First job after of my 2 years of involuntary service in the army was with a land surveyor. First boss was a bachelor with not much ambition. Left that job when I got to work one day and the IRS was there. Next surveyor was a teacher who wasn’t around most of the day except in summer when he put on his boss hat. The job wasn’t much fun in the winter either, so I got a factory job. Worked my way up from machinist to stupidvisor to tool designer and finally manufacturing engineer.
Retired after 40 years there when they moved the factory to Mexico. I had a good pension and 401K account so it worked out pretty well for me. Not so good for the younger folks who had to find another job.

CaptainMusky wrote:

That was heresy because of his Free 3. People speculated he wanted out but that has been his slogan since college.

Ok, I’m clueless. What does Free 3 refer to?

DC Cougar wrote:

That’s exactly it. Thanks! I was talking to the tech who converted the system for me. He just left in the breaker that was there for the 12v system. Idiot.

So, how much is he charging you to fix his mistake?

There’s a lot to be said for living in the middle of the continent. No hurricanes, no earthquakes, no mudslides, floods are limited to the areas close to the major rivers. Sure, we get occasional blizzards, thunderstorms, droughts and tornados, but none of them are epic enough to have names.

I hope all the people in Florida who have decided they can hunker down and stay home survive, but that’s a choice I wouldn’t make. I’m afraid there will be some unnecessary casualties from this.

We have an exhaust fan for the basement bathroom that exits in the basement window well. A few days ago, I saw a wasp crawl around the corner of the screened cover over the fan exit, so I rapped on it with a broom handle. A wasp flew out, I waited a little bit and climbed down the ladder into the window well and pulled the cover off. Immediately half a dozen or so wasps came swarming out and attacking me. I was windmilling my arms at them for what seemed like forever but was probably only a minute or so before all but one left and I could climb out of the window well. Got stung on my arm and my lower lip. Went to the hardware store and got some wasp spray, doused the nest and a couple of wasps that came back. Then I replaced the cover and fixed the gap in the screening. Hopefully that’s the end of the story.

Well, that was entertaining. For some reason, I’ve never thought of going to a fishing forum for tax advice……..

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. I tried everything and can’t find a problem. Finally plugged into the truck and parking, turn and tail lights all work fine, so I have no idea if the problem was with the truck or the trailer. Just going to go fishing and keep my fingers crossed.

Buy stocks in your insurance company. Then you’ll make money on their profits.

Fire department hasn’t lost a basement yet.

Made me laugh. Going to print it out and give it to my son.

Two tips for Christmas:
1. Forget the past. You can’t change it.
2. Forget the present. I didn’t get you one.

fishmantim wrote:

This is a good segway into folks worst lakes.

Segue is a verb that means “to move without stopping from one topic, song, etc., to another.” Segway, on the other hand, is a trademarked name for an electric transportation device.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all. We’re leaving for the Texas Gulf Coast on the 28th; forecast for traveling looks good. I’ll be fishing on the beach until the end of March.

Didn’t buy the old one, won’t buy the new one. Don’t give a rip, except for the taxpayers’ money wasted on it.

Pop out the switch for the fridge light so it stays on. The heat from the bulb is enough to keep it above freezing. You might need to downsize the bulb to stabilize the temp. I keep a thermometer on the bottom shelf. And you’ll need to use an incandescent bulb. LED bulbs don’t get hot.

You can cross the border back and forth as long as you don’t land or anchor. here’s an excerpt from the Canadian government website:

Reporting exceptions
Foreign national boaters

If you enter Canadian waters, you are not required to present yourself and report your goods to the CBSA if you:

do not land on Canadian soil and do not anchor, moor or make contact with another conveyance while in Canadian waters
do not embark or disembark people or goods in Canada

If at any point during the transit you come to port, anchor, moor or make contact with another vessel, you must report to the CBSA immediately

That might change between now and your trip, so check it out here:
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/pb-pp-eng.html#s1

Ucare might not be a good choice if you go out of MN for extended periods. We go to the Texas gulf coast for Jan-March & BCBS works fine for us.

Dutchboy wrote:

So the guys at the top who guide the record sales that employ 1,000s and 1,000 of people don’t earn there their money?

Is a CEO 362, 281 or 365 times more valuable than a line worker? Not in my opinion, but I don’t know what the ratio should be.
CEO-worker 2022 compensation at Big Three automakers
General Motors
CEO Mary Barra: $29 million
Median worker: $80,034
CEO-worker pay ratio: 362-to-1
Ford
CEO Jim Farley: $21 million
Median worker: $74,691
CEO-worker pay ratio: 281-to-1
Stellantis
CEO Carlos Tavares: $24.8 million
Average worker: $67,789
CEO-worker pay ratio: 365-to-1

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings

My solution is to bail out after Christmas and sit on the beach and fish in Texas until April.

