Paulywood

Good job

Looks good to me Terry! Nice job.

I got mine at Northwoods Frank. I think they have 2 of everything.

I will be around and plan on stopping by around 8

You can do that Mike, you're a lot skinnier than me and can run faster:)

I guess I was misinformed on the wire Mike. That's what an electrician told me when I was working on my kitchen, he recommended the #12 instead of #14 for the outlets because of the toaster. Anyway, I'm replacing all of the wiring in the basement in order to eliminate the old knob and tube. I'm assuming using the #12 isn't going to hurt anything as opposed to the #14. I have extra slots available in the service panel so I can change the breakers/circuits out to anything I want. I won't be splicing anything, I'm trying to eliminate areas that have been spliced in. I pulled wire for one room today and will be doing the furnace tomorrow. I just don't know if I should leave it on a 10 amp breaker or upgrade to 15 amp. I can't find the manual, might have to call the Trane dealer tomorrow.

As of today the docks were not in at the DNR launch in Benton Harbor. I did hear that the docks are in at the city launch in St. Joe. This is almost directly across the river from the DNR launch. However, there used to be a big sandbar in between. I haven't been down there this year but hopefully someone else who has will chime in. The DNR launch in Benton Harbor is right next to Tackle Haven. If you map Tackle Haven you will see the launch.

Well Frank, I'm actually stapling it to tree trunks, this is a really old house. I have been using #12 for the lights and outlets, just to be safe. You are supposed to run #12 if you have anything that produces heat (ie heater) so I just use it everywhere. I'll probably just go with the 10 amp breaker unless I find something that says to do it differently. I haven't had any issues with tripping the breaker so far and there are over 12 outlets/lights on the circuit along with the furnace so I don't foresee any problems sticking with the 10 amp. Thanks for your help.

Thanks Frank. I have made some progress. I went and got a new thermostat and new wire for it since the old one had a few splices in it. After running the new wire I realized that it wasn't connected to the transformer, it was just spliced together there. Once the new wire was connected to the furnace and the new thermostat that part is taken care of. Now I am just working on the wiring for the furnace, lights and outlets. I pulled new wire for one room in the basement. This will be connected to a seperate breaker. The biggest issue I have is the fact that the power for the furnace is run off a 10 amp breaker right now. I'm not sure how many amps the breaker should actually be for the furnace. The 20 amp fuse box will be eliminated since there is no need for it. And the furnace will be on an independent circuit. At the end of all this there shouldn't be aby more knob and tube wiring in the basement. Everything will be grounded. The furnace was installed by a company in town so if I can't find the specs for it maybe they will be able to help me.

I have an old (100 years +) home and have been doing some improvements on it. My latest project was to tear out the lathe and plaster in the basement stairway and put in drywall. I also want to update the electrical in the basement as some of it is still knob and tube with porcelain boxes. When I tore out the lathe yesterday I had to disconnect the thermostat for the furnace as it is on the wall outside the stairwell. When I was putting it back together I traced the low voltage line down to the basement becasue there were 2 wires but only 1 was hooked up. Long story short, I have a wiring mess that I want to fix. Here is the way my furnace is wired: There is heavy knob and tube wiring coming out of the box. It is run off a 10 amp breaker. This wire runs throughout the basement and most, if not all, of the outlets and lights are on this circuit. It runs into the far room and goes into an old fuse box. This box contains a 20 amp fuse. After leaving this box it runs back into the room that contains the furnace and panel. There it is spliced into a low voltage transformer that powers the thermostat. Then both the thermostat wire and the original power wire run to the furnace. I have a newer panel in the house (less than 10 years) and the furnace is a high efficiency model that is less than 15 years old. There are 7 empty slots in the panel. I have been trying to seperate circuits as I remodeled areas of the house. Here are my questions: 1. I believe that the 20 amp fuse box is useless and isn't doing anything. There is only a 10 amp circuit feeding it so the fuse would never melt. I want to remove this box. I want to remove this box and put the furnace on a seperate, dedicated breaker. The oulets and lights would be on there own breaker. Is there any reason I can't do this? 2. Since the furnace is being fed by a 10 amp breaker now, should I feed it off another 10 amp breaker? 3. How is the low voltage transformer supposed to be wired? Right now they literally have a taped off splice going into it. I haven't taken it apart to see how it is run but I know this is wrong. I think that they used to run the doorbell off the same transformer before but we eliminated it. Do I just run power from the box to the transformer, then continue on to the furnace, with low voltage power coming from the transformer to the furnace and thermostat? I am going to install a new, digital thermostat to replace the mercury one that is there now. I know this is probably confusing but the wiring in parts of this house are a joke and I'm trying to get it right. Thanks for your help. I'm going to go pick up a new thermostat and some wire and boxes right now so if you can help I would appreciate it. Nick

Actually Josh, they would have to spend the money for harbors. Right now they are robbing the harbor fund to balance the budget. Those of us in Michigan are used to this as our state legislature robbed the outdoor fund for decades to balance the budget. It's time for these politicians to be responsible, balance the budget, and make sure this money is used for what it is intended. In the short term there will be sacrifices and not everyone will be happy. But the government needs to realize that there isn't a money tree and throwing money away isn't an option. I know that some of the communities that will be losing their funding for dredging are already setting up local entities that would raise money for dredging and maintaining the harbors. In the long run that might be better as each community has a vested interest in the well being of their port. This will have little to no effect on the fishing and boating community for now, but I will support these local groups as long term a healthy shipping industry benefits the ports on the lake. At least this is my opinion.

I know that there were some serious issues with them breaking apart, but not sure if the 1998 models were affected. There might be more info over on the iboats forum. Good luck.

Here are a couple of options Dave. It might be good to know what you have now in order to figure out if you are making a significant upgrade. Both of these have the ability to read the thermocline and high resolution. Look like decent units for $400. http://www.marinediscountcenter.com/product_info.php?cPath=3302916_3302963&products_id=48756009 http://www.marinediscountcenter.com/product_info.php?cPath=3302916_3302963&products_id=51356823

Just a heads up, I heard that the CG might be banning the 12 gauge fired pistol flares. They are considered a weapon. I know that charter captains can't use them. If they do go that route you might be able to carry one with a CCW. Just something to think about when you are buying flares this year.

Got a call from Martin at Bowker's thursday that the boat was ready. Got up early this morning and ran over to pick it up. Had a hard time getting it into the driveway with all the snow the plow left piled up at the end. He sure did a good job on it, you can't even tell there was anything done. I also saw a Lamborghini body that he was working on when I went to pick it up. Hope it gets a little warmer so I can start working on it soon.

Wire catches fish and is fun to catch fish on. If given the choice I would run wire over braid any day of the week.

The longest rods I will have on the boat this year are 9'. They are my braid diver rods and the only reason I have them that long is to make sure they reach past my wire dipsey rods when I run 2 divers per side. Other than that I wouldn't have a rod over 8' for the reasons Captain Russ listed above.

Terry it is my understanding that it is best to use a high grade plywood free of voids. But it doesn't have to be marine grade. You want to avoid treated as the chemicals interact with the aluminum. It is better to seal the plywood with an epoxy or oil based paint.

Welcome! It's always nice to get more experienced fishermen onboard to share their knowledge.

Coldwater Tackle would be another option also if Tony can't help you.

Stylin!

Nice!

Welcome aboard Rich!

Make sure you check the date on them. I always try to get ones that expire the farthest out and in the fall.

I'm running Tekota's on my wire and Convector's on my braid.