I feel bad jumping right to 1.3 without so much as a picture of improvements from 1.2, and 1.1 only got this blog, so I'll recap them both before going into 1.3.

The boat (1.0 got an article)came to be shortly after Temagami '09, was put in the river and kept in private slip until November. Then, as a productive alternative to watching the Bills game, we pulled the boat, cleaned it inside and out, assessed the trolling motor, old radio, steering wheel, and other areas for improvement, changed the lower unit oil, and stored the boat for the winter.

Version 1.0, for reference

This May we pulled the boat and began making said improvements. We removed the tired cassette radio and replaced the hole with a "No Soliciting" sign (a nice touch!), and then wired a cd/receiver on the front console for driver-access. Also added a remote with magnetic strip simply because we could.

Next we figured out how to bolt on the trolling motor and confirmed it does actually work. This would prove highly valuable later when we lost both shifting and steering controls.

Finally, we applied a few comfort improvements. Jay added a pro seat in the front with adjustable height; moved the original front seat/column to the back with wing nuts for easy removal, and we backed up the center console seat a few inches for driver leg room.

Birthday weekend came and we tested the new options. Found out I love front mounted trolling motors and really enjoy the foot control. Also found out you can fish with 3 people but the boat won't move quite as fast. Also found out bass don't do well with treble hooks (sorry Zim), expensive fishing line is not always better and can sometimes explode, and pike can bite clean through 8lb test.

Following the trip I decided to make more improvements including a live well, tighter steering, tighter trolling mount, and some other odds and ends that I wanted to work on. Here are the results:

• Second mast – the second pole I fashioned to hold up the boat cover really helped – no more puddles on the cover after a rain! And it holds up nicely on the road
   
• Steering – the tighter steering cables made a marked improvement on response while smoothing out the motion
   
• Transmission – figured out that there is a clutch of some sort preventing you from changing gears with the throttle engaged. No problems reported
   
• Motor – still to much oil in the gas mixture. Recommend stabilizer to prevent evaporation. Engine misfired frequently and there was quite a bit of smoke. Both improved after the engine warmed up.
   
• Prop – noticed a little more power after hammering out the dent on one of the blades
   
• Trolling motor – the nylon washers and fitting that I dremmelled out for the stand removed nearly all the clatter caused by the motor every time you engaged the prop.
   
• Live well – held about 5 gallons of water. Bubbler worked. My easy lid retained the test fish (1lb rock bass). Fish was returned to the water healthy after 2 hours of boating
   
• Dog – the dog was okay on the boat. Still too hyper to enjoy fishing and he hasn’t learned to stay in one place when the boat is on plane. We’ll work on that.
  

New pro seat, trolling motor mounted tightly.

Dog trying to behave

Weather was fair. Decent sunset. Not too much cotton. The bird seemed to like it.

My first catch was a 26" pike. He'd end up the catch of the night, too

Hooked him on the gill plate. It's probably why he couldn't bite though my line.

And I brought him in without a net. Even got some video footage!

euphomus is a semi-weekly columnist for ChasingTowers. He can be reached by emailing euphomus@ChasingTowers.com.

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