Off Season

[GLF]

This winter I am going to inventory my spoons and restock the ones I lost. I am also going to put a hook sharpener to all of them, or replace the hooks on them.

I will also be putting new line on all of my reels and greasing/oiling the reels. I have one reel I need to have repaired.

Then there is the want list. I have several things I would like to add to the boat this winter. Radar arch, speed and temp probe, autopilot. Unfortunately, these items are not in the budget. If I am able to get any of the 3, I will be adding the speed and temp probe.

Did I leave out that I would like to get 6 more rods and reels? You can never have enough rods and reels.

Then there are the maintenance/repairs I need to make on the boat. I am going to replace both bellows, one shift cable, and a couple of other things. My boat is stored in Muskegon(1:35 minutes from the house). Any repair I am planning on doing, I have to add 3 hours.

I have a friend that has a 27 Sundancer and has a trailer. I am hoping he puts his boat in the water in April, so I can borrow his trailer and haul the boat to my house to do the work. I spoke with him on Thursday, and will speak with him again this coming week. I need to know what his plans are so I can make my plans.

[spoonmaster]

Sounds like a busy winter.

What speed and temp probe are you thinking of adding? Thats the one thing that I am considering for next year as well.

[GLF]

I will be going with either a Depth Raider, or a Fish Hawk. I am not really wanting to change out my rigger cable for the Depth Raider, so I am leaning towards a Fish Hawk. I ran a weekly fishing report board inside D & R Sports in Kalamazoo all summer, and I can get a REALLY good deal on a Fish Hawk.

I have until spring to decide which way I am going to go.

[tbromund]

I've owned both and believe me, changing out the cable isn't that big a deal. You will be MUCH MUCH happier with the Depth Raider over the Fish Hawk.

Tim

[tltorrice]

I put a Depth Raider on the Tangle Factor this year and changing the cable was no big deal. The installation was fairly simple. It works good. I don't have any experience with the Fish Hawk.

TT

[GLF]

I am not sure how the cable and the electronics with the Depth Raider works. My boat is slipped all season. I remove the down riggers every time I leave the boat. Is there anything besides the cable attached to the down rigger, that will hinder me from removing the down riggers?

[plumkrazy]

mike there is a quick dis connect right at the rigger . i take mine off every week to store my boat for the week phil

[Paulywood]

I have an extensive to-do list this winter:

1. Remove and repair axle on boat trailer. Either the axle or the spindles are bent, the tires wear funny.

2. Remove outdrive, replace exhaust bellows, shift bellows, gimbal bearing and bellows, and anything else that needs to be done.

3. Replace trailer lights with LED's.

4. Since I decided to keep the boat I have for another year I will also be upgrading to electric downriggers and adding a speed and temp at the ball unit. Either a Depth Raider or Moor Subtroll.

5. I am going to sort through my spoons and eliminate ones that I don't use. I also need to replace ones that were lost and would like to add duplicates of my "old reliables".

6. Remove lower unit and replace seal and/or shaft. I think that I have a leak, the gear lube looked a little off when I changed it. Might have been caused by hitting that sandbar in Muskegon Lake.

I haven't decided if I am going to be doing the outdrive work myself or not. I bought a service manual and it looks a little more complicated than I thought. I will get some estimates and figure it out later.

[Tad Pole]

we plan on replacing the bellows,we was told that a cobra outdrive dont have bellows but were gonna replace those things that look just like bellows all the same.rebuild the carb.and that is about it,we had a outstanding year as far as the boat went,we didnt have to work on it one time(knock on wood)considering the boat is 22 years old thats awesome as far as i'm concerned.

[Satisfaxion_Gauranteed]

My offseason tasks aren't too bad:

"must dos"

1) upgrade to a new vhf radio. The last trip our for the season, mine starting acting weird. On top of that, my gps has the auto distress call feature and my marine radio doesn't. I might as well do it right if I'm going to do it at all.

2) While winterizing and performing other routine tasks on my boat, I noticed my engine would not stay in position after I disconnected my battery. It has never done that before. It very slowly drifted down under weight. I'll be working on that as soon as a free spot in the barn becomes available.

3) sort spoons, replace/sharpen hooks, re-tie any 3fly meat rigs that are damaged, etc.

4) repair my damaged reel, oil the others, and put new line on all of them

"want to dos"

1) I'm thinking of going with the Cannon lure speed/temp indicator. I'm still undecided on what brand for sure though.

2) Two more full cores. I also need to upgrade two of my older reels to something newer. I bought my very first two reels used 4 years ago and they've worked well, but it's time to use them as spares.

3) I'd like to get a better radio antenna for catching the Tigers games out on the water. It seems like the fishing is always better when the Tigers are on....

This list could go on forever, but is currently limitted by budget:D

Oh, did I mention the time I'll spend just sitting in my boat with a cold beer in hand, parked in the barn in early February, imagining what it'll be like to have that downrigger hum and a reel screaming off the back while I'm choking down a drink and yelling, "fish on!!" at the same time??!!??!!??

[Billy V]

Mike,

I've owned 'em both and the Depth Raider is FAR SUPERIOR to the Fish Hawk. And changing out the coated cable really is no big deal. There's a quick disconnect right at the rigger, so taking it off is no problem at all.

I have a million things on my "to-do" list, but the major ones are:

1. Install the new Furuno 585 that just arrived yesterday! :grin: That thing is SWEET! Mounting the thru-hull transducer is the part that I'm nervous about.

2. Install a new GPS/Chartplotter. I'm trying to decide whether or not I should go with the Eagle Intellimap 500C I bought, or upgrade to a Lowrance 7200C. I'm leaning heavily towards the Lowrance. If I do decide to upgrade, I'll have the Eagle for sale, brand new in the box for cheap.

3. Repair my rocket launcher. Stainless is sitting in my shop just waiting for a rainy day.

4. Poli-Glow the hull. I've read a ton of good things about the stuff and I think I'm gonna go for it.

5. I may also have the seats & bolsters re-upholstered. They're getting a little bit tired for my liking, but that's an expensive project! If cash-flow allows it, I'll have them done. If not, we'll get after it next year.

Everything other than that is minor, but I could easily take up several weekends getting things just so on the boat!