1mainiac

just a quick thought what do you consider low oil psi to be because the low psi warning is 7 psi on a GM product. When mine is hot it will sit around 10 psi all day at idle but touch the throttle and you are back up to 30 or better every time. PSI is not that important good flow and volume is, the oil pump is driven off the cam which runs at 1/2 of crank speed what would help the most on boats is a oil cooler since there is no air flow around the oil pan to cool it like you have in a car or truck.

I guess my point is that being rescued from the ice does not mean you have no way to return and recover your gear so yes if they take it without permission form the owner they are stealing it. Since there is no time stamp on what time the ice will melt and dump your gear in the water and many have found that they were on a section of ice that floated out only to have the wind change and blow them back in or elsewhere in the lake. Also one could point out that if your boat or ship sinks in the Great Lakes it is still yours hence the battle over some of the recently found shipwrecks. Again you could contact the fishermen and offer to go get their gear but to just go get it would be theft. And there are lots of places and situations you could have a heart attack where recovering your gear would be difficult. So some of my analogy is correct. However show me anywhere in State law that this is legal and I have some redneck friends down south that would be willing to bring their gear up and spend the winter collecting your favorite things.

By the way you are expressing it the next time someone has a heart attack on the ice and has to be taken in by ambulance all his gear would be fair game.

Saying you have no way to recover it does not apply as there are ways to get it back however the Coast Guard not being willing to remove your property does not make it fair game for anyone who wants it. Consider this you are out hunting and get hurt the DNR or Sheriffs patrol rescues you and takes you in for care is your Truck and hunting gear free for anyone to take and claim. since you are on Michigan property either way the same laws would apply.

I am not a lawyer but anyone taking your property without your consent would be a thief. There is no international waters on the Great Lakes so that portion of Maritime law would not apply. It would be no different than if your car broke down and I came by and towed it home I would have no legal right to it and any attempt to force you to pay would be extortion. Sadly however it would only apply to registered vehicles your fishing gear and personal stuff would be fair game. On the other hand if I was a licensed recovery service and I called and told you I was at your Quad and you could either agree to pay or I would leave it behind that would be legal and I could charge anything I choose and have a legal lien if you failed to pay.

Well I was not completely wrong you do use weight and your air bladder to control your buoyancy and set your depth. The weight combined with your air bladder adjusts your specific gravity to match the water you are in giving you neutral buoyancy which makes it easier to move around as you no longer have to fight gravity or the fact you are lighter than water to move around. I would check my temp gauge if you are seeing 34 deg water on the bottom because I will correct myself 39.2 is the heaviest water can get. Anything colder would float above it this however does not apply to salt water.

First thing to keep in mind is 38.6deg F is the heaviest water can get warmer or colder it will rise above this temp. Which is why ice floats. I have often wondered since fish are cold blooded like a reptile if their choice of temp is not more about the specific gravity of the water then the actual temp. Just like divers using weight to adjust for the depth they want to be at to make it easier to move around I think it is the same for fish they can swim in warmer or colder water however not as easy as they can in the proper temp to match their body mass. Also just like us when it is time to sit and relax we want to be a comfortable and relaxed as we can so we pick our favorite chair and adjust the HVAC to suit us. However when it is dinnertime we will go where we have to to eat. When Salmon were first planted here the Lake was full of various age class Alewives which they were planted to get rid of. 40 plus years later and now we have to save the Alewives or get the Salmon to eat something else. The something else does not live in their preferred temp zone so they must go out of temp to eat which stress's them and they get less value out of what they eat so we have smaller fish. Out in the deep water there are still mature Alewives and they will be deep so sending a lure down there will often net your biggest fish. Next season if your side and our side are closer to normal out deep you will both big fish down deep and smaller fish above them so you can send one rod or 2 down deep and run the rest of your spread as normal.

Each of those has a different preferred temp as does the bait they eat for the most part. Lake Trout like the coldest water around 40 to 42 Salmon seem to like 44 to 46 the best Steelhead and Coho like 46 to 48 Browns will hang in 48 to 52. Most of that meant very little last summer on the Michigan side as we were stuck with very warm water all summer. Mature Alewives will also live in cold water as do Herring and Whitefish. However most of the bait that is preyed on is going to be found in the low to mid 50 deg. the 54 number is a good start point as having your gear in warmer water won't do any good. What you need to find is baitfish and then look for the closest cold water to them cause if there is something to eat the salmon won't be far away from it.

