on the images 'tab' at the top of the results. It'll bring up a whole lot of book cover images for you to browse.

@Stratocat_Joe - If you want a new trolling motor, disregard this post. That said, have you looked at fixing it yourself? It looks to be very straightforward. The Xi motors without Pinpoint GPS are easily user upgradeable to Pinpoint GPS. Kit for $420 - https://trollingmotorparts.com/motor-guide-pinpoint-gps-upgrade-kit-xi3-xi5/ More importantly, check out the install video, it's literally remove a few screws, place the 2 modules in their spots and screw the covers back on. $250 for that seems excessive. Even with low mechanical inclination and lots of trepidation, self repair seems highly viable. Probably end up with spare parts, sell off the remote for a few bucks to defray the cost. Install Video

I recently rigged up wiring and electronics on my kayak using lots of solid guidance from folks here. I'm a beginner at this but I'm learning and developing techniques quickly. I never got the hang of soldering earlier in life. For this project I picked up 3 things that I think greatly assisted me with finally starting to get the hang of it. A Weller soldering station that has an adjustable temp setting and recovers very quickly, a butane torch for the larger 6ga connectors, and a helping hands station with 4 bendy arms sticking up from a flat metal plate to help hold things in alignment. I did also pick up a cheap harbor freight hydraulic crimper for the 6ga ends. If you want to solder the tiny wire to 10ga, a cheap butane torch as @padlin suggests above would probably get the job done. I too would strip a good length of the smaller wire from the FF and wrap it around the end of 10ga wire, having first dipped both ends in some flux and wiping the excess off. I soldered all the ends to my 6ga wire with a torch (after crimping them on with a hydraulic crimper). The closed end terminal crimp connecter @MN Fisher suggests above seem to me like they'd work well too. If you really want to solder the connection, you can get bare tinned copper butt connectors as well. I'd do the flux dip, wrap the smaller wire around the 10ga and slip the appropriate sized 10ga or so but connector over it, crimp, then heat up the connector with a torch and fill the connector with solder from the unused end. For waterproofing the connections, as @Fishingmickey suggested, some marine rated double walled shrink tubing with adhesive would work well. I used 3:1 shrink ratio and found in most instances it shrunk enough. For those where it might not shrink quite enough (big enough for 10ga might not shrink down firmly around tiny FF wire, heat it up, shrink as much as it can, then immediately lightly pinch with needle nose pliers and hold for a few seconds. The glue will seal the sides together. Now all that said, as @WRB suggested, I ran my 6ga tinned copper marine wire from my electronics battery to a blue sea systems fuse block with a fuse and on/off battery disconnect in between the two. Then I connected my FF to the fuse block. I did have to extend the power/ground wires on my FF about 3' and did so with 14ga marine tinned copper wire using the tinned copper butt connectors with the marine shrink tube over it all. Joe

My old company in MT used to do something similar with PTO (vacation/sick lumped together). Use it or lose it. I never really put in for vacation time because I used my 'comp' time from travels and maintenance windows and such. Then we got bought out by a larger company. It came about from the new larger company's legal and HR departments that that was illegal in the state of MT. Earned time off was an accrued benefit or something. They quietly started issuing checks to everyone who had 'lost' time over the previous 3 years. If you went and talked with one of the old database admins, she would provide you with a table of accrued and lost hours going back 10 years. Send that printout along with a copy of the state supreme court case ruling over to HR and you'd get another check for all the time you lost over the previous 10 years. That was a pleasant windfall that year.

I'm a network security engineer and can pretty much do my job from anywhere. I've worked from home (or wherever the RV is parked at) for the past 7 years or so. I get my work done, keep team and customers happy, and take care of what I need/want to throughout the day. Sometimes that is an afternoon or day of fishing. Work/Life balance is excellent with my job. I have no problem helping customers in say Asia in the middle of the night my local time, it's a give and take and works out to be pretty well balanced. I really enjoy my job as well. Should I win the lottery, I'd still quit tomorrow as I have a lot more hobbies to pursue, but for having to work, I'm pretty lucky to have the job I currently do.

Thanks guys for all the great feedback and explanations. It's helped me gain a better understanding of possible interference causes and how it comes about overall. I understand better why the additional shielding is way overkill and pretty much unnecessary. I appreciate the education.

