John E Powell

Re powering is pretty standard. Buy a solid boat and run the engines it comes with and you can repower down the road. My last boat was an '89 that was repowered in 2002. I originally planned to repower it again with new 4strokes some day but I decided to go for a bigger boat instead. Just be aware of the economics of putting new engines on an older boat; it doesn't make sense unless you will keep the boat for a long time. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Ditch the plate for bags. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

If you don't find anyone, I will be back in town next week and can do it for you. In the meantime check Rainbow Sports in North Tonawanda and Colville Outfitters.

Size difference is negligible between 7 and 19. 7 strand is cheaper, coarser and harder on rod guides. It's also a little more durable but when it breaks, it tends to break with little warning and a lot of gear can be lost. You can't really tie terminal knots in it but you can tie splices like an Albright knot. You will need either a roller tip rod or a Twili tip. By comparison 19 strand wire is more costly, but it's supple, flexible, and doesn't wear standard ceramic rod guides. You can tie some terminal knots in it as well as splices. Before it fails completely, you usually get a strand or two that will fail and fray giving you an opportunity to discover the weakness and repair it before the expensive loss of a dipsy, multiple swivels, flasher, fly, meat rig, etc.. 19 strand doesn't require any special rod tip, but a Twili is still a good idea. In the long run you pay a little more up front for 19 strand, but one frayed line noticed and repaired will more than overcome the additional initial cost in saved gear. As for filling the reel, use a couple wraps of mono to attach to the spool rather than tape. Tape's adhesive leaves a messy residue down the road that can be tough to clean up. To get the proper amount of backing, if necessary, fill the first reel in reverse adding however much backing as necessary to fill the reel. Make note of how much backing you use for the other reel(s). Then transfer the line to a second reel. The transfer will reverse the direction placing the backing tight to the spool and the wire on top. When done you will end up with 2-3 layers of mono next to and tied to the spool spliced to the backing, spliced to the wire, and the reel will be properly full. Before using, go out on the lake over deep water tie on something that will provide a good amount of drag. With the boat trolling fairly fast, let out ALL the wire and then reel it back in under heavy trolling tension. If you skip this step it's very likely that the wire will pull under itself under tension and bind on the spool causing kinks and shortened life of the wire and/or lost fish. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Years ago I had a tour down on the working floor at Altmar during the time the egg collection process was underway. After watching for a few minutes it was pretty clear the workers were not selecting the larger females. Instead, smaller fish were harvested. When I asked the worker about why they weren't collecting from the biggest fish he replied something similar to "they're too large/heavy and more difficult to handle. I don't know if that is still the habit of the workers at the hatchery. I hope not, but I suspect it is. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Go to a good fly shop and see what you like. It really should be your personal choice to determine what rod will give you the experience your after. Find the rod that speaks to you rather than worrying about what someone else likes. Don't shop by price either, high end fly rods are not worth the price. Your paying for prestige based on advertising hype rather than performance. Consider two complementary medium priced rods rather than one expensive one. You'll get a lot more for your money.

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Very overly simplified an AC battery charger use a rectifier to change alternating current to direct current. It also has a transformer to usually lower the output voltage to complement the voltage of the battery being charged. Inverters change direct current to alternating current. Inverters will also have a transformer to change the output voltage if necessary. Each device loses energy so they're not 100% efficient. ________________________ Owner John's Custom Rods Specializing in building Great Lakes trolling rods since 1979 First place winner of the 2016 World Rod Building Challenge

I don't think the original poster has room to permanently install an additional 24 volt pair so there wouldn't be any need for a switch. He could just use a portable 24v pair when needed and attach it in parallel to the installed pair with jumpers. Even if installed permanently, there's no benefit for a battery switch if he were to set up a 4 battery series/parallel circuit. They could all drain down at the same time rather than 1 pair at a time. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Have you tried an internet search? This site listed a source that was nearby me that I didn't know about: https://www.pure-gas.org/ Maybe there's one near you. ________________________ Owner John's Custom Rods Specializing in building Great Lakes trolling rods since 1979 First place winner of the 2016 World Rod Building Challenge

