I have a 24 ft pontoon boat with a 40hp 2 stroke. It's an old tub, but the wife loves spending the day rafted up with other old tubs. Just another way for her to socialize. The boat ain't that good for fishing, the wind blows it around too much. It does have a bar-b-que grill.
My boat is a McVay Victoria 18 sailboat. I gutted it out down to the hull, and rebuilt it as a daysailer. The original "cabin" was only big enough for midgets. The boat weighs 1200 lbs but 700 of that is in the keel, which is a fixed keel. I HATE swing keels in sailboats. So it will heel over about 24 degrees and stiffen right up, no matter how strong the wind. I love to put on every bit of sail in high winds and enjoy a wet ride !!
I installed a Minnkota 101 thrust 36 volt trolling motor behind the keel. Way more than enough thrust for that size boat. Mainly use it to get in and out of the harbor. The rudder is right behind the trolling motor so it's very responsive at slow speed, like in the harbor.
On the subject of motorcycles, I still ride a 2001 Yamaha VMax. It's still a thrill to ride. But I learned to take it easier, since I got tired of replacing rear tires.Installed forward controls, lower rear shocks by 1 inch, and longer forks by 2 inches. And a higher geared Yamaha Venture differential. Made it more of a cruising bike.
Yeah, I'll be 62 in a few weeks. I was fishing less often for the past couple years, and I came to the idea that my Tracker was just too uncomfortable to sit in for extended periods and that was subconsciously influencing the time I was spending on the water. I replaced it with a larger, deep V boat in hopes it would light the fishing fire again. So far, it is WAY more comfortable.
My Deep V is actually only 15 feet aluminum but I took the bench seats out and put in a carpeted false floor with three gas lift pedestal seats. And I have portable down riggers. I hear you on comfort and room for fishing! I'm going to upgrade my boat with one of the electric motors that will hold your boat stationary with GPS. And it will be integrated with my fish finder a Hummingbird Helix 7.
My last boat was a 15 foot traveler aluminum, with a 48 Evinrude.
For the last few years I have been busy with grandchildren, so sold it to a fishing buddy.
My first boat was a 14 foot semi vee sea king, with a 7.5 Merc.
I think I fished more with that boat than any other.
The set up and cleanup on bigger boats seems to be more trouble than it is worth.
Lately I just wade fish, and drive and walk to where I fish.
One of the best vacations we ever had, was when I hitched up the Bayliner I used to own and took it on vacation. I put her over on Lake George, and spent several days touring the Thousand Islands.
I would have put it on Saranac Lake, but we were splurging in a lodge on the lake. They let us use their boat instead.
A 1931 Hacker mahogany triple cockpit runabout. The boating equivlent of a Duesenberg SSJ. And we had the entire lake pretty much to ourselves.
My last boat was a 15 foot traveler aluminum, with a 48 Evinrude.
For the last few years I have been busy with grandchildren, so sold it to a fishing buddy.
My first boat was a 14 foot semi vee sea king, with a 7.5 Merc.
I think I fished more with that boat than any other.
The set up and cleanup on bigger boats seems to be more trouble than it is worth.
Lately I just wade fish, and drive and walk to where I fish.
He is selling it for the reason another fella sold me an absolutely gorgeous classic 1960s 17 foot runabout - perfect restoration - that he dropped a race shop build 700 hp big block jet drive into.
For this little crazy-fast Speedster, when he had if all finally together he took his wife and their young children for the sea trial. It is easy for boat drivers to forget they have a good hold on the boat via the steering wheel and know what's coming. Driving a boat fast is fun. Riding in a boat driven fast by someone else isn't.
He hammered. In this boat, that means 0 to 30 mph in under 2 seconds and 60 within about 5 seconds. The young child sitting in the front seat (faces backwards) was thrown violently to the back of the boat. Fortunately the mother caught the child before flying off the back of the boat.
So she gave him a choice: "The children and me, or the boat. Pick which one you want more." Wisely, he chose his family. So he needs to sell it - but also wants a lesser powered small boat more suited for little children and a family. Most people are nervous about buying cars, trucks and boats that have been seriously mechanically messed with. I will always pass up anything they claim has a "rebuilt motor" because maybe 1 in 100 people who think they can rebuild a motor really do it right. But his parts list told me this guy knows his stuff and this was not a compromised build up.
(When the person documents aftermarket superior main and rod cap bolts, forged pistons, and a complete racing head with valves and springs - and lots of other little details it seems more legit and well built - plus he has a video of it doing 74 mph racing a hot turbocharged Yamaha PWC - leaving the Yamaha rapidly vanishing in the past - means it was built right or it wouldn't have held together.)
74 mph in a 15 foot boat with a full tank of fuel and 4 people on board means it will match even most multi-engine big offshore Cigarette/poker run style boats - or basically almost anything but pure racing boats - which I would not want. While I doubt it only rarely see the other side of 50 mph - and probably 40 max offshore (these little boats bounce on waves and that becomes very dangerous and painful), still the greater power means almost instantly getting on plane and running the motor at a much lower RPM - extending motor life.
