bigbuck

Wayne, if you do think about making these, put me down for 6. That way I can give them out as presents for our annual Muskoka Pike Opener in May to the boys.

They look like a pretty decent fishing tool. I think with just the sales from OFC'ers, it would be worth someone's time and effort. Also, if whomever gets Muskies Canada on board....... It could be a fun way to make some extra cashola.

M A R K E T I N G!!!!!

Like Misfish said, in golf you need a new driver every two years, don't worry that it costs $500 or more with a custom shaft (and you only use the damn thing 14 times AT MOST). Spend on the one you use 36 times or more per round, the lowly putter.

In fishing, old timers had 2 maybe 3 rods that they used to fish for everything. Now, how many rod/reel combos do you guys have?? I'm around 14 or so not counting the 3-4 old rods/reels I have and no longer use. Hey, I'm legal to go golfing with that many rods/reels.......

With lures, how many in your tackle box do you actually use?? I have tons that I have accumulated over the past 20 years that have been wet only once or twice.

There are sooo many copycats out there and "What's Old Is Now New".

Bottom line, buy whatever your little heart desires and GET OUT FISHING!!

Hopefully they lick this thing and you'll be back out there washing lures in the summer. Hang in there!!

Legend's are not bad but once you upgrade the motor to something more appropriate for the size of boat (Legend is notorious for underpowering their boats), the price starts to look more like a Lund or Crestliner, Princecraft, Alumacraft and the like.

I'm hoping to go with the kids on Saturday morning, my oldest was devastated on the weekend because she was sick and we could not go. It's a great way to kill a day with or without your kids in the middle of winter.

You can remove the carburetor if you are fairly mechanically inclined and give it a good spraying of carburetor cleaner down the throat (opening) and shake it around a bit. Sounds like you have a stuck float, they get gummed up when the fuel evaporates and the oil mix stays. OR, you can spray Carb Cleaner down the throat of the carb with it still attached, spray till you pretty much fill up the carb and wait a while before you try to fire it up (an hour or two), add fuel with some Seafoam (on special at Canadian Tire this week for under $10) and try to fire it up.

IN THE SPRING, store it with stabilizer added to the fuel and run it for 10 minutes with the stabilizer so it can do it's magic in the carb.

Rick, sorry to hear about your loss. Hang in there.

I guess Subway buys him the boat and all the fixin's. It's their contest, not really Dave's. It would be nice though............

Bell is a pain in the butt!! I had issues for a few years with my internet connection here at home. I'm not a big downloader so slow speeds were not too much of an issue until we upgraded our back office software suite and my slow and unreliable connection along with static on the phone line became unbearable. After several calls they sent a tech out who checked the wiring and found that it was a mess from the box all the way to my house, he cleaned it up and said I was good to go, I was getting great signal outside, I never thought to ask him what the signal was inside. A week later and tech #2 comes on over to see what he can do, turns out there was an old bell box inside the house that he had no idea what it was. He removed it and rewired the distribution block and gave me a new modem since the old one was pooched according to him. Voila, I have good speed, no static and a much more reliable connection now. All depends on the guy that comes in.

With all the people you have helped over the years, it's good to see some of that goodwill pay back for you. Money isn't everything boys and girls, remember that.

BTW, get better.

Shell is the only gasoline out there that does not have ethanol in it's Premium 91Octane fuel FOR NOW. Sunoco/Petro Canada has ethanol in all of it's gas. There is not much we can do about this issue now other than live with it and it's consequences. ANY gasoline sitting for more than 90 days should have a stabilizer put in it whether it be Stabil, Stabil Marine, Startron or Seafoam (not the greatest stabilizer, it's the greatest cleaner...taken from various posts in iboats.com).

I stock up on Stabil Marine Formula every time Canadian Tire puts it on special. You get it for $18-19 +hst. Supposedly it treats 1200L of fuel. I put some in my lawnmower/snowblower gas since a 10L jerry can lasts the whole summer and then some going into the winter for the snowblower. Better to be safe then sorry. Overtreating is fine, all you'll do is just clean out your fuel system which isn't a bad thing. $20 for the year to avoid problems in all your boats/small engines is good insurance, like BigCliff said, 80% of the problems he sees are fuel system related that could have been avoided by using a stabilizer.

We had one burn down on Dundas here in Oakville down the road from me a couple of years ago. The developer couldn't build on the site with it there and it had to be 'Preserved', with a gallon of gas and a match.

I'm not going to even start in on this one............

Bloated bureaucray, ineptitude, stupidity, incompetence...........

How many people are on the Sunshine List (those earning $100k+)??

Too Young!! My condolences to you and your family. Remember the good times.

Horse hockey!!! This is typical mindless stupidity on the MNR and Provincial Government. I'd contact my local MPP and let him/her know about this. Esp. if they are part of the opposition. Complain complain complain!!! Our bureaucracy has become so big and bloated that it is coming to this. Paying good money for NO SERVICE! When will the gov't realize that the money collected by the licenses is to be used for the MNR, not Dalton's (or whoever's for that matter) pork barrel projects. I like E-health, too bad I never bid on something I never intended to do anything about other than collect a few cheques for absolutely nothing.

