Gruntman

I love all beer. Never met one I didn't like. The explosion of the "craft" scene in North America in the past 10 years makes for a very enjoyable hobby. My personal goal: drink one of every beer there is. I'm at #1143 different beer as of yesterday. When I'm on business or family trips I keep an eye out for local breweries. If I'm having a beer with a meal out, I always ask it there are local options. That used to be a weird question, but now it's considered normal. What I don't care for is the snobbery that sometimes comes with the scene. I like the vast and ever-expanding variety we have now. I have a number of $20+ bottles in the aging process. I have a full fridge or assorted craft beers. And shelf with a macro beer (usually Coors Light, Bud, MGD, Lucky, Laker, etc). That shelf is the go-to for a simple cold beer. But primarily for friends who don't like to stray too far from their path. I can always find a beer for anyone in my fridge. And if I show up at your house/camp/BBQ and you hand me a Lucky Lager or a Natty Lite, I'm saying "Thank you!". Anyone who rolls their eyes at another man's drink choice needs a swift boot upside the head. In my opinion, the best beer is the one in my hand. That happened to my Dad... he used to brew beer when we lived in Elliot Lake at least 40 years ago. He would bottle them (in stubbies,eh?) and store them in 24 packs in the hall closet. One night when Mom & Dad were out and we had a babysitter, the bottles started exploding. Poor babysitter had no idea what was going on... until the funky pool started creeping out from under the closet door. Ciao!

I do the same thing; locked my 7.5hp kicker to point straight with a small bracket mounted on the kicker plate. The 70ph main motor does an admirable job as a rudder. I'm sure the boat (18' Starcraft Holiday V) would turn tighter/faster if the kicker turned, but not sure how much I need that. With both motors down, neither hit each other at either extreme (even propellers pointing at each other). And somehow I got totally lucky and got the props within 1/2" of each other in the down position. Sheer dumb luck, 'cause after much grumbling trying to work things out, I just said "Chuck it!" and eyeballed it into place. When not in use, I have a short ratchet strap to pull it in "tilted up" position. When trailering, a couple extra clicks on the ratch keeps it all snug. No pics of that; ask if you want to see my humble efforts. I plan to add a remote throttle control to the kicker. Seems fairly simple. Much more challenging: add remote FWD/NEUT/REV to it. Newbie question: I expected, for no other reason than it seemed obvious to me, there would be a latch/bolt/pin/thingy to hold the 7.5hp pointing straight (or at a a set angle). But now that I re-read what I type, perhaps unexpected/unwanted locking of a propulsion device point is a Bad Idea? So much more to read... thanks to all for the sharing!

Someone mentioned in this thread that car door window motors are a good inexpensive option. Another great source is car seat motor assemblies. More powerful motors, relatively inexpensive at your local auto wrecker. Edited to add: awesome thread! Thanks to all for the info.

Greetings! Long time envious lurker, recent registeree, first time poster. I hope this is the correct place to ask. This summer I've moved up from a 12' tinny to a Starcraft 18' deep V hull. Older but in good shape and getting lots of fishing improvements; 2 electric downriggers being the biggest addition. I hope to use them shortly on Lake Simcoe and then later (maybe next year) Lake Ontario and Erie. My primary interest is pickerel/walleye and trout. Salmon seems a bit out of reach now. My existing electronics are likewise "small boat, casual fishing" level too: Eagle Cuda 300 fish finder - pretty much the lowest cost unit I could find 7 years ago; served me well, but I think I need an upgrade. Magellan Sportrak handle GPS (see picks below); again, very simple, purchased before GPS was everywhere. Asus 7" tablet with Navionics US & Canada - other that screen readability issue, seems to be quite the bargain for $15 or so. Since I'm not (yet) deeply invested in this, I'd like to upgrade some of this cost-effectively; when the bug digs deep I'll go for the really good stuff. I'm thinking either: 1) Purchase a Verilux T-Box SP200 SonarPhone T-BOX to make the tablet a combo chart plotter & fish finder; very inexpensive, simple to add. Might get a 10" tablet once I know it works well. 2) Purchase a suitable low-to-mid range combo device; budget: C$400. Used/refurbed to get something up-scale but in my budget. Eliminate the tablet, keep the ancient SportTrak handheld GPS for backup. 3) Purchase a combo device that lacks GPS but can use the SportTrak's NMEA data as input. Perhaps an older, used model that was good for it's time but didn't have onboard GPS due to cost (at the time). Opinions? I'm specifically interested in the opinions on the table/Navionics/SonarPhone T-Box combination. To me, with zero chartplotter knowledge, this seems like a fantastic device, especially since the tablet is essentially free (it was bought for normal tablet purposes, so I consider it already paid for) and the $15 for Navionics is virtually free, even if that's a yearly cost (am I the only one confused by their pricing?). The $150 for the SonarPhone T-Box would be the only significant cost to me. But, is it any good? Is it 50% as good as a dedicated device? 20%? 90% Any input appreciated!