borderline 350

Dear Cannon Mag10 owners, Check the voltage at the rigger connection, must be 12.0 volts PLUS! Bad/corroded connections will cause similar problems in UP mode when the motor load amperage peaks during the UP mode. Tired motor brushes will cause poor performance. I HAVE one NEW (in the Cannon package) Marlin circuit board for someone who needs it. First $50.00 takes it. Paid $64.00 for it in 1995. Respectfully submitted, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Bosco, You are wise to exercise your CCW after dark in this area. I always carry "My salad oil special" IN THE DAYTIME when walking the very nice park trail that follows this part of the river from Boxart street north to Charlotte. After the daytime incident in Maplewood Park that occurred this past year, I WILL ALWAYS CARRY CONCEALED!! on this trail! Be sure and always carry your paper permit with you in case the border patrol stops you late at night. Their on board searches include looking for weapons. Respectfully submitted, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Ray K., Very good description! I only run them about 25 feet max from the release on the outside riggers in order to have more control during turns. I also have to run the rigger release a little tighter, so you don't get too many false releases due to bumpy wave days. I also use 30# flea flicker on the reel to the dipsey. (to minimize equipment loss). then a clear snubber and 25# fluro to the dipsey. I lose very few fish on this setup. Respectfully submitted, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Ray K, Lightly spray ALL electrical terminations with WD-40 before you get there. Lightly spray (with freshwater) all of the boat after each days outing. (to remove salt spray) If you have a riveted style aluminum hull, I would recommend NO SALT WATER USE. Be sure you have a 142 degree thermostat in your engine to prevent excessive salt precip. in the engine water jackets. Flush the I/O and engine with freshwater as soon as possible after removing from the water. Spray your hand rails and fishing gear with WD40 also. And hand wipe any excess off also. Enjoy your salt water adventure! I really enjoyed my adventure in salt water (San Carlos Bay/Sanibel) with my aluminum 23 footer (welded hull). Respectfully submitted, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Justin, "Production style" sheet metal aluminum hulls will last longer on a bunk style trailer. Over the road hauling puts a lot of fatique/flexing on the hull. Especially the riveted style hulls! The highway conditions are not very good and are getting worse. Stick with a bunk trailer. Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Bob, Sent you a PM tonite.

This type of emergency call after dark "west of Rochester" smells foul. No one has reported family members overdue or boats missing. Historically, young individuals with their neighbors VHF have pulled these games with false calls. Rescue people are putting themselves in harms way after dark on the Big "O". The number of false reports is staggering. Anyone who pulls such a stunt for fun should be punished to the full extent. A few of these punks have been caught over the years, and the parents received big fines. The homeland defense patrols COULD provide good tracing & ID of such radio transmissions, but their ears aren't always up. AND don't let your children play with your marine VHF!! Jet Boat Bill

Dear Salmonite, FIRST, establish that the pump will work by removing it from the boat and testing it on a 12 Volt battery. My best "guess" is that the pump has seized internally and is causing the high current amperage which blows the fuse. Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Longline, Nice report And kudo's to landing a nice chinook on 10 lb test! You certainly earned those fish with a lot of preparation! Just a word about Chinook and their movements. These fish have been documented by the Feds to travel 25,000 miles from the time of birth to spawning...approx 4 year olds)from The state of Washington to the Sea of Japan and return! They follow the food. The early radio transmitter studies on coho & chinook (in the early 1980's) on Lake Ontario revealed movements from Roch to Oak Orchard & then cross lake to Oshawa in a two day period and then back to the Rochester Area. These radio fish averaged around 2 MPH. I believe that these salmon will follow the food (alewifes)where ever it goes. And Chinook do come down from the upper GL stockings such as Lake Huron. I caught one in 1980 and so did "Roostertail" with Lake Huron clips off Braddocks Bay. The fin clips do tell interesting things. I hope you do win the lottery so you can afford an unlimited fuel budget for chasing Chinook. Respectfully submitted, Jet Boat Bill

