sstout

I made sure it was out of marine plywood. Its 2 peices of marine 3/4 inch ply glued together, then covered with 2 coats of epoxy. I wanted to leave the raw wood look, so I then covered it with two coats of marine spare varnish. Last post until next weekend. After another full day of work I got it back in. Just a few little details to go and the motor is ready to be put back on. The black tape is to cover up the paint from the previous owner that was peeling off in the splashwell. It will get painted someday, but that is a whole other project haha. I'll seal it with some black caulk and it should match pretty well.

Thanks everyone. It is definitely a big job. I'm pleased with how it is coming out so far. Smat64 I couldn't open your picture for some reason. I think I know what you are talking about. When I took the corner caps off the back of the boat where the transom is, the aluminium from the top of the gunnels extended over the wood of the transom by an inch or so. That made it so the transom could nt slide up and out. I cut the aluminum back just enough to let the transom slide up with a dremel tool. I hope that makes sense. I can post a picture of the cutout. Yes to new drain tubes. I also ordered the tool to flare the ends. You put a wrench on each end of the tool and tighten, and it flares the end over. Well, I finished the last coat of varnish tonight. It goes back in tomorrow

Got the back of the boat painted today and the core covered with epoxy. Now starts putting it all back together...

Got the new core cut and glued together today. Next step is covering the wood with epoxy. I was fortunate that the old transom was still solid enough to use as a template for the new one. I'm going to paint the back of the boat while everything is off of it. 

By top plate do you mean the strip of aluminum on top of the transom and end caps? My end caps were riveted on, so I drilled them out and the strip of aluminum was held on with really small nails. Half the nails were eaither missing or just pulled right out because of how rotten the wood was

Well, I finally started it. After thinking about replacing my transom for 2 seasons now, I did it. Well, started it anyway. The boat is a 1976 starcraft holiday. I knew the corners of the transom were rotted but thought the middle was fine. I built an engine stand and with the help of my dad got both motors off. Then I disconnected everything and removed the core. Yup, corners were shot. You could push your fingers through them. The main part was sort of solid but starting to get soft. I'm guessing this is the original transom since it is in 3 pieces? Work will continue tomorrow. 2 sheets of marine ply, and some epoxy await.

Fished out of ling point early this morning. Same thing, screens were lit up. Fished from 5:30 to 9:30. Got two decent lakers running through the bait balls with sutton's. Then played with some gambler rigs on the bottom. Got two more with the largest being 30 inches. The two that took spoons were at 2.2 surface, and the two that two the gambler rig were real slow: 1.3 or 1.5 or so. 

After doing a little reading on Google, I do think it was the pyloric cecae. They did not move at all and were isolated to one organ. Thanks for the responses. 

Total newbie here. I got a nice lake trout this morning. I went to gut the fish and when I slit the belly open it looked like the stomach or intestines was surrounded my some sort of worms? I don't know how to describe it. The fish otherwise looked healthy and faught like crazy. Now that it's gutted it looks nice and clean. Have others ran into this with fish they've cleaned, and is it safe to eat? Thanls

Fished Cayuga this morning. Saw surface temps from 36.5 to 38. 

Thanks for all the feedback. Wow Frogger that looks great. I think paint is going to be the way I go. I'll have to get some of that primer to start

Thanks guys. I should be able to get a decent sized chip. What paint would work best? Does it have to be automotive paint?

As I've got spring fever, I'm thinking about either painting the gunwales of my boat or trying to cover up some of the paint chips with something. 

She's and old girl, and was re-painted by the previous owner. After years of downrigger weights scratching the paint he used, this is what it looks like.

Anyone have any ideas on how to color match boat paint? Or something to cover it up with. I've thought about blue textured vinyl. I obviously still want it to look good. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks

Hey guys, newbie here and probably a dumb question. With this warmer weather I'm thinking of hitting Cayuga lake for some perch fishing. I know taughannock bubbles the boat launch. Anybody have any experience fishing Cayuga in the winter?

