Fat Guy in a Little Bigger Boat

[Low Baller]

Had it out last October for the Buffalo run at Sandy Hook. Handles 4 footers well but I wouldn't stand up to retrieve fish. Angler should have raised the gunwales a couple inches or lowered the deck. Oh well, we fish what we have, not afraid of running the Misty to the 200 yd line lol.

[whaler1]

Have you considered tracks with dual action rod holders (I love my Cannons) can articulate in any degree of angle. 
Having watched Legacy I run my divers at 90degrees. Gets them away from the riggers and you gain a few feet in depth. 

Edited August 10, 2023 by whaler1

[Low Baller]

3 minutes ago, whaler1 said:

Have you considered tracks with dual action rod holders (I love my Cannons) can articulate in any degree of angle. 

I'm thinking about it. Right now I'm having a war with FedEx trying to get my riggers delivered. For some stupid reason they're requiring a signature. Tried the last 2 days to deliver. Just leave the sh$t by the garage like you always do. 

 

[greenhornet73]

If it were Amazon, they would just leave it on the side of the road without you even asking. I know because they’ve done it twice to me.

[Low Baller]

41 minutes ago, greenhornet73 said:

If it were Amazon, they would just leave it on the side of the road without you even asking. I know because they’ve done it twice to me.

I know, funny thing is I ordered with Amazon prime 🤣  can't win. Maybe I'll be ready for labor day, otherwise I'm running cranks 

[Low Baller]

Ok, question! Just received the mag 5s yesterday. Boxes looked like they were used for bowling pins. 1st,  trying to pull the plugs apart without destroying them. Are they always that difficult or am I that weak? They say quick connect, my a$$!! Next they require an insulator between the ball and cable for the auto stop. I purchased a pair of 15" snubbers. Will the snobbery act as the insulator? Or do I still need it? If the snubbed works, it'll keep the balls in the water a little further, just have to rezero the depth gauge I guess. 

I'm over thinking it I'm sure. 😕 

[Low Baller]

I need a little help! When I tested gear at my local lake a week ago the Cannon 5s would only work when holding the switch up or down. Read that I had to ground the battery for the auto up-down- stop to work. Using a 12" snubber at ball instead of the little factory plastic water line breaker. Ran a 10g wire from rigger battery negative to ship battery negative as suggested..everything worked Saturday. Saturday evening when the thunderstorms chased us we were getting shocked by everything you touched in the boat. Freaked me out. There were a few local lighting flashes at the stacks in Mexico that chased out most boats. When we pulled gear and ran the on board shocking stopped. Next day, Sunday I disconnected the negative post connection thinking I had a bad ground in the boat and was getting feedback somewhere. The riggers worked without the wire and not grounded. I'm totally confused. Was I  picking up static electricity from the lighting or was I close to a water strike, or wtf? Lost

[Crestliner]

I have mag 5s and yes the quick connects are that hard to un plug. Thats because they are water tight and yes you are that weak Haha.. I used factory insulators as they came with them. Have had no problems with auto stop. I just hooked Positive to  positive and negative to negative right to battery 1 so i can run them if battery switch is off for screwing around in drive way.Simple stuff. My batteries are isolated through battery switch on my wellcraft.I did have funky issues with my crestliner when I first got it batteries had jumper from positive on battery 1 to positive on battery 2 it does not have battery switch . Got rid of jumper.Big outboard charges one battery  trolling motor charges other battery.simple isolation. Sounds like you got a short.and using 10 g wire to ground helped it short out better because all shorts need a path to ground. Lighting would only fry your butt right after it burnt every electronic on board. That don't happen very often . If it did nobody would be alive .haha. good luck low baller 

[Low Baller]

Thanks Crestliner, I think lol. Don't understand why they didn't work right just on separate battery and did when grounded to crank battery, then still worked when I removed the ground to crank battery. Weird. Maybe the short is in one of the riggers and not the boat? I don't know, more frigging problems. I miss my 16 with hand cranks already. 

[greenhornet73]

Don’t miss those hand cranks too much Clark.  I was fishing 80’ down with both riggers yesterday and after going off 12 times on lakers my arms were feeling it pretty quick.

[Low Baller]

12 minutes ago, greenhornet73 said:

Don’t miss those hand cranks too much Clark.  I was fishing 80’ down with both riggers yesterday and after going off 12 times on lakers my arms were feeling it pretty quick.

Good exercise, did it for 10 yrs. Worst is a Dipsy out 250 that won't pop. 🤣 Think I have a breach somewhere. I don't do electricity. 

[greenhornet73]

Yeah, if my boat was shocking me I’d be nervous as well.  Is all the wiring new?  Seems like if it is it should be an easy solution for someone that knows electrical installations.

[Low Baller]

29 minutes ago, greenhornet73 said:

Yeah, if my boat was shocking me I’d be nervous as well.  Is all the wiring new?  Seems like if it is it should be an easy solution for someone that knows electrical installations.

Never did it before, didn't do it all day until that thunderstorm rolled in around 6 pm Saturday. Crazy,guess she's going to the shop and trace wiring. 

[Low Baller]

Just read a ton of different articles and threads on misc. Boating sights. Most senerios point to a wiring issue in the boat. But...that electrical storm that ran all the boats off last Saturday evening must have been producing strong static electricity. I'm curious if anyone else out that evening experienced similar situations. 

I'm going to check the boat , but I'm leaning towards the storms. 

[greenhornet73]

Happened to me twice fishing on Oneida lake, once casting and another while ice fishing.  Both were cloudy days but our lines floated up out of the water when casting and our rod tips were literally buzzing both times.  I could see how it could cause some static issues especially with electronics on the boat.

[Low Baller]

3 minutes ago, greenhornet73 said:

Happened to me twice fishing on Oneida lake, once casting and another while ice fishing.  Both were cloudy days but our lines floated up out of the water when casting and our rod tips were literally buzzing both times.  I could see how it could cause some static issues especially with electronics on the boat.

Here's another twist, my fish hawk x2 is the mobile unit with a small transducer that clips on the down rigger. It's battery operated 4 AAs in the probe and 2 AAs in the screen. It was off and still had weird lines running through the screen. I was pulling gear when it happened, still had one rigger in the water but the probe was out. I should never had said anything to my wife. Now she won't go in the boat for fear off dieing. 🙄

[sherman brown]

On 8/10/2023 at 11:30 AM, Low Baller said:

😆 same issue here with the Bimini. I'd love to put a custom soft top on it so the tie downs and frame are out of the way. Another grand!🤑😮‍💨

 

 

have either one of you guys thought about relocating your tops forward? all you really need to do is move the anchors for your frame forward then attach the top and move the tie down anchors forward enough to get the tie down lines away from your gear.

 

on mine after I moved it as far forward as I wanted it so it still covered the cockpit the back straps were still in the way. i moved the tiedown anchors as far forward as I could and still held the top. the straps were almost straight down from the top but it worked great and the top never interfered with our fishing.

On 8/10/2023 at 12:56 PM, Sk8man said:

Yep mine was a factory install too. Wish I had had the option of having it done myself. But the top itself is a really good one....just the location

  I have installed many tops over the years and moving them forward where you want them is much easier than installing new tops because you already know what you want and how far they need to go to work for you.

[sherman brown]

you know the lightning could have hit the water far away from your boat and still been able to damage some of your circuits and even cause a ground wire to make contact with the boat hull. attach a 12v tester to the hot side of your battery then touch it against the hull. there is just no way that rigger ran without getting grounded from someplace.