I am once again a boat owner

Crazy Carl

Crazy Carl

are ya freakin' kidding me?
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Bonner Springs, KS
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So, the ex wife absconded with my little 15' fishing boat during all of the divorce nastiness last year. I've been itching to get back on the water & my GF absolutely loves being in or on the water. She likes to fish, too. Yes, she's a keeper. No, she doesn't have a sister 🙃

We decided a pontoon was what we needed & figured out what we could afford. We were gonna wait till we get back from Europe in May, but I wanted to get a good hands-on look at the boat we wanted & swung by Bass Pro on my way back from running an errand. Looked at a Suntracker Sportfish 20DLX with the Mercury 90. Nice middle ground between a pure fishing rig & a cruiser. Just a really nice rig. Well, they had leftover '23s on "clearance" for $4000 off, plus they throw in a $1000 gift card, a 10% discount "VIP card" & Mercury kicks down an additional 2 years' warranty on the motor (extending it out to 5 years).

I pick it up Wednesday 😆

Boat's pre wired for 24V trolling motor & I have a Garmin UHD73 Echomap that was bought new & (thankfully) not installed in the little boat before it disappeared. Bass Pro has the Minn Kota Terrova 80lb, 24V with i-Pilot on clearance for $1499, so I'm kinda leaning that way.

Angler's chairs at the front left & rear right corners, couches opposite the angler's chairs, power bimini top, 8 gallon live well, nice stereo, LED docking, anchor & nav lights, seats way nicer than my truck, crap ton of storage, just super nice. Gonna make a fine combination old man fishing rig/party barge.

Oh yeah- sales tax in KS is atrocious. Between state & KCK it's a 9% kick in the teeth.
 
Hell Yeah !

An awesome member here with great taste created this thread to show case your fishing adventures!

Fishing Pics ... post your most recent.

I'd like to do Johns River as well. It's just tough with only one vehicle that can haul boats. My wife shuttled my truck down to the bridge and left it for me yesterday. I've got a couple vehicles that can carry kayaks and canoes. We should team up and make that float happen. Just gotta...
www.carolinafirearmsforum.com
 
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Crazy Carl said:
So, the ex wife absconded with my little 15' fishing boat during all of the divorce nastiness last year. I've been itching to get back on the water & my GF absolutely loves being in or on the water. She likes to fish, too. Yes, she's a keeper. No, she doesn't have a sister 🙃

We decided a pontoon was what we needed & figured out what we could afford. We were gonna wait till we get back from Europe in May, but I wanted to get a good hands-on look at the boat we wanted & swung by Bass Pro on my way back from running an errand. Looked at a Suntracker Sportfish 20DLX with the Mercury 90. Nice middle ground between a pure fishing rig & a cruiser. Just a really nice rig. Well, they had leftover '23s on "clearance" for $4000 off, plus they throw in a $1000 gift card, a 10% discount "VIP card" & Mercury kicks down an additional 2 years' warranty on the motor (extending it out to 5 years).

I pick it up Wednesday 😆

Boat's pre wired for 24V trolling motor & I have a Garmin UHD73 Echomap that was bought new & (thankfully) not installed in the little boat before it disappeared. Bass Pro has the Minn Kota Terrova 80lb, 24V with i-Pilot on clearance for $1499, so I'm kinda leaning that way.

Angler's chairs at the front left & rear right corners, couches opposite the angler's chairs, power bimini top, 8 gallon live well, nice stereo, LED docking, anchor & nav lights, seats way nicer than my truck, crap ton of storage, just super nice. Gonna make a fine combination old man fishing rig/party barge.

Oh yeah- sales tax in KS is atrocious. Between state & KCK it's a 9% kick in the teeth.
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My son was stationed at Ft Riley, KS and I was always in shock at the taxes when we went out shopping. He bought his Ford F150 in Kansas but registered it in North Carolina which is 3% vehicle tax. He was on his way to Captain school in Georgia which was 6%.

NCLivingBrit said:
A whole 9% lol. Vat was up to 20% by the time I was gone for good.
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Yeah,I looked at a bottle of scotch receipt my son bought in St. Andrews and it said 20%. I was shocked. They already take 40% of your paycheck. Basically you make $100, you pay 60% in taxes. What a joy.
 
Mirac said:
Hell Yeah !

An awesome member here with great taste created this thread to show case your fishing adventures!

Fishing Pics ... post your most recent.

