Recent content by Bob Landry

The Blue Sea ACR works very well. They are around $100, however, the emphasis on this forum seems to be "go cheap" so that may not be a viable option.

Geez, go to WalMart, spend $8 and get the correct tray for your battery.

A plated riveted on is perfectly legal. Seaark does it as well as others. It's a good idea to also engrave it somewhere on the inside. A thief can drill out rivets.

Starboard is great for many applications, but decking is not one of them. It's dangerously slick, even when dry, and no paint or none skid material will stick to it. If you are going to have kids on the boat, you are looking at a potential disaster. use marine grade plywood or aluminum for your...

The marine wiring color codes are the same for any boat, regardless of type or size. You can find them all over the Internet. I think West Marine has on their website

Use the terminals that have heat shrink on them. Crip with good crimpers, then heat witha heat gun until the adhesive oozes out around the wire jacket. You don't need to solder, in fact, ABYC says not to do it. Adding heat shrink to a standard crimped connector may not waterproof the end of the...

The main advantage to pods is for the hole shot. If you are going to use a jacl plate, and I suggest it if you are going to coastal fish, you really don't need them, IMHO. I have a Bob's hydraulic with the hole shot cover on the bottom, no pods, and I have a three second hole shot and I'm on top...

Seaarks are not machine welded. When I toured their facility, there were two welders, one was tacking it all together and the other guy welded it out. The only thing automatic was the CNC plasma cutter. They literally build them one at a time. At least it was that way before Correct Craft bought...

We can hope for that but when a company is taken over, it usually goes to the next lowest denominator. They will say in the press releases that it's to buy more equipment and purchase better quality material. Sometimes it takes a while for the corner cutting to show up. We'll have to wait and...

I have a Seaark 1872MV CC with an Etec 90 that's a beast. All of the 72's are made of .125" aluminum and the diamond plate floor is around 3/8. It's a "lifetime" boat, not cheap, but quality isn't. The 28" freeboard is also nice. The only downside is the 3 degree deadrise does not lend it to...

That's unacceptable even for an entry level boat. I don't even want to think what they're covering up with paint. Tracker has always been notorious for QC problems. I wonder what's going to happen with Ranger now that Tracker owns them. Bean counters don't care about quality.

The fuse should always be placed as close to the battery as possible. No exception. I think ABYC says 7 inches but I would have to look it up. You can to to paneltronics website and download ABYC E-11. It gives all of the electrical requirements you will need.

There is no problem cutting a hole there. Any load from stepping on it is vertical.

You don't need another battery. One of the TM batteries will give you 12V. My sonars and nav lights are on the starting battery to eliminate interference. The sonars don't draw that much and the nav lights are only on when the motor is running and that keeps the starting battery charged. Deck...

The deadrise on a tin boat is what makes for a rough ride. Most have a 3 degree deadrise and seem to be model specific. A new tin is not going to ride any smoother than what you have.