I agree with Frank if they ain't broke don't fix em. Reasonable maintenance will get you around 3000 hours on a gas engine very good maintenance could get in the 5000 plus hours range or better. Do some serious inspections check cylinder balance and leak down test to see if you even have a issue. I have seen several motors that never had a problem till they were rebuilt because the owner thought they would be better. If they pass a thorough inspection run them till you have a problem you might get several more years out of them. The only issue with your Thunderbolt ignition is old age causes the coil windings and pickups to breakdown. Also keep in mind you might just do a long block which would be a great way to freshen up the boat but requires reusing a lot of your parts. Also you need to figure in new Hoses and some new wiring and probably a few cans of touch up paint.

yep I keep thinking about doing that and some other stuff to my boat then I realize I can buy a nicer boat for what the upgrades will cost me.

sad part is it did not say boat on the truck engine and they are different and those were outright new engines so no hoping bubba was awake when he assembled it LOL. Also keep in mind both of those are big upgrade to what you have as they come with electronic ignition and are 100% new parts. I have found in my years of wrenching that aside from what some shops think they are worth for the labor the biggest difference in price is how many old parts are they willing to reuse. I have seen lots of rebuilt engines go bad because they saved money and reused old parts. Or they skipped having the block done because it did not look all that bad. And some of that is no big deal in a truck or car but where we go it is a long cold swim back or a very expensive tow. Also you probably don't need a complete engine I would however recommend the Ignition upgrade as you will love it no more points and much more stable trolling spark.

I guess the answer depends on what kind of budget you want to work with. Honestly on that year boat you could easily spend more on a couple of motors than the boat is worth. Not trying to talk down your boat but you could be looking at 10 grand plus labor for 2 standard rotation engines. This is what I was looking at for my boat but I am a long way from needing a motor http://www.michiganmotorz.com/vortec-marine-engine-gold-package-19672010-replacement-p-351.html This one would be cool as well but my boat is not worth much more than the motor costs. http://www.michiganmotorz.com/complete-engine-package-fuel-injection-sterndrive-p-798.html but if you ever see me go by at close to 60mph you will know I won the lottery and installed one.

And now Robert knows why I have done 5 years of research on AP's and 3 years of trying to come up with a way to get one on my boat and still don't have one. It is almost easier to trade the boat in for one that already has a AP then to convert it. I have a short list of things I want for my boat however for what it will cost to do it I can trade for a newer boat that already has everything I want. And spending the money on mine won't add enough value to it to make a difference. So as much as I would love to keep my boat and add the upgrades I will most likely trade it in when I get a chance and find the right boat. One thing for me is I want to still be able to trailer it so I can't go much bigger but I have my eye on a couple of Boston Whaler 285 Conquests and they are not that far out of reach.

Robert on the bright side the boat will be worth more handle better than it ever did and your happiness level will go up a bunch. Not sure any of that will catch you more fish but sure will make your life better. As for the price of Salmon I could eat Lobster for less than the cost of my salmon. But on the bright side my wife will have one heck of a yard sale when I am gone.

If I like my troll I will keep it going I sometimes reverse it on the way back. Very seldom do we refish a spot however that would change if I had seen something in a zone I was not covering correctly like say we marked a bunch of fish on the bottom we might go back and see if we can get one and what they are but I seldom bottom fish.

The AP14R was never rated for a 30ft boat with twin outdrives. SI-Tex offers a AP with the Octopus drive which is the unit Simrad used for the AP12 and AP14R units but it is still not rated for that much boat.

I have not fished on a boat with the Garmin yet however I have fished on one with the TR1 Gladiator which is the predecessor for the GHP 10 and the company Garmin bought to get the AP. And it would hold a course back trolling for Walleye. Every one I have talked to said it is the best system out there for what we do. You might check with Frank or Ryan at Calumet Marine they have installed a bunch of them and do nothing but brag about how well they fish.

Thanks Aaron nothing is written down yet just a bunch of ideas some of them are mine but that to me is not the issue. The points per fish was a suggestion I can see both sides and actually agree with both sides. However when you look at this from all sides there are very few ways to make it fair for everyone. One idea I had was to make it Salmon only at weigh in no points, weight decides but weigh only King Salmon. The points per fish does also add some skill into the event in a no cull tourney as catching the wrong fish can hurt you. What has been mentioned is 5 points per Lake Trout 10 points per King 15 points per Steelhead and 20 points per Brown. Other than the May events the odds that anyone will bring in a full cooler of Browns in Muskegon is rare. Other than fall backs off the river most of the season Steelhead is a long boat ride for smaller fish, in 40 plus years of fishing Muskegon I can't ever remember limiting on browns. However the point of this post is to get feedback and every ones opinion will factor into the final outcome.