I'd like to do Johns River as well. It's just tough with only one vehicle that can haul boats. My wife shuttled my truck down to the bridge and left it for me yesterday. I've got a couple vehicles that can carry kayaks and canoes. We should team up and make that float happen. Just gotta...
www.carolinafirearmsforum.com
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Hoping we get into some pic worthy fishing. We've talked about doing a couple guided fishing trips, mainly crappie & walleye, just to learn terrain, technique, catch a couple nice meals, that kinda thing. She won't enjoy being on the water near as much during prime walleye weather, but would be tickled pink for me to bring some home for supper.
 
BlackGun said:
My son was stationed at Ft Riley, KS and I was always in shock at the taxes when we went out shopping. He bought his Ford F150 in Kansas but registered it in North Carolina which is 3% vehicle tax. He was on his way to Captain school in Georgia which was 6%.
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Yep. I'd forgotten how much I loved the Midwest until I moved back home, but KS somehow magically combines the worst elements of both red & blue. MO, on the other hand gets it right & we're looking hard at hopping the state line in a couple of years.

NCLivingBrit said:
Below decks at the SS Crazy Carl
View attachment 743058
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Sad, but true. Trust, I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to do any of this.
 
Crazy Carl said:
Sad, but true. Trust, I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to do any of this.
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I just do not get the boat thing myself. I can piss money away like a champ, but even if I woke up with Bezos money it wouldn't occur to me to buy a boat. A cargo ship, maybe, to build a super villain home on. But not a boat boat.
 
Some dealers have "a way" of lowering the sales tax burden. Buying from Bass Pro I doubt they will work with you on that though.

The day you buy a boat is the second best day of your life. The best day is the you sell it.
 
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NCLivingBrit said:
I just do not get the boat thing myself. I can piss money away like a champ, but even if I woke up with Bezos money it wouldn't occur to me to buy a boat. A cargo ship, maybe, to build a super villain home on. But not a boat boat.
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I used to be the same. Did not like/feared the water. But I love to catch & eat fish & the best fishing ain't from the bank. Bought that little 15'er both to overcome my fear of the water & travel to the fish & discovered I loved being on the water. The sound of the waves & the rocking motion just washes all the crap right outta my head.

This also coincided with my two wheeled days coming to a close & I realized that being on the water is as therapeutic for me as being in the wind. As much as she & I love being on the water, camping/glamping with friends & fam & getting lit around a fire, this is a huge part of that equation. One of my favorite uncles is only 2 hours away & sold his boat a couple years ago when he bought a 27' or 29' Class C RV. This year's plan is to pick the weekend(s) & the lake(s)- he'll bring the lodging & we'll bring the boat.

Our ultimate goal is to take a couple years to figure out our favorite lake & look for a deal on a decent camper trailer & do a long term lease at a campground there. A "redneck lake house", if you will. One of her friends has a place down at Grand Lake O' the Cherokees. We both really like the area & it's supposed to be good fishing, so we'll probably become part-time Okies of sorts at some point.
 
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Crazy Carl said:
I used to be the same. Did not like/feared the water. But I love to catch & eat fish & the best fishing ain't from the bank. Bought that little 15'er both to overcome my fear of the water & travel to the fish & discovered I loved being on the water. The sound of the waves & the rocking motion just washes all the crap right outta my head.

This also coincided with my two wheeled days coming to a close & I realized that being on the water is as therapeutic for me as being in the wind. As much as she & I love being on the water, camping/glamping with friends & fam & getting lit around a fire, this is a huge part of that equation. One of my favorite uncles is only 2 hours away & sold his boat a couple years ago when he bought a 27' or 29' Class C RV. This year's plan is to pick the weekend(s) & the lake(s)- he'll bring the lodging & we'll bring the boat.

Our ultimate goal is to take a couple years to figure out our favorite lake & look for a deal on a decent camper trailer & do a long term lease at a campground there. A "redneck lake house", if you will. One of her friends has a place down at Grand Lake O' the Cherokees. We both really like the area & it's supposed to be good fishing, so we'll probably become part-time Okies of sorts at some point.
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Hey, long as it makes you happy mate. I'm just genuinely baffled by boat type money going on boats lol
 
We looked at those boats a few years ago before deciding to go with a deck boat. I think it’s a good lay out for what it sounds like you want to do. The mercury 90 we had was trouble free for us as well. Sounds like a great buy.
 