Well, lets propose that the sleeves arrived and I was bored while on a conference call and I bit by bit got them slipped over the transducer cables before reading the replies above. If I was to ground the sleeves to the battery negative terminal, would I NOT want the metal sleeves to come in contact with the water or would it not matter? I'm kind of thinking it wouldn't matter, kind of like in a car/truck, battery ground goes to the frame? I don't know though.

But... the parts are arriving later today... Actually since I started typing this I think they were just delivered. I do have a 125AH battery strictly for the trolling motor and then another 50AH for the sonar units, so they're separate. I mostly have the wiring separated, as it gets to the front, they do come in close proximity But I've kept it as separate as I can. I also have the excess transducer cable done up in the figure 8. I was hesitant to power the finder and the FFS via the yakpower switch/power box so I put in a small fuse block and the sonar gear is powered 'directly' off the battery with the fuse block in between and the yakpower is for the other stuff (lights, power ports, etc...).

Been working on rigging my kayak, mostly wrapped up the initial version 1 of the electrical wiring this weekend. Towards the end, I got to thinking. What if they made a metal version of this PET plastic expandable braid sleeve I've been running all my wiring in? I looked, and sure enough, they do make a tinned copper version of it, it's even in convenient 25' lengths. So if I really want to make sure the transducer cables aren't picking up stray stuff from power wires, radio frequencies, etc... If I put this tinned copper braid over the transducer cables and solder a wire to the sleeve, would I want to ground it to the battery ground or to an earth ground? For a boat, I think I understand an earth ground goes to the water somehow? Would a single ground wire attached to the sleeve be enough, or would I want to attach one to each end?

It's already been thoroughly answered, but I'll toss in another vote of confidence. Have used MidwayUSA for decades for shooting gear and over the past year or two have also ordered a ton of fishing gear from them - lures, rod, HDS Pro, Active Target 2, etc... They're great, frequent sales and you get 1 order within I think a week of your birth date where they give you special pricing on everything. I try to take advantage of that each year too.

As I'm currently rigging my PA14, watching that video, I'm thinking to myself, this could've made things even easier, and 2 motors would be pretty darn sweet. Last night I was looking into the torqueedo for the stern and the power poles, because you know, in shallow water, avoid the spot lock blowing out and save the trolling motor battery...

Now this one has some interesting features that could be appealing. Seems to me like it's prepared for most any option you want to throw at it. https://nativewatercraft.com/pages/titanx-propel This walk through shows it with most of the possibilities mounted.

Old Town announced the new Bigwater ePDL+ 132 recently. It now has a battery assisted pedal system (or it can be run solely on battery "cruise control"). Interesting innovation, I can see the crossover from electric bicycles. Seems like it could appeal to those who like the autopilot but also want the ability to pedal. No spot lock though. Overall doesn't appeal to me, but could be exactly what someone else is looking for and it's always exciting to see innovation. https://oldtownwatercraft.johnsonoutdoors.com/us/epdl

Well, I've finally taken some time to start rigging the kayak. Yeah, I know, way into the season, should have had it done and been out fishing months ago. Still taking care of 3 folks with medical issues. As mentioned previously, I picked up the 1.5" ram ball mounts and 6" arm. Mocked it up tonight while dealing with electrical analysis paralysis. Stability wise, it appears like it will hold the 10" HDS Pro just fine. If I try to get it to slip or move, the whole rail and the kayak move.. Aiming to get it out on the water in the next week or two to test placement. I've not dealt with ram mounts before. For some reason I thought they were mostly plastic. I now realize they've mostly rubber coated metal. The price of them makes more sense to me now.

I think what @Pat Brown is suggesting is to try one of these 'fuzzy dice' deals. Something different.

Think the bottle jack was already mentioned, they're pretty useful along with a board or three for under/over it. I'll also second the air pump idea. I put onboard air on my truck and it's been invaluable. Decent air gauge to check tire pressures in the morning. Or I think you can add extra sensors to the fancy new trucks these days for your trailer tires. Make sure you have the tools and proper bit/end to lower the spare on your pickup. Turns out my truck was missing the special security bit end when I bought it used and no one had one. Cost me an extra day and had the tire shop cut the spare off when I needed it after an accident in AL last year. Same if you have locking lugnuts, make sure you have that tool to get them off. Tool kit? If I'm hauling the RV, I tend to have a full set of most of my tools, if another trailer I bring a smaller selection but am sure to have sockets, ratchets, wrenches, screw drivers and bits, etc... Fuel additives? I regularly use Optilube performance additive and their cetane additive. I pour that into 8/4/2oz bottles (nalgene) I picked up off of Amazon ahead of time. When I fill up, just select the appropriate sized bottles and dump them in. Electronics - radar detector, phone chargers/cables, spares. Fluids - oil, washer fluid (top off before leaving and bring some extra, bugs across the Dakotas are crazy at times), coolant? Extra DEF if you need that. I tend to have a tub in the bed of my truck with these. Filters - spare fuel filter in case you pick up a bad tank somewhere? Never happened to me, but I have one in the tub of fluids and spares. Paperwork - current registration and insurance cards - truck, trailer, and boat. Health insurance card for yourself. Added on edit - wife is usually my passenger. She likes to have a pillow and blanket with her. And lots of snacks and drinks. Oh and a fire extinguisher, somewhere easily accessible.

