immortl

Previous few years, it was just the wife and I living a quiet life on a few acres out in the country out west, keeping to ourselves, working from home, shooting off the back deck while on conference calls. She did her gardening and fish pond stuff, I did my random projects, quiet and relatively peaceful, low stress. Then we started the full time RVing deal which was an adventure and a whole lot of fun, still pretty peaceful and just the two of us. Now - in NJ, taking care of elderly parents and wife, working from home, doctor appointments and hospital visits between meetings, forcing my dad to diet. I literally have chains and locks on refrigerators and pantry, it's working, he's lost 35lbs so far, but all he ever does is ask for food, he's obsessed. Now have way more interaction with people between running errands and coordinating with my brother and sister. I suspect the stress hit some relative highs recently, I came down with shingles the other day. Thought that was an older person disease, I can't even walk into Walgreens and get a vaccine for it because I'm still not 50. Usually I can mentally reason through/ignore pain in general, but man, shingles read the book on possible types of pain and said, "I'm going to try all of them, at once!". All that said, it is good to spend time with my family, they're happy to have me back around and are grateful for the help and overall I get out fishing more here than I did out west (mainly did shooting stuff out there). Not complaining, but man it's a huge change. @Sam - may I ask who did your wife's surgery? Duke Medical is awesome, wife (from Charleston) swears by them. We initially came east with the RV to have her foot put back together properly and Dr. Kerzner did an amazing job and a year later implanted a stimrouter to help with neuropathy in her foot as well (think TENS unit implanted in your lower leg). Next up for her is addressing her spinal issues. I'm trying to decipher my notes from when we were there for her foot, I think Brandon Smith was a recommended neurosurgeon. Thanks, Joe

Agreed, I'm at the point where I need to try and see what works best for me. I will update this and my other threads as I get the opportunity to install and test things out. Free time is non existent currently due to several family medical issues, so my outlet is theorizing and planning while sitting at the computer in conference calls. Once I have time to actually work on this stuff, I'll have some actual results and experiences to report back and I will do so. Thanks, Joe

Thank you! That helps.

I saw that, but the ability to slide it back and forth on the h-rail easily seems more appealing. Why not mount the 2.25" ball to the h-rail plate (already have 2 of them)? I am wondering if folks have mounted a 10" head unit on a 1.5" ball and if so, has it held securely or does it slip a bit? If it slips, then perhaps the 2.25" ball would be better? The mounting plate I'd bolt the 2.25" ball to is this here. I like the idea of center mount for out of the way and balance, but the catch is to allow for pedal use, that crossbar would be out past the pedals, the equivalent of pushing it out in front of the motor head in your setup. Concern being it would be about 4' away, somewhat difficult to interact with.

@Siebert Outdoors - do you guys have large images/files of your skirt colors somewhere? I get the hover and scroll deal on the products pages, but was trying to find a way to open the whole image on a browser page so I can see most or all at a glance and read the name of it.

Looks like the 1.5" mounts are good for 4 lbs. Some reviews said their 9" units moved a little but most were satisfied. The 2.25" balls are good for 6lbs, I'm thinking the 2.25 unit mounted to one of the flat plates I have, which gives me a little extra in or out depending on how I put it on the H-RAIL.

So, do folks think the 1.5" ram mount would work well for the HDS Pro 10"? Looks like the HDS Pro 10" weighs about 3.66 lbs. Also came across this which is similar but is the 2.25" D size ball. I could screw the flat ball mount portion onto one of the h-rail base plates I have. Then I'd still be able to slide it along the rail if I was to find I could maintain my balance and fish standing up.

That helps a lot. I have come across this mount in my searching and I just need to find it again and place the order. I had already picked up 2 of the h rail flat mounting plates and some extra h rail (hard to come by) in case I want to put it up front. I'll hold onto those for now just in case.

Can one mark multiple posts as a solution? I really appreciate everyone's input. You've all reinforced the idea up closer to the side would be generally more useful/accessible and that's what I'm going to try first. I'll be holding out for the 10" availability, no bait/gear monkey purchase today, although I am still twitching a little having the 12" within grasp...

