Ugh I'm off to a super slow start this season with boating/fishing, typically I try to get it in early April when the ice is out and get into the early spring bass fishing which besides later Fall is my favorite time of year for bass. With all the Corona shutdowns and other nonsense I just haven't been motivated to get out, spending too much time at home getting stuff done. Oh well! Hoping summer helps things get back to normal. In the meantime I'll enjoy all the pics from those of you actually out fishing !!!
I dropped my cover off to be fixed this morning, had a branch poke a hole last fall. Boat going to the dealer for some repair work later this week, then its going directly into the water once I bring it home.
Supposedly they are opening up fishing along with various other things in WA State on May 5th. Time to do a few minor repairs on the boat and wash it. Won't buy a license til the last minute cause I just don't trust these clowns!
I just dropped the boat off at the dealership for some warranty repairs before I put it in the water for the summer. I should have taken a pic of the $35K boat being towed by the $350 Bronco.
I'll be getting my nautique out of storage on Thursday afternoon. I have to do the oil change, get my new last year AGM battery replaced as it must have a bad cell. It's got a full replacement warranty for a year, and I bought it in June last year. I'll also need to readdress the rear floor panel that replaced a couple years back. Apparently I didn't use outdoor rated plywood.. Maybe I suck it up and buy a piece of 3/4" marine plywood? I don't care what color it is, it gets covered with marine carpeting. Got my season boat launch pass the other day after our guvnah verified that outdoor activities are ok.
I'd love to have my mom's 20' pontoon with the pup on the way. The pontoon would make things easier with the puppy and the Badger dog. Badger's 10 now, but doesn't know when to take a break. Having the " pen" walls and gates would make it easier to force him to take a rest. I'll try working on my mom about it. She didn't even use the pontoon boat last summer. She won't take it out on her own, only if anyone comes by to visit.
LOL the Bronco only fetches firewood and goes to the dump. 2-3 times a year it moves the boat around too. No need for something nice to do that work.
Getting in and out my ski boat is probably better than a pontoon. The swim platform is at water level at the entire back and it's a simple jump on/over the transom into the back seat. We back the boat into to bay and the pups can jump onto the swim platform from the sandy bay. You can see here how easy it is to get in and out. He's fully capable, you wouldn't think that he's 10. He just doesn't have the stamina that he used to, and he doesn't know when to stop. So if you let him, he'll go all day retrieving. The next day he'll be sore and a little gimpy, necessitating a rimadyl pill that night. We just don't let him do that anymore Here's the pontoon. Nothing special, but the dogs love it and there's a ton of room in it. It's slow too, but that isn't what this is about. Bimini cover over half the boat, the ladder to get in, and those gates and the "fence". I'd need to upgrade the stereo though. Easy enough. I already put 4 speakers in it when they first got it.
Yeah, my deck is much higher than your swim platform for sure. That would definitely be a problem. I HATE the stereo in mine! It's almost totally unlistenable from the helm.
There's those ramps that can hook onto the deck that make it easy for pups to get in and out though. Skamper ramps makes some, but there's others too. We've got a ladder that hooks into the side, and it works for people, but not good for dogs. The stereo in yours, why is it bad from the helm? Not loud enough, or just not a speaker in the right area?
its a cheap head unit, and speakers, so it sounds like crap when you have it turned up, which you need to do when moving because I cant hear it while moving because theres no speakers in the right area. They have a JL Audio upgrade option for like $1500 I think, but it was only available on the upper models. I probably wouldnt have got it even if I could have. I was already 30% over my budgeted number I gave myself.
Got it. You can do a nice head unit and speaker add/ upgrade for not much money at all. Definitely a whole lot less than 1500. Just be sure to get a marine head unit. Many of the decent speakers are already water resistant enough, but you'll find some are better off than others.
Mine has a square marine radio, not the old single din car stereo chassis. I'll eventually get a stereo figured out in it.
Boat is home. The floor piece in back is better than I recall. Got my oil and filter to change the oil as well. Tomorrow I'll get my replacement AGM battery and there's a slight chance we could take it out on Saturday. The calm before the new puppy storm.... Saturday is supposed to be 73° sunny and 10-12mph winds inland...
I wouldn't doubt that the wire antenna is still twist tied together, and not spread out so that it actually could receive a signal. If that's the case, untie it and spread it out as far as you can. If it has a stubby mast antenna, ( ) there's not much to do for it unless you put a bigger antenna on it.
