BigBadJohn
FNG
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2020
- Messages
- 49
Its a rainy slow day and my mind is on the water. My hope is someone can give me some clarity on boating/fishing electronics and what's needed vs what's not. Its come time to update my boat's setup and there are simply too many options out there...the irony is not lost on me that researching hunting gear can be an endless rabbit hole as well
I dont want to invest a ton into an old boat when hunting is always first and foremost with a antelope gun build in the works. I do however want to get a serviceable setup for filling freezers with fillets off NTX lakes since Ive found difficulty doing so without newer tech.
TLDR: Old boat needs complete electronics upgrade, don't need the best of the best, but would like a decent graph, troller and batteries for around 2,000 if possible. Basically, if you had to outfit an old bass boat from scratch on a budget how do you do it?
My current setup is a 1974 17' bow drive red/white Newman... barn queen in immaculate condition with a 80hp 2 stroke Merc. Its an awesome (looking and running) boat, however it has exactly 0 electronics. Currently has a paper graph (not kidding) and a trolling motor that belongs in a museum. I've fished this boat for almost 20 years and has worked well on known waters where electronics were never that important. But I now live near better and deeper water and want to upgrade in a big way. Buying a new boat doesn't interest me. Boat works well for fishing coves & marsh but with these upgrades im looking to troll more deep water.
Based on my research I think I need to look into the following....Id be very grateful for input & recommendations.
If you read this I wish you the best through the rest of hunting (and I guess fishing...) season!
Thanks....BadJohn
EDIT: condensed for (some) clarity. Also, will upload pics of the boat next time it leaves the barn.
I dont want to invest a ton into an old boat when hunting is always first and foremost with a antelope gun build in the works. I do however want to get a serviceable setup for filling freezers with fillets off NTX lakes since Ive found difficulty doing so without newer tech.
TLDR: Old boat needs complete electronics upgrade, don't need the best of the best, but would like a decent graph, troller and batteries for around 2,000 if possible. Basically, if you had to outfit an old bass boat from scratch on a budget how do you do it?
My current setup is a 1974 17' bow drive red/white Newman... barn queen in immaculate condition with a 80hp 2 stroke Merc. Its an awesome (looking and running) boat, however it has exactly 0 electronics. Currently has a paper graph (not kidding) and a trolling motor that belongs in a museum. I've fished this boat for almost 20 years and has worked well on known waters where electronics were never that important. But I now live near better and deeper water and want to upgrade in a big way. Buying a new boat doesn't interest me. Boat works well for fishing coves & marsh but with these upgrades im looking to troll more deep water.
Based on my research I think I need to look into the following....Id be very grateful for input & recommendations.
- Bow mount troller in the 85# range. Ive been trolling deep(er) lately and the museum piece of a trolling motor I have is underpowered and drains battery. Not sure the thrust rating, but its a one speed.... wide open & slow. I dont care to have wifi integration or anything like that... but what is important is having variable speed and ability to 'lock' the motor on a heading if possible. Id like to have the ability to set a strait line heading and then tend rods. When I search for this feature all I come up with is 'spot-lock' and 'i-pilot'. Can someone please clarify the modern motors have this ability without investing 2500+ into a bluetooth enabled motor? All very confusing.
- Batteries are another issue. Based on what I know so far ... I should probably be looking at a 24V setup for a new trolling motor and a separate battery for cranking & running the graph. What models...no idea. I grew up on a farm and i've always used tractor batteries for the trolling motor (those big suckers on old 4840's you know what I mean) and a standard car battery running the starter & lights.
- Graph/Nav/Sonar ? Etc... I do know I need navigation of some sort, so GPS is a must. Ideally one unit would have everything needed. Side imaging seems to be important in crappie circles ... but I dont know. There is a ton of different models in the 500-750-1000 range and the jargon is ridiculous. If I was to throw a dart at the prevalent brands id probably go with garmin but comparing these things is basically impossible for me. Will a lower end unit be sufficient.. no idea. What is livescope and do I need it!?.... Hopefully not, we're on a budget here. If you have a reasonable recommendation or anecdote on these things it would be appreciated. Some of the older units seem pretty high-tech to me and for $500-800 you can get a good unit... not opposed to blowing the budget here on something better but is it necessary?
- Other non material stuff - I want to get new switch panels anyway (for vain reasons) so my thought is to just run everything (lights, Nav, bilge, livewell, etc.) through a single fuse block in the console and reduce the number of connections on my battery coming from all areas of the boat. Other than that down the line electronic ignition would be nice, fuel mixing upgrade potentially. If anyone has experience with these that would be welcome as well. Revamping my live well, replacing homebuilt PVC rod-holders, onboard charging system & running LED's under the gunnels are other eventual wish list items. As with boats it never ends... 20 years in and hopefully tackling most of the big ticket items soon.
If you read this I wish you the best through the rest of hunting (and I guess fishing...) season!
Thanks....BadJohn
EDIT: condensed for (some) clarity. Also, will upload pics of the boat next time it leaves the barn.
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