For folks with fish finders on their kayaks, where is your preferred location to mount the head unit? On one hand I'm thinking I can toss a larger 12" screen on a crossbar up front, just past the pedals on my PA 14. That puts it a good bit away from me and interacting with it seems like maybe it would be a pain? It has also been suggested that 'splash and crud' from the pedals may get tossed up on it. Although that doesn't seem to be an issue in videos I've seen with it mounted up there (Kristine Fischer channel on youtube and a few others, but that's where I first got the idea) On the other hand, off to the side up closer to the seat seems like it would work well and be easily interacted with. In that case I think 12" would be too big and I'd try for the 10". I've seen both locations in videos. The HDS Pro 12" just came available today, the 10" is still not orderable, but should be soon. The correct answer would probably best be determined by taking the boat out and playing around in it and getting a feel for which I think would feel better to me. The 'aaaaah, don't want to miss the purchase opportunity, everything still goes right out of stock and back ordered forever' part of my brain says to decide now so I can jump on whichever as soon as it becomes available which would be today if I decided on the 12". Thanks, Joe

Yeah, I grew up here in NJ, don't plan on settling back here. When I first moved to MT many years ago, one of my friends was complaining his property taxes went up. I asked him how much they were. He was complaining about $2600 on a new construction $350k house. Previously in NJ I had been paying $11k on a 45 year old ranch valued at $230k. Things haven't gotten any better here in the past 20 years. Were I single, I'd head back out west to MT or WY but I'm married and the wife would like to stick towards the east. Looking at KY, TN, WV, and NC. She wants 'some' property and access to water. I want to be able to shoot 1000 yards off my back deck. Yup, she grew up on Isle of Palms near Charleston SC and has been launching and driving boats since she was 8. She'll get to drive the boat should we ever get one bigger than a kayak and is my go to when trailers need to be backed up and positioned quickly. If I have time, I like to practice and try myself, but she cannot be around as my attempts drive her nuts and she has no patience with me at all.

Ok, now I feel stupid. I drew myself a little picture while on this conference call. I get it now. I thought it was keep the red light on the boat facing the buoy. There must be red light/paint on the buoy? See, I could use the course and have no problems taking it. Need to get that scheduled.

While not required for MT, I'm going to take the NJ boating safety course for good measure. Port is left, correct? They both have 4 letters, that's how I remember it. I don't follow the wife's explanation of red-right-return for buoys. Seems to me it would hold true to both heading out and returning? Full time RVing makes for a large gray area in my life. I tend to keep the accountant updated and let him deal with it for taxes. What few bills I have are tied to and are sent to MT, including bank statements. All mail gets forwarded to wherever I am at periodically when I call in. I have very little to show to qualify for changing residence to anywhere. Some of the wife's meds are challenging to fill, but I have a system for MT that works. As you said, the likelihood of getting challenged, particularly for a kayak, are low and I'm ok playing the odds on this one. My NJ hunting and fishing licenses are both Non-Resident which I think would help support any challenges in the field. Once we decide where we want to settle down, we'll make things more official for that location, but until then, we're sort of floating on the wind for a while.

I didn't dig to far into it, but wouldn't I need a NJ driver's license to register it here? That's one of my primary hangups. For assorted reasons I'm clinging to my MT license.

Had I purchased the Pro Angler 12 my life might be a little easier with regard to transport, but I purchased the 14 (13' 8"). I wouldn't trust the weight on the rear ladder and the height of it vertical would be a few inches taller than the trailer, more so once I pushed it up so as to not hit the ground. Roof of her car (VW Passat Wagon) is pretty easy. Last time we were in AL for a few months, we decided it would be nice to have her car with us. She doesn't really like driving nor riding in the truck much. If I was to put it on the roof of the truck, getting it up there wouldn't be too bad - up into the bed and then up onto the roof, before hooking up to the RV. The catch is to leave enough room for the trailer to swing about, I have to push the kayak forward to where I think the kayak would extend about 2' or so PAST the front bumper. It can only overhang the rear of the cab by about 2' or so. My thought on this is 'yay new front bumper with hitch mount in the center' and one of those taller elevating T racks up front for support. Then I just have to be careful and not cut things close and harpoon the semi trailer in front of me with the kayak. And I agree, while likely in the gray area or beyond, it's not in a slip somewhere, ought not be hassled to much, fingers crossed.

While I'm mainly here for a while to take care of my elderly parents, we do periodically wander down to NC (medical stuff for wife) or AL (visit/help out step son) for a week or three at a time. And we'll also be wandering some checking out areas we may want to settle and buy property (NC, KY, TN, WV) as well. Kayak will come with us, particulary to NC where we've stayed on Jordan Lake in the past. Figuring out if I can put it up on roof of truck with 5th wheel hooked up or if we'll need to toss it on the roof of her car is one of my future projects. This is all done with a 40ft 5th wheel RV, we have been full timing for about 2yrs now, even though we spend a lot of time here in NJ for my parents. Going with the never in one spot long enough consecutively to have to cut over but try to also keep a low profile, which this post is probably contrary to.