Ideal for the shallow tidal waters here to avoid getting trapped - needs 1 foot of water. Also eco-friendly - no prop nor anything else extending off the bottom of the boat to hit the manatees. This is the #1 birthing grounds in the world for manatees. Some like to scratch their backs on the bottom of our lower floating dock.
Anyway, we have a tentative deal, so he has until the weekend to figure out how to beg his wife into letting him keep it. His chance is small, but it's possible - or even possibly he'd opt to hide it for a while instead (I knew a guy who did that with his motorcycle the wife demanded he sell).
Sounds like a sweet rig. Downriggers eh? My boat still has the bases for those on the gunwales. It was originally used on the Great Lakes. What sort of fishing do you usually do?
I had a Helix 5 on my Tracker. I liked it a lot , but I let it go with the Tracker when I sold it. This boat's previous owner installed a Humminbird 998csi. The few times I've had it out, I spent as much time looking at the fish finder as fishing.
Real serious catfishermen are taking good advantage of those trolling motors linked to their fishfinder. They can not only hold you stationary, they can follow a path mapped out on the GPS at a precise speed. Drift fishing without relying on the wind. I don't know if I'm ready to lay out that kind of bucks for one yet. More importantly, I'm pretty sure my wife isn't.
I have 3 gas lift pedestals in my boat. The driver seat is a fixed pedestal though, for whatever reason. The pedestals were another big factor in me deciding on this type of boat. I fish out of the back of the boat a lot. I can swivel one of the forward seats around backwards and put my feet up on one of the aft seats while drifting. It's like fishing from a recliner!
Here's mine with everything on it. I simply attach a 2 by four with pins in each oar lock for the downrigger bases. When not using the dowriggers I just remove the board. Sorry about the picture quality but the camera was on its way out. Used to troll for inland brown and rainbow trout in a couple of lakes near me with the down riggers. Unfortunately both lakes have gone down hill in water quality, so trout fishing is more put and take now which I find unrewarding. One lake used to produce brown trout up to 13 pounds and the other rainbows up to 18 pounds. No more.
BTW love the 8 horse 4 cycle Yamaha. Will never go back to a 2 cycle! Can hardly hear the motor running and adding oil the gas is a think of the past!
Sounds like a sweet rig. Downriggers eh? My boat still has the bases for those on the gunwales. It was originally used on the Great Lakes. What sort of fishing do you usually do?
I had a Helix 5 on my Tracker. I liked it a lot , but I let it go with the Tracker when I sold it. This boat's previous owner installed a Humminbird 998csi. The few times I've had it out, I spent as much time looking at the fish finder as fishing.
Real serious catfishermen are taking good advantage of those trolling motors linked to their fishfinder. They can not only hold you stationary, they can follow a path mapped out on the GPS at a precise speed. Drift fishing without relying on the wind. I don't know if I'm ready to lay out that kind of bucks for one yet. More importantly, I'm pretty sure my wife isn't.
I have 3 gas lift pedestals in my boat. The driver seat is a fixed pedestal though, for whatever reason. The pedestals were another big factor in me deciding on this type of boat. I fish out of the back of the boat a lot. I can swivel one of the forward seats around backwards and put my feet up on one of the aft seats while drifting. It's like fishing from a recliner!
Here's mine with everything on it. I simply attach a 2 by four with pins in each oar lock for the downrigger bases. When not using the dowriggers I just remove the board. Sorry about the picture quality but the camera was on its way out. Used to troll for inland brown and rainbow trout in a couple of lakes near me with the down riggers. Unfortunately both lakes have gone down hill in water quality, so trout fishing is more put and take now which I find unrewarding. One lake used to produce brown trout up to 13 pounds and the other rainbows up to 18 pounds. No more.
BTW love the 8 horse 4 cycle Yamaha. Will never go back to a 2 cycle! Can hardly hear the motor running and adding oil the gas is a think of the past!
The kicker on my boat is a 4 stroke Yamaha. I wish the 125 Mercury was as well. Still, they both pull gas from the same tank since the Mercury has its own oil tank.
Pretty good idea on the downrigger mount. I like DIY solutions like that. Here's what I did to more conveniently fish out of the back of my Tracker:
Back when I had my Larson in my late teens, a good friend of mine had a 18' Beachcomber jet. Something on the order of a Tahiti. Very solid and well built boat with a hand laid hull. Powered by a 455 Oldsmobile motor as a lot of those jets were. It was an amazing blast to drive and could outrun most boats on the lake so long as the water was smooth. Very much chop would have a strong outboard or sterndrive running away though. The jet was so flat bottom it wouldn't handle rough water at high speed very well. Also the water intake wouldn't work very efficiently with the result the engine was bouncing off and over redline if you weren't careful. Used a lot of gas because you just couldn't help yourself from doing dragrace starts, cutting donuts, 180 degree turns...in general, ripping up the lake. Not much fun to slow speed maneuver around the dock either.
