Thanks for the compliments and kind words M8s. They're much appreciated! We had a couple great outings and she performed flawlessly! A few notables to address this week for the Holi since she got her big toe wet. One critical tweak is the placement of my existing batteries [a 24 and a 27 group AGMs] location. At the moment they're at the stern, starboard side with a combined weight of 107 lbs. I'm going to relocate them to the bow, port side to counter my weight. I usually fish by myself 90% of the time, so this is a must do. Luckily I brought the wiring to the breaker panel and my 2 bank Noco charger in the bow. According to this site
http://www.marinewireandcable.com/20...-need-for.html
I need to run 2 AWG wire for the length required from the motor to below the bow casting deck, keeping under the max recommended voltage drop of 5%. I know many of you are at this junction in your restos. I hope this can be of use to some so you won't need to do this twice as I did. The other notable is I may have to pull the trigger on an earlier install of a 24v TM, gps and stereo
I've narrowed my choice of gps/fishfinder to the Lowrance 9" carbon series, bluetooth able media player, and still undecided on which TM.