Bad Habit

Mounted a new Humminbird helix 7. Seems to work fine trolling but when up on plane the depth goes crazy. I mounted the transducer according to the instructions provided. It might be tilted a little back slightly. I thought this would be better than forward to read rigger balls if not exactly parallel with the water line. (Hard to distinguish on the trailer) Could it be air bubbles and turbulence when running faster? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Rick

Mounted a new Humminbird helix 7. Seems to work fine trolling but when up on plane the depth goes crazy. I mounted the transducer according to the instructions provided. It might be tilted a little back slightly. I thought this would be better than forward to read rigger balls if not exactly parallel with the water line. (Hard to distinguish on the trailer) Could it be air bubbles and turbulence when running faster? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Rick

Looking for advice on solar battery charger/tender. I don't have shore power on my boat. I was wondering if I should use a solar battery tender to keep it charged up. I have duel batteries and I do use the main engine to troll. I've never used one but I was thinking it might not be a bad idea. Looked at a few on line but the reviews weren't that great on them.

I have a 1987 5.7 Mercruiser with about 4500 hrs and (knock wood) no problems. I have owned the boat since it was brand new so I know all the proper maintenance has been done on it. I usually cruise about 3200 rpm to and from a fishing spot so probably 95% of the hours are trolling. I change the oil every 50 0r 60 hours.

I'm going to be installing a new transducer this year. Looking for advice on the best way to repair and seal the holes in the fiberglass from the old one. Want to make sure I do it correctly and don't get water seeping into them. Rick

That's kinda what I thought too. Just want to be sure.

Does anyone know what the rule is for having a child under 10 on the boat during the LOC?! The Rules say that anyone 10 ,to 16 must register as a youth but doesn't mention anything about younger kids. Tried to contact the LOC but didn't get an answer. Thanks for any info. Rick

I also have charter Lakes insurance and I am not a charter boat. Reasonable price for boat and gear.

If you still have these could you pm me a picture?

Thanks for the suggestions. After looking at some of these I think I might be interested in trying a Humminbird Helix 5 DI. For the money it looks pretty good. I've always had Lowrance and Eagle products but have had my share of issues. I just need to read up a little on this "down imaging" and "switchfire" technology to understand it a little better.

I've been having trouble with an old Eagle fish finder and am interested on opinions as to what might be the best color fish finder under $500. Do people prefer a dual frequency? I've always had Lowrance and Eagle so I don't know much about what else is out there at that price. Any help or suggestions would be great. Thanks, Rick

This Eagle Seafinder 480DF is an older unit so I though I might get lucky and find someone who has one they no longer need and would like to sell. I believe the the part# is HST-50/200-WSU and has the gray connectors. Anything I find online is new and they want more than my unit is worth. Thanks Rick

What is the model of the Garmin fish finder?

Had new canvas made Last year and was wondering what is recommended for cleaning and protecting the vinyl windows (eisenglass?) so far I've just used warm water and soft cloth but thought there must be a good way to protect it too. Found mixed ideas on the internet so I thought I would ask here. Thanks, Rick

4x for John Mann. Had full canvas done last year. Great job at a very reasonable price.

Seems I'm not receiving slot of radio transmitions on the VHF when the boat is running. I can also here static from my fishfinder "pinging" on the radio when the squelch is turned down. Could using resister type spark plugs help solve this problem. If so what plugs would be recomended for a 1987 350. 5.7 mercruiser? Thanks for any advise, Rick

I had the same problem with my 1987 5.7 merc. Tried everything I could think of. It turned out to be exactly what Vetting described with the nylon check balls by the thermostat. I pulled the hoses, tightened the nut which put more pressure on the nylon balls so less water was being pushed out the exhaust manifold. I'm not sure how to correctly set them, mine was trial and error but worked like a charm. At least it's an easy try. Good luck

I 'll take 10 kings any time. Congrats on a good day

Guess we should have headed west. Sounds like a great day. We fished east of I-Bay between 10 and 20 feet. Lots of debris and not to many fish. Fished from 6:30 till about 11. Went 2 for 4 on browns. Dropped a nice one after fighting it for a few minutes. Beautiful morning.

Ditto, thanks for the suggestions

Been having some "weird" stuff happening with electronics on the boat. ( erratic readings on my tach. VHF radio not receiving much traffic, gas gage not working (only when the rank is full), bad temp reading on my fish finder, engine has a slight surging up and down at trolling speed and probably a couple of things I can 't think of now. I suspect it might be a grounding issue. Is there an easy check for this?