Knotlost

I have a 26 foot starcraft, with 260hp merc, its nice and goes plenty fast. With a lighter boat its easy to go faster than conditions make it comfortable, so over powering it will just be waisted, as it doesn't take much of a chop to slow down a lighter boat I don't care how much power you have. I put a 9.9 hp yamaha kicker on mine and recommend it. I troll for 3 to 4 hrs on a gal of gas. There is no wear an tear on the main, and I disagree with anyone that says trolling on your main doesn't wear it, I think it dose. It also charges the house batterys as it trolls. One nice thing that has not been mentioned is how quiet it is with just the little kicker running, much more peaceful as well. That alone is worth it to me, plus being able to use a pro-troll and controlling it to within .5 mph of what ever you want is a bonus.

Wow JDM sounds like you were schooled in "clean bilge" I to have has bad thing happen because of bilge. I was out on my last boat it was a 21 foot starcraft, and we were diving, it was raining pretty hard but no lightening. We went down to do our dive and unknown to us it got rough on the surface. Well by the time we got back on board the person on the boat was not in a healthy mental state. The swells were so bad the last 2 feet of the bottom of the boat were right out of the water at times (remember we are moored out in the middle of everything). We had to be extremely careful on getting to the ladder that it didn't come down and spear you as you got up to it, then had to jump on it before it started going up again. Anyway, by the time all the divers were aboard, (bringing a lot of water with them as well) we release the mooring and I noticed the water was way to deep in the back of the boat, so no problem flip the bilge on--- nothing--- Ok no problem I'm prepared for this, as I'm not a newbie at this game- flip the 2nd totally independent bilge on- nothing ---- crap, lets go! So in we went, long story short nothing bad other than real high blood pressure happen, but the water was about 3 inches below the bottom pulley on the merc. Problem...... Mud wasp went 12" down into both of the sepperate bilge outlets and build nest completely plugging both drains! On my new boat I have 3 separate bilges and check them at least 1 x a month and 1 time a week during nesting season if you know what i mean.. I'm ugly about even a one inch piece of monofilament being dropped on the floor "pick it up and throw it in the garbage can" is for anything that can go into the strainer of a pump. I have seen a 1 inch piece of 30# test big game disable a 2400 gph pump, and that's hard to see in a dirty bilge underneath the motor, so it has to be kept clean.

Im sorry Flybuster as you posted I misstated somthing very poorly. The 8 bbs in the 24 inch ring, was and should have been stated ; 8 more bb's in the 24 inch ring using the xtra full choke compared to the full choke. There were a total of 89 BBs in the circle, but remember we shot 3 rounds of the same load to cut down the inconsistancys and get an average between all the loads tested. You will once in a while get a load to work perfect then not get another to do the same for another 20 rounds, so we went to 3 rounds for a testing average. And also my testing was done at 50 yards.

The single biggest problem with the 223 is the bullet. They are just not designed for deer hunting , at least 98% of them are not.. You have paper punching bullets, ball rounds that makes up most of the available rounds, then the varmint rounds. The ball rounds (I'm using that as pseudo, bullets that only go through no one really cares how they expand) are what cause flybusters problem, it just penciled through, energy has nothing to do with it, bullet construction dose especialy in smaller calibers. Varmint rounds explode and are great on small stuff but only wound deer as they don't penetrate. But put a well made bullet designed for the 233 like the Barnes x bullet, it will make a hole the size of a 45 cal hole in the softest places, it will break ribs, and shoulders, go though hips, and still exit out the other side, blow jaws right off, destroy the neck, a clean hart or lung shot will drop them in less than 100 yards with most within 40 yards. Trust me its the bullet in this little gun that makes the difference. I'm not just taking, I have the experience and research. A bullet this size for deer is hard to find. Its the only one I trust, other than that go to different calibers because you can find better bullets in them. By the way you can loose a deer with a 30-06 if you use ball ammo, thousands of guys did after WWII, but most of you don't know much about that.... I even knew guys that used to snip the end off trying to make them work and they still didn't work. By the way, I kill deer with a 338winmag, so I dont use one, but I have one have used one and I know how to, and have helped many older guys that can not carry a heavy gun get set up with a youth gun and the right ammo and at over 92+ many of these guys are killing deer every year with a 100% sucess rate. Granted they dont shoot over 130 yards ever.

Bullet makes a huge difference. I made some loads up with some barns solids and the worked perfect! You can shoot it like a 270 and it will work good. I would not like it with most bullet types for deer, you have to be very fussy with bullet selection.

A few suggestions that will help, try the barns sabot that is made to seat easy you will have to go to there web site and look up there name. The get some blackhorn 209 powder start with 90 grains or less. You may not even need to try more. Once you try that powder you will never use any thing else, especially when you can clean your gun with 3 patches soaked in plain gun cleaner. If you do your part 1 hole groups at 100 yards is easy.. Generally a heavy bullet shoots better but that's not a hard fast rule.

