Gerry

Happened to the wife and I a few times also. Last summer I get a call on my cell while driving down the lakein the boat. The bank wanted to know if I booked a vacation with Travelocity for $1,200 in Morrocco. I only wish! They declined the purchase, cancelled the card and issued a new one. In this case I was pretty certain where my card was compromised. It was at a well known restaurant chain where the waitress gave me some story about the wireless card machine being broken and had to take my card back to the register. I gave this info to the card company but don't know if anything came of it.

Wife called me at worked a few years ago asking if I had a secret gambling problem. Seems that her card was charged $400 for an online betting place. In another case her card was charged $700 from Apple online....we don't own Apple stuff. Most, if not all, of these transactions get charged back to the merchant and it's up to them to chase down the crooks.

I've had very poor luck with Can Tire chargers. In fact, I cooked 2 very good deep cycle batteries with one recently. Never again will I buy anything from Can Tire that requires it to be plugged in. I now own a couple of CTEK chargers and these work quite well.

I'll go against the grain here and state that 2 stroke, DFI engines are better in the higher HP ranges, i.e. 150HP and up. The newer DFI 2 strokes are as good or better in fuel economy and emissions, while the power to weight ratio puts the 2 strokes at a definate advantage. To say that a 4 stroke is better overall is simply not correct. I've attached a couple of indepedent articles on this issue and I would advise anyone to read them carefully. I have owned DFIs', Mercury Optimax (225HP), and I must state that in my experience they have been very reliable and best for me. I insist on good acceleration throughout the power band and in my opinion 2 strokes deliver this much better than 4 strokes. in the lower HP range, i.e. under 70HP, 4 stroke is the better option except for weight. In the 70HP to 150HP range, it's a tossup. I also own a 4 stroke kicker motor and these are better for trolling applications.

http://www.idofishing.com/forum/showflat.php/Number/20670/fpart/1/dfi-2-stroke-vs-4-stroke-outboards

http://www.allatsea.net/southeast/outboard-engine-roundup-examining-todays-two-stroke-engines/,

Wayne,

I have the 5.0L. I looked very closely at the Ecoboost and did plenty of 'real world' research on it. The results showed that the fuel consumption was the same for both. I test drove both before and I was really impressed with the power of the Ecoboost, practically the same power as the 5.0L. The Ecoboost's rated HP is 365, while the 5.0 is 360. What swayed me to stick with the 5.0L was that Ford wanted $2k more for the Ecoboost with no advantage in fuel savings or pulling power. Some say they'll reap the rewards on resale, that the 5.0L will depreciate more but I'm not convinced that this will be the case......but I have been wrong before so who knows.

In any case they are both really nice trucks, the power difference from my 2006 5.4L is amazing.

Lew, I left a little early that day so I was actually ahead of you.

Lew,

Congrats on the new truck. It looks very much like mine:

My wife drives a 2007 Nissan Altima 3.5 with the CVT and we've not had any issues with it after 120,000kms. That thing is sweet and I would never want to go back to the old style.

I've got one of these on board my boat and it seems to work fine. My link It's a bit pricey but it does what it claims to do....delivers 14 volts at anything over 1000 RPMs'.

I have the same issue in that I don't have power available and I stay for 3 - 4 weeks at a time without accesss to electicity. Haven't had any issues with dead trolling batteries and I'm on them all the time. The thing though is that you're not going to get a lot of charge if you make short runs with the big motor.

I'll pipe in here although I'm no expert. Firstly, I don't understand why Goodyear Marathons get bad comments. I've had them on 2 boat trailers, one I owned for 6 years, and this one is now 5 years old. I've never had any issues and they perform very, very well. Most problems stem from rubber deterioration caused by exposure to sun. All tires have this problem which is why one should cover tires when parked outside and for extended periods. All tires should be replaced at regular intervals regardless of tread wear. This is usually not a problem with cars because we wear them out before they deteriorate.

Prior to these 2 boats I had to replace belted tires on a prior one. Since I never liked the performance of belted tires I started looking into getting radials. In doing my research it was explained to me that trailer tires have stiffer walls than car tires because trailers, not only boat trailers, don't have suspensions that cars have. Cars have shock absorbers, torsion bars, coil springs. etc. that all dampen the shock of hitting potholes and such stuff. Cars can operate safely with softer tires because of these suspension aids. Softer tires are desirable in cars because they soften the ride and run quieter. Trailers, as we all know, only have leaf springs and these give very little dampening effects. When car tires are used on trailers they collapse too much when hitting holes and bumps thereby creating excessive wear and possibly damaging the walls, and thereby producing dangerous driving conditions. A damaged wall can explode and we all know what that means. Soooo, I get the proper tires for the application.....the last thing I want is being responsible for taking lives.

My 2 cents and that's worth what you paid for it.

Lew,

Just came back from Sturgeon Falls on Monday and as stated only 15 minutes of 2 lane at reduced speed of 70km/h. Sure is nice for those of us who just want to get there and back.

A CPAP unit will only last 2 - 3 nights on a typical Group 27 deep cycle battery....trust me....I know. A larger battery would last longer but with the downside of added weight. I would try to rent a small Honda generator (inverter series) and a small battery pack supplied by the CPAP company. Any way you look at it, it will be somewhat expensive. The problem with using the outfitter's generator is that, in all likelihood, it'll produce "dirty" power, not suitable for your CPAP unit. Most lower cost generators are not designed to power sensitive electronic equipment and may, in fact, damage them. I also have sleep apnea, and I wouldn't take the gamble of going on this trip.

2006 F150 FX4

2012 F150 Lariat

Very nice rig. Now you're making me miss my Triton (TR21/225 Opti) that I used to own. Enjoy.

