Cuts with a circ saw / table saw super clean and easy with a wood blade, too.

Up to 3/4” for sure, in 1/8” increments. I used 3/4” exclusively. If you can fit 5/8”, I’d do it.

I had to order from an industrial plastic place to get a 4’x8’ sheet. Was $270 back in 2014. Bet those places would love a cash sale right now!

Sorry to resurrect a little bit older thread. Sintra. Expanded PVC. Lighter and will never rot. Did this with my old 14’ Grizz jet sled. I’ll do it with my new Kingfisher. In my opinion, there’s never a reason to permanently fix anything in a boat with wood these days. Buy once, cry once. Redo it once. Super easy to work with.

No. 1, avoid dark colors. Got too good a deal on this truck, or it would be white or silver.

No. 2, matte black rims show very little brake dust. If you aren’t into tire shine (I despise the look of it…), a little brake dust on matte black rims matches the color of your tires. Makes mine look bigger than they are.

No. 3, rustproofing. Krown is great. Fluid film on steroids. Reapplied once a year.

No. 4, truck bed line your bed, rockers, fenders, bumpers, and steps – if you are into that sort of thing. It’s not a look for everyone, but I like it. I also like the look of rust free vehicles. I think it looks better than rock chipped, pock marked, rusted rock chips/scrapes. That goes for aluminum bodied Fords, too. When I put it that way to nay-sayers, I never seem to get a rebuttal… weird. I would only put that kind of money in a truck you plan to keep more than 150,000 – 200,000 miles. Ain’t cheap!

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I’ve thought about doing the two set of tire route, but Goodyear Duratrac’s have been treating me so darn well, I can’t justify it yet. They are 3PMS (three peak mountain snowflake) rated. I previously had BFG KO’s on a danger ranger and those made a huge difference as well.

I just replaced a set of Duratrac’s on my Silverado last week. I had 54,000 miles from my truck and there were 9,000 miles on a two-door Wrangler ( bought them used for a song). I’m in SE MI and saw plenty of varying conditions. Can’t speak more highly of them. Absolutely beast-mode in slick conditions on my truck.

If somebody doesn’t like the idea of two sets of tires, Duratrac’s and BFG KO2’s are 3PMS rated tires.

Agreed with the posts above.

As much as I have to agree with everyone’s sentiments, I have to brag that I took home my second Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus (Optifade Timber this time) on Black Friday for a song.

They had the gun $150 off for Black Friday. $100 off $999+ Firearms. They had 10% off gift cards, bought $1000 gift card for $900 while waiting in line at the gun counter. And then I had some $238 in points on my card. Oh yeah, 0% interest for 12 months on purchases over $500, too (didn’t use that, paid off already, but good deal none-the-less!).

Walked out of there with a $1649 MSRP gun for little over $1100. Not too shabby!

I do plan to nix this card for one with great airline miles soon though. One of my buddies took a new position in Washington State as a fish hatchery manager. I’ll be making some regular trips out there with those freebies.

Just caught this thread. I used to be peanut oil only. Got on a health kick and lost 70lb and learned some things about oils. Processed oils are pretty rough on you. Vegetable oil and canola oil are some of the worst. You will burn/oxidize olive oil if you get it hot enough to fry and then it’s only slightly better for you than Veg/Canola. We eat olive oil in salad dressings, only.

We cook and fry with avacado oil. You would be amazed at how much less heavy a meal of fried walleye/bluegill/perch is using avacado oil to deep fry in. I think it’s smoke point is 500F? Regardless, my gut no longer hates me me when I fry fish!

I also don’t do huge fish frys for everyone anymore and prefer to use Granpappy deep fryers (bigger version of Frydaddy) for family meals. Walmart/Sam’s Club has best prices on avacado oil, FYI.

When was the concrete placed?
What were the weather conditions?
How was it cured?
Did they apply a curing compound?
What did the contractor say?
What did the contractor tell you to expect?

Just looking at the picture, it looks green still and should even out as it weathers a little this spring. Hard to tell from the picture, and not seeing it in person…

I wouldn’t get too excited until late spring after it warms up for a while and weathers a bit.

