FishingFool34

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Those guys all make really nice boats, the problem with those boats are the fact they are west coast boats. Very few dealers for those brands locally, some dealers can get their boats but are they an authorized dealer to do repair/warranty work? Closest Hewescraft dealer listed on their site is in Ohio. Closest Weldcraft dealer is in Michigan. I would do some research into that especially if you're going to be buying new. Other options are Ranger, Starweld, Alumacraft… All of which have multiple dealers in NY. Are they as good or better than Lund, that's up to you to decide, I had an Alumacraft boat for the last 7 years and it's going on 20yrs old and still catches fish.

Crestliner makes a similar style boat to the sport angler, they call theirs the Authority. Not sure if it's any easier to get Yamahas on a crestliner but just fyi. Sport Angler was on my short list if I stayed with aluminum.

Bump...

Here’s what I got... I couldn’t seem to get 1ft contours. Idk if its the card or a setting I couldn’t find but I had 3ft contour lines everywhere on Ontario including chaumont bay.

With the fluctuating water levels in the lake my maps were always off a few feet. There is an offset function that I could use, the problem was is was a universal offset. So if I offset Lake O to be correct (lets say it took a +4 offset). Then when I would fish Oneida lake, the maps would then be off +4 there. To me it was more valuable to have correct contour lines on Oneida than Lake O and I didn't feel like switching the offset all the time. Now keep in mind I fish out of Mexico and it's pretty much featureless out there, so any map really doesn't help me much.

I have a lakemaster card (I believe its the Northeast) as I also have ipilot link on my small boat. I use the same helix headunit for ice fishing as well so its currently all setup in my garage and will be easy to check. I've fished Chaumont before and I'm pretty sure that card had maps on it for the bay. I know for sure my card has maps for Ontario though. I will check it out and report back when I get home tonight.

Only time I've seen center mounted kickers were all on a shaft drive boats. I wouldn't even consider it with a I/O setup like that picture above. Not to mention you would have to run some type of kicker AP or electro steer setup as you likely wouldn't be able to connect to the main for steering. The offset from transom would be another concern as others mentioned above, I don't see the benefits.

Two years ago I bought my 8hp Tohatsu kicker from onlineoutboards… No complaints with them. Delivered right to my front door. I had that 8hp on a 175 Alumacraft T-Pro and it was plenty for that boat. Just an FYI Tohatsu makes all Mercury motors 15hp and below.