Don Meier wrote:

Walk away from Ukraine ,just watch how fast China makes a move on Taiwan .

Yep. And there goes our access to the world’s largest manufacturer of computer chips. Remember the shortage recently when auto manufacturers had vehicles sitting on lots waiting for chips? If China invaded Taiwan, they could shut off our supply completely. Yes, we’re building at least one factory that I’ve heard of, but how long will that take to get up and running?

Steve Root wrote:

OK we’re supposed to be hooked up to the kill switch on an outboard motor so in the event we fall out of the boat, the motor stops. Fine. With my trolling motor I can either use the slide switch and have it on continuously, or step on the momentary contact switch. In other words if I’m running the trolling motor and fall out of the boat, my foot isn’t on the switch and the motor stops. That seems like the same thing, right?

SR

Steve, I can run my TM from my Humminbird screen, with the TM remote, or using the foot pedal on “continuous”, none of which would know if I fell out of the boat. I always wear my life jacket in the boat, as I mostly fish solo and I’m old and wobbly.

garage door openers seem to eat through incandescent bulbs pretty quick. Not sure if it’s the vibration or what. So I’d like to go LED.
[/quote]
There are heavy-duty incandescent bulbs for vibration applications. That’s what I have in my opener, and they’re at least 2 years old.

My Coleman stove is about 40 years old, cleaned at least every ten years, and stored haphazardly in my garage. Still works.

Here’s my procedure with an Alumacraft Classic 165, 50 hp tiller, roller trailer:
1. Back the trailer in so the front end of the fenders are at the surface of the water.
2. Pull the winch strap out 2-3 feet and let it hang down. Flip the winch ratchet pawl on.
3. Drive the boat slowly onto the trailer until it stops.
4. Tilt the motor up to so it’s not pointing directly at the lake bottom and give it some throttle to get it farther onto the trailer.
5. Walk up to the bow, reach down, grab the strap and snap it into the bow eye. Spin the winch up snug.
6. Walk back to the stern, kill the motor and tilt it up.
7. Walk to the bow, step from the spare tire to the trailer frame and then to the ramp.
8. Crank boat up to the winch stop, clip the safety chain, pull out of the way, pull the drain plug, put on the rear straps, clean the trailer of weeds and go home.

Get a multimeter and check voltage before & after charging.

I often put that battery on a manual charger from time to time. The alternator does a decent job of keeping the cranking battery charged. I just give it a full charge every few outings.
[/quote]
You don’t really know what the status of your battery is. Many years ago, when I was much younger and much more foolish, I had a friend with a boat on Lake Michigan who took us salmon fishing a few times. We all knew he was an “electrical idiot”, as you describe yourself, but we just shook our heads and went fishing with him. One day when we were ready to return to shore, one of the twin 80’s had a dead battery. Rope-starting that motor involved a lot of cursing. I wouldn’t want to try it with a 150.
I’d suggest laminating the chart I posted earlier and keeping it in your boat (mine’s taped inside the battery compartment lid). It’s not a bad idea to check battery voltage before you launch. Additional draws on your starter battery could include bilge pump, livewell pump, lights and accidentally leaving one of those switches on. And every time you return from fishing, compare your starter battery voltage with the chart until you have a good idea how much you’re drawing it down. The goal is to have a solid confidence in the condition of your batteries so you won’t ever wonder if you’ll make it back home.

Here’s a useful chart for lead-acid batteries. Lithiums are a different animal.

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Ok I edited my post to change 2.70 to 12.7. Thanks for catching that, Supercat. I know I checked twice before I posted, but missed it.

1. Unplug the charger. Let the batteies rest a for 2 hours.
2. Set the multimeter on “VOLTAGE”, typically to the 20V scale.
3. Red to positive terminal, black to negative, touch the probes to the battery terminals. Remember the voltage reading.
4. Repeat on each battery.
5. Reconnect the charger and compare the voltage readings for each battery.

Resting voltage of a fully charged battery should be around 12.7 Volts; with the charger on you should see 13 to possibly 15 Volts, depending on the charger.
You might want to check voltage before and after every outing as I’m not sure a 10-amp charger is good enough for 3 batteries. Depends on the charger.

usmarine0352 wrote:

I’m attempting to not buy a new rod.

Oh, your wife won’t mind……

Some good info here on the breakwall fishing in Two Harbors:

Fishing from shore on the North Shore

Sorry, that didn't work as planned. Google "two harbors breakwall fishing" and scroll down.