Tune out the AFM stat. There is literally no benefit and some trucks even get better fuel economy after having it turned off. While you are at it, go through a reputable custom tuner (Blackbear, Diablew) and they can make you vehicle more driveable with mild tuning of the engine and transmission.

You won’t regret it. I have an ‘11 Silverado 5.3L that Lew tuned for me via data logs. Bought it with 11,000 on it and am at 77,000 now. Much less doggy after it was tuned.

If I stay Aluminum for my deep V, the North River has definitely caught my eye in the 20’-21’ range. Check this beast out with .250” bottom, .125” sides (.190” optional). I know she’ll blow around a bit though. I’d likely be running a bigger main and 15hp EFI kicker as opposed to twins, if I went this route. The Bad Mammer Jammer:

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Thanks, guys!

Oh man, if Hewey would do a custom Sea Pro with a mid-ship center console, I’d be in hog heaven! Their Open Sportsman was in the running for my riverboat, but 1.) my Kingfisher had thicker sides and 2.) I got to sea trial my salesman’s Kingfisher set-up almost identical to the way I wanted to rig my boat. It did end up costing more than a couple thousand more than the Hewey, though…

Kingfisher didn’t want to do some smaller custom stuff I wanted, mainly additional side trays for rods, so I’m going to end up fabbing them myself with the help of my machinest buddy. We think we can rivet one per side in without needing to weld or rivet to the hull itself and void my lifetime structural warranty.

Sorry to bring this back from the dead. There’s Midwest tin can aluminum boats and there are west coast aluminum boats. After thoroughly researching them, the differences are pretty drastic, IMO. Check out Kingfisher Flex Multi Species line-up. All welded .190” thick 18 degree dead-rise with reverse chines formed in. Then you get into prestressed jig forms that add rigidity, so there is minimal flex. Sides are .125” thick, too. Not many Midwest boats do that. Generally .100” thick is considered a tank around here… I would consider these to be lifetime investment, low maintenance, going-to-repower-it-a-couple-times boat. You put a hole in a hull like that, I’m betting fiberglass may be worse.

I’m not opposed to fiberglass, either, though. My biggest gripe is upkeep, but the fishability and storage of say, Warrior boats, hard to argue against it. They will certainly track and blow around less. One question I haven’t figured out is if floatation foam absorbs water over time like aluminum boats do. I can pull the floors of my Aluminum and replace as needed. Can’t do that with fiberglass readily.

You also really need to clean and wax fiberglass a significant amount to keep it looking good. Aluminum, give me an unpainted hull, let’er oxidize, and worry about nothing – especially road rash, road salt, etc. while trailering. Dock rash? No worries on an unpainted, heavy gauge aluminum hull.

I don’t know what my Deep V will end up being down the road (Warrior 198, Kingfish Flex 1925 or 2025, or North River Osprey 21’), but my river boat I just bought was a Kingfisher 1825 Warrior Tiller. .160” 12 degree bottom, .125” sides, custom ordered with no paint on the sides, galvanized trailer, Merc 115/80 jet tiller. For what all this boat is and how I’ve rigged it (two 12” Helix’s, 80lb Terrova w/DI, 24V anchor winch), nobody around here makes a comparable boat – even remotely! I can do 6” of water on plane in the river and still fish up to 2’-3’ waves safely in open water. The west coast stuff is built sturdy and versatile and generally not seen around these parts of the country.

Just thought I throw my experience and personal research out there for ya’s.

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So I’m planning a big boat out (20’+) I was thinking of going the Ulterra route as it seems the bugs have been worked out, but I didn’t think about the stabilizer. My pops uses a stabilizer with his Power Drive and I agree, I think they are worth the hassle to protect the unit.

So, getting a 36V motor in 60”-72” flavor, that pretty much rules out the Ulterra, because if I need to go up and take the Ram Claw stabilizer off after running each time, I may as well just manually deploy a tolling motor now, too. Anybody that has an Ulterra and believes in a stabilizer mount while stowed, think any differently than me? Lake Erie and St. Clair are in my backyard, so rough riding is an understatement and I am one to fish in up to 5’ers.

I just don’t see the point of an Ulterra for my situation now. Trailering, sure. But if those units can start slapping the gunnel on rough rides or even just an unexpected hole in the chop, I think I’d rather protect the investment.

