mr 580

Boom diameter is the same so your old boom will fit into the 5ST. Also use the ball hook arrangement from the 5 ST on the old boom. You can run your old style boom end if you don't want to adapt over to the new end piece. Simple swap.

The diameter of the boom is the same so you can swap booms. I have swapped booms between 5ST, Mag 10HS and Mag 10A. New style boom end is smaller but pieces from adjustable long arm fix that.

The thought behind a "Secret Weapon Rig" is to get the signature of the short section of leadcore below the turbulence of the rigger ball and back further in the spread. SWR's can be deadly at certain times. If you are new to leadcore, you might want to start with working a 10 color and a 5 color off a board presentation and get comfortable with that first.

I had external antenna issue's with an LGC2000 antenna. Wouldn't track satellites. I'd check that on the 525. I think I went through several antennas before Lowrance got an updated version that took care of the issue.

You don't need to remove spool to change cable- just unwind old cable then cut and use a couple cable crimps to attach new to old. When you wind on new cable keep it tight-have someone help makes it easier as you want to lay it on smoothly. Not sure what you mean by "reverse motor switch"-likely the battery feeds are reversed. Take the side cover off and switch them - motor should work switch up to come up then switch down to go down. Fish 307 is a good source of info-parts breakdown is on line.

I have a Panther steering kit to connect my kicker to main motor. Works fine-only issue was that it vibrated a bit. Fixed that by sliding a piece of hydraulic hose over the exposed shaft.

I have a Hewitt lift for my 17 ft Lund. I got it used from a guy who had gone from a 17 ft glass boat to a 21 ft small cuddy. I was told he'd had issue's fitting boat on lift so he bought a bigger lift. Hewitt has been a good lift my boat. I think the bigger lifts have more hull support than the smaller ones and maybe different cable ratios to handle more weight? In the end it worked for me as I got the lift pretty reasonable at the of the season.

Use a Walker Terminator/Release. This release combines a klincher cable attachment and a blacks release. Drill out the stock rivet holding the swivel so you can use a machine screw to attach wire end for signal cable. Coat with liquid electrical tape. Release will be above probe, breakaway and weight.

On my wire slide divers, I put a short section of 50lb braid to the wire first. Then double uniknot braid to mono. Makes it easy to change out mono as it tends to wear more from the SD. I use 30lb for the mono. Then I add leader to FF or spoon. I use SD as high diver and a dipsey as my low diver in a two diver set. If fleas are bad, sometimes see some where wire and braid are tied but no problem coming through guides.

Bandrus, you wouldn't need to run your ETEC through the on board storage mode when you aren't going to use the motor for a short period of time. What that mode does is automatically "fog" the engine for corrosion protection. You should just be sure water has drained from the motor when you put boat on trailer for freeze protection.

My guess with a 5.7 that you have a Chevy 350 i/o or outboard. With that combination in a trolling application 1200 hours on a properly maintained engine is no problem. You probably would be surprised how high the percentage of hours are at idle or low speed trolling. I had a 5.7 that had over 2500 hours when I sold it that had never used any oil or been torn down. As the boat had gotten older I had added a kicker and the hours on the main dropped drastically. Keeping fuel clean and maintaining cooling system are bigger issue's to me than wear from use-especially if you limit your running at WOT. If reliability and hours are a big concern add a kicker.

On my wire SD's I run the diver on 30lb mono so it can slide easier. I also add a leader so diver is away from the fish. They work fine- take a little getting used to.

I got two Digitroll 2's in 1988 and ran them until around 2000. They share many parts with Mag 10A. The control module is a sealed unit and hasn't been available for a long time. Cannon used to make a kit to convert these back to a Mag 10A shortstop and I had one of mine done when key pad failed. Biggest issue today for these is limited parts- go to Fish 307's site and the Cannon pre 2006 rigger section and you can check to see what is and what isn't available. By todays standard they were slow however it's surprising how many are still working @ 25 to 30 years old.

When you are limited in the number of spoons you have, it's easy to get caught up in trying to have hot patterns. Don't overlook that you need to have different sizes too. For someone getting started buy basic colors and be sure you have at least a few in mag, regular and smaller sizes like super slims. Likely you'll hit some of the local shops on your trip and add more.

Don't think I'd trust a clamp on rigger with a 10lb weight down 100ft. In the 80's I used to run Rivera manuals with 8lb weights and that got to be work cranking them up from 100ft. - heavier weights came in when most guys went to electric. If I used a clamp on mount I'd have a safety cable on it in case it let go.

Have a single Unitroll 6 manual short arm posted - probably wouldn't be too hard to find a adjustable boom or long arm to swap out? Picture of the rigger in ad.