Re: First time out with new to me boat.
drive camp,<br />Nice rig, Bud!<br />A lot of great advice from this post. Might I add just a couple or three or four??<br />1st, although my boat is a little larger than yours (but still small by all standards) and I have a lot more freeboard (how much room there is between the top of the sides & the water), I'm an advocate of wearing PFDs until you get a good idea on how your rig handles in all types of weather, chop, conditions, etc.<br />2nd, sign-up for a Coast Guard Auxilliary boating course. Costs $30 for the material, takes 9 weeks @ 1 2-hr session per week, and the knowledge gained is immeasurable. I highly recommend...<br />Third, make a list of, and carry, all the safety gear recommended by the US Coast Guard. And a first aid kit can come in pretty handy.<br />Lastly, and most important, is TAKE YOUR TIME. Not rushing, having a plan, executing your plan, and studying the consequences of your moves ahead of time will save you weeks of grief and years of tears.<br />Happy Boating, Newbie! (and I mean that in the kindest terms possible!)<br />BrianFD
drive camp,<br />Nice rig, Bud!<br />A lot of great advice from this post. Might I add just a couple or three or four??<br />1st, although my boat is a little larger than yours (but still small by all standards) and I have a lot more freeboard (how much room there is between the top of the sides & the water), I'm an advocate of wearing PFDs until you get a good idea on how your rig handles in all types of weather, chop, conditions, etc.<br />2nd, sign-up for a Coast Guard Auxilliary boating course. Costs $30 for the material, takes 9 weeks @ 1 2-hr session per week, and the knowledge gained is immeasurable. I highly recommend...<br />Third, make a list of, and carry, all the safety gear recommended by the US Coast Guard. And a first aid kit can come in pretty handy.<br />Lastly, and most important, is TAKE YOUR TIME. Not rushing, having a plan, executing your plan, and studying the consequences of your moves ahead of time will save you weeks of grief and years of tears.<br />Happy Boating, Newbie! (and I mean that in the kindest terms possible!)<br />BrianFD
Well it does. Yeah!!! I also took ahold of my foot controlled trolling motor. It too was awesome, fish finder awesome. I even broke her in and caught my first fish out of her. Man thats awesome. The boat is so stable in the water compared to anything I have ever fished from its unreal. I can stand on the edge of the boat and not even put he boat down 2 inches from where it was before. The lake is rather small but I couldn't resist seeing how the motor did in actual water. Well the cold natured thing did start after a bit if cranking. I let her idle a bit and than slowly put her in gear. Took a little bit forward and let her rip, not literally I gave her some throttle, man does this thing feel like a rocket ship. I made a few small passes on the lake 200 yards and turn around kinda thing. Than decided to let her back to idle and load her back up. But than it happened. it died, did restart but each time I put it in gear and tried to move her again, again it died. Engine bogging down real bad and just dies. Well I guess its off to Mercury boat manual and do some reading, than off to the Mercury forum for some advice, it acts like a timing problem or lack of fuel, if I ease into it real easy it will start to move and than I can get in it, but if I try to hammer down it bogs and dies, Oh the woos of boat ownership, anyway I can still smile. My boat floats and I caught fish,<br /><br />Matt