Help spend my Money! Custom Cover, Rear seating, Trailer and Gauge questions

Getting a new 2014 Crestliner Superfish 1850 which is on order, but not all the options are set yet and have some questions.

Replacing a 38 yr old fish/ski Starcraft 16' supersport with a 70 OB which my folks bought new. We ski more then fish on average. 2 kids 4/7 who enjoy both very much. 1 week a year we will fish as many on the boat as comfortable in the morning and night and ski during the day.

Questions on options:
1) Factory Custom travel Cover uses a J hook channel around the boat to avoid straps/snaps which I like, has snaps in the bow and aft. Anyone have experience with the quality, when I was searching a Aluminum craft dealer stated he just has a local canvas shop make his and has a similar method to connect. I like the idea of keeping more of the cost local, boat is stored indoor most of its life and use the cover for 10 hours of driving a year mostly 55 mph highway. Has anyone had a channel used for holding travel cover down? Had one custom made?

2) Conversion bench verse flip up seating in back. Flip up I loose two storage compartments and smaller live well, however from what I can tell I need to move the two rear seats to convert the bench into a fishing platform. Anyone have thoughts on either option?

3) Trailer; Current boat has keel rollers and "bunk" style rollers and has served us very well. Most launches are improved, but due to water levels at times I have like being able to push the boat off. New boat is much heavier (launch around 2500 lbs tops vs 1000 on old) but looks to trailer closer to the ground which will help. Bunk slicks or putting wax on bunks help enough to make it easy to keep TV on dry land if any problems?

Bias ply verse radial tires. I have always used Bias ply, Do radials sit lower (ST 14's) then bias for the same tire size? Do Radials cause a boat to bounce more? Current trail has coil shocks with shock absorbers so it road very smooth.

4) Digital verse Analog gauges. From what I can tell the benefit for Digital is I can see more information about the motor and dialing in prop I can get better information on RPM's. If I go Analog (Mercury 150 4 Stroke engine) and later want this do I have to swap out gauges and wiring or just swap out gauge and hook up to different cable or same cable?

Thanks for any suggestions you might have on any of the questions. Plan is to keep this one another 38 years and let my kids decided on the next one.

Steve-o

Re: Help spend my Money! Custom Cover, Rear seating, Trailer and Gauge questions

Congrats on the new rig, looks cool.

You may want to check out the Tonneau option, they tend to be a bit sleeker, travel well, and are plenty for indoor storage unless you have rodent challenges. That convertible bench seat looks nice too given your growing kids, maybe take the extra seating capacity that converts to a casting deck over the live well given your use description. As for tires, I'm biased towards radials, pun intended. If you cannot always float off the trailer and need to push off dry, then slicks will help you. Gauges are your preference. Enjoy.

Re: Help spend my Money! Custom Cover, Rear seating, Trailer and Gauge questions

SMEYLINK said:

2) Conversion bench verse flip up seating in back. Flip up I loose two storage compartments and smaller live well, however from what I can tell I need to move the two rear seats to convert the bench into a fishing platform. Anyone have thoughts on either option?

Click to expand...

I'd vote convertible seats. Sounds like you know when you'll be fishing vs skiing so you can change over when you need to. I tried to look at the pictures online of this but can't really tell just how much work it would be, but I'd still suggest the most comfortable seats.

I had a fish and ski where you had to move the rear seats and it really wasn't a pain at all, even with a boat full of people. The better seats while skiing, and better casting deck will probably be appreciated by all.

Re: Help spend my Money! Custom Cover, Rear seating, Trailer and Gauge questions

Thanks for the input so far.

I did find some threads after looking for "J Hook Custom Boat Cover" and the reviews of the factory travel cover appears to be $$ but money well spent from what I have read so far.

BTW Natesms while in College I used to work for Fed Ex Ground and saw every side of the lake of the Ozarks loved showing off my farming skills with backing up on the fingers going out to the lake that were quite narrow with large dropoffs. Being from WI and now moved back it struck me odd to know the only lakes in MO were man made.

Very appreciative of the feedback. 2014 is a new model for the Superfish similar to 2013 Super Hawk design being longer 18'9" and layout. I'm still waiting for the catalog to be sent out I think they moved it back to the 20th and boat is queued up but they don't need the color and final spec till it gets closer to being made. Just ordered a Minn Kota terrova 80 lb I-pilot link so might be looking at a hummingbird FF in case anyone has insite into the 700 or 800 series. Wasn't planning but found a deal where was cheaper to get the link which is normally 300 more.