Lake Kerr NC G3 Thoughts

    I am a little late with this post as I debated posting at all due to lack of photos.
    March 18th, I took the boat up to my friends place Lake Kerr for some fishing and more break in time. I got up there, early afternoon, on a Friday and Stayed until Monday AM.

    Friday was such a nice day we decided to get the lines wet for a few hours before dark. The lake was like glass and the boat did great. I am still undecided on the anchor feature of the Minn Kotta. It doesn't seem to want to settle down. Maybe I was just being impatient! Once we settled on a spot I just shut everything down and put pout the regular anchor.
    I think the anchor I got is a bit heavy and the chain may even be overkill. I may have two lighten the load with a smaller version. However, I will say once it was out the boat didn't budge!
    We did not catch any fish worth mentioning. About dark....

Got back to the ramp after dark but the boat handled well, lights worked great and my friend loved the boat.

Saturday I put in at a different spot to go look for Stripers. It was overcast, cold, windy and the water was very rough.
    I backed the boat in the water while my friend and his son backed the boat from the trailer. A combination of the weight of the huge 90 HP motor and the low area of the transom put the top of the stern a bit close to the water line for comfort. Lake waves came in and over with ease, putting gallons of water in the hull. Once I got in the boat and we got underway we hit the bilge and I thought it would never stop pumping water! I think G3 should have narrowed the low area for the motor rather than have it go almost to the sides of the transom. They would have still had plenty of room for the motor and that would have deflected a lot of water coming in from the rough water situation. I felt like it could ride a little higher in the water too. The ride height could be normal as I have not owned this type of boat before. And to be fair, the 2 trolling motor batteries along with the cranking battery do not help matters much LOL.

    The only other thing I noticed, later in the day, while traveling on plane across the rough water, the boat felt like it wanted to lean left. My friend stood next to me on my right and his son sat on the seat built onto the console. If anything we had more weight on the right side of the boat. This could be the way I had the boat tried? I am still getting use to the sweet spot. Or it could have just been the rough water. I have not had the boat back out yet to make sure it's nothing permanent. I don't think it is.
    We caught no fish that day either.

    It was so crappy out on Sunday we decided to build camp fires and Crappie fish from the bank, at his dock. It was actually pretty fun. A couple nice catfish, a decent bass, a Jack, and a few yellow perch managed to get on our hooks! No Crappie.

   Still love the boat despite the comments above. It handles the rough water fairly well. Although I would prefer keeping the people to 2 there was ample room for all three of us on the boat. I probably would not want to do a lot off cast fishing though. The boat accelerates well and is pretty peppy! Hold on when you hit the throttle!. I filled up the boat when I got it and it still has a third tank..... two trips to my lake and these two days! Not bad.

I hope to get out on the G3 at least once more before my Spring Camp & Paddle with the local kayak group. I always look forward to those!

Tight Lines!

Chasing Crappie at Little Hall Park (3.16.2016)

    I met up with my buddy Jim from the L.A.K.E. group to see if we could slime the new boat with some Crappie!
    We started out at Hammond's for some minnows then up to Little Hall Park on Lanier to put in. We searched all over but never found the Crappie. We did manage to catch a couple Black Bass (Spots) so it was not a total loss.

Marine Grade

    For those of you who may have been concerned about the "car grade" gas line, I ordered, received, and installed the correct line this morning. All is well.

MPI-350-0380 USCG Type A from Wholesale Marine.com

    I also cut the "car grade" line and placed it on the corners of the rear lid. I noted some vibration on the water that drove me nuts. If this doesn't hold up I have a few other ideas.

Charging the Batteries

    Everything seems to be working like it should. I had to read the manual since all of the blinking lights had me worried!

VINE AP Closed Down so I lost the VID :(

G3 Maiden Voyage

    I took the boat out for a solo maiden voyage yesterday (3/8/2016). I went to Lake Sidney Lanier at the Charleston Park Boat Ramp. This ramp is basically right across the water from the Six Mile Ramp. I chose this one because I knew it had an extra lane and a larger parking area. I did not want to hold anyone up if I ran into trouble.

