My new Boat - Questions

Alright... I boat a boat! Yeah.....

1994 Bass Tracker 175 TX with 60hp engine. Just what I wanted!
(http://www.tampawebpages.com/Photo1.jpg)

2 Questions:

Fish Finder- I will need to buy 2, one for the dash and one for the bow.
Everyone here has always said they would not buy hummbirds but I (Like
Shawn) have been looking at the Matrix 37 and 27's. I also really like the
Eagle FishMark 480. For the dash I want a finder that will give me a real
time display of the area under the boat. I need to hunt out those ledges and
drop offs. Is resolution very important (i.e. difference between 480 and 320
pixels)? I want to spend about $250-$300 on the dash finder. The bow finder
is not as important so I want to stay under $200 on that one. It would be
nice to stay with the same brand in case I later want to explore using one
transducer for both finders but this is not a big concern. (BTW- I have a
$100 gift certificate from Cabalas but can look elsewhere). Also, the boat
has a mount and transducer to a Humminbird installed, just no fishfinder
unit. I fish in Florida and lakes are mainly 5'-10' deep but I do fish some
phosphate mines which can be 30' deep. So power is not a big deal.

Trolling Motor - has a Motorguide Four 43lbs, hand operated motor. I was
really looking forward to getting back to foot operation but it's what was
on the boat. For those that use (and for some reason, like) hand operated
trolling motors, does anyone use the BigFoot arm that connects to the shaft
of the motor? Like it? I was looking at those aluminum rods that clamp on...
but for $50-$60? Ouch. I plan on mounting two BigFoot momentary foot
switches, one on either side of the deck, to turn it on and off. I have one
on my present boat and like it very much. So it's just a question of how
best/easiest to turn the direction of the motor. Later I might work on
swapping it out for a foot controlled motor.

Oh, I pick the boat up on Saturday. Take a look at the picture... is that
really a cup holder built into the cover of the engine? Some of the
carpeting on the front deck is ripped and the prior owner installed some
newer carpeting on top of old carpet. They did a good job but it's just not
"right". I plan on removing the deck and recarpeting it. Later, I'll be
recarpeting the rest of the boat. Anyone do this on a Tracker? how had is it
to move the deck in order to do this? If possible, I also want to seal the
wood on the deck with lacquer.

Todd Copeland wrote:
Alright... I boat a boat! Yeah.....

1994 Bass Tracker 175 TX with 60hp engine. Just what I wanted!
(http://www.tampawebpages.com/Photo1.jpg)

2 Questions:

Fish Finder- I will need to buy 2, one for the dash and one for the
bow.
Everyone here has always said they would not buy hummbirds but I
(Like
Shawn) have been looking at the Matrix 37 and 27's. I also really
like the
Eagle FishMark 480. For the dash I want a finder that will give me a
real
time display of the area under the boat. I need to hunt out those
ledges and
drop offs. Is resolution very important (i.e. difference between 480
and 320
pixels)? I want to spend about $250-$300 on the dash finder. The bow
finder
is not as important so I want to stay under $200 on that one. It
would be
nice to stay with the same brand in case I later want to explore
using one
transducer for both finders but this is not a big concern. (BTW- I
have a
$100 gift certificate from Cabalas but can look elsewhere). Also, the
boat
has a mount and transducer to a Humminbird installed, just no
fishfinder
unit. I fish in Florida and lakes are mainly 5'-10' deep but I do
fish some
phosphate mines which can be 30' deep. So power is not a big deal.

Trolling Motor - has a Motorguide Four 43lbs, hand operated motor. I
was
really looking forward to getting back to foot operation but it's
what was
on the boat. For those that use (and for some reason, like) hand
operated
trolling motors, does anyone use the BigFoot arm that connects to the
shaft
of the motor? Like it? I was looking at those aluminum rods that
clamp on...
but for $50-$60? Ouch. I plan on mounting two BigFoot momentary foot
switches, one on either side of the deck, to turn it on and off. I
have one
on my present boat and like it very much. So it's just a question of
how
best/easiest to turn the direction of the motor. Later I might work
on
swapping it out for a foot controlled motor.

Oh, I pick the boat up on Saturday. Take a look at the picture... is
that
really a cup holder built into the cover of the engine? Some of the
carpeting on the front deck is ripped and the prior owner installed
some
newer carpeting on top of old carpet. They did a good job but it's
just not
"right". I plan on removing the deck and recarpeting it. Later, I'll
be
recarpeting the rest of the boat. Anyone do this on a Tracker? how
had is it
to move the deck in order to do this? If possible, I also want to
seal the
wood on the deck with lacquer.

I would go for the Eagle over the other brands. Verticle pixels are
more important than horizontal. I would get as many verticle pixels as
I could afford.

