aplumma

If he didn't have any money then he would be a little short..... Art

good to hear a happy resolution from Shakespeare good on you. Art

If he already has tilt trim then he has the advantage of being set back into clean water. The jack plate is not needed if the motor is set up correctly meaning the depth of the motor at full throttle is correct. If he is thinking to be able to trim it up to the edge of performance then he will be a slave to watching the cooling and cavatation of the motor. Backing plates and stiffeners can easily be added to aluminum boats if he decides to put one on. The gain will be minimum and the headache will start. I removed a jackplate from my 18ft aluminum jetdrive and put a tilt trim on with no loss of performance but gained in the ability to run shallows and clear the intake of the pump. Art

Power tilt and trim would be a better option it sets the motor back into clean water and controls the angle of thrust as well as allowing raising the motor in the shallows. Jack plates once set for the load in the boat rarely needs to be moved. Art

Make sure it is marine vinyl if you use floor vinyl it will mildew and be very slick. I have carpet and vinyl in my boat the casting deck is carpet so it does not heat up in the sun and the driver area is vinyl for landing fish. The areas you plan on covering with vinyl does need to be prepped for installation. The carpet will cover up lots of bumps and blems that will show thru the vinyl. I also found that making a template out of craft paper cutting and taping as needed and then cutting the vinyl 1/2 inch larger easier to manage then trimming with a razor and scissors. Art

I tow a 89 Ranger loaded with tackle and gear for a week in Canada every year plus lots of 2 hour trips around my area. It is a 13 hour drive if we go straight thru. I am at 5500 to 6000 lbs and I tow with a 4x4 F150 Eco Boost with trailer package and 3.72 gear set. I do not even feel the boat behind me and that is what I am comfortable with. I have been cut off and made evasive actions with this load and controlled it safely without fear of causing further danger to others. Why would you accept anything less than that? I see more people up North towing boats with cars and light vans that couldn't stop if they had to than I do here in the States. The police here can and will pull you over and ticket or tow you if you are overloaded. Carpet installers and landscaping companies are huge offenders most of our tow vehicles are trucks that are rated for the job. I guess the cost of fuel is the big difference but to buy a vehicle that can't do the job you want to save a few bucks in fuel is to put a price tag on others safety. Art

No not toxic dogs eat chicken/bird poop all the time. If there are no eggs in the nest you can remove it any time you want without harming mother nature. They will build a new one else were in a day. You can also put a rubber snake in the area the nest was to keep a new one from being built. Art

If we get any more personal bashing on there opinions I will lock this. State your facts and discuss this civilly please. Art

No you can send her to Art school I can draw slightly better than that. Lol Art

Not only congratulations but thank you for remembering all of us little people. lol You deserve this for sure. Art

Listen to the voice in your head if you have a doubt as to whether your vehicle will stop or go safely then you know the answer already. I personally subscribe to the theory of "bringing a gun to a knife fight." The accident that can occur from an overloaded vehicle no matter how safe a driver you are will be yours to live with even if it was not your fault. Art

A good manual will spell out what to do as well as videos that are offered on the internet. If in doubt a post here asking for a helping hand and a promise of an all expenses paid trip to the local fishing hole should have you more offers than you need to learn how to do the more basic maintenance. Art

The issue with driving over the speed that the conditions dictate is not if you have an accident and hurt/kill yourself but what if you hurt/kill some other innocent person. That is the thing that I do not want to live with. I have before and I will risk my safety doing stupid things but I try my hardest to make sure I will be the one paying the consequences. Art

o yea we are the kings of bad food we even have this Art

I went fishing with a group a few years ago and as we played poker he was doing chez whiz finger shooters. Yup sprayed a line on his index finger and sucked it off like a harmonica. He was a real eating machine. Art

Welcome back Maureen glad to see you got the bug worked out. Art

The banjo lure are very productive as far as attracting fish but so is a senco. The down fall of the banjo is it has the hook hooked to the lip of the bait so unless the fish gets all of the bait or the front half of the bait you can get a hook up. I have fished them and watched a lot of strikes fall short of the hook but hey the strike is the best part of a catch sometimes. Art

Welcome to the board looks like you are in a good area to get some nice fish. Art

Glad one of us didn't fall for it. lol They are good lures but I think that the megabass topwater is dead even with the live target mouse. The action of the mouse is as slick as a buttered saddle. Art

Yea stinkin T.J. introduced me to megabass and my wallet has never been the same. Art

I have made many a knife that has put smiles on peoples faces using 440 SS blades. It is not a bad blade it is what 80% of the knifes people use daily are made of. Few people need/can appreciate the precision and the other attributes of the specialty metals blade. In some cases it is like ordering a custom fishing rod to fish for perch. However for the few who want a custom knife that is made for them and fits there hand and style of use it is a joy to own and use. It is hard to explain it in most cases reaches a level of craftsmanship that reaches the level of mechanical artwork. Art

live target mouse and frogs are the cats meow it is the first bait I throw in the morning or evening for bass. Art

Hope you left him a couple of matches before you left him. Art

Cliff the science of building knifes is lost on a lot of people and it is tough to show them why a knife is worth more than another knife that looks the same. The right metal on a knife makes the different on what it is worth. Some see a knife stamped 440C and have been told over the years it is the best metal for a knife. Truth is different metals, grinds and spines make one knife excellent for one job and horrible for another. Some of my high end blade makers are using a vg 10 base carbon blade wrapped with either a Titanium wrap or Stainless steel depending on there work enviroment. Once the material and the spine is decided then you can build out the knife to make it fit your hand. Once you have all of that done you then can choose the angle of the edge which depends on what it is going to be use for. A good sharpener is an investment and to do justice to a custom knife you will spend hundreds of dollars on that equipment alone. A decent set of tools and attention to detail are required once you start working with the expensive blades and materials. Some of the nicest blades I have built came from flea markets and garage sales. A few of the beat up and forgotten blades were reground or polished and then stripped. A new handle needs to be formed and pinned. Shaping and finishing is the most time consuming of process with some times only getting 2 or 3 coats of finish a day. Art

Cliff you can get them as blade stock or as a preground blade. The blade stock can be as rough as bar stock or as rough cut. Both of then are workable but you need some special machine tools such as a high speed belt grinder and a milling machine to start. Then a polisher and an angle mill to get it to resemble a blade. The heating and tempering of the blade uses a kilm to basic blacksmith tools. All in all unless you are making high end custom knifes not worth the capitol investment. The blade companies have ground/ tempered blades now a days for almost any shape and size. I pull blades from 4 or 5 suppliers that range from $15.00 to $400.00 per blade depending on material, tempering process, shape and size. Most of the time you will have between 3 - 12 hours in a knife depending on the fit and finish you want. Some of the materials used for handles are tricky to work with and are labor intensive to get a nice finished product. Art