Here are the pictures of the new rig. A Competitor 185 in black.
Accessories:
– TraxTech tracks (2×36 rear gunnal, 2*18 front gunnal)
– 1198 for the dash and 788 for the bow (the 1198 that the dealer ordered wouldn’t power on out of the box so they hooked me with the 998 until they could get another one in)
– 4 Folbe Rod Holders and 6 Folbe bases (4x pedistal for the tracks, 2x flush for the transom)
– Yamaha 90 Tiller
– Yamaha 9.9 kicker
– Terrova 80 w/ iPilot
– Wave Wackers
– Custom Snap Cover
– Troll Master for the kicker (getting installed this week)
– MinnKota MK330 Charger
– Custom Tuff Coat EZ Loader Trailer (gotta have it for the winter)
My Boat Buying Experience
I said that I would report back with any issues. I wish I could say that there were none, but unfortunately things did not go as smooth as I would have hoped. For starters, to learn of Richie’s (kroger3), and to have Alumacraft tell me that all issues except the fuel tank could be chalked up to someone not doing their job was very disappointing. This is because my new boat has all the same leaking problems that his had. Lucky for me, my dealer said that they would take care of it so I won’t lose my boat to Alumacraft. I guess 2 boats with leaky storage units doesn’t mean 100% that all their boats have this problem, but I would guess that they have a design flaw here.
Also, after a week of being told by Alumacraft that my boat was just about ready for delivery, I learned that they ran out of the 2012 dashboards for the Competitor series and it would be 10-14 days until they could get more in. They tried to blame it on their supplier, but I call bs. It seems like poor inventory management to me. Lucky for me, my dealer had just had an order cancelled for my exact boat so they hooked me up with that boat.
The New Boat
Other than those items, I am in love with the new boat. I fished out of it for over 20 hours this past weekend, and it was glorious. It rides and fishes very nice. On Sunday, I had over 600lbs of guy in the boat and was impressed with how well the 90 handled itself. When I am by myself it is a heavy in the back and light in the front, but I think a couple bags of sand on either side of the bow should fix that. Having a kicker with a tiller handle is something that I will never go without again. It is so nice being able to get the boat to troll down to whatever speed I wish. I think that this boat will keep me happy for several years!
-Drew
Gotta get me a Swing tongue one of these days 
When are we getting together? 