IMO, any one of those places is great. But Lew's is best because he's 'in the middle of everywhere'!

Now that there is funny.

The gas is terrible compared to other styles of boat out there.

Now that's a whole lot of nonsense. Bassboats are actually better than deep V types and other heavy designs. Bassboats skim the surface of the water thereby reducing drag. Having owned one for many years I can attest to this with absolute certainty. My current boat is much less fuel efficient due mostly to the weight and design.

Now, as far as not wanting to buy a "money pit"......well, for $4,500 to $6,000 range you will likely do just that. Have you priced a new one in the size that you've mentioned? They are probably running in the high $20Ks to low $30K range, or more. If a guy (or lady) is letting theirs go for $5K, they've probably used it all up. I'm assuming of course, that you're thinking of getting the motor with it.

From the description these are Carpenter ants. The nest needs to be found or you'll never be rid of them. Usually they bore into damp, softened wood emanating from a previous leak. Have you had a leak, plumbing issues in the past? Could have been as along as a couple of years ago. How about a window leaking or roof, shower? The nest could be anywhere in the house, behind a wall and in a stud or 2. I had this issue some 20 years ago. Had the whole house fumigated...twice! And I still ended up with the same problem. Oh, they disappeared for a while after the extermintaors did their thing, but it didn't last for more than 6 months. We finally found the nest, by accident, while repairing a shower stall. We ended up having the cut out the stud and take it outside and place the piece into a big bucket of water. We replaced the stud and never saw another aunt for the 9 years that we continued to own the house.

They are carpenter ants.....I'm positive.

yes, but surge brakes are no good for backing up hills, require messy flushing, useless if the trailer decides to wag side to side, no good for hilly terrain, and i like having total control. i've compared them both and there's far more advantages with electric than surge, even if i do need to watch the electrics closer.

 

 

i have the plates on my axles for mounting brakes so i'll be buying quality electric brakes this summer sometime.

I guess you haven't had a trailer with surge brakes lately, huh? They all have a switch out solenoid that deactivates the brakes when backing up. And flushing? Really? I've owned trailers with surge brakes for the past 15 years....never had to do that once.

If you want brakes on a boat trailer, get surge brakes. Electric brakes is a bad idea for trailers that will be submerged. Surge brakes system is what all manufacturers put on their trailers.

I've had many aluminum boats, the last one being a Lund ProV. My last 2 boats have been glass, including the current one you see in the picture. As has been mentioned, each have their place. If you are bumping it against rocks and such aluminum is the way to go. A dent in aluminum is relatively easy to repair, not so in fiberglass. Fiberglass cannot tolerate any flexing, so if you have a poorly build glass boat you'll get a lot of cracking of the gelcoat which is expensive to repair. Glass boats tend to be heavier so you need more power to push them. However, the well built, high-end aluminum boats are almost as heavy as a glass boat. As far as ride goes, I would say that glass boats are generally smoother. I agree with what some have said in that it depends on hull design. If you're jumping waves the subsequent pounding will be better absorbed in a glass boat... at least, that's been my experience. If your playground will be L. Erie then I would strongly suggest to get a quality glass boat. Some aluminum boats are very well made, i.e Lund, so they will also do well on the great lakes. But they tend to give a wetter ride mainly because of the way the hulls are designed.

As far as the "absorbing water" comment....well, I didn't know glass boats were sponges.

SUVs' are IMO not really good for towing something as heavy as your Lund. I used to own a ProV which weighed about the same as yours and towed it with an Explorer, 5.0L V8. The vehicle pulled it well enough but trying to stop it was a whole other story. One time I was kind of daydreaming and didn't react to an upcoming stop sign as soon as I should have. So I had to hit the brakes harder than usual and the boat suddenly gained what appeared to be about 10 tons of weight. Although the ABS was working the brakes correctly and I still blew right through the stop.....luckily not hitting anyone. I did get some angry stares. From that point on I insisted on having brakes on the trailer and getting a bigger vehicle. I know have an F150.

The other thing with an SUV is that they have a short wheelbase. This creates a lot of bouncing from the tongue weight which makes the ride uncomfortable.

Just something to chew on.

Now that's terrible. The water isn't very deep there, its a shallow ramp. Its mind boggling why the occupants couldn't have gotten out.

Your RPMs at WOT should be 5500. Your prop is too big. You could try raising the jackplate but watch your water pressure. Don't fool with it if you don't have a water pressure guage. Also, a 115 can only deliver so much, I would expect to see no more than 45 mph. As you raise the jackplate you will get more slip which will counteract your quest for more speed. Hope this helps.

Blaque, that 'rumble' could be the same issue that I'm talking about. The guys on that forum describe it as a vibration. It seems to affect only those with a 2 piece driveshaft, which is only found on the longer box models. Is that what you have? Some said that it could be a driveshaft balancing issue but Ford, it looks like, has yet to get a handle on the problem.

Thanks guys. I should have been a bit more specific, this problem only affects the 2011 and 2012 model years. And it shows up at very low speeds, like at 10 kph or so. It appears that it has something to do with rear axle wrap but they're not sure. There are 2 cases in which the problem is so significant that the owners have returned the vehicles under the Lemon Law rules. Also, I believe that it affects only the longer box models, not the 5.5 ft.

So, if anyone has these models please let us know what your experience has been.

I'm thinking of trading in my 2006 FX4 for a 2012 F150 Lariat, 4x4, 5.0L, Screw, 5.5 box. In doing my research I've uncovered a nagging and ongoing problem. The guys over at Ford-Trucks.com talk about a vibration (shudder) at low speeds and when weighted down, and that Ford doesn't have a fix for this yet. Anyone here care to comment? I know Lew and Wayne each have these trucks.....do you fellows have or had this issue?