Well just picked up a little boat to fix up and tool around the Chain of Lakes here. An old 19' Bayliner Capri with Force 125 engine, runs good but pretty ugly right now. I'll probably be picking your guys brains on fresh water fishing down the road.
The only thing I know about freshwater is that I use it to wash off my stuff .......... I did do alot of bass fishing in the canals and ponds of South FL, in the 80s when I was a kid though.... that Diamond Back bmx got some mileage on it in those days.... Good luck with the boat though...may want to considering running some SeaFoam through it before changing the spark plugs
Forget the freshwater. Drag it to the inter coastal and fish for reds,flounder and trout. Trust me , you’ll have more fun. When I was living down there I bought a little boat like that thinking it would be fun to bass fish. A buddy took me to sisters creek and I never went back to fresh water.
Guy I bought it from just had plugs and some other work done before the summer thinking he was keeping it but I'll run some SeaFoam through, can't hurt. Thanks.
I don't think I want to chance taking this thing very far, it's just a beater I got for now. Besides the storage yard I keep it at has a canal to the Chain of Lakes right on the property so I move it 50-100 feet and it's in the water. I used to take my Hurricane out in the gulf all the time but that was only 15 minutes to the boat ramp, where I am now it's 2 hours to Cocoa.
About 1 hr 20 minutes to the gulf, maybe a little less to get into Tampa Bay but would have to check where boat ramps are. Still needs a lot of work before I would even think about taking it out there though. I might in the future but not right now.
A full seafoam treatment may foul the plugs if that motor has some carbon deposits from sitting..... and yeah, I'd definitely stay in inshore/protected waters with an old Bayliner / Force until it's received extensive "field testing"
Got 2 new rod racks to mount on the console and a vhf for the boat..... but it's pretty much a lock that it's storming at 5:30 when I'm done working, so who knows when I can install them
btw, I'd try and "polish" that boat and flip it while the market is still ridiculous..... if you want a simple yet effective small inshore / skinny water fishing vessel, turn that $ into a gheenoe
Did that with the travel trailer we bought. Bought it June 9th, left June 10, stayed on the road for a month and then resold it in 2 days when we got back for 30% profit. Not sure I could do the same with this boat. Got it cheap but not sure the resale value would be there. I'm going to clean it up, reupholster, and have a friend go through the engine for me. I'll decide after that but I think the wife and daughter want to get back into water skiing which this should be good for.
Yeah, kinda why I said it..... normally not much a resale market for that combo, so I guess if she goes..... and unless you're going to do the re-upolstery yourself, you may want to pump the brakes..... when you get a quote you'll understand.... my boat currently has torn seat cushions for a reason.
Upholstery was just going to be the flat seats and trim around the inside which is pretty basic, did it myself on my last boat. There are no tears just a little worn on the top edge so really not needed but just to have that one thing out of the way I am going to do them. Won't be as nice as the existing withe the buttons and different colors but it will be fine for me. The 4 full seats are actually in pretty good condition so i'll just be cleaning those up. I think with redoing that little bit and cleaning the rest up it should be looking nice. I just did a search and found a site that has the back to back seats for under $90 a piece but I still think I'll save the $180 and just clean up the existing ones.
3 weeks until my 2021 Tilefish trip. Set up to do both jigging and bait fishing. Really looking forward to hitting some of the larger tiles. That's why I didn't schedule earlier in the year. Looking at 300-600ft depths up here in the Hudson Canyon. Might even get some Tuna out there too. Headed out next Saturday for Fluke and Sea Bass. 30-60ft depths so its a light tackle trip. Had some Fluke last night for dinner I caught a week ago and it was pretty good. Figure I'll get as many as possible for the freezer as I think the season is over for the year in Sept.
Yeah... I'll be packing 300-500g jigs on my TR INNOVATE 78H long fall rod and OJ2K Shimano. Bait rig will be my Seaborg 800m on my 7.5ft XH Daiwa Proteus which I had the guides redone for left side acid wrap. Loaded for bear this trip!
