NitroMusky

Dont even get me started... Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

As posted on the website and in the tournament thread, the Muskies Inc tournament is being pushed out until next saturday the 16th. Just wanted to get this out there and make sure people see it before making a drive in the AM.

Cant wait to check out those mounts! See you in AM!

Glad it worked. The reason you changed the gear oil is that its cheap insurance. If bad seals had allowed water in there, freeze damage would have run many hundreds of dollars damage minimum (vs a $20 bottle of oil). (The high performance oil right?) Hopefully there is not water in the water separating fuel filter but no biggie. Worst case, it blows out the filter and you have a mess to clean and a filter to replace. You didn't mention either way but just make sure you also have marine stabil in the main tank too.

I put new RADIALS (kuhmo trailer tires) on my trailer this spring. Nitro likely put bias ply on their new rigs purely out of cost savings; simple as that.

Lol

Pap Not disputing your findings but just curious How big that boat of your uncles was? I mentioned that some bass boat guys will use car tires, but spreading that sized load across 4 tires generally leaves each tire well within normal operating capacity of a car tire...and believe me, many of these are guys who are fanatical about their rigs, not just some yahoos that dobt know any better. That said, There are much heavier boats that also have tandem axles with 4 tires that do still require the extra carrying capacity that a trailer tire offers. Wonder if the guy at the store really knew his $hit when recommending them for your uncles particular boat...or maybe he just got a bum tire?

Radials are definitely better handling than bias. As far a car tires go, there are a lot of guys that swear by them on their bass boat rigs, but ONLY tandem axles. Car tires cant carry the weight put on a single axle.

Oh and on the gear oil, buy the pump with adaptor to to attach to your LU. You fill from the bottom hole till it runs out the top hole (preventing under filling from trapped air)

Winterizing a merc opti is pretty straightforward. Yo bascially want to get all the water out... 1 drain and refill gear case with high perf merc gear oil to ensure no water in the oil. Remove both top and bottom plugs and let it drain (make sure you dont lose the o rjngs on the plugs - they may stay on the casing when removing) 2 remove and refill the water separating fuel filter, again to eliminate any water. Ideally replace filter too. Add some marine stabil in the process of refilling. (Best to add marine stabil to the main tank before your last trip of the season to ensure its made its way throughout the system, but if not, then add now). Prime the system via the bulb on the fuel line and run brielfly on the muffs (to ensure no trapped air that could cause water to form from the ethanol). I usually just do the filter drain and add stabil prior to my last trip and avoid this last step. 3 tilt motor all the way up and down 3+ times to remove all water from the cooling system. 4 store motor completely down (so that all water that might get in via the prop area drains out of the LU) - particularly if you're storing it outside over winter. Dont forget: 5 in the spring, not fall...replace the water pump impeller - every year. These are displacement pumps at idle speeds and after the impeller takes a set over winter it will be ineffective. Particularly important if you use it to troll, since optis are designed to run hotter near idle for emissions, and need to have a good pressure so as not to overheat. Lastly, not winter maintenance per se but since you use it to troll...always run merc quickleen or techron in your fuel to prevent carbon buildup on the pistons and plugs. I was going through plugs more than 1set/year bit since starting this, its been well over the recommended annual or 100 hours since i have replaced them. (Probably 3+ years). Pretty cheap insurance given plugs are about $15 apiece, times 6.

Early indications are that this should be a great meeting...Solgrande was up there passing out flyers this weekend and received a lot of interest...all 70 flyers were gone in 1 day!!

I assume that if you frequent this board, then you know about NY Muskies Inc already but... We will be holding our October meeting up on the St Lawrence to provide information on the club, share a bit about our efforts on behalf of NY's muskie community, gain input from the local muskie fishing community and hopefully some new members: Saturday October 19th 2013 @ 7 PM O’Briens Restaurant - 226 Webb St, Clayton, NY The meeting is open to the public: Non-members and prospective members welcome, no registration necessary. Join us at O’Briens to learn more about Muskies Inc. and help guide our future efforts. Guest Speakers: Capt’s Bob Walters and Darryl Raate of WaterWolf Charters