laker1

Thanks for the interest. You are right. We have also listed it at two wooden boat web sights that service those areas. Frankly it would cost too much to send it down there on spec. The Athendune is a boat that spent its life on Lake of the Woods.

My apologies to everyone. Here is a picture of my Dad's pride and joy. I could not post the picture using our IPad Hope it gets done now from our PC.

My Dad's Chris Craft. We have just listed it for sale at $25,000. The boat features a mahogany hull, with a six cylinder Chris Craft Model "M" engine. Top speed is 35 mph. Recently upgraded with a 12.volt system and has a new fuel filter . The carb has been rebuilt so it just purrs when running. The boat is in storage at Anola , Manitoba. Hard to let it go!

Here in Ontario we usually have a rodent problem ; otters , skunks or whatever else seeking a winter home in a closed boat away from the cold. My response has always been to use mothballs and great quanities of Mr. Clean placed inside in a container (s) when one of our boats is stored outside. Inside , I also spread it all over the dock when boats are stored in our boathouse. Varmints do not like the smell of soap! Dryer sheets are sometimes included also.

The fuse advice is great ! I put one into my Lund after I found smoke coming out of my transom. The accessary wires had rubbed against the internal transom. The dash fuses did not blow as they were intended to. Instead wire in seeking a common ground burned its way to the sending unit on top of the internal fuel tank. I had turned off the ignition just in time. Now I have a fuse block connecting all my wire with individual fuses just before the battery and the battery itself is only connected with two leads.

If you could Roughrider a little more detail please. I assume your batteries are in series. So if the first is charged to 90% then the charge automatically flows to the second. Have I got it ? You don't need four battery leads from the solar panel.

Interesting topic. I would like to contribute after noting that there has been already a similar concern raised about sound and vibration. Over time, I have been lowly modifying my boat with this in mind. I have pool noodles in seat pedestals and have used them to surround my batteries. I have remounted my internal battery charger on a foam rubber base. I intend to remount my rigger and other equipment on to a rubber base. I have used pipe wrap to partially cover my rigger boom. I note in Florida anglers wrap a cut tennis ball around their rigger line believing that this cuts down on unnecessary vibration/sound. My kicker 's transom is covered with a rubber mat. I have found after exploring with a magnet the odd loose bolt or pop rivet/ piece of wire rolling around on top of the aluminum under my sub floor. In addition I have tested and tightened a few screws and bolts when I found them loose. Has it made a difference? I can only say that while it has been hard to measure ; I feel more confident after doing it.

Hi Gambler. I am admiring your rigs. How far back do you run your spin n glows behind gang trolls or dodgers for lakers? jim

I have been a long time Lowrance owner and advocate. Lowrance lost me the day they talked down to me me telling me that my favourite unit should be thrown in the trash rather than try to repair it. I loved that machine! And spent a lot of money that I did not have just to get that unit. It was so special. So when I retired I went to Humminbird and bought their top of the line. I have had no regrets. Humminbird customer service is just great, they are very understanding and no question is a dumb one. My next sonar for boat number two will be a Humminbird!

I have two observations. I fish Lake of the Woods, Ontario. In the first one while casting for Musky I saw bass, perch and other little fish jumping all over right out of the water in a weed bed. The reason , a school of Muskies had just moved in shallow from the depths . I saw eight large fish next to my boat just passing through en route to the weeds. A couple of them followed my yellow Mepps spinner and I caught one. All the while little fish were just busting out of the water, so there had to be even more Muskies that I didn't see. Reminded me of a tv show I saw featuring salt water fishing. There have been other times while using minnows for Walleye that we caught both Pike and Musky when it is apparent that the Walleye feeding had shut down and the school had just moved on. Some of these Esox were quite large too! Lots of fun on six pound test.

About 20 + plus years ago I attended a sold out seminar at our local concert hall in Winnipeg Manitoba. There , Charlie White from British Columbia showed us a film he had taken with a camera secured inside a water tight box next to his down rigger ball. He filmed various fish but concentrated on salmon and their reaction to his spoons. He ran his spoons clean and dipped in various attractants. One of his findings was that oily bilge water from his boat was the best attractant. I was fascinated with this revelation. And the commercial scents available at the time seemed to have no effect. Mr. White produced a VHS tape recording his experiment with his full seminar. The tape was at our local library. I also saw the tape featured on Canadian TV. Despite all this I do wash my lures in Dawn and I do use scent from time to time. But just the same this still mystifies me!

I agree some pictures would be very helpfull. Now is the time to get organized for open water.

I would respectfully like to add a note of caution about the black box thing. Particularly since you are operating an aluminum boat. My dealer told me that he once saw an aluminum boat where all the rivets under water failed. The owner used a black box! I would investigate the bonding wire instead. I think that you will find that your Lund is already bonded. By the way I have a Lund too. Your issue may not have anything to do with your electrical equipment, but do check it out. Instead you may want to consider boat noise/vibration and what causes it - some boats are just quieter than others when they go thru the water. I am adding rubber using pool noodles or whatever to soak up sound and vibration. There was a recent post just before Christmas in which the writer noted that after setting his riggers upon rubber bases that his catch ratio went up. He reasoned that the rubber base prevented offsetting vibrations being transmitted thru the downrigger line. Something to consider, good luck.

Very nice, well done, good to see you catching skis while snow is falling where I am ! Where have you found Shadzillas for sale?

My boat is out of the water with the bilge and drain plugs left open for air flow with internal hatches propped open. However i also leave a pail of mothballs inside all of our boats to discourage crittters. This seems to work. I notice inside our boathouse that liberal splashes of Mr. Clean spread over areas which attract otters also works well. If I had time to think during closing I would also put a rag soaked in Mr. Clean inside another pail in my boat . I store my boat outside on shore close to an otter family. Think I will address this later this month and add another pail. My system isn't perfect because I still find the odd pine comb from squirrels in spring but thats all, touch wood ! One spring my buddy despite taking the same precautions found a racoon family inside his I O. So I guess no matter what you do , stuff happens ! Hope this helps.