So Wednesday afternoon I practiced backing the trailer up again and got it back into its spot. It takes me a bit and a spotter. I really need to rig up some cameras. The driveway is off the inside of a curve of the main road which is a hill and I'm backing it in uphill, then once it crosses the sidewalk the driveway slopes downhill pretty rapidly. I just about make it without the trailer hitting the bed. Then I'm threading it between a few large trees. I'm getting better. Watching me attempt that is probably entertaining for the neighbors. I see what they say about turning with triple axles. The way those tires bow out sometimes as I swing the trailer around to get in in the driveway, I keep expecting the tires to pop off. Anyways, I got it back in it's spot and it unhooked just fine, once I raised it high enough. Goose neck couplers and balls are as forgiving as I thought they were, it's a pretty good downhill angle still. Upon close inspection I found the ball and coupler were very well greased. It really was just me not raising it high enough. that said, I'll seek out some of that grease @Woody B mentioned. The RV goosebox is pretty dry. I'm always up for a trip to Camping World. Need to replace the shower skylight that a large branch came through this winter. @Darth-Baiter you have no idea just how accurate your statement is. There was a mishap with those boards earlier in this process as I came forward off of them and let's just say I need to replace a section of diamond plate on the front of the trailer now. The boards I used were too long and my spotter wasn't able to keep his eyes on both sides of the truck and truck bed all at the same time. When I was researching trailers and RVs, I understood there were lots of random extra expenses, but I don't recall anyone telling me there would be $500+ of pressure treated boards to cut up, use, lose, etc... I have quite the collection of 2x12 in assorted lengths going on over here. Knock on wood, in my limited trailering experience of a few years now, I have not yet had one come off the ball while driving down the road. I was behind a friend back in college when the nut came off the ball and the smallish trailer separated from his truck. I guess the chains kept it attached to him and saved other drivers from issues, but man, the way it whipped his old Blazer around, I almost think I'd want the trailer to go it's own way. @Bird your secret is safe, I know and say nothing.

Ok, so I am a special kind of idiot, seriously. Have a laugh at my expense, I deserve it. In short - I wasn't raising the trailer high enough. What I observed - lower the electric landing gear, watch the truck bed rise, landing gear would start to struggle a bit, truck bed would continue to rise, trailer would make creaking/popping noises, would see side of the trailer over the truck bed start to 'bounce/flex' a little. I'd go a little further, but then stop. What I thought was happening - I thought trailer was lifting the rear of the truck, weight of the truck was starting to distort the frame of the trailer a little, anticipated bad things happening if I proceeded further. Well, today on flat ground, I proceeded further. What I now think was actually happening - The landing gear struggled as it they took the weight of the trailer (it's mildly loaded), it wasn't actually lifting the rear of the truck, the springs were still raising the bed. It's an older battery now that I look at it closer and probably needs replacing. The flexing/popping of the trailer, I now believe that was the tongue weight being relieved as the weight was transferred off the coupler to the landing gear. Pushed through where I had stopped previously and within another inch or two, the ball popped out. Sigh, I am an idiot at times. This particular gooseneck trailer is new to me. My RV with the goosebox doesn't really flex/pop when unhooking. Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions. Hope my idiocy provides a little chuckle to your day.