We live up an estuary/canal leading to the Gulf of Mexico, with rivers everywhere around here. I have a lot of boats and have had a lot more. I've probably given away at least 10 - all running - for free to get rid of them over the last few years - ranging from 4 personal watercraft (jet bike/boats), two 40+ foot twin diesel cabin cruisers (one a fishing style hull), a 32 foot twin 454 big block Sea Ray speedster, a 32 foot twin 6 cylinder inboards cruiser, a 9 foot little boat with a 5 hp outboard on a trailer with center steering station, and a picklefork trimaran drag boat hull (that I can think of off the top of my head.) All but the 2 big cruisers included the trailer.
I still have a 52 twin turbo cat 1980s diesel Cigarette, my Bass Tracker and am restoring a 1960s 12 foot "Ski Bird" 2 seat little race boat (turning out to be it far worse condition so it is a total strip down to the bare hull, removing half a century of multiple different color paint, and repairing all the hull and floor damage. If any of you are into boating I'll put up pics thru the restoration. I had forgotten I had bought it along the road for a few hundred dollars on the trailer with an old Evinrude and then just parked it in the weeds (becoming invisibly overgrown.) I like how it looks and thought it would be an easy quick clean up - not a total strip down to a completely empty bare hull with virtually nothing reusable.
Surprisingly, the motor runs perfect - though looks like hell. Most people would have considered this a scrape/junk hull. But it is quite unique and rare. When done, it will weigh a total of under 500 pounds running a 2 cylinder 2 stroke 60 hp outboard, which will give it a terrifying top speed of around 60 mph. In a 40 footer on smooth water that isn't that extreme. In a 12 foot 500 pound boat with you inches off the water it is. I figure it a 2 month project - if lucky.
My best boat has been the cheapest. My 17 foot bass tracker. I stripped it totally about 4 years ago. Put in an aluminum floor, a new 30 hp outboard, rewired it all, new seats and buffed out the hull to a mirror finish (that lasted about 3 months). That boat always gets me home - and I've been trapped with a boat full of people many miles offshore out in the Gulf in water so rough there were no other boats out - even the big 30+ footers had headed in. But we were on an island way, way out there and didn't notice the wind really kicking up.
Quite an exciting challenge struggling against the wind and tide with 4 foot white caps coming in at a 45 degree angle - in a boat that has less than 2 feet freeboard in the front - and less than a foot in the rear. No problem. I actually enjoyed the challenge, but I was driving and the others seemed a mix between being miserable and terrified. LOL
Probably going to add a 4th boat for personal boats. Probably have a couple more boats laying around somewhere.
So... are any of you boaters?
I've been eyeballing an allumicraft. I don't have the money now but soon.
Nice. Aluminum boats are extremely rugged. The bottom of my old Bass Tracker has dents and deep scratches that would have seriously damaged or even sunk a fiberglass boat. We do a lot of exploring with it.
I like that kind because I can repair it and aluminum is resistant to Sea water corrosion
The kicker on my boat is a 4 stroke Yamaha. I wish the 125 Mercury was as well. Still, they both pull gas from the same tank since the Mercury has its own oil tank.
Pretty good idea on the downrigger mount. I like DIY solutions like that. Here's what I did to more conveniently fish out of the back of my Tracker:
View attachment 67268580
Yep the 4 strokes are great. BTW not sure happened with my post. Didn't seem to quote right.
That's a sweet way to use downrigggers on a boat not designed for them.
One down side I found to not mounting the down riggers close to the transom like you did, is the fish finder doesn't always track the balls. I like to crank my downrigger balls up and down as I mark fish.
Yep the 4 strokes are great. BTW not sure happened with my post. Didn't seem to quote right.
That's a sweet way to use downrigggers on a boat not designed for them.
One down side I found to not mounting the down riggers close to the transom like you did, is the fish finder doesn't always track the balls. I like to crank my downrigger balls up and down as I mark fish.
More on motor size...
If you ONLY get as much horsepower you think you need, you'll regret it for many reasons.
The motor and prop need to minimally be matched to the weight and wetted surface drag of the boat. Usually it will just be you - or you and one person. But if you figure how much horsepower you need based on that, if you carry more weight you got a problem getting on plane - unless you are willing to do prop swapping. That only takes a few minutes, but is still a pain in the ass.
Aluminum boats are lightweight. Adding 500 extra pounds of passengers and gear changes it almost like a different boat. A motor bogging down or struggling to get on plane is annoying and if used where water can get rough even be dangerous because you can't power up and over waves/wakes.
If the motor is more powerful than you generally need, just run it lower rpms for the same speed goal. Then if you really load down the boat with people the motor/prop combo can still handle it without bogging down. You also will always be able to get on plane faster.
Every car is overpowered - even economy cars. No one wants a car that you have to drive in final gear with the motor continuously at redline to go 70 mph with no more than 2 passengers, even though it holds 4. Yet that tends to be how people think about boats - so run around on redline. Motors, including boat motors, don't then to last long at extended redline operation. Just like a car, extra horsepower because the minimum needed at full power is a very good idea.
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