Dutchboy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishinguns wrote:</div>
Well, that kinda screws the Competitor 205 Tiller I was considering since Evinrude doesn’t have power steering for big tillers like Merc. I was leaning more toward Warrior anyway, but that Competitor 205 is quite a boat in my opinion.

Buddy of mine bought that boat last year with the 150 Merc.

LOVES that boat.

Just buy the boat with no motor. Go find your favorite Merc. dealer (lybecks) and have them hang the motor.

Good point. Thanks!

I’m a couple years out right now, anyway. Putting up the pole barn to house the rigs at the end of July.

Advancements in technology don’t hold a candle to what people on social media have disrupted / destroyed. That is the biggest enemy of the future of our fisheries. Information at everyone’s fingertips for the “easy score…”

Eelpoutguy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Huntindave wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>1hl&sinker wrote:</div>
Ice can not be frozen below waters freeze point of 32 degrees.

That is incorrect:
Inna Vishik, P.h.D. Applied Physics & Physics, Stanford University (2013)
Updated Apr 17 2015 · Author has 970 answers and 6.7m answer views
Frozen water will eventually equilibrate with the temperature of its environment which may well be below 0ºC.

edit; A prime naturally occurring example would be the earths polar caps where the ice temperature is commonly -15 to -20 Celsius. (5 to -4 degrees Fahrenheit)

Isn’t that because the polar ice caps have salt in the water?

Bingo! See my post:

http://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/cooler-hype/page/3/

Apparently my link didn’t work, but page 3 of the Cooler-Hype thread I talk about using salt ice. Works great!

Well, that kinda screws the Competitor 205 Tiller I was considering since Evinrude doesn’t have power steering for big tillers like Merc. I was leaning more toward Warrior anyway, but that Competitor 205 is quite a boat in my opinion.

Well, call me what you want, but I can afford them and they work very well. I have a 105 Tundra that is my truck cooler. I have a flat fiberglass locking lid and it fits perfectly. I have a 45 Tundra for my river sled that doubles as a seat / standing platform. My reason for getting into these to begin with is cured salmon skein fishing our rivers in Michigan. Good skein is like gold and I have had skein spoil in lesser coolers due to temperature and melting ice water contaminating my bait when I was learning the ropes.

We have 2 Gen 1 Hopper 30’s, 1 for bait, 1 for food. Everything works extremely well if you prechill and don’t over open the coolers. These coolers get used now for extended trips in Canada, fishing. We just love the decreased hassle they bring us. Now our biggest complaint is making sure they are secured so they don’t get stolen.

2 big tips I have learned:

Salt ice has a lower freezing point, so it gets colder and lasts significantly longer than regular water ice. I use Tradewinds Unsweetened Iced Tea gallon jugs, 1-2 cups of ice cream rock salt dissolved, and freeze them in a deep freeze. I have had the salt ice freeze gas station ice cubes into a “block” in my cooler on a regular basis. I have also put a fresh frozen salt ice into my 45 with hose water and 20 bluegills over night to fillet after work the next day – I had to break 1/4” skim ice the next afternoon to get the bluegills out to fillet. This was about a month ago.

Cooler Defunk Wipes. Pretty self explanatory. Found them at Cabela’s in Dundee. Friggen wonderful!

I’m a Yeti addict and I fully admit it. Great stuff for me and my family!

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I prefer softer rods for pitching jigs to walleyes. I also predominantly use braid & fluoro leader.

I do have the 852S, but it’s a Jigging Rap/Shiver Minnow rod that I just so happen to use on the Detroit River vertical w/1oz jigs, out deep. I can’t really compare to your SC LE as I don’t have that model, but I have handled it a few times in the stores. I think the xtra fast taper is similar in both rods (even w/the LE being a ML), but the NRX has more backbone.

If I was bass fishing, I think the 1/16-1/4 would be very doable on the NRX. For walleyes, I like my Trout Series GLX, NRX 901JWR and 822DSR. Softer tip works for me better. I also have a NRX 842S in the stable for sz 7 Jigging Raps/sz 2 Shiver Minnows/1/2oz jigs and boottail plastics.

