[Spike-A-Pike]

Pete - It looks like the boat is making good progress with the tilt steering. Are you moving any electrical; trolling motor, fish finder, GPS, nav lights, bilge pumps, and that sort of kit? I added a couple extra wiring circuits in case I decide to add something later. I added two extra trim switches (one at the bow and one a stern) to get the motor raised in shallow water or in some of the thick weed beds and for busy days at the boat ramp, I can raise/lower the motor to put the motor support bracket the trailer and the gear housing.

Are the trees in the mountains starting to return or has a lack of rain slowed their progress too? I hope you got a few inches of snow the weatherman was mentioning - it all goes into the water table.

The poaching and smuggling is a global problem. People only see it as easy money for very little effort; and as you said, there is no telling what diseases they are taking with them. And what about the animal's ability to survive such a drastic change of environment - are there any mortality estimets?

[hazmail]

Bruce- Trim switches?? I have one on the control handle, one on the gunnell, and one on the motor, no doubt about it, one on the bow would be handy, I will be making up a bit of a loom to power the electric motor in the next few days so might add that - I am just waiting for a circuit breaker and a 4 way battery switch.
That fire here was so hot, it baked huge boulders grey and spalled huge slabs off them -that's hot, also sterilized the ground and they say it will take years until anything will grow on some of the Western slopes. Rain only adds to the problem, with erosion etc into the dams, but a bit of snow would be good (snowing up there now). Even the native trees (to about 100'), which are able to stand a pretty severe fire, were baked, there is whole mountain sides, covered with dead tree trunks. Some others (Wattle about 10') have done really well ,as they rely on fire to germinate the seeds, so the shrubs were burned but the seeds germinated and have taken over in some areas. As for the pine plantations, all gone @ about $2 billion in lost timber and closed down a big ply mill here, it was packed up and shipped to Malaysia (maybe V/man is working there). But this is all nothing, compared to burning 506 houses that same afternoon.

Don't know much about the bird mortality numbers, but quite high from what is in the news papers. They get young parrots, and somehow put them to sleep, slide them into a tube (cardboard I think) and supposedly carry these tubes in special coats, with appropiate pockets - anyway from what we see in the papers, even when they arrest them on the way out at the airport, there are a lot killed, but I suppose at some of these prices, they figure 1 survivor out of 10 is worth it. pete

[Swede]

Thats a sweet boat you got there Pete good luck on the work .I might post pics of my own aluminumboat ,both prework & when all is done on it .

[hazmail]

I finally got the right steering cable, attached the steering module to the bulkhead - this is picture with the steering down (seated pos) , it will go even lower for storage, when the cover is on.


Steering in the up position, which is high enough to steer while standing.



A hole where the live well was, it’s now a 4' x 3' deep storage area, and found a box in the back shed that fits nicely.


Finished the wiring today for the electric motor, with 2 X 120 A/h batteries
All I need to do now is get the steering powder coated and fit the throttle /shift controls, sounds easy!!! pete

[mark poulson]

First of all, beautiful boat, ugly shoes.
Second, if you're going to use the livewell for bait, you might want to just put in a formica strip the height of the livewell, and long enough to overlap when it's in the livewell.
On our SoCal lakes, shad are the predominant baitfish, and they last much longer in a round livewell, or one that has softer corners.
The formica, coiled tight when you put it in, and then released to open as much as it can, is rigid enough to hold a semi-circular shape against the sides of the livewell due to it's natural spring. That is, it wants to straighten out by itself.
I did it in my Tracker livewell, and the shad lasted all day.
Since my Tracker was totaled by a hit and run driver last March, I've replace it with a small Ranger fiberglass boat (17'7") and the livewell is peanut shaped, so I haven't even tried to refit it for shad yet.

[hazmail]

Thanks Mark - I have moved the live well (live bait tank) to the back of the boat and halved the size - I only use 2-4" live baits (mullet), so it should be big enough. The formica strip is a great idea, and I will have to get some, know what you mean about fragile in a square tank too. I have put these baits in coloured buckets before with interesting results, white is good, with yellow, they turn a light yellow, green and blue kills them, pretty quick too. pete