mudflat

With Scotty's I've always used 2-3 stop beads together and never had any problems with them moving or losing them. I set them to stop the probe/ball at the water line and then put another stop bead just before the swivel hits the pulley. Actually the only time I ever had an issue with the beads was before I used an X-4 the beads would catch in the spring antennae for my Cannon Intellitroll. I think the larger tube type antennae would've solved that problem.

Bill I have a TR-1 on my PennYan 255 with a Yamaha 9.9 HT. It will handle any conditions I want to be out in, within reason. I usually have the outdrive down and strait ahead but have tried turning it slightly into the wind to help the kicker when the wind gets up there, not sure if that helps too much. I don't live very far from you and sent you a pm with my contact info if you want to look it over, give me a call Roy

The "noise" is like a deep buzzing vibration coming from the pump when it runs. It's probably a combination of the motor and the valves working. I tried insulating the hydraulic hoses and the pump itself with acoustic foam rubber and only deadened it a little. Also have the pump mounted on a rubber isolation pad. It's probably more noticeable because of the proximity inside the center consloe and being under the top. Most of the time I just ignore it but once in a while it gets aggravating so I just put the unit in stanby to shut it off while trolling and kick it back on for setting lines or working a fish. With my setup I can easily steer manually and watch the rods. I also have a Garmin TR-1 Gold on my PennYan and you can't hear that working at all, but that is mounted in the rear engine compartment, right next to the kicker. In any case I wouldn't give up any auto pilot and would hate to fish without one now.

You should be OK, I have my S1000 controller mounted about 12" beneath the compass in my center console and I haven't noticed any problems with either the AP or the compass. It's also mounted directly behind all the gauges and speedometer and everything seems to be fine. Looks like you will have more room to work with than I had. The pump may be more problematic since the hoses they provide are fairly short so you can't mount it too far away from the helm unless you get different hoses made up. My pump is also pretty noisy, hopefully the newer ones are quieter.

Mike With all the options for mounting Cisco rod holder you do have to order the mounts that you want seperately. You will be very happy with the rod holders and the track system, I am with mine Roy

Another option to look at would be Cisco's mount, if it's built like their rod holders it will be solid. http://www.ciscofishingsystemsltd.com/s ... mount-5224 You do see a lot of RAM mounts on Bass boats holding HDS 10's and they seem to hold up OK

Not familar with Seascout Lowrance HDS structure scan is mainly for looking at bottom structure and has limited value when trolling. Very difficult to locate individual fish marks, they appear as small dots and not as the typical arches that we normally look for. Larger bait balls nearer the suface will show up and can be useful when looking for spring browns or steely's. Gives you something else to do on slow days.

Make sure your gimble rod holders are good and strong, the one's that came as oem on my boat were too flimsy to hold the stress of a downrigger and were only held in place by 3 short screws. After I installed quality rod holders that were through bolted with backer plates they worked great. If the rod holder breaks loose you will not only lose the rigger but will also have damage to your boat

What is the shaft length? Short = 15" Long = 20" XLong = 25" I'm looking for a 25" Thanks

I mounted everything overhead but I'm usually in the back of the boat running on autopilot and I wanted the screens up where I could see them. When running at the steering wheel it would probably be better if they were on the dash, overhead is a little tuff on the neck. So it depends on how you are going to run your boat and what works for you. Fuse block up front, just for your electronics, is a great idea.

There's a pretty good drop off at 270-330' out around 5-6 miles then it continues to get slowly deeper so 7-8 miles out should be close to 400'. 42* temp was down about 120' over 300 foot of water last Saturday.

Nick You sure have put in a lot of time and work putting this all together and I'm sure it has grown beyond anything you imagined when you started. I wanted to say THANKS for everything and I'm sure the vets will have a great day on the water, even the weather looks like it's going to cooperate. I'll be going up tomorrow and if there is anything I can help with on Friday let me know Thanks again Roy Morris Mudflat

I have a Clarion 55 with 500' copper and it just fit 150yds of 50# power pro for backing, I don't think you're going to make it with the mono.

Nick, Write me down for the last spot- room for at least 2 Never fished out of Sodus so I'll be looking for some insider information Roy

The internal antenna should work as long as it can see the satellites, windshield and canvas shouldn't be causing any problems but it might not work inside a building or surrounded by trees. Try checking the way your system is setup: Go to "Settings", then "Network" and check under "Data Source" to make sure the internal GPS is activated then go to "Device List" and make sure WAAS is disabled. There is an external antenna available, LGC 4000, but that also requires a NMEA 2000 network and you shouldn't need it.

"i was using my cannon speed n temp sensor i no its the older one but it was workin when i put it in the water n when i would drop it down to find the temp it would just turn off on me any input on that sorry 4 the questions" Try putting a damp towell over your antenna, actually works sometimes. Also check your rigger cable for any spots where the insulation is stripped off and make sure you have a good connection at the probe.

The TR-1 is pretty responsive and once you get familar with the control you shouldn't have any problems handling the boat. You can turn the boat quickly by pushing just one button on the control. I would spend some time concentrating on getting the feel of running the kicker with the TR-1 before trying to run with a full spread out. It shouldn't take too long to get the basics down once you're on the water. New boat looks great, enjoy her!

I've been using one with a T9.9 for several years and haven't seen any problems yet. I do put a strap on when trailering to take out some of the road bounce but those brackets are built pretty tough.

I run a T9.9 on a 25' PennYan and it works fine. I also use a TR-1 AP and the two together can control the boat in 3-4'. The ability to control your speed and fine tune it is fantastic, the fuel savings doesn't hurt either. The high thrust motors are designed to push heavy loads at trolling speeds with larger lower units, lower gear ratio's and larger props. It's not all about HP since none of these motors are going to get you over the "hull speed" of your boat unless you can get up on plane. A high thrust 8-9.9 hp motor will probably do as good or better than a regular 15 hp. Also consider the extra weight hanging off the back, too heavy of a motor can cause problems. Even though I love the "whiff in the air" of a 2 cycle I don't want to smell it all day or listen to one either - go with a 4-stroke if possible.

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You might want to try some chainsaw rewind rope if you can find the right diameter, maybe a little heavier than what Scotty uses.

The S1000 ap works ok but has some limitations. It does not use any heading sensor and works off the nema 0183 output from your GPS unit. When they first came out they would shut down if your speed dropped much below 2.5 mph then Raymarine came out with an updated software that improved my unit down to 1.7 mph. The new units are now suppose to work down to 1 knot. You still need to be going faster, 2.5-3 mph, to get the unit to engage at first then you can slow down ok. The installation is fairly easy, the hydraulics just T into the lines coming off your helm and the wiring is hooked up to your GPS units nema output, an alarm horn, emergency shut off switch and a power supply. You need to mount a computer box and the pump which is a little noisy when it runs but is not unbearable. The wireless control works slick. There are better units available from Raymarine or Garmin but they will cost 2-3x as much, basically you're getting what you pay for and the S1000 is a lot better than not having any AP. I would check with Jim at BOE Marine, he will give you good advice and sells all the different brands at great prices.

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What, no air conditioning?? Sounds like a great ride

Doug The easy answer is get two units now and be done with it. At least have the boat prewired with both nema 2000 and ethernet networks for both locations so you will be all set, plug and play, when you get the second unit. Easier and neater than pulling wires after it's all built. Which Hewescraft did you decide on?