I saw two guys out on Seneca today. Boy it's got me itching haha. Thanks for any answers

Hi everyone, I have a family friend looking to offload his boat. It's a 1992 galaxy 21ft walk around. It's got the 4.3 v6 with Volvo penta duo drive. Motor runs great but boat hasn't been in the water for 3 years. Also, it's been in salt water. The lower unit looks pretty narly. He made me a deal for next to nothing, I mean hundreds of dollars, to take the boat. Is that outdrive shot? Anyone have any experience with these boats

I'm hoping to head to Cayuga on saturday and wanted to target rainbows and salmon. I've been pretty consistently catching just lake trout. I can't seem to catch a rainbow, brown, or salmon. 

I've used spoons, and flasher flies. But no luck other than lake trout. I know speeds are a little higher for rainbows and salmon than lake trout. I've been setting 2 riggers, one at 70 and one at 40 both with cheaters on. 

I'm still fairly new to this and trying to sort everything out. Any ideas are much appreciated.

Cayuga 7-22

Took my 17 year old cousin out yesterday morning to try for some lakers. She had never been out on a lake the size of Cayuga before, hasnt fished much at all, and needles to say was nervous at first. Then as soon as the rod flew up, I made sure the fish was on, and handed her the rod, it all went away. She had a blast. Well, we both did. It was a great morning. Definitely one for the memory books.

Launched at long point and went north. Lots of debris in the water, and water is muddy. We did 3 lakers in 3.5 hours. Not great, but atleast she got to fight a couple.

Riggers. I hit bottom on the way down and then brought it up 2 to 3 feet. 

Gambler Rigs on fire this norning

A little back story. Went out fishing with dad two weekends ago out of Myers and didn't move a rod all morning. 

I picked up a couple Gambler rigs per suggestions, and headed out this morning to give it another shot. Major shout out to Gambler rigs. 

We launched out of long point and headed north this morning. Set up in 100-120 feet of water. Put one of the Gambler Rigs on behind a set hammerheads and couldn't keep the rod in the water. Even dad, who tends to be a little less optimistic than I am, was smiling and having fun. Fished from 630-930 and boated 11 lakers and missed two off the back of the boat. Fish were all a decent size with 3 being well over 24 inches. Definitely a day for the memory books.

I'm still fairly new to trolling and am struggling a bit. I have been fishing south of Taughannock the past couple weekends, with only 1 small laker caught last week saturday and not a rod moved today, fishing both about 5 hours each day. Any thoughts on my set up or technique would be greatly appreciated...

I am targeting both LLs and Lakers, pretty much anything that bites. I run two downriggers with cheaters, so 4 spoons total with flouro leaders on each pole. I primarily use spoons. One rigger set to 70 and the other 40, with speeds 2.0 to 2.3 on the gps. Tried trolling both north and south. I used all colors of spoons, blue, pink, purple, orange etc. Couldn't get a rod to move

Last year it seemed like I had better luck. I was thinking of trying some spin and glows to switch it up. I just want to make sure I'm not way off track with this.

Thank you!

Cayuga last weekend

Finally got some time to troubleshoot this this weekend. It was just a clog. I took a long price of wire and ran it up the tell tale hole. A bunch of little rubber pieces from the old impeller came out. I got the ears hooked to the hose and started the motor. The stream is super strong now. Must have been clogged. Thanks for the advice everyone

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I'm hoping to get to work on it tomorrow. Another bit of info, is that the motor was stored in my basement all winter. Still could be a spider nest in it I guess

When you remove the thermostat, where do you out the garden hose in? Do you put the water in where the thermostat goes? Also, I was going go remove the lower unit again to double check that everything is ok. Should i flush it with the lower unit off?

So, just replaced the entire water pump assembly. The impeller, upper and lower cases, and all gaskets this winter in my kicker motor (Tohatsu 8hp 4 stroke). Water tested it this past weekend and the stream coming out of the tell tale hole is week and sort of dribbles out. The old impeller partially melted at the top. Could there be bits of rubber blocking the water tube? There shouldn't be anything wrong with the water pump since it is all new. I appreciate any advice. Thanks!