FSNmachine

Sounds like the Grady is older and has too many unknowns. I would not touch it if the outdrive is an OMC. Some of those boats also had problematic merc 470's and I would stay away from them as well. Closed system cooling with small heat exchangers and stacked water pumps as well as a gererator instead of an alternator. I would repower the Trophy. I have a 83 wa2002 and the best part is a previous owner repowered it with a 1999 175 Merc.

I really enjoy my Smart Troll. It has a lot of advantages. The probes are so small and rechargable without opening them. They are not limited to downriggers. It is a great advantage to know where your coppers leadcore and divers are running, Last time out we where able to follow a thermocline and know exactly where our divers are running. As for the 800 Rpm I only sometimes loose signal on a turn to port. But I mounted my transducer on the starboard side and my kicker is on the port side. If I loose signal it is only momentarily so I don't care. Next time I look at the screen the data is back again.

When I had an i/o and changed the fuel water separator it would crank for a bit and go. Check that your fuel water separator is tight and not sucking air since you did have it off. You can put a little motor oil on the oil ring to help it seal

Its a new product but you may want to consider Smart Troll. I am happy with the one I have so far. No cables to contend with. Small light probes can be used on more than just you rigger lines. I have only so far had my unit out a few times but am very happy with the results.

I/o motors are particularly prone to corrosion in the manifoolds.

I like my Otter boats. Run them out 200 feet 3 rods a side no problems.

I would get it welded. Likely end up stronger than it was before. Going to go check mine now that I know they can break there.

Didn't work for me either. Had high hopes for some coho or something. Was not expecting a king or anything. Anyway its back in my bass tackle and removedd from the trolling gear. In Canada we can have 4 hooks per line so I put 5 swim baits on it. One was without a hook making it legal. Thought it might add to the total presentaion bait school effect.

The freezer till pickup day or bury them for fertilizer works for me.

Black has been good to me as well. I have used Tremclad paint after sanding the whole dipsy with emery cloth and the black is staying on fairly well.

I believe that reel has a 3:1 gear ratio. Going to be a long time getting a long run of copper in. A recommended Okuma Clarion 553 for copper has a ratio of 6.2:1.

I would not want to reel in 20 colors. I would add a tropedo divers to it and you can use the charts to give the depth you wish to get to. I don't even own a 10 color just 2s 3s and 5 colors.

A friend of mine has one. We use a portable DVD player with an rca video in jack. Does not work to well in bright sun so need to look at it under shade or in the cuddy.

Is this an electric shift? I can tell you what I know about a 1975 OMC old style stringer that I used to own. The bottom gearcase with the electric shift must have a "type C" oil. Do not use anything but that in an electric shift. The type C oil is thinner and has some additives for the electic shift. I would go with pap's recommondation for the upper gearbox. Use can use other oils in the top too but they do tend to leak so the better oils will not mix with water so well and give you the best protestion. As others said check it a few times a season. Mine leaked but I never got it fixed and just changed the oil a few times a year.