I do work on them if I forget to call you give me a call or email Paul Komrowski 315-591-35 four three

There is a switch that is out now that comes with exactly what your looking for. Its called "add a battery" it has a charging sensor to monitor your start battery and charges it first and when thats all fat and happy shunts the charging power over to your house battery. Run all your "stuff" off buss bars off your house battery, don't use your switch its not made for that. Run your buss bars after the switch, this will make your wiring very clean and organized.

There should not be any wiring connected to the hull of your boat. Your Magnesium sacrificial anode in fresh water is to protect every thing and should have a good continuity with what its protecting. There is allot written on this subject unfortunately many don't really understand how it works and only repeat what they have been told. Run all grounds to a buss bar, and then ground the buss bar to the motor, if keeping the boat in the water you need a few precautions to keep your boat safe, but that depends on what you have on your boat as far as electrical.

you really need to check out Insta trim trim tabs, they work great. Check out the prices, and they are not junk, I have used them for years they are as well built as any out there. http://www.insta-trim.com/main.html

You certainly can use the pour-able foam, I have used it, but never liked it. It can get water logged in 1 year, it will absorb water again. It cannot and never will dry out agian once wet. I have done many boats what I like now is buying the reclaimed roofing insulation that you can find on Craig's list. Cut it into pieces that will sand up from the ribs to the floor and stack it in on edge. This give the foam the inch or so off the bottom of the boat, if your run long lenghts of it and cut it accurately it will just touch the bottom of the floor. This gives you allot of strength, flotation, a way for all the water to drain out, foam stays dry and can dry out, and is cost effective (less than 1/4 the cost). Make sure you don't let any electric use the boat hull as the ground, wire everything (grounds) back to a buss bar, I know it will eventually find the hull as a ground but you want to control how and when and where. Make all the grounds go back to the the buss and then to the motor. You use magnesium anodes if your in fresh water, zincs if your in salt. Use the appropriate protection for galvanic corrosion with dissimilar metals, and shore power.

You should wire you boat using buss bars after the switch. You use a Main battery and don't switch it unless there is a problem, the "main" battery can either be 1 or 2 and it can change each time you go out, but the wiring from the switch "common" should go to a buss bar/ fuse box and be distributed from there. Don't use the switch to distribute power its not made for that neither is its purpose for that. You normally don't run the switch on both, just the main battery for that day, if you have a problem you can then switch to the back up battery as what the switch is intended for. The only time you run on both is if you have a problem, deplete a battery, discover problem and fix it, can verify your charging again, then switch to "both" when motor is off, restart and charge departed battery. But even then once your depleted battery is back "up" you should make a switch again. At the dock you test and charge (or test for charge) on both battery's before going out. Then you decide what battery your going to run on, and switch it to that battery before starting anything. You leave it there until your back at the dock again and then when everything is off, you switch it to off, until the next time your ready to go out and you repeat the process. Don't rely on your switch to fix a problem that can be discovered at the dock some people think thats what a switch can do for them. There is a product out there now that has a charging sensor, that monitors the battery's and after the main battery is fully charged will "shunt' the charge over to the "house" battery's. its pretty slick and works great. Its a separate piece that comes with the switch and install in line with the start battery. This is what most guys should be getting and setting there boat up with a start battery and house battery. It lays out better and will work much better.

Bazooka was right on. You need to know your max wave heights your boat can take, and that depends on the free board of your boat. The length of your boat will not tell you how much free board you have to take waves. I have seen 18 foot boats that could be swamped with a 3 footer at the stern. Say you can do OK in 4 footer, not happy or fun, but your not going to die, remember that when we have 4 footers there is an occasional 6 footer mixed in, that would be dangerous, so lower what you can handle say to 3 footers, then your going to have an occasional 5 footer and although it wouldn't be fun you can still get off the lake if your boat can take it. I always count on an occasional wave thats 2' bigger then most of them, but in a storm that jumps to 3 to 4 bigger depending on the type of storm. There is a cool app for the Iphone thats out now that give reading of the wave action it will be nice to try it this year. The conditions do come into play on where your putting it, for example in Oswell out by the light house the river meets the lake, with the right currents (in a north storm its normally the case) the river and lake make for some extremely big waves/rollers. If you go around the "mouth" and come in between the east breaker walls sometimes it can smaller seas. I would set the limed of 2 to 2.5 footers, with no forecast of anything over 3 as a starting point, if the forecast is calls for anything bigger call the day at the dock and don't mess with it. If the forecast is 1 to 2 footer for several days and you completely trust your motor, then have fun.

