Paulywood

Thanks for the link. There is a link on the bottom to another site that shows the correct way to replace thru-hull fittings and seacocks. Also good information. My thru-hulls are plastic and one of my projects this year is to replace them with brass. Looks like more work but they should be much stronger doing it the right way.

Composite decking material would work Steve. That's what I used for backing on my tracks for the boat. And the screw in hooks work well.

Good job Steve!

How is the PVC in the summer? Seems like it would get hot.

Nice job Steve and thanks for the report.

Very nice Don! At this rate in 3 years you'll be riding in a brand new 50' Tiara:) We need details man, motors, rigging the whole 9 yards. I'm jealous, I would like to have a hard T-top like that and I wish mine was a few feet longer.

Great job Shannon!

Is it rack & pinion, rotary or hydraulic? They can all be done but there is a difference. I have the Raymarine X-5 and have been happy with it. I don't see why it wouldn't work on your boat.

Yeah, we launched there saturday and it wasn't too shallow. The 3 docks on the river side were ok to use but the other ones were to shallow for even the smaller aluminum boats.

I have a 2001 Sportcraft and really like it. Mine's a soft top but I know one of the complaints on the hard tops is that they are only around 6' tall so taller guys tend to hit their heads. Any boat can be good or bad depending on how well it was taken care of so I would highly recommend a survey. It will cost a couple hundred dollars but it is money well spent in the long run. Mark Veurink was very helpful to me when I bought my boat, here is his website: http://www.teamreelaction.com/index.php Other than that Sportcrafts can be very good boats, you see a lot of them on Lake Erie and I see quite a few around on Lake Michigan. Good luck in your boat search and feel free to come back with any other questions you have.

Will do Eric.

Hmmm, must be you misread my post. I never mentioned Big Game. In fact, I have never used it. I used Ande when I first started and have never had any issues so that's why I still use it. I have no opinion on Big Game, good or bad.

I don't even know Steve, saw them putting big fish in there and knew we didn't have a chance and they didn't say points or weights while handing out the money.

I went along with Sixshooter and tgafish as the designated boat driver in the Brown Blast. My shoulder still isn't ready for fish fighting action. We set up just north of the water plant and trolled almost down to the Cook plant. Fished from the first sand bar out to 25' and ended up 4/6. 3 coho and a small brown. Orange seemed to be the ticket with an orange River Rocker being the best lure, orange UV Hot-n-Tot taking a couple hits and a jointed rainbow trout Rapala taking one fish. One hit on the riggers with the rest coming off boards. Our 4 fish were good for 8th place out of 23 boats so the fishing wasn't great. The winners ran down south of the Cook plant and caught lakers and a big brown. Weather wasn't too bad if you stayed tight to the shore. Felt good to get back on the water and Jim and I didn't loose any fish, but I won't say who did. Hopefully we get some warm weather this week and the fishing picks up. Good luck.

Welcome to GLF Jason!

Whatever I can buy for less than $20 at the gas station that will fit my fat head. I'm hard on sunglasses, just like I was hard on regular glasses before my Lasik surgery and safety glasses at work. I'm sure the expensive glasses are nice but they aren't for me.

Ryan, I will be making a trip to Jay's in Clare in the next couple of weeks and I'll check for Ande there. I use it too and usually buy it there. They normally have it in bulk spools. I also ran 15# on my riggers for the last 5+ years and can't remember much in the way of break offs or tangles into rigger cables. My dad likes to crank down on the drag and winch fish in hot but I put an end to that a few years ago after he brought one in and it got into a braid diver which cut right through the mono. I am going to try 20# mono this year because my new rigger reels came spooled with it, if I don't like it I can change it back out to 15#. I'll let you know if I find any.

I fished yesterday in the Brown Blast as the designated boat driver on the Sixshooter. We went 4/6 with 3 coho and a small brown. Not a lot of fish weighed for the 23 boats that fished. Winners went south of the Cook plant and caught lakers and a big brown. We fished from the water plant all the way down to 1/2 mile north of the plant. Sounds like things were starting to set up before the big north blow on friday. If we get some decent weather this week maybe it will pick up, but you aren't missing anything yet.

Welcome Darrel!

Sounds like this should help you out Jason. As long as you aren't adding on anything you can get the big screen and save some bucks. You can even get a first hand review from Jarrod since I know he'll have his boat in the water any day now.

Definitely a good idea if you can get it done Jarrod. That's on my list of things to do this year, too.

Welcome aboard Reid!

Welcome to GLF Adam! Right now any beach or pier can be holding fish. Browns, coho and steelhead should all be around one port or the other. The Grand River has a very good steelhead run in the spring that should be going good right now. There are also a lot of walleye planted up and down the Grand that brings fish, but make sure the season is open. I can't help you on white bass, never fished for them. There are smallmouth all over the Grand and other rivers. The Muskegon to the north is a very good river for all species and if you head farther north you hit some very good steelhead rivers like the PM, Big Man and others. Heading south the K-zoo and especially St. Joe have lots of fish and access areas. As summer heats up there should be plenty of opportunities to jump on board with some members and hit the big lake. With gas prices as high as they are people are always looking for someone to help split the costs of big lake fishing. Feel free to post in the Looking for a Ride/Rider section and I'm sure you'll get some takers. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Interesting article, I will be looking for the next installment.

Besides getting it for around $1000 one of the other reasons I went with it was the ability to add radar/weather in the future. My old GPS wouldn't talk to my radio or autopilot so this should be a huge upgrade and make my AP work even better. Brought the boat home today so I'm getting closer:) Just realized I kind of hijacked this thread. Sorry about that:( I can't help you with the HDS vs. Elite debate but hopefully the other guys who have purchased either one will help you out. Electronics are so expensive it's good to make a decision with the best information possible.