    The boat unloaded nicely. I did not have the nerve to try and use the remote for the trolling motor, to drive it away and anchor it, since I had never even tested it to make sure it worked! I just climbed on and drove it to the dock. Charleston has a really long floating dock open on both sides. Plenty of room to get out of other peoples way if it is busy. Today it was not.

    Once i got it tied to the dock, I went and parked the truck. After parking the truck I pulled a little ways from the dock and messed with the trolling motor a bit to get familiar and to make sure it worked. I set it on anchor and checked out some other things on the boat. I had stopped for a dozen trout for some stripper fishing so I added a bait keeper solution and some more water to the live well. After that it was off to find some fish.

    I set up two floats with live bait and two planer boards with umbrella rigs and trolled around without any luck. I did have one bait taken but the rest I ended up letting go at the ramp :(

It was a bit windy when I tried to load the boat back on the trailer, but I got it on the second try. Over all it was a nice first ride. I think I am going to like it! Maybe next time I will find some fish!

Ok, Now I'm Done!?

    Ran to the sports store and picked up that tool box and fender/bumpers. I wish they had olive green ones but you have to go with whats available. They had white but I'm not a fan.

     Oh, and while I was there I went ahead and picked up a Minn Kota 3 bank charger to maintain the batteries. I had to move the fuel/water separator a bit to get it to fit. I had not even thought about the size of the thing!

     That's the fuel line just above it. I had to put a longer piece on there and it was not "marine grade" so I will replace it as soon as I find it. This is some new fuel injected fuel line I had left over from a car project. EDIT: Replaced.
    Right above that is the cord for the charger plugged into it's holder.

Bow Mount Fish Finder

   Yesterday I received the base for my bow mount Humminbird so I installed that today. I drilled a one inch hole and inserted the supplied grommet and ran my power cord through that. For the transducer cable I came in through the break out tab and put the excess down the hole with the power cord. This made for a nice tidy install with most of the wiring out of the way. When I drilled the hole my hole bit fell into the boat when it broke through, grrrr. I, not sure how I will get that back! Maybe a small magnet on a string.

    I also got the trolling motor plug, so I put that on as well.

 

Lets go fishing!

Transducer Install & Other Bits

    I ran out to the hardware store and got the drill bit I needed to mount the transducer. While I was there I also got the bolts I needed to mount the other rod holders.

    Here is the transducer...

Here are the rod holders, well one of them, the other is on the other side LOL. This gives me four at the back for trolling or downlines.

 

    I took two of these Ram Screw Balls from my kayak and mounted them on the rai. I can loosen them and slide them wherever I need them. I can use the rod holders from my kayak on them or get other accessories that use them. I ordered two more to replace them on my kayak.

    I also picked up an anchor, chain, and anchor rope...

    That's about it for today. My base and cables showed up for the bow mounted fish finder so I will install that tomorrow. I will be getting the trolling motor plug tomorrow so I can finish that up. I also ordered my registration number decals. I'm not sure when they will arrive but I anticipate next week sometime. Now to start watching the weather for a good maiden voyage day!

Helix 7 Install

   My Helix 7 showed up today so I started the install. Over all it was not too bad. First I removed the windshield and mounted the gimbal bracket that holds the main unit. Then I drilled the one inch hole to run the wires through. The hardest part so far was running the transducer wire from the transom to the console. I decided to run it along the same path as the steering cables etc.  I used a drain snake to run the transducer wire from the back to console. I ran it from back to front then tied on a string and pulled it through Once I had the string through I tied it onto the transducer wire at the transom and pulled it through to the console.

    Tomorrow I will mount the transducer to the transom and it will be done! I should also be receiving the mount for the bow mount Humminbird. That leaves the adapter cable for the transducer in the trolling motor and the trolling motor plug. They should show up any time.