porkpie

Didn't you buy a Lund Baron?? LOL..... anyway, there are lots of things we overpay for in life. I have had a pair of maui's for 5 years, and in that time they have replaced the lenses for free due to scratches, at no cost, and they replaced the same pair entirely when my youngest son ripped them in half for me one day. With no questions asked, after I was upfront with them as to what happened. I find them to be excellent sunglasses. I didn't pay anything close to $300 for mine either! To each their own, I will be heading in to costco to see about a spare set of Maui's! No doubt you regularily enjoy your indulgences too!

Just bought a belt drive yamaha myself. I would be more worried that its a Polaris than the fact it's a belt.... LOL!! Seriously though, we have a couple belt drive autos in our hunt camp, and they seem to do pretty well! I wouldn't be concerned!

He is a cute kid! Congrats!

I store all my rods and reels up in the roof of my garage. Never an issue!

Yowza.... Well, it's a good while till opener yet!

I use the improved clinch on everything including superlines. If I am using braids etc. I just increase the amount of wraps on the line. Never had issues with knot failure. Worth a try anyway, as its a simple knot and it works!

Make sure you put on hand out the window to hold it down....... LOL

Perhaps neither of the gentlemen have the skills to do the job, that could also be a factor. I am very mechanically inclined, however if you asked me to nail 2 boards together, I could just barely pull it off! The man is looking for shop suggestions, not DIY advice. OP, sorry I don't have info, but if it where myself looking, I would call marinas in my area who specialize in sales and service until I found one willing to do the install!

Princess auto LED light kits. They are fantastic, and they go on sale pretty regularily!

You really won't be happy, and it's false economy. I used to run a 16 foot tinner, with snap in floors and nothing else. No rod lockers, no hatches no casting decks. Just a troller up front, 2 downriggers and a couple of batteries. The boat was powered by a 30hp 2 stroke. It was great with just me, but if I had 2 passengers and a load of gear, I had to slap a different prop on in order to get up on step quickly and of course i lost top end this way. That same 30hp 2 stroke was on a 14 foot boat previously, and that boat had floors, rod lockers and hatches as well as a raised casting deck. The boats ran roughly the same speed, as all the extra wood in the 14 weighed it down. The 30hp 2 stroke did all I needed for the most part, on a pretty plain Jane 16 foot tin boat with a floor installed, but a 20 would have been barely getting by. You put that same 20 on a heavy 16 foot boat with floors and rod lockers/decks etc. and it will be a total dog. Wait on your tin boat, or get dealer to deliver, or have him find you another utility that suits and is available now. You will lose money trying to sell bits and parts later, and be less than happy with the performance in the meanwhile. Just my opinion.

I haven't fished there in years either, always stopped at that hole before trying to find myself a spot to fish at that crazy dam!

Yes, under the old mill bridge is a year round open season.

I have camped at Emily many times, and at balsam and finlayson as well. I never felt comfortable leaving my lund at the dock overnight, so yanked it every day. Now that I have just a 14 foot tinner with a 15hp, I will occasionally leave it at thr dock overnight, but completely stripped and chained to the dock. The camp staff will warn you straight out of the potential for theft! Just an FYI

You really only need 2 rods max, and really if you just want to fish a few times a year, you could find a medium action 6-10 rated 10.5 foot rod, and do everything with it, including float fish, bottom bounce and plug or spoon chucking! With the use of fluorocarbon leader material, gone are the days when we used the 3lb leads. My minimum is 6lb now, and I will use 8lb depending on conditions. There is no need for a boatload of equipment, unless of course you are into speys.........lol. Like anything though, the more involved you are in the sport, the more likely you are to spend a boatload of money. As far as chasing fish? It would have to be a mighty big fish to move me more than 20 feet from where I was standing!

I fish for trout. I used to fish for everything, but my life is too hectic, other than a very occasional pickerel or panfish trip, so primarily just trout when hunting doesn't get in the way. Sold my big boat and the works about 5 years ago, don't regret it...... often lol!

Your looking at a money pit. I would definately have the VRO motor looked over well, and I would have it disconnected and run mix if that's not already been done. Some of them hung on, but lots of them went for a dump and took the motor with them! As for the boat? Old smokers are pretty tight vessels! A buddy of mine has a phazer from approx the same vintage and it is still kicking along nicely. Just by way of example for horsepower though, his is 18 feet and powered by a 115. You might be way underpowered with a 40, they are heavy boats! As for the rest of it, well, I'd chew on it, sure you can do the work, and update everything. You may hit your targeted budget or it may run you a fair bit more. If its worth it to you, and your not looking for turnkey, well why not! Everyone likes a project! Just make sure there is no hull damage and the outboard is solid first. Further, look up the specs from smoker and see what their minimum horsepower recommendation was for that hull!

Lead shot is most definately still sold in Ontario, it's likely New York State your thinking of! dinssmore and the like is generally more expensive, slips on line, difficult to run it on larger diameter line, which wasn't an issue back in the day using 6lb mainline, but these days using 10lb, I've even had shot fall of the line occasionally. The water gremlin shot has been serving my needs for many many years! I don't do anything to blacken the shot, and haven't found it to affect my success rates, but the key to steelheading is finding a rig your confident in, and that is adaptable to many different waters, and pounding it! Sure you have to change it up now and then, but confidence in your meat and potatoes rig will win the day most often! I didn't know about the liquid plumber trick.... That's a good one! I don't think the smell would make a difference on way or the other, probably rinse right off!

Water gremlin!!!!!! Dinsmore shot, and others like it are a pain in the arse!

I think Honda stopped putting a pull start on their machines in the last few years. One reason I'm looking at other bikes for my new one. However I think it has something to do with EFI, so it may not make a difference?

Nm...... Edit

I had carpet in my old rebel. Went with vinyl in my next lund. Not much of a fan of carpet, but I don't fish barefoot and I don't have a dog fishing with me, so those are non-issues.

Served them right! They were told, and new full well what they where doing!

Yeah, we all know.... but, you know.... Someone else might take something away from the thread. I did! Cheers!

If your a trail rider and mud bogger, I too would go with a big bike. If your a backwoods fisherman, hunter and generally more of an outdoorsman than you are a rider, the smaller 400 class utility 4x4 is probably the way to go. We beat the hell out of ours back lake fishing and hunting deep in the woods, and the Honda/Yammie utility classes are darn near unkillable, and will still drag a moose, or a bush buggy full of oversized hunters or fishermen! Deep mud? We go around, big log in trail? Stihl comes of the front of the bike! Utility classes work for us, but sure if I wanted to go on a long long ride, or play in the mud all day I'd look at bigger machines! I would not however, look at a Polaris!

Couldn't read past the first paragraph, but nice fish nonetheless.