Recent content by Ray Clark

I use a NOCO 5X2 charger; one side goes to the AGM crank battery, the other to my 100Ah LiFePO4. It puts out 5 Ah of charge to each side. As long as as your charger is suitable for LiFePO4 batteries, it will work fine. The only difference regarding the 5Ah versus 10Ah versus 20Ah charge...

That's always a hard transition. Best wishes to you and your mother. Yesterday a friend came over and we tackled the work to get my outboard ready for the new fishing season. Put in a new impeller, changed the engine oil, lower unit gear oil changed, and finally a test run before hanging it...

Welcome! For three of you, I think you need 16'. I have a 14' V-hull and two guys can fish it. Three fishermen/women would be on top of each other and not a lot of fun. As for getting past your inhibitions...I'm sort of the same way. My wife has always been OK with the stuff I spend on...

To be quite frank, I think that the "new" boat you want at the price you seem to desire is a unicorn. Obviously, I don't know all the manufacturers out there. There have been a number of threads on these boards about the scarcity of new entry-level aluminum boats. Some manufacturers have...

Well, not to toot my own horn, but I will, I guess. I have made quite a number of mods to my old Lund. The build thread linked in my signature line will show you what I've done. Regarding trailer length: I, too, think your trailer looks a bit short for the boat. The aft end of the bunks...

Racing to get some wood shop projects complete before Spring activity takes over my days. But...I need to get the outboard out of the machine shed, new impeller installed and hung on the boat. Maybe this weekend since a buddy has offered to come over and help. But, before then, we have this...

Looks like you have your initial question answered, which begs the follow-on question: What do you want to do with it? Just a little fresh-water fishing boat for small-medium size lakes? From the plate pictures, your boat size capacities look similar to my 14' Lund. The exception is the Max...

LIL... My boat had clamp on seat bases when I bought it. Those bases have been banned on my boat since my first fishing outing with them. They seemed solid until my fishing buddy went to retrieve the anchor. When he started pulling on that anchor, the clamp on the seat gave way and he almost...

I don't know how I missed seeing this project when you first posted! Love it! Let me request a picture of it on the water when you splash it, please! You have plenty of great water for a boat like that in your area.

@Cullix: Welcome to the forum! My perspective on 2S versus 4S: I have a 20HP 4S Merc on my 14' tinnie. I bought the outboard new in 2021. It replaced an 30 year old rope-start 30HP Johnson. The Johnson had carb issues. I looked for a kit, parts, and even a donor motor to convert mine to...

I cook a fair amount of stuff, but the campfire cast iron cooking is really fun. Cast iron as it came off the fire: Lets see what's inside...this was a sausage and potato bake. Dessert was cherry crisp, baked in a cake pan inside dutch oven next to the fire.

Welcome to the forum. I think Crazyboat is right; that motor looks like a long shaft on short transom. A quick review of the Alumacraft catalog from 2016 showed that their jon boat offerings in 12' had 15" transoms. Short shaft motors are about 5" shorter, and the cavitation plate (that flat...

Cool! I like the paint, too. Imaginative!

I have a 55# Minn Kota Powerdrive on the bow of my tinnie. It is outfitted with a ProNav controller so the TM setup has all the navigation and wireless control features. I use a Group 31 size 100Ah LiFePO4 battery mounted in the center bench to power the TM, along with my H'bird Helix 7. I...

I will finish pulling the vinyl plank flooring in the basement today. We're going with a new flooring solution down there, but not quite decided, yet. Maybe one of those polyaspartic coatings.