The only unit I know of that allows you to grab the wheel at anytime and make course corrections is the Garmin. The Garmin will also maintain the new course if you hold a course for a min. Everything else requires you to disengage the AP or use a Dodge mode on it to change course with the wheel. Even with the Dodge mode if you are tracking a course from your plotter and have the wrong way point in once you complete the maneuver the AP will resume the course right back to where you tried to miss. In a emergency you have to remember to shut off the AP to resume boat control. This is what I like best about the Garmin and Shadow Drive because whether or not the AP is on my wife or anyone on board can steer the boat and they don't have to understand how to set the AP. The search and fishing patterns most of them offer would be cool but very seldom you have enough open water around you to use them. Also Garmin offers extended warranty if you have it installed by a certified tech so there is some gain in paying for the install.

We are going to a weigh 6 format catch your limit weigh your best 6. The reason we like different values on fish is because it makes the early spring fishing more diverse. It also gives guys who fish different programs a chance to be competitive. Trying to chase down a box of Browns mid summer is tough and risky if you can do it you should be rewarded. It also means you have to know your fish and think about what to weigh. Rather than just run a King program early then switch to a Lake trout program mid morning to fill the box and pick your biggest fish to weigh. My personal issue is very few people say they fish for Lake Trout except in tournaments and a lot of them just go to waste. Also have several classes of fish give us the ability to offer prizes for the best fish in each species so maybe the 2 guys in a boat can't beat some of us in bigger boats with 4 guys more lines and better gear but they still could go after some of the other prizes like biggest Brown or Steelhead. There is a degree of difficulty involved with them I have fished Muskegon since the late 60's and have never limited on browns. And while there are lots of Steelhead around it often means running miles off shore and getting smaller fish again more risk versus just fishing 80 to 120 on the bottom for Lake trout. We do however still need to get everyone together and with hunting and the holiday approaching that has not happened yet so plenty of time to discuss ideas.

Here are some plus's to hyd steering first it is how the big boats all steer. Second it is zero feedback the drive cannot turn the wheel period, so on flat water it is a autopilot. 3rd there is no slop in the steering so when driving you don't have to rock the wheel back and forth to adjust for cable slop. Now when you add a autopilot to this once you let go of the wheel and let the AP take over the wheel never turns. On cable steered boats the wheel has to follow the AP so every course adjustment is shown by the wheel. Also if you currently have a zero feed back cable system you have to change it for a AP to work with it. The difference between the 2 is night and day and I will never own another cable steered boat again this one is my last and if the choice were down to a AP for the cable system or hyd steering I would have hyd steering and get the AP later.

We are just looking for ways to keep it fun and make sure everyone has a chance to be competitive. Our goal is to have a fun event people will not want to skip.

Simrad now offers a cable steered option that mounts completely below decks except for the control unit. It is for the AP24 system the only thing that I don't like about it is that I can convert my boat to Hyd steering and buy the Garmin for about the same money. Seriously I would look into hyd steering you will never like a cable steered boat again after you drive one with hyd steering. Here's the big kicker for me on the Garmin unit and that is shadow drive it allows you to make course changes with the wheel while the AP is running. Picture this your fighting a fish your wife is watching you and notices a log in the water in front of your boat she runs to the helm to avoid it. Will she remember to shut off the AP because with a Garmin and Shadow drive she won't have to. Shadow drive allows you to change course with the wheel at any time hold the new course for a min and the AP will follow the new course. Try that with any other AP and you will either damage the unit or the AP will steer you right back to what you tried to miss.

Robert if you get a AP get the Garmin GHP10. If your boat is Cable steered you will have to convert it to hydraulic steering. It will interface with all your other gear just fine and is hands down the best AP you will find. Without switching to Hydraulic steering the only thing that will steer your boat is the Si-Tex system with the Octipus helm unit which is the same setup Simrad used in the AP12 and AP14. This requires 10in of clearance behind the helm for the drive unit.

Penn Yann makes great boats this however is not one of them. The shallow draft is cool but you lose the ability to control it on windy days because there is next to nothing sticking in the water. The only time you will have good control is on plane. My brother has had a jet boat for 20 years his idea of docking is to not hit the dock too hard. It has sat on the trailer unused for years great shape low hours when he parked it probably all rotted out now. If you want to cruise it would be cool but if you want to troll the big lake pass it up unless they pretty much give it to you.