Well first off, gas. This is an oversimplification but octane rating can be thought of how quickly the fuel burns. High octane = slower burn rate, lower octane = faster burn rate. There is no advantage in using a higher octane fuel than what Mercury says is required. You're just wasting money. What is of value to spend extra money on is ethanol free gas. If Mercury says 87 is needed, find a gas station near you that has 87 ethanol free. This engine doesn't need any special "additives". Secondly, there's probably a spark plug available for this engine that gives a hotter spark. It's common practice with outboards used for trolling to use the next hotter spark plug. Don't go overboard and use plugs two-three steps hotter if they happen to be available. Too hot a plug can lead to performance problems. No more than one step hotter. Thirdly, raising your engine rpm a couple hundred points will help a lot. The best way to do this is to give the outboard more work to do by placing it under a greater load while trolling. This is best accomplished with a pair of moderate-sized trolling bags. They're cheap, easy to rig and use, and they will get your engine rpm up where it will not load up so bad. Lastly, the correct pitch prop for your boat is the pitch that will allow your engine to reach its maximum operating rpm when the boat is fully loaded with people and gear and has a full tank of fuel. If the engine reaches the maximum operating range with a fully loaded boat you have the correct pitch propeller. If the max rpm it reaches is below what the owner's manual says it should be, then you need a lower pitch prop. Conversely, if you reach the max rpm and you still have more throttle room to go faster then you need a prop with more pitch. If you find your not operating at the correct full throttle rpm, then invest in a good stainless steel prop instead of an aluminum prop. In just about every case a good stainless steel prop will outperform the best aluminum props by a significant margin. Use the right gas, fix your problem with hotter plugs and a pair of bags, then make sure your engine is operating in the designated maximum operating range and change the prop if necessary. ________________________ Owner John's Custom Rods Specializing in building Great Lakes trolling rods since 1979 First place winner of the 2016 World Rod Building Challenge

How would a battery switch allow a kicker's 12v alternator to charge a 24v battery bank while both are being used? ________________________ Owner John's Custom Rods Specializing in building Great Lakes trolling rods since 1979 First place winner of the 2016 World Rod Building Challenge

The kicker's alternator output is insufficient to run this. 3 banks at 10 amps per bank is 30 amps at 12v. You can't put, for example a kicker's 10 amps at 12v in and get 30 amps at 12v out. This is designed to be connected to the boats main outboard. It would only be useful if you frequently started up the main to run to a new spot. It isn't going to lengthen trolling time on a boat that makes one long troll without running the main. ________________________ Owner John's Custom Rods Specializing in building Great Lakes trolling rods since 1979 First place winner of the 2016 World Rod Building Challenge

I think most people are using the Lewiston launch ramp and running down river. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Good luck with the sale. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Can I tie those in to extend run time? Yes, you create a second 24v series battery pair. This second pair is connected in parallel to the first pair. Can you use your kicker's 12v charging system to charge your 24v series-connected battery pair? No, not directly, but yes with additional gear and limitations. If you go with something like this https://www.emarineinc.com/Yandine-Trollbridge-12-to-24-Volt-Battery-Charge-Combiner you will charge 1 of the batteries when the trolling motor isn't running, so if you ran a big outboard and drove from spot to spot with brief periods of trolling you'd get some benefit when running the big outboard, but it wouldn't help if you just ran the 24v trolling motor all day. I believe that if you add a 2 input and either a 2 or 3 output battery isolator (3 to charge your starting battery) then you'd get all batteries being individually charged by both your main outboard and kicker, and the 12 to 24v trollbridge combiner would provide 24 v to your bow trolling motor. Here's an example of an 2/3 isolator https://www.allbatterysalesandservice.com/browse.cfm/4,3002.html. Each outboard goes to an input, the three outputs go to starting battery, and both 12v trolling batteries. Just to be clear you wouldn't connect the batteries directly in series, so you'd have three 12v batteries. This is a complex approach, but it's probably the best of all options with no real limitations. Another simpler approach, is to use either a single 24 charger or a 2 bank 12v charger that is powered by an auxiliary source. Realistically this source would have to be your starting battery. You'd use a 2 input/1 output isolator to connect both outboards to charge your starting battery. You'd power a small inverter from your starting battery to run the charger. With this setup, you'd sort of be "robbing Peter to pay Paul". The drawback here is if you're not careful you could drain your starting battery low enough that it wouldn't start your main at the end of the day. You could add a smart controller to prevent your starting battery voltage from dropping below a certain point, but this adds to complexity and cost. My final thought would be to use a 24v solar charger. This would be the simplest, but it would take up deck space and realistically not provide anywhere near as much charging wattage as the other options. If it were me, given your very occasional extra need I'd just use another 24 series connected battery pair and connect the second pair to the first pair with parallel connections. ________________________ Owner John's Custom Rods Specializing in building Great Lakes trolling rods since 1979 First place winner of the 2016 World Rod Building Challenge

Is that a Moppie? Doesn't quite look like a Baha'i Mar. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United