Between myself, dad, brother, dad’s best friend there are 3 Avid 7′ UL 2pc Mod’s and 2 Legend Elite’s 7′ UL 2pc Mod’s (discontinued now…). We use them far more for Walleye than panfish. They are noodles, we use braid and leader, and an absolute blast to fish with. I personally don’t have a problem with the flex into the cork, as I know when to stop pulling, but these rods will do that if you let them…

I think they are phenomenal panfish and trout rods. They can protect 2lb fluoro if you do your part with the moderate action. That same action let’s me cast micro presentations further than I imagined I could.

For what it’s worth, these rods have caught more finicky walleyes vertical jigged on 1/16 jigs and live bait than I can even begin to estimate. They are very versatile rods that are extremely over looked for a lot of finesse fishing. The 30″er in my Avatar was on my brother’s (my old one I sold him a “few” moons ago) 7′ Avid UL, aggressively jigging an 1/8oz jig and gulp minnow!!

I can’t compare to the new Panfish or Trout Series, but I’m sure those are good too.

Right on! I appreciate the input of both of ya’s very much.

Can you compare this to Merc’s Big Tiller power steering, by chance? I think Etec’s are the best out there, Yam second and Merc third, but I also think power steering for a tiller would be huuuuge. I understand how this hydraulic system works and I think it would work for what I want, but it sure sounds like Merc’s power steering is the cat’s rear-end.

I’m a huge fan of fiberglass tonneaus. They absolutely limit what I can haul in my bed, but I just throw anything bigger on a trailer that’s easier to load and unload compared to my truck bed, anyway. The fiberglass tonneau locks securely and thieves cant see whether I have anything back there worth breaking into it, like a topper. Easier to “see through” at night while backing up, too!

My truck is for hauling fishing equipment, guns, etc., and towing boats and trailers. It’s rarely used for actual work and I don’t drive it everyday. Oh, I think some fiberglass tonneaus look great, too!

Coat and Bibs are sold. Insulator jacket is still up for grabs.

-Thanks!

Didn’t get into The Walking Dead until I met my wife around Season 5. We binged Netflix and caught up, too. I’m not super into unrealistic TV/movies, but I love the show. You really do have to watch it from the beginning to really appreciate/understand it. For season 7, We also don’t miss Glen, but were bummed about Abraham.

I was this way about “Breaking Bad,” as well. I’m not into drugs or anything like that, but we watched the whole series on Netflix and I still feel that is the best television series I ever watched.

Another Netflix suggestion is “Longmire.” Stellar show, in our opinion!

Very much not impressed with Loomis’ guide spacing as of late. The E6X and new IMX rods are no exception. It seems to get worse every year with trying to eliminate as many guides as possible. Been looking at and buying St. Croix more and more for anything under the price tag or the Loomis NRX line. I do have 4 Walleye Series GLX rods and 1 Trout Series GLX and I’m not real happy with the guide spacing on those, but they are WAY better than the new E6X and IMX rods…

For the price range, I think St. Croix Avid and Legend Tournament series are better bang for the buck.

First post, but I have done 2 trips up past birch lake on Carillon Lake, which the cabin burnt down recently. My pops and his best friend hit Tesup Lake (~50 air miles from Ft. Francis, still in the Rainy Lake watershed) every year now and I am going with them this year for my bachelor party. NWO is good people and my dad and his friend rave about how well they treat them. The food package is not only convenient, but a pretty good deal too. Cabin and amenities were good. Boats ran fine. They like 14-16’ers w/6hp Yammies, so you aren’t getting anywhere fast.

I can attest that the fishing when I went twice to Carillon Lake, was fast and furious and just not may big fish – walleyes or pike. The pictures they bring home from Tesup Lake usually include walleyes and pike that spark my interest. I fish out of Port Clinton, OH on Erie, Linwood, MI on Saginaw Bay, and I live in Metro D, so I’m spoiled with the Detroit River close to home as well. I like big fish. Bring your own electronics if you want, they can make a difference. I certainly did better NOT using live bait on Carrilon Lake in the past. I’ll let yo uknow if that is the case on Tesup at the beginning of June when I get back. Dad claims he has to have live bait some days, but he did at Carillon too…

For the price, convenience, and seclusion, they are a great option.