TooReel

Too big, I'm limited by slip/canal size.

hold my beer

15 calls/emails over the last couple of months and only 3 reply's. It's not like I was making low ball offers or anything. I just wanted to know things like hours/maintenance/more pictures etc. These are both dealers and individuals from Miami to Destin. The one offer I made was within 10% of the asking price and I got a stone cold no. Anybody had the same experience? It is getting kind of frustrating. Looking for a good family friendly fishing boat 23-25 feet, preferably with twins. Shortlist is Sailfish 2360, ProLine 24SS, Donzi 23 ZF and SeaChaser 2400.

I've bought bait from her too many times to count but never knew the whole story. I always look forward to seeing that big shrimp. Thanks for the article.

All I can think of when I watch that is the episode of M.A.S.H. where BJ and Hawkeye are diffusing the bomb. Cut the red wire..................but first..........

I'm not in a big hurry to get a new boat but I am ready to buy if the price and boat is right. Wife and I both think the Sailfish 2360 is perfect for what we do. Nice seating and comforts for her, good fishing for me and twins so I can feel a little better offshore. I'd like a little bigger but my canal and docking situation would make that difficult but not impossible. Dealer has declined my offer and says they will not budge off the price, trade or not. I think the price could be better. This boat only has twin 115's, trailer is extra and the electronics were removed. Add the 2500 they want for the trailer and another 2500 for electronics and the price is up to 44,900. There are two comparable boats in the Trader, both with 150's, trailer and electronics for 44,900 and 48,900. I'm pretty sure a better deal could be had on all the boats.

Time for a new boat. One came available that it perfect for me and I have a offer in. Problem is my trade in. Current boat is a 2004 Trophy with a 225 Mercaha 4 stroke that is in very good condition. Boat has all the bells and whistles. Outriggers, electronics, fresh and saltwater washdowns, potti, colored hull sides etc. Plus it has a 2007 aluminum trailer with torsion axles. They are offering me 15K for it as a trade. Should I sell it myself or take the money and run?

Maintenance is not a issue for me. I think the biggest problem I'm having is that the big four stroke I have is not right for my boat. I'm shopping for a new one right now and will pick the best power for the particular boat I end up with.

Perhaps I'm wrong about the wire. But when I was changing out my wash down and live well pumps the wire did not look tinned. I'm not writing this to disagree here but just to add my .02 on the subject. I have been away from boating and fishing for many years. When we sold our last one and house in Marathon they had just started to widen the road so it was a while ago. When I started looking I had some specific goals in mind. 1: Family, we spend a lot of time in the river and springs (Homosassa). With a wife, teenage daughter, 3 yr old son and parents that are not spring chickens hanging it over the side is not always a option. 2: Fishing, I needed a boat that I could take the kids and parents fishing around the flats and one I could go 20-25 miles offshore with confidence. 3: Something I can put in the lake and do tubing and cruising. I live on a lake in Central Florida and spend my weekends in Homosassa so I trailer the boat quite a bit. I did my homework and made a list of potential boats. We spent several weekends going around and looking and doing sea trials. At the end this boat won. The layout is perfect for what we wanted. The built in swim platform with transom door makes it easy for the kids and parents to swim and get back in the boat. I felt the newer four stroke Mercaha would be a reliable engine and it had a roomy center console with a front door that made getting into the head easy for the family. And it had a great electronics package with factor mounted GPS, fishfinder and VHF. My only regret now is the performance of the four stroke on the boat. Now that we have had it for a year and loved every second of it we are going to start the search for a new one in the 24-26 foot range. Internet forums are a good start when looking for a new boat but you have to get out there, look and ride to find the best one for your needs.

I've never caught that many fish in my life. Four of us fishing went through 60 pinfish, two boxes of sardines and a box of squid. I can't wait till the big boys move in closer.

Come on down to FLA when the water cools down and I'll show you.

A year ago I would have agreed. After putting a season on my four stroke I'm not sure. It's hard to beat the low-mid range of a two stroke when your making a long cruise to the fishing spots and trolling. I'm in the market for a new boat soon and more than likely it will have ETEC's or HPDI's on it.

It all worked out. One good thing about taking the info from chip to Map Source is I was able to remove the spots that I would or could not fish.

Found a honey hole in 45' of water off of Homosassa. We were pulling in short red grouper as fast as we could put bait on the hooks. Add a few short cobia, a goliath and some man sized grunts in the mix and we were some tired puppys with no meat in the cooler. Then this tasty morsel decided to jump on the hook. We had 5 or 6 small cobia around the boat all day. This is going to be the magic spot once the water cools down. Guess I did not save the picture right. A older one showed up.

I have a 2004 Trophy 2103 and I love the boat. Despite what you read on a lot of other forums it is actually very well built. I've had it out in some pretty nasty conditions and it gives a good dry ride and very little pounding for a 21 foot boat. Access to items like bilge pumps, wash down pumps is pretty good and a lot better than I've seen on more expensive boats. Wiring is fairly neat and color coded. I just wish it was tinned marine wire instead of automotive stuff. The head was the main selling point for me. My Mother and Mother in law like to fish and them hanging it over the side or using a bucket is out of the question. I have the 225 four stroke engine on mine and honestly I think it is too much weight in the transom. A 200 or 225 Opti would be a better choice. If I had to purchase a new boat I would have to look hard at Pro-Line. The factory is just a few miles from my weekend place and there is strong dealer support in the area.

After some research I have found that my portable garmin does not have the ability for uploading waypoints from chip to GPS. I am working with the Hot Spots people on a solution right now. Bill is going out of his way to help me. Great person to deal with.

I have a Garmin 376C that I use for Weather and a back up in case my Navman croaks. Well since Hot Spots does not make a NT+ chip for my area I bought one for the garmin with the though that if I find a spot I like I can just mark it on the navman. Problem is I put in the chip and nothing changes. No new waypoints come up, nothing on the chart.......nada. I called garmin and they have no clue what the chip is supposed to do. Anyone else have one of these things and how did you make it work? (yes, I emailed the top spot people but I'm impatient and want to see this thing work now).

I have the 29.95 fisherman package right now. If I don't find myself using all the features I will drop down to the basic 9.95 package.

This it the greatest thing since sliced bread. Can't belive that I did not suscribe years ago.

Whatever my buddies have in their coolers...........................

Borrowed a 18" enertia this weekend. No noticable difference. I guess that with the heavy four stroke, fresh water tank and fuel tank in the back makes it a stern heavy boat that does not like going 25 mph.

It does look like a lot of trim. I just kept bumping it and watching the gps until I got the max speed. My motor is a little low when I watch the cavitation plate. I have one hole left to move it up so I'm going to see about getting it raised. That might be why it likes the trim.

Boat is a Trophy 2103. Load was pretty even as I the cooler and live well are in the back, wife and I in the center and the two girls up front. Here is the running shot from that day.

Looking good.

I understand. In the last year I have had to put half of my people in the unemployment line. Two were there over twenty years and one over 30. It is very painfully but I'm the third generation to run the business and I want to make sure we survive so that my son can take the helm some day.