Dear HookedUp, I do hope the dealer who sold you this "new" rig stands behind replacing the VENTURE broken trailer crossmember. Some words of caution also. Check the capacity plate on your trailer tongue and be sure that your boat is not overweight compared to the trailer capacity. This is a problem with many dealer sales in my experience. Get this rig on a certified scale and get a certified weigh slip in your hand. Most fishing boat rigs weigh quite a bit more then the boat manufacturer's dry weight!! Full fuel tank and rigger weights quickly add up. Be prepared and let us know how you are treated by your dealer. And yes the welds are very questionable for good MIG welds on steel tubing. Congrats to you for checking the running gear before hitting the road! I have seen the results of boat trailer failure on the road and it is ugly! Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear RetCO, Install a bracket built of 1/8" SS steel or 1/4" aluminum plate on the stern of the boat to hold a 1/2" thick plywood piece 12" X 36" vertical. This bracket should be constructed to hold the plywood vertical & across the beam about 1 inch behind the rudder. Sliding this board up or down will allow you perfect speed control. If your boat has the funnel shaped splash guard, the bracket install will require a little redesign. Have built several of these back in the late 80's. WARNING!! Don't take off with the board down! The prop thrust will break the plywood off! This board works just like a Happy Troller Plate. Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill P.S. I do not have any pictures. Also lost my fab. sources!!

Dear B.H. Take your boat out to 50 ft. of water and put the boat in neutral. Lower a rigger weight to approx. 35 ft. down. Set your FF on the zero to 50 ft range or that range which will display bottom. Turn the gain up to approx. 50% or half of full gain. You should see bottom and the rigger weight on your screen. Try this in 100 ft. of water also with the rigger down 75 ft. The noise problem in your VHF means you will have to put a noise choke on the power feeds from the battery to your FF. Clean the power connections at both ends of your FF power lead also. If you still can't read the rigger weight, then I would try a new transducer. Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Fellow Fisherman, The whole story will be on Channel 2 TV Buffalo @ 11 PM tonight. Google Channel 2 News for pictures taken of the sinking. Warning! These pictures can be upsetting if you are bothered by deep water or fear of sinking! Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Fellow Fisherman, 31 ft fishing boat went down QUICK this AM off Olcott around 8 AM. Some friends were close by and came over to see if they needed help! Captains Linda & Skip Mogray of Harry O Charters managed to get all six people out of the water & into their boat. Were greeted at the harbor dock with a host of ambulances. Excellent boat handling by Captains Linda & Skip prevented any loss of life. My hats off to Linda & Skip for a fine job on saving 6 people. Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Buck Club, What you have described is the worst situation for a discontinued Mercruiser I drive. I would immediately start looking for a used"I" drive. Craigs list usually turns up a few. Do not buy any cracked or damaged cases. Let us know where your located and I am sure we can recommend a qualified repair guy. Hank @ L & M at Port Bay is very qualified. But be prepared, these outdrives are expensive to repair. And please note that you have an "I" drive, NOT AN ALPHA ONE! Good luck on your quest, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Hank/L&M, Thank you for the posting on the Anti-Gun Laws. All of these bills are trashing the honest gun-owners and their right to bear arms. These bills have all the words that the Nazi's used before WW 2 to remove gun ownership from private citizens. Really makes me think about the poor quality of government in NYS. Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear K.T, At 4:50 PM today,winds are NW at 16 to 25 MPH at The Roch. pier. Waves are three to four feet. TOMORROW the forecast is 10 to 20 MPH out of the south. Should be OK for a boat ride on the lake. Have a safe trip. Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Big Easy, As said above, watch out in Greece. Right hand lane is lowest clearance!! I try to go under the bridges in the left hand lane if possible.(my height is 11 ft 10 inches to the top of my GPS antenna.).I have towed 13 ft 5 inches tall thru Greece in the left lane ONLY!! But remember the pavement gets redone and then the NYS DOT checks the height and remarks the signs, if neccessary. Be carefull, its still your responsibility if you hit the bridge! Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear ALL!! Today Tuesday, the temp. has been below freezing since 1:00 AM at the Roch. BUOY!! The wind is blowing 15 mph out of the west and the temp. is 27 F!!. BETTER DRAIN right now!! The wind and temp. will destroy a lot of unprotected engines today!! Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear EDD, I found the shielded # 14 AWG black/red lead wire at a local Surplus Electronics Store, GoldCrest Electronics. Nothing that I can steer you to on the web and then, they might make you buy a min. 250 ft. roll!$$$$$. Your RF problem is not new to networked systems. The RF is allowed to be produced by gov. regulation & it can raise havoc with all kinds of navigational gear including a GPS. All military (Naval Gear) has special coatings(nickel rich paint) on the inside of the equipment to minimize spurious RF signals, so other equipment is not affected. Solving this problem on your 18 ft. boat needs a skilled tech. You may have to recruit one. Take him fishing! And one more tech comment. Don't think that the manufacturers are privy to these "Install RF Problems" All of the components are made offshore and come from multiple sub-contractors. A nightmare for the possible problems for the 'tech guy". Good luck on hunting for the noise source. Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear EDD, Of course you are experiencing spurious RF coming out of your electronics. The real problem is trying to identify the source and how to eliminate this from coming back into the radio. Shielding is extremely important. You might try a separate battery for the radio as a test. If this removes the problem, you then know that RF is coming back thru the radio power cable. If not, your VHF antenna and co-ax should be moved or tested with another antenna. Try a high dollar QUALITY antenna with the heavy shielded coax. These networked systems do pose special problems because of spurious RF. Even try wrapping aluminum foil around your connector cables and see if this helps. Not an easy one to find sometimes, keep trying! Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill P.S My Mercruiser Thunderbolt Ignition is within 15 inches of my electronics package. HOWEVER, I used shielded battery power leads to all my units including my VHF radio.

