vetting

I've had my 26ft fiberglass boat for 10 years now.  This is my first year on jackstands instead of a trailer for winter storage.  So I decided this year to sand the decades of random ablative paint off and took it down to the bare gelcoat.  I'm going to do a few layers of Interprotect 2000e as a barrier coat and then new ablative paint.  Do you think bottom paint color matters for trolling?  Does anyone thing blue is better than black? 

24 minutes ago, GAMBLER said:

Just heard back from my mechanic that installed mine.  He used the 1.7 HH5271-3 Dometic

Do you feel like you have to turn wheel a ton to dock?  The 1.7 is less effort but a lot more turns from lock to lock than the 2.4

3 hours ago, GAMBLER said:

EV-150 Power Pilot | Autopilot Packs | Autopilots | Raymarine

 

This is what I bought.  You will also need the Sea Star Hydraulic steering kit.  

Yeah that would be awesome if you could look to see what helm you have installed.

I already had a EV-200 with the newer Sport Pilot installed - the one they dont sell or even service anymore.  
You run a I/O with a kicker tied to the outdrive right?  

So now that I got the Raymarine AP pump, what helm should I go with if I eliminate the mecruiser power assist? 

1.7 HH5271
2.0 HH5273
2.4 HH5272 

@GAMBLER do you run your hydraulics hooked to your main and then have you kicker tied to the main with a bar?  

Snagged a Raymarine Type 1 Pump for $550 brand new - so almost $300 off.  
Currently trying to figure out what helm to purchase.  

I'm leaning more towards going full hydraulic now.  Since I troll on my kicker with the main shutoff (power steering pump not running), should I look at cylinders that will completely eliminate the power assist system?  

Yeah thats what Im thinking my top 2 options are right now.

Octopus drive and a new set of cables.
or 
New helm, steering cylinder, and type 1 pump. 

Going Octopus and new set of cables is probably cheaper, but I really want what is going to give me  the best performance while trolling at 2mph.  Anyone with experience what is the better setup performance wise?  

54 minutes ago, GAMBLER said:

I put in hydraulic steering and the EVO 150 on my 245 Penn Yan Contender.  It wasn't cheap but I can use the autopilot with the big motor or the kicker and it works flawlessly.  

@GAMBLER  What helm/pump/ram did you go with?  

5 minutes ago, L&M said:

You could just switch the sport pilot out with an octopus type s helm and leave everything as it is.

I was also look at that.  However, the steering cables are also 30+ years old.  Would the autopilot control physically move the wheel with the Octopus drive? 

57 minutes ago, orangediablo said:

If you stick with the EV200, grab the rudder reference as well.  

I think one already came with the old kit.  Does it really add anything besides it knowing the actual position of the rudder?  Right now the I already have speed feedback since its hooked up to a Raymarine MFD.  That way the autopilot knows how hard to correct and it also uses the data from the multi axis puck. 

Yeah I think will be around $2000 for the pump/helm/ram.  I would think I would still need a hydraulic system of some sort if I just did AP on the kicker with my current setup.  

Currently run a Raymarine EV-200 with Sport Drive Wheel Pilot package (T70159) for auto pilot. The Sport Drive wheel pilot is going on 6 years old now and is starting to slip. Looking to see what my options are. Go full hydraulic or something else?

EV-200
EV1 Sensor Core
ACU-200
p70R Autopilot Control Head
Sport Drive wheel pilot
All networked with a Raymaine A77 and Axiom MFD.

Boat is a 89 cobia. 26ft cuddy with a Mercruiser 5.7 with a Alpha One Gen 1 outdrive.
Boat is currently cable steer with power steering assist on the main.
Newer Yamaha high thrust 9.9 extra long shaft kicker tied to the main outdrive with a ez-steer rod.
Salmon trolling at 1.8 to 3.5 mph using just the kicker without the main motor running. So Sport Pilot physically turns the wheel which turns the outdrive which turns the kicker via the ez-steer rod.
I use the autopilot for motoring out to the fishing spot and for trolling.

The Sport Pilots are no longer sold or serviced.

So what are my options?
Just go full hydraulic and continue to steer the main which is then linked to the kicker?  I assume that would include purchasing a type 1 pump and then a new helm and ram in the rear?  
Any other options?

Thank you ahead of time for any info you can provide.
 

Hmm, well maybe I'll just go with updated probe only then.  Now the real question, sell off the old probe to offset or keep it as an emergency backup

Is there any difference with the actual display unit?  I've upgraded fish hawks multiple times through the years, had warranty fixes, and even had to buy an entire unit just to use the display for a week while mine was out for repair.  Right now I'm running a X4D.  So I've probably put about $3k into fish hawks for the years Im looking at maybe getting the new probe and just wondering if there is any benefit to upgrading to the new display? 

Didnt watch the video, but I see that they new probes on the website.  The new lithium probe compatible with the X4D is up to $499 for just the probe.  
Its getting more butt-clenching every year to send that probe down multiple times a day

1 minute ago, Yankee Troller said:

FishUSA has them - Silver Streak

They didnt have the ones I wanted - I was looking for multiples of the flat white glow back mag spoons.  

Just ordered some through bigpapasportfishing - I contacted them first on FB to make sure they can still get them directly from Wolverine.  

Do they still make Wolverine Silver Streak spoons?  Looking to pickup a bunch of their glow back spoons and having trouble tracking down a reliable source. 

I tested them as best as I could (clickers/release arm/drag) by hand. Listed are the conditions of each and photos.

$180 plus shipping for the lot - total of 14 reels.

#1     Penn Peerless No 9    Tested 100% functional
#2     Penn Peerless No 9    Tested 100% functional
#3     Penn Peerless No 9    Seems a little rough - needs a regrease 
#8     Penn Peer No 209    Needs a clicker rebuild
#9     Penn Peer No 209    Needs a clicker rebuild
#10     Penn Peer No 209    Cracked sides - for parts or repair
#11     Penn Peer No 309    Tested 100% functional - engagement arm seems to be reversed
#12     Penn 209 Black Casing    Tested 100% functional - handle mechanism has some play
#13     Penn 209 Black Casing    Needs a clicker rebuild
#14     Penn 209 Black Casing    Tested 100% functional
#15     Penn 210        Tested 100% functional
#19     Shakespeare T15LCL    Line Counter non-functional
#22     Okuma Magda Pro 30DX    Tested 100% functional - sun fading
#23     Okuma Magda Pro 45DX    Locked up - for parts or repair

 

I used to run the on the rigger holder and then would have to move them to dipsy holders on the side whenever we had a fish on - thats with a 25ft boat.  This year, I'm adding another 6" piece of track right behind the rigger so I can just fold them down with a collapsible rod holder.  

Just snagged the RV-100 for $280.  So total of $1179 + tax.  

I should be able to snag a RV-100 for around $300 to $325 - so it will be around $1200 for a complete unit and will include lighthouse charts that would normally be another $150.

6 minutes ago, Rookie Fisherman said:

They didnt have one bundled with the RV100? Usually cheaper to buy that way.

Anything without charts and ducer starts at around $1600.  I got the display for 899 out the door.  So for some reason it was more economical to buy them separate.  

Well I pulled the trigger on RAYMARINE–Axiom 9 RV Multifunction Display with North America LightHouse Charts.  Got the unit for $899 with my West discount.  Now just shopping for the transom mount ducer.  So I'll be running an Raymarine A77 to run autopilot/chartplotter and  through hull traditional sonar.  Then use the Axiom with the RV-100 transom mount for 3d and high def chirp.