fishing boat questions

[Bofire]

  probably dumb questions but I would appreciate input.
Some electric trolling motors have long shafts, stearn mount, 12 volt 40-50 lb. should I get a 36" or 48" shaft? why?
Do you guys unplug lights before you launch?
Premium or regular fuel, 15 horse Yamaha 4stroke?
What size anchor for a 14WC lund? How do you figure it?
Is there a good way to estimate your speed, like in 5mph limit lakes?
thanks
Carl

[lokidog]

Easy one is speed estimation - no wake = less than 5 mph.

Electric motor - shaft length depends on how high your transom is and how far above it you want the control handle to be when using it.  Remember, when running on gas motor, the electric will be tilted and sticking into the boat.

Anchor depends oon where you will be anchoring, if just in lakes, a 10 pound bell type would probably work.  Soft bottom you can use a lighter Danforth style, but it needs four or more feet of chain to work properly.  In a river, you need a heavier river style anchor.  I like to use a five or so pound bell off the stern to keep it from swinging back and forth in wind or current.

Trailer lights, plug, unplug, they'll fail in a year or so anyways....  When they do, get the LED ones.  Probably unplug then there is less potential to harm your truck's wiring.

I just use regular fuel in my four stroke.  I don't worry about ethanol either, many would disagree with this I am sure.

A lot of depthfinders will also have a little paddle wheel speed gauge, not super accurate at low speeds especially, but better than nothing if you are worried about it.

Hope some of this might help.

[BLKBEARKLR]

probably dumb questions but I would appreciate input.
Some electric trolling motors have long shafts, stearn mount, 12 volt 40-50 lb. should I get a 36" or 48" shaft? why? 36 inch should be fine, measure the top of the boat, down to the water you want at least12 inch of shaft in the water to compensate for wave levels.

Do you guys unplug lights before you launch?  I myself used to, but I have not done that for years, if they are waterproof lights you are fine.

Premium or regular fuel, 15 horse Yamaha 4stroke? 4 stroke will get you a lot farther than a two stroke on gas.

What size anchor for a 14WC lund? How do you figure it? a good solid ten pounds would hold you but depending on waves you might want a 15 pounder.

Is there a good way to estimate your speed, like in 5mph limit lakes?  GPS best way to be safe

thanks
Carl

Joe

[Alchase]

Lights - take a look at you trailer lights from underneath. Allot of the smaller trailers have lights they claim to be "waterproof", but when you look close there is no cover over the bottom of the light. The theory "they say" is like taking a cup of water and holding it upside down then lowing it into a container of water, no water will come in until you turn the cup sideways, right? The problem with these lights is almost all boat ramps are at an angle, that defeats the whole "waterproof" theory these lights use. If your lights are open on the bottom, a piece of duct tape will do the trick for a short while. Better would be to replace those lights with "sealed LED" lights that can be submerged. Or just get used to replacing light bulbs every couple of years.
FYI - Everytime mine have gone out, is when I forget to unplug before launching or recovery, lol
On my 13ft Smokercraft, I have a Yamaha 15 HP 4-stroke as well. I use regular gas treated with Stabil. A five gallon tank last a whole season of fishing and then some.
For anchors I use a standard s300 fluke (5lb) with no chain, mostly because I am lazy and the chain makes a ton of noise in an aluminum boat, lol. If you plan on running any rivers use the chain.
For speed, Lokidog is correct, most fish/depth finders have a speed sensor on them. You can also use your GPS accurately as suggested by BLKBEARKLR.
Most places with 5MPH or 8MPH speed limits are because they want no wake or swimmers are in the area. If you do not have anything to check your speed on, just idles that 15 HP 4-stoke all the way down. Mine trolls at 0.6 MPH at idle. As long as you do not create a wake you should be below the 5 MPH limits.

[Bofire]

Thanks to all of you!!