As stated above, I believe if you're registered you're mostly good in other states. I'm currently in NJ but just sent in all the registration paperwork to register my kayak back in MT because I'm putting a motor on it. It'll get back to me via mail forwarding. Then I should be good here in NJ and where ever else I wander around to.

Been waiting for warmer weather to paint it outdoors. And I'm the caretaker for folks around here and free time has been non existent. Wife was in hospital for 8 days with what turned out to be a lung infection/abscess and is now home but I administer IV antibiotics to her several times a day for a few more weeks. A day after she was discharged my mother had a fall and went into the hospital for a week and is now in PT rehab center, then there is my dad to take care of too and the regular day job. Very thankful I work from home. I'll definitely follow up on this post (and my others) as I actually do the work. Right now my escape is thinking of and planning my projects. Few more weeks I should maybe be able to eek out a little time to work on them. Thanks, Joe

I like your approach. I too was fishing all Cabela's Fish Eagle XML, XML2, and one XML Ti spinning rods until this past summer when I lost them out of the back of the truck. Around then I found this forum and started researching replacement rods and had no idea I 'needed' a rod for each and every technique. I wish the Cabela's XMLs were still made, they seemed like a great deal at the time. This time around as I replace the rods, I'm branching out into baitcasters and figure I am older and have more disposable income and use things for decades, so I'm going NRX+ and Conquests. Roughly figuring on med-light, medium, and a med heavy variants in both spinning and bait casting, 6 rods overall for bass, etc... I have built up a collection of loomis and St Croix ultra lights for fishing streams for trout, good there. Final efforts will be to update fly fishing rods.

Thanks guys. I'll check out the video between meetings today. This is all going on a kayak. Closest I'll come to a bass boat for a while and am 'overdoing' it, this will not be a 'simplify' project. Planning on 2 batteries. One for trolling motor, one for electronics. I have all marine grade tinned copper wiring of appropriate gauge to run (6 AWG for power off batteries to trolling motor and distribution block for electronics, 14 AWG for individual electronics such as AT2 and head unit). Even the inline fuse inserts have tinned copper leads (these took me a few minutes to find) and have appropriately sized 6 and 14 AWG leads. And all butt connectors are also tinned copper uninsulated ones that I'll put marine grade shrink tube over. Should have good connections and clean flow of electricity to everything. Have an assortment of crimpers and a soldering iron to make sure everything is crimped properly. Looking forward to using the hydraulic crimpers Never turn down an opportunity to justify new tools. Thanks, Joe

So Harrisburg show was more hunting/shooting focused. Some fishing, but really no fishing electronics dealers nor manufacturers that I saw. I found our yesterday that the more fishing oriented Suffern NY show was cancelled/rescheduled to Jan 2024 and relocated to NJ so no shows in March around here . Didn't learn anything new.

This is kind of what I was suspecting, low voltage bad, but once you deliver a solid and constant 12-13v, things are good. I'll see if I can find out any more info at the Harrisburg Outdoor Show tomorrow. Still searching around for info.

@casts_by_fly got me thinking and trying to research this in my other Electronics Validation thread. Breaking this particular topic out here. For FFS (Live Target 2 in this case) I am wondering about 2 questions. Curious about other folks' thoughts or experiences. 1) Should the FFS be completely on its very own dedicated battery? I know it should not be on a battery with a motor, but what about the head units and down sonar? Assuming LiFePO battery and a proper wiring job/connections, could the head units or down sonar cause issues? Lowrance support said it wouldn't hurt 'just in case' but didn't have a firm recommendation. Thegpsstore didn't think a head unit and down sonar would cause any issues. What say you all? 2) FFS Voltage - Assuming LiFePO battery and again a solid proper wiring job/connections, is there any gain to running the Live Target 2 at a higher voltage? Amped Outdoors seems to think yes and sells a 16v battery targeted for FFS. Lowrance support said no, not really, the high range of acceptable input voltage is for efficiency on longer cable runs. They couldn't tell me what the voltage is stepped down internally by the power supply nor if it was even stepped down. Wish they could, if it was stepped down, great, I'd know what to run it at. If it isn't then maybe there is something to running higher voltage. Anyways, thegpsstore didn't think it would matter. I have read some posts elsewhere where people saw enhanced performance/resolution going from lead acid batteries to lithium batteries, theorizing the higher/more consistent voltage helped. That makes sense to me. But what about going from 12/13v lithium up to 16v, what say the fine folks here? Has anyone done it and seen a benefit? Thanks, Joe

Thanks! That's good to know and expands my shopping options a bit as I wait on the HDS Pro to drop.