Eagle is the Lowrance discount line. I like them over any of the
Humminbirds I have had. I have had two low end Eagle fish finders. One
still graces the front of my little boat. I like my Garmins beter. I would
like to play with one of those high power high color Lowrance finders, but I
haven't had the chance.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
Eagle is the Lowrance discount line. I like them over any of the
Humminbirds I have had. I have had two low end Eagle fish finders. One
still graces the front of my little boat. I like my Garmins beter. I
would

That is the reaction I got from local people as well. Though, I'm not sure
how new the Humminbird Matrix's are but they appear to be a move in the
right direction for Humminbird. I actually went with the Eagle Fishmark 480
for the drivers seat and Cabela's was selling the Eagle FishEasy2 for $100
so I got that for the front deck. To me, the FishEasy 2 seemed to be the
same as Eagle's FishEasy 240. I'm guessing they might have just changed the
name to be more inline with their other products and lowered the price on
the FishEasy2 to get rid of them. I need to use a $100 gift certificate from
Cabela's, wanted two of the same brand FF's and Cabela's did not seem to
have a good selection of Garmin's. I think I'll be happy with the one's that
I bought. Thanks!

"Todd Copeland" wrote in message
nk.net...
Alright... I boat a boat! Yeah.....

1994 Bass Tracker 175 TX with 60hp engine. Just what I wanted!
(http://www.tampawebpages.com/Photo1.jpg)

2 Questions:

Fish Finder- I will need to buy 2, one for the dash and one for the bow.
Everyone here has always said they would not buy hummbirds but I (Like
Shawn) have been looking at the Matrix 37 and 27's. I also really like the
Eagle FishMark 480. For the dash I want a finder that will give me a real
time display of the area under the boat. I need to hunt out those ledges
and
drop offs. Is resolution very important (i.e. difference between 480 and
320
pixels)? I want to spend about $250-$300 on the dash finder. The bow
finder
is not as important so I want to stay under $200 on that one. It would be
nice to stay with the same brand in case I later want to explore using one
transducer for both finders but this is not a big concern. (BTW- I have a
$100 gift certificate from Cabalas but can look elsewhere). Also, the boat
has a mount and transducer to a Humminbird installed, just no fishfinder
unit. I fish in Florida and lakes are mainly 5'-10' deep but I do fish
some
phosphate mines which can be 30' deep. So power is not a big deal.

Trolling Motor - has a Motorguide Four 43lbs, hand operated motor. I was
really looking forward to getting back to foot operation but it's what was
on the boat. For those that use (and for some reason, like) hand operated
trolling motors, does anyone use the BigFoot arm that connects to the
shaft
of the motor? Like it? I was looking at those aluminum rods that clamp
on...
but for $50-$60? Ouch. I plan on mounting two BigFoot momentary foot
switches, one on either side of the deck, to turn it on and off. I have
one
on my present boat and like it very much. So it's just a question of how
best/easiest to turn the direction of the motor. Later I might work on
swapping it out for a foot controlled motor.

Oh, I pick the boat up on Saturday. Take a look at the picture... is that
really a cup holder built into the cover of the engine? Some of the
carpeting on the front deck is ripped and the prior owner installed some
newer carpeting on top of old carpet. They did a good job but it's just
not
"right". I plan on removing the deck and recarpeting it. Later, I'll be
recarpeting the rest of the boat. Anyone do this on a Tracker? how had is
it
to move the deck in order to do this? If possible, I also want to seal the
wood on the deck with lacquer.



Todd, I have the same boat. I bought lowrance 45 and the lms 240. I like
them both. You do know you can buy just about any part for that boat
through bass pro shops. I bought a set of new finders that matched the
trailer paint. I am too thinking about doing the carpet. I have 4 kids and
am not going to be able to buy a new one any time soon. E-mail me:
kmmcdono at mail.win.org if you need any help with it.
Kevin

"Kevin" wrote in message
...

"Todd Copeland" wrote in message
nk.net...
Alright... I boat a boat! Yeah.....

1994 Bass Tracker 175 TX with 60hp engine. Just what I wanted!
(http://www.tampawebpages.com/Photo1.jpg)

Todd, I have the same boat. I bought lowrance 45 and the lms 240. I like
them both. You do know you can buy just about any part for that boat
through bass pro shops. I bought a set of new finders that matched the
trailer paint. I am too thinking about doing the carpet. I have 4 kids
and
am not going to be able to buy a new one any time soon. E-mail me:
kmmcdono at mail.win.org if you need any help with it.

Thanks. I'll probably give them a call. I will need to see if I can get the
plastic piece that goes under the toggle switches on the drivers console.
The one of the boat is really faded out. Other then the carpeting, the boat
is in pretty good condition.

When I do the carpeting, I'll really like to see if I can remove the wood
part of the deck from the boat as I really would like to put lacquer on it.
I'm sure this would really help maintain the wood. but if it's too much of a
problem I suppose I can just cut the carpet to fir the top of the deck. The
gunnels will really hide the sides so it should look good. I'm just
wondering if Tracker wraps the carpet around and to the underside of the
deck or if they just cut it to fit the top. I guess I will find out later
day. When I do this, I'll be taking photos and post them at
www.bassingfools.com . I have the photos of my Jon Boat conversion there as
well.

I looked at the Lowrance X45 and it was a very nice unit but I wanted to
stay with the same manufacture for both and the larger Lowrance's were
pretty expensive. Eagle is their "affordable" division so I went with that.

I really need to get that nasty carpet off the boat. It will really bother
me everytime I think about it