Pontoons ewww.
Ok, that terrova, they offer several different packages, if you want to nav to waypoints or draw routes you need a Link model and a hummingbird graph, if you want to be able to program trails and autopilot short routes you need the normal remote the mini can't do it the normal remote is not cheap bought later, if you want to be able to shift five feet any direction from where you've spot locked you need the BT heading puck. They also offer one with a universal transducer in it. When I got my boat I asked the dealer what they had, he told me I searched Minnkota's site excitedly bought and then got home and started checking it out and it had none of the good stuff had to run the model number for this dealer special package to appear on a search, works well just not to its full potential.
 
Beef15 said:
Pontoons ewww.
Ok, that terrova, they offer several different packages, if you want to nav to waypoints or draw routes you need a Link model and a hummingbird graph, if you want to be able to program trails and autopilot short routes you need the normal remote the mini can't do it the normal remote is not cheap bought later, if you want to be able to shift five feet any direction from where you've spot locked you need the BT heading puck. They also offer one with a universal transducer in it. When I got my boat I asked the dealer what they had, he told me I searched Minnkota's site excitedly bought and then got home and started checking it out and it had none of the good stuff had to run the model number for this dealer special package to appear on a search, works well just not to its full potential.
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No love for a toon? I thought about a deck boat, but around here they're rare as hen's teeth & spendy. For strictly fishing, I'd have gone the "normal" route, but for how we'll use the boat, a pontoon is the perfect fit.

The Terrova Bass Pro had on clearance seems to have sold out, so I'm thinking now about the Motor Guide Xi3 with Pinpoint GPS. I'll have the Garmin at the helm if I'm worried about navigational assistance or plotting & just use the trolling motor for parking on a hotspot or trolling. The transducer in the MG Xi3 will allegedly work with my Garmin for sonar purposes, but not navigation. Since the Garmin does both side & down views & came with it's own transducer, I'll just run it by itself & maybe put an inexpensive Lowrance unit up front at some point down the road.
 
Crazy Carl said:
No love for a toon? I thought about a deck boat, but around here they're rare as hen's teeth & spendy. For strictly fishing, I'd have gone the "normal" route, but for how we'll use the boat, a pontoon is the perfect fit.

The Terrova Bass Pro had on clearance seems to have sold out, so I'm thinking now about the Motor Guide Xi3 with Pinpoint GPS. I'll have the Garmin at the helm if I'm worried about navigational assistance or plotting & just use the trolling motor for parking on a hotspot or trolling. The transducer in the MG Xi3 will allegedly work with my Garmin for sonar purposes, but not navigation. Since the Garmin does both side & down views & came with it's own transducer, I'll just run it by itself & maybe put an inexpensive Lowrance unit up front at some point down the road.
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If you already have garmin I’d use their trolling motor. You can also just add a garmin screen up front or wherever and just slave one of your other units to it.
 
Mirac said:
We call them Wrinkle Rafts .. lol.
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Hahaha!!!! They're just party barges around here.

Bigdave0924 said:
If you already have garmin I’d use their trolling motor. You can also just add a garmin screen up front or wherever and just slave one of your other units to it.
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Just priced their motors. Ouch.
 
Red Marley said:
Found a picture of @Crazy Carl ’s boat!
View attachment 744906
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Man, these things are so lux'd out these days, it's ridiculous. Stock photo of the model I'm getting-
8593351_20221231074431587_1_XLARGE.jpg
 
Reminder: place $1000 in the bucket and light it on fire. This reminder will repeat monthly.
 
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Schattenreiter said:
Never have understood that line of thinking. People on the bank throw out ad far as they can and people in boats fish the bank.
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It's not fishing from the bank, per se, but rather access to a fishable bank. Even on a "little" 5000 acre Corps of Engineer lake (frequently surrounded by CoE public land), there's only a handful of easily accessible bank fishing spots that are always crowded & not necessarily in primo fishing terrain.

You could always bushwhack your way in , 3 - 4 miles through a MO hardwood forest, but why? With the boat, if a certain spot's not producing, I can just scoot across the lake to a different one, enjoying the breeze & water while sippin' a beer, vs. having to hump my gear & my sweaty butt outta the woods, getting ate up by bugs.
 
noway2 said:
That thing looks like you'll need a garage to park it in :p
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Nah. My cousin has a place on a few acres just outside of town, so I'll be parking it out there with his boat & RV. It'll physically fit in our driveway, it's getting through the neighborhood & into the driveway that'd be the trick.

NCLivingBrit said:
And a new giant dually to tow it.
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Boat weighs less than 2000 lbs. My eleven year old 1/2 ton Chevy will pull it just fine.
 
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