My use case is using VPN (proton VPN) on my phone when I'm on a cellular network to block ads and for general security when on Verizon's network. I do a lot of reading on my phone and don't get how folks deal with the constant barrage of ads (not here on bassresource, but elsewhere). Other times I'm on VPN for work. Don't have issues with the work VPN, but Proton, sometimes I do. I fully understand that the 'common' public IP I'm behind when on Proton VPN specifically sometimes causes me issues accessing sites if the IP has been blocked. I usually run into the issue here as you stated, losing my ability to browse bassresource when I'm out and about with family at doc appointments etc... Note - VPN also screws with android auto wireless connectivity. Sometimes I get through to bassresource, usually I'm blocked. I get it. If I need my fix I'll turn VPN off while browsing the site, otherwise I browse when back home where I don't run VPN because pi-hole takes care of ads for me. Depending on how paranoid one is, it could be argued that VPN does help prevent your ISP from tracking your browsing habits. Instead your VPN provider gets to track it if they do. I am a network security engineer, so I sometimes get into the weeds a bit 'covering my tracks' and configuring things to limit data tracking and collating and whatnot. Note - the ad blocking does NOT seem to block ads here and the ads here are not intrusive like everywhere else on the internet.

Interestingly enough, I pulled the lever/pin out of the ball and it didn't come out either. That really had me thinking it was the angle. Alas, still wouldn't release even on level ground even with rocking truck forward and reverse while mildly suspended from the trailer. I'm going to hit up a few trailer places tomorrow and see what they think. There even happens to be a good place up north where I trout fish. Drop it off, have someone shuttle me to the stream and they can futz with it all day while I fish The geek in me wants to watch and see how they finally get it loose though. Anyways, we'll see what I can figure out tomorrow. So in this vein, here is a copy paste of a reply from the RV forum where I also asked. I replied saying it was with the utmost respect and admiration that my first thought was "Bubba of 'here hold my beer and watch this' fame" had entered the chat. You could try putting the trailer jack legs on 6 x 6 blocks; crank the jack until you've got the rear wheels of the truck at least 6 inches off the ground; open the end gate; put the truck in 4 wheel drive and pull ahead causing the jacks to fall off the 6x6.... If that doesn't work you could try stacking up two 6x6 blocks under each leg and suspend the truck a foot off the ground before puling ahead. It seems as though your latch is not opening but I've never seen a gooseneck latch that couldn't be tapped open with a hammer.

So yes, I've chocked trailer tires in both directions and have pushed the trailer up against the rear chocks, pulled it against the front chocks, trying to release the ball in each position to no avail. I've tried chocking the trailer in place, and position truck so no load is on the ball, even rocked forward and reverse while trailer was lifting the rear of the truck hoping it would pop loose. I really thought it was the angle/torque because I did try pulling the pin out of the ball but it wouldn't come out either. That really stumps me. Today I tried all the same stuff in a perfectly level parking lot and it still wouldn't release. My latest idea other than taking it to a trailer shop - I was thinking, how would they try to pry them apart? I could put a stack of boards in the bed and then try a 12 ton or whatnot bottle jack with boards on top of it. Boards below and above would help distribute the pressure across the bed and across the frame of the trailer... Not sure if that's a good idea or not yet. Maybe if done very carefully checking often to not bend anything? Any thoughts or opinions on that? Something odd is going on, I just haven't figured out what it is yet. I've disconnected this trailer in the same exact spot several times with no issue. I've never had a problem with the RV which uses a goose box adapter. It won't even release on level ground with truck in neutral after a spirited ride around town. Something is weird, but I've not yet identified it...

Thanks! I've check out a ton of videos but nothing yet. I think something is broken or actually wrong. This afternoon I went at it again. I sprayed a good bit of penetrating oil up in there using the tube on the can. I raised the trailer by backing it on to 3 stacked 2"x12"x8' boards. Nothing, still just lifted the back end of the truck. I then pulled it out, drove it around, hit every bump I could find, hit the brakes, hit the accelerator, got some chucking going on and tried again, in a perfectly level parking lot. Same deal, just raises the back end of the truck. I have tried both at home and in the parking lot with the truck in neutral so it can roll a little, didn't help at all. When you push the coupler lock back by hand, if I reach up into the coupler, I can feel the bar across the bottom of the ball retract. Interestingly enough, I would think the ball would be putting some tension on that when the back end is lifted but I cannot detect any. It's as if the ball somehow broke through the roof of the cavity and is stuck up in there. But if that happened, the coupler would be lower, hitting the bed of the truck and it's not, it all looks pretty normal. Still stumped, I'm now officially out of ideas and think I'll be hauling it over to a trailer repair shop this week to see what they think. On the phone they were stumped too, saying goosenecks are pretty forgiving.