skinny420

I actually use it mostly on the Erie canal or small lakes. With an ipilot it's a fishing machine.

Call Mike's reel repair. He was making new boards for these I think?

My Jon is a 14' and waves can get dangerous real fast. The front deck section has a wood board screwed down to hold the trolling motor and a rod holder on each side with heavy bottom bouncers. Middle seat holds a fish finder and 2 rods on planer boards and back section gets lighter bottom bouncers. Can be launched anywhere and have limited out many times in it but 1 bad wave and it's over. Screwing into the metal is your best bet. Any clamp on or weighted rod holders will be nothing but problems.

I'd suggest one of the high thrust 9.9 four strokes. I don't have a boat like this to try out but 7-8 is going to be tough to do on a kicker. Maybe on a smooth day or wind at your back but heading into a decent chop would be tough even with a 20hp I'd imagine. Unless you can get it to plane your stuck pushing thru the water and likely 8hp-20hp will have the same top speed. The common formula for hull speed is 1.34 times the square root of waterline length (not length overall). While not entirely accurate, it will give you a ballpark approximation of speed. There are many other factors that come into play. Your 30 footer may have an actual waterline length of 28 feet or so which, by applying the common formula, would give you a hull speed of about 7 knots give or take. The formula doesn't take into account drag from shafts, struts, props, rudders, dirty bottom, etc.

2 or 4 stroke? Got a model number or a part # for the carb? Is it absolutely not useable? If you search around there available. New will be way over priced and used might be worse than yours. There are a few on ebay like this one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/273348813272?hash=item3fa4dbe1d8:g:wF4AAOSwzFBbRPhG but not sure exactly you need. Post a pic or model number and I'll try and track it down.

I just ratchet strap it up tight and punch the gas. Never had a problem but without the strap you could bounce it loose and have it hit the ground. Like said they just just have to put that in there to save themselves from lawsuits when people do dumb things. Anybody tries suing for damage and the defense just points to where it says you can't put a motor on it. Lol I have the panther now and it's built like a tank compared to the bracket I had before and never had any problem with the cheap 2 stroke bracket. Just tie up the motor.

I think he is saying it doesn't engage completely and is chattering as it is grinding the clutch dogs off. I have destroyed a few lowers in my day and it don't take to much before the clutch dogs are completely destroyed. The shift linkage out of adjustment and low on fluid and I rounded the ears off enough they would slip under a load and completely destroyed them. If under warranty make them fix it if not adjust the linkage till it locks in forward and reverse without it running.

I'd take it back where I got it and show them. Has to be under warranty. That clicking sound is the clutch dogs being rounded off because it's out of adjustment, low on fluid, or the ears on the dog are rounded off and slip under a load.

If you cant adjust the shift cable and get it to engage then I'd look at the dogs for wear.

In reverse my prop is locked solid. In forward it locks in one direction but still clicks and spins in other direction. Did your engine have problems or did you just spin it and are wondering if it's ok?

You can spin it in both directions?

I've seen copper marked with yarn. Just spread apart and woven thru and pulled tight. I think the best way to do it is to have color coded shrink wrap. Like 50' red....100' white....etc... And keep the colors the same on all the rods. You know how much line is out during battle but like everything else it only lasts so long.

When is the finger lakes trolling flea market? You should go there for used riggers, rods, etc.

I don't troll that lake....but I've had a ton of different boats and setups and fished alot in my life. My ipilot is the best thing I ever owned. I've got quick connects on it and can move it to the 12' Jon boat for small waters or no launch, the 18' StarCraft for medium lakes and trolling Erie. The 22' salmon boat is to tall. On the little tin boats I would suggest at least 1 downrigger. There indispensable when fish are tight to bottom. Like lake trout I will bounce the ball with cowbells. Also I can easily stack 2 spoons on 1 rod giving me 4 baits instead of 3 when alone. You'll know almost exactly where your baits are and can target exact depths. Dipsies and lead or copper is just a guess and it fluctuates alot with speed and current. The rigger is also almost straight down and out of the way of other lines and with just 1 rigger you can figure 8 in a tight spot and not tangle. I would only run 1 if it's a smaller boat and mainly 1 fisherman. I run 2 sets of wire divers. Mag or standard dipsy as my low and slide divers with ultimate kit on my high divers. If there are no fleas there you could use braid divers but I'd recommend buying a set of diver rods. 1 for each side and just run those with a downrigger for any of your deep water trolling. For shallow water rods I'd recommend getting a set of snap weights and a pair of line counter reels. You would run those with inline planer boards and I would strongly recommend getting the ninja boards. There amazing when alone in a small boat and need to remove them while fighting a fish. Snap weights will allow you to target down to 50' without the need to purchase several rods. On the big boat I have a pair of two color, pair of four color, one 5 color, pair of 7 color, and a pair of 10 color, as well as a 50, 75, pair of 125, and a 175 copper. So I have 14 rods set to fish shallow water that I could do with just 1 pair of mono rods. If you got room in your boat load up on lead and copper rods. Small boat I'd just take 1 rigger rod 2 snap weights setups and 2 divers. Should be easy enough to deploy alone and effective out to any depth. I can't recommend lures or anything specific for the lake but I'd recommend going to the finger lakes trolling flea market. Look for good used equipment and ask as many questions as you can about everything there. Think the flea market is soon????? Hopefully someone chimes in with dates/info.

My guess would be oneida. Limit of 3. Seem to fat for Oneida tho....

I like the high viz yellow. I tangle everything and it helps me see what's going on. My eyes are not the best so I need all the help I can get.