John Bacon

I plan to take the train ride up the Agawa Canyon. I will need a place to stay for the night in Sault. Does anybody have any recommendations? Nothing fancy, just a need a place to sleep. We plan to head home through Michegan and cross back into Ontario through Detroit. I plan a visit to Cabela's. Are there any points between Sault & Detroit that we should make a point of seeing?

I would be cautious about using antifreeze. I understand that dogs (and I would assume other animals) drink it and it is fatal to them.

I was told to tie a piece of string to the strap to stop the buzzing sound. I guess there is more than one way to skin a cat. Canadian tire sells inflatable roof racks. I think they are about $100 on sale. They may be a good choice for your van.

I don't think the extra weight will have much impact. With an 800 lb boat, 250 lb motor, 2 batteries, anchor, electic bow mount, 2 or 3 people, and a bunch more equipment; how much difference is another 40 pounds of gas going to make? Disadvantage - you are required to carry a fire extinguisher. Advantage - if your boat catches on fire you can put it out because you have a fire extinguisher on board Advantage - increase range, less clutter in the boat

Shoppers sells distilled water. Your battery may not be the same though. Usually water is added to top the battery up after loosing water due to evaporation. If you spilled a significant amount of acid and you re-fill it, your battery will be full of water instead of acid. If you only spilled a little it may not be too much of a problem.

If there is a Costco in your area try there. The usually have them for $200 to $250.

You can buy brackets that attach to the transom via a screw clamp. It wouldn't be too difficult to make something similar if you didn't want to buy.

Yes, that is correct.

If it's the one I remember on Georgian Bay he sank because he tried to reverse into the waves instead of cutting his lines.

There isn't one limit for the boat. Each member of the team would have a seperate limit. Each angler can possess six bass, but if they want to cull they can only keep five in the well. A touranment could allow each angler on the boat keep a limit of five; they would have to be able to identify which angler each bass belongs to. It would not be legal for one angler to keep seven and the other three. But when there is money on the line and it is difficult to prove it's going to happen. I think it's best if they keep the boat limit to five so there is no worry about who caught which fish.

And if you forget to bring your license with you on a fishing trip you have to pay a bigger fine than a guy who doesn't even have a license to begin with. Go figure.

I believe that is why most tournaments have a five fish limit instead of six. Generally speaking culled fish count towards your daily limit. I.e. any fish that is put in your livewell any released later in the day would count towards your daily limit. The MNR recently added an exception to this rule for live release tournaments. I am not sure if the exception applied to all tournaments or if there is some sort of approval process to be eligible for the exemption.

Nice work... a lot prettier than my setup.

I am pretty sure there are big mouth buffalo in the great lakes; not sure about smallmouth buffalo. I don't think they are common though.

I recently installed some Cannon downriggers. I put mine on the back, but the instructions actually recommended installing them at the front for small boats. The down riggers have clutches that should allow the cable to release. Plus, I am pretty sure the riggers would break before the boat sank.

Boat Tec in Pickering services both Motor Guide and Minn Kota motors. http://www.smartanglers.com/main/node/7097

I always like to stay more than a casting distance from other boaters, preferably two casting lengths. So, unless you rented an exceptionaly long boat, I would have gone around the outside and stayed far enough away that you could have casted in my direction without hitting my boat.

If you are only planning to keep a boat for two years, you may want to consider buying second hand. Otherwise your going to take a big hit on depreciation. A two year old boat will sell for a lot less than new... a seven year old boat may not be much cheaper than a five year old boat.

You have nothing to lose by trying. The screw through the top is a good idea. Then reinforce it with epoxy. I use a solid epoxy, I think its called QuickBond, it is bar shaped with a dark centre and a lighter coloured outside. Simply cut off as much as you need then kneed it like doe. It is quite strong.

Correct, I have owned $6 glasses that were polorized and Ray Banns that sold for over $200 that are not polorized. I don't think there is much of a correlation between price and whether glasses are polorized.

Fill it first then charge it. After charging check the levels and top up if necessary.

Aren't thermostats standard on water cooled motors?

I bought a boat last fall; I ended up with a Princecraft Holiday SC DLX. I think it offered the best bang for the buck. I purchased mine from Central Outboard Marine in Markham. They seem like a good dealer. If you go with Legend you will not only have to upgrade the motor but also pay extra for windshield, side bunks, etc. All these things were included with my Princecraft so the price ended up about the same. I think Princecraft is a nicer boat. Regardless of which boat you buy you can expect to pay about $1,200 to $1,500 extra for freight, rigging, etc. Kind of like buying a car; the advertised price is only a starting point. In financial terms, I think a 2 stroke is a better deal. You can save $2,600 + tax by buying a 50 hp 2 stroke verses a 50 hp 4 stroke. I don't think the 4 stroke will save $3k in gas or net an extra $3k at resell time. Four strokes will polute less; you can decide if it is worth paying extra for that.

I don't have pictures at the moment but I ran a 2x6" accross the gunnels used bolts and short pieces of 2x6" to secure the plank to the gunnels. All surfaces that touch the boat are carpeted and I didn't have to put holes in the boat. Plus I can attach more rod holders etc. to the plank.

I don't think it is worth trying to use your gas motor to charge the battery for your bow mount. The gas motor will only supply a fraction of the energy needed to fully recharge the battery. You will still have to use a proper battery charge anyway.