Dear Mscheda, Preparation will make it a pleasurable experience. Failure to heed the following will certainly get you an extended stay at customs or seizure of your property! Be sure and bring the bill of sale for the boat showing serial number, price paid, date etc. You will need a min. of three copies. Declare that the boat is for personal use, not commercial. Under NAFTA you are allowed to bring items(long list, boats are included) across DUTY FREE for personal use. The engine (if outboard)should be included on the boat receipt. Yamaha's can be brought in from Canada duty free. Others are not known to this writer. THE TRAILER should be on a separate receipt. HERE"S where the problem can get ugly in a hurry. All boat trailers must have V-5 certification on the serial tag. NO V-5 CERT....NO ENTRY ALLOWED INTO US (under Federal DOT requirements since 1998) Some Canadian trailers have V-5, many do not!!! All US made boat trailers have the V-5 cert. on the serial tag, if missing when the border crossing is attempted, no crossing allowed into US EH!! I helped one friend thru this via cell phone in 2008, he chose to ignore the V-5 sticker, held up 8 hours at the 1000 island bridge. Another sad story! Had to borrow a US trailer in order to get the 32 footer home to Webster!! If you make it thru customs, be sure and register(pay NYS sales tax at NYDMV) the boat etc within 30 days. REQUIRED BY NYS SALES TAX LAW. Otherwise you will get a nast... letter from the ALBANY CROWD! Above all, be nice to the border people...They have unlimited power and can detain you as long as they want! I haven't had that problem but know some who have. P.S. If you have a DWI or DWIA conviction on your license history, They can refuse you entry into CANADA! BE NICE TO THE BORDER GUARDS NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY! is the best rule!! Good luck, JET BOAT BILL (My boat was made in Canada/Parry Sound, Ontario)

Dear CB, Please examine all hoses connected to the fuel tank. Better yet REPLACE all the hoses to the tank. The Fill hose is 1.5 inch ID. The vent hose is 5/8 inch ID. The supply line will be 3/8 inch ID if it's an I/O boat. ONLY USE USGA approved hose!! Available at your local boat parts suppy house. Or go to Pugsleys on 104 and buy it by the foot. from Bob. The present gasoline formula's vapor phase is destroying your hoses. I do hope you have some patience for this job and some good wrenching skills. Taking this job to a service shop will lighten your wallet! Be extremely carefull with the fumes! If you spill fuel on the ground in excess of one gallon, it requires a HAZMAT call!!!! Very expensive!! Use extra care when you open each connection. Try and start with an empty tank and work outdoors! Have a fire ext. HANDY, just in case. The condition of the hoses in any boat is really an eye opener due to the aging of the fleet! Be Carefull and be safe! Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Chowder and others, A map has detail for land based terrain. A chart pertains primarily to water features. This is why I prefer nautical charts to other types of "maps" when fishing any body of water in North America. I use the Standard Horizon GPS / Plotter because of its high detail on water structure thru-out Lake Ontario from St. Cath. to Henderson Harbor in one chip. Another chip I used had all the coastal waters of Florida from The panhandle to Key West and up to Jacksonville. fla. I have preferred these "C-Map" (copyright) chips since 1986 to the present. You must get skilled in whatever system your using in order to stay afloat and fish with success. And remember that all that debris out there is not marked so get your eyes on the WATER and be carefull about staring at the chart too long! Enjoy the big lake and be carefull! Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill

Dear Larry, Aluminum hulls require special paint systems if your going to leave them docked for a long time. Listen to Hank (L&M). Contact/Research this carefully with the PAINT MANUFACTURER...InterLux. and read "National Fisherman" paper about the commercial boat applicators problems. Zebras do like aluminum, stainless steel and all metals used under water! Sincerely, Jet Boat Bill (with aluminum boat)