You still have it wrong! On the perko switch you have a common, you tie your battery's to your switch on "1" and "2" on the switch. Then you use a buss bar from your common leg on your switch, you run your main motor power and your kicker, and your fuse box off this buss bar. Normally you have two bus bars one for ground and one for power. Thats how you do it right! Your almost there. Your kicker will charge your battery's at trolling speeds no problem even with the draw your placing on it. I have much higher demand on my boat and it still charges the battery's.

I love the starcrafts as well. You can really find some bargain's if you look for them. I have owed a 12' , 14' , 16' , 19' , 22' , and now I'm finely in the greatest of them all the mighty 26'. They can be rebuilt, welded and so long as the hull is good completely rebuilt. They tow easy and go like stink, but they can be like riding a soda can across heavy seas. They are rugged, I have never seen one loosen up to the point it couldn't be fixed very simply, most never leak even after 30 years. Warning though stay away from OMC no matter what they are in. I like the I/O's because they give you more free board for bad weather and the big water.

I'm adding to my line down rigger weights. Some place to put my extra lead...You can check them out at my web site at http://www.hotshotbullets.com/downrigger_weights.htm I take visa and Master charge. I do have limited stock so depending on what you want, you may need to be patient with getting orders filled. Thanks Paul Komrowski

You really need to test your gun, but let me give you a short cut. The Kicks steel shot tube High Flyer is great. I use it on all my guns and my friends use them. They make about a 10 to 15% real life improvement. In all our tests (20 different types of shot) and using 5 different brands of guns this is what we found. Kent brand steel works the best or as good as any. Some of the worst preforming shot is the most expensive, always the cheaper stuff patterned better. I didn't test any expensive shot that worked good (I haven't tried the new square stuff that's out). Kent is also one of the cheapest brands as well, not the cheapest but its very affordable. 95% of the time the tightest choke (steel shot choke tubes are labeled different than lead, when you gauge them the "full" is not the same as "full" for lead) worked best. The biggest variable was in the size of shot, some guns liked 2's some liked BB's. Now I just recommend the High fly-er extra full or full (there is a 8 pieces of shot in a 24 inch circle) with Kent BBs for goose and ducks. because the pattern is just as good with the BBs most of the time, if that doesn't' pattern then go to the 2s and try it. Some want to use smaller shot, I don't like it. The pattern density is plenty with BBs so why bother, and it kills better. Your head will make a big difference, if your mind likes something you will do better with it, so that dose figure into the equation not just science. My advice is based on 80 test boards shot at 40 yards off a machine rest with 8 different guns 6 different brands. Winchesters SX3 was the best performer in our group {3.5 inch Kent BBs 1550fps 1 3/8oz shot}. Benelli really liked the extra full high flyer with Kent #2 - 1 3/8 3.5" shells. We used at least 18 different loads and sizes all 12 gauge mainly 3.5 inch. Kent 3.5 high speed BBs at 1 3/8 at 1550fps was solid.

you need to mesure the size of the flash hole. get a set of tip cleaners from a welding shop, the work good, then use a mic if needed. The hole size can very quite a bit and a few thousands makes a huge difference. The advice of a modified breach plug is good advice. Im sure this is your problem, if all is as you say it is.

They really work well. My favorite was the white killer combo caught 90% of my fish. And I don't care if anything is spelled right Im smart enough to figure out what you meant I know those buttons are way to small.

Great, its nice to see your training the next generation right...

Hey welcome, its a great forum with lots of substance.

I have done quite a bit of this type of work, I love to rebuild boats and have gotten pretty good at it. This is what I would do... Cut the plywood, use 2 pieces of the 3/4 inch, and I would use the stuff they sell at Lowes, its exterior, and without voids, Its called andorie or something of that nature. It dose have a "A" side to it, its almost the exact same thing as marina but 1/2 the cost, for what your doing its perfect. Then coat the whole thing in epoxy and do the edges 2X. Set it into a small bed of epoxy and Carbisol mix so there is a bit of squeeze out, brace the top in a few places so it doesn't move around, then use some epoxy and fiberglass cloth and run strips of cloth along the bottom and sides of the boat. Get a cloth heavy enough for strength but flexible enough so it will bend around the corners like you need. I would get the 8.7oz Fiberglass Cloth Tapes (E-Glass) Call US composites they have everything you need. This is very simple and only sounds hard once you do one you will be amazed how easy it is. The Epoxy will make the job much easier so the $ difference is made up in easy of work and strength of finished product, plus its totally water proof.

I did the same thing as Glen, 3 years no problems.

I bought some canvas water proofer from McMasters and it works great but has a heavy fragrance to it (flowery). It was very economical compared to other stuff around and comes in gallons. I dont have any idias other than the crud cutter from Lows to wash it, I put the canvas up then wash it up with a brush but im not real fussy either as mine is just a rain canvas.

cool it looks great.