In a park it is a different story. I know if most of my neighbours had gennies going, it would be pretty loud and not enjoyable. Thankfully, the longest we went without power was about 5-6 hours so no big deal. Mind you, I'm in a small park with only 8 trailers with plenty of space in between. Get yourself a good unit. As mentioned above, cheap ones are just that, they will fry your electronics and that gets costly. If it means waiting a couple of months to save up a bit extra, go that route so you don't regret it later, buying a piece of junk will cost you more because you'll end up having to buy something decent later.

Run an extension cord out to it.

Also, if you run the furnace for any length of time, you will run the battery down in no time. The fan draws quite a bit of power.

I'd look at 3000+ watts. No sense in having a trailer with bells and whistles that you can't use. You are better off having more power than you need than having less and blowing fuses and whatnot.

My sincerst condolences to his family and friends. He fought long and hard and can rest now.

I picked up one of the Canadian Tire Intelligent battery maintainers (the 2 amp) and charge up my 2 deep cycles for the boat and the deep cycle from the trailer once a month. I hook it up to each battery for a couple of days and let it do it's thing. We will see how long the batteries last.

For the $20 I spent on it, I figured it was a good investment. This way, I can leave the chargers up north and keep the little guy at home for when I need it.

Good for you Lew!! Our special ladies deserve something nice once in a while. I snuck out my wife's engagement ring and wedding bands out of her jewellery box and had them soldered together earlier this year (she doesn't wear them to work). It blew her away and earned me some serious brownie points but more importantly, the look on her face and how excited and happy she was was worth it.

We had 17 guests for Christmas on top of the 4 of us and it was a great fun day, the kids had a blast. Now, we've got leftover turkey for the next week (we had a 30lb bird).

A 4.3 Volvo Penta with an SX outdrive is a great setup (I have one in my 19ft fish'n ski). It will last for years and years and years if maintained properly. I see a lot of 1970's vintage and 1980's boats on GBay with I/O's that get yearly service and lots of use. Original engine, original drive(unless they banged off a rock). I don't see very many old outboards bigger than 9.9's from the 70's. The bellows every 4-5 years and make sure you bottom paint it each season with antifouling paint.

I cut meat since I was 13 all the way through university. I can tell you this, the most flavourful juicy steak is a nice thick 1.5-2 inch Rib Steak (gotta have the bone for the extra flavour it imparts to the meat). Only some Garlic Salt and a bit of black pepper cooked over Sugar Maple.

Meat is different now then it was in the early 90's and earlier. Back then, we used to dry age it for a minimum of 21 days before breaking up the hinds and fronts. Now it comes precut in boxes and is wet aged. Don't let anyone and I mean anyone tell you that wet aging is better. The old school steakhouses used to dry age their own meat in their coolers until mould was growing on the fat. Once cut and trimmed, those steaks didn't need a knife, a fork would suffice.

With boxed beef these days, butchers are increasingly becoming a rare breed. My old neighbour who owns Upper Cut Meats in the St Lawrence market laments that he can't find a good boner (yeah yeah, don't laugh, that is the guy who makes the money for the butcher shops, he trims the steaks and bones and makes hamburger). All the big chain stores sell boxed beef or pre cut pre packaged beef. At most, they just need someone to slice it and package it. Ask these guys to break up a hind and they'll look at you kinda funny. Back in the days of Knob Hill Farms, we kept the chain stores honest on their pricing, anyone price out steaks lately??? They are more than double what they used to be and you know what, the farmers are getting the same money for the cows if not less, go figure. The money is all going to the packers and retailers. We are getting hosed.

As for the poster above who buys the reduced steaks that are grey on the verge of going green, you've got the right idea. BUT don't cook a green steak, that's gone bad or is pretty close, don't take the chance on that. Grey and dark are more preferable than bright red. The problems these days with E Coli are serious and are only going to get worse with the corn fed beef we have now, cows aren't supposed to be fed corn, they are supposed to eat grass. Feed them what they are supposed to eat and then they don't need antibiotics, grass diets reduce E Coli by over 95%. Only problem, grass diets result in more inconsistent and slightly tougher meat something which we as a society don't like. We want our steaks and all our food for that matter to look perfect.

Happy BDay TJ!! May you have a full stringer.

Barefoot, I'd run it for around a half hour or so at LOW RPM, don't rev it up too much with a can of Seafoam in the crankcase. Do it the next time you do an oil change, any crud should be flushed out of your engine. Another thing you should do is take it out for a good highway run (a couple of hours or so), that should break up any junk too. Modern motor oil is designed with lots of anti sludge and plenty of detergent additives to keep your engine clean. Really, you don't need to do Seafoam your engine. Do your next couple of oil changes earlier than your regular service interval (5000kms) and you'll have cleaned it out.