Fishing

"Isn't an anchor part of the required gear for a boat? I know an oar is - even if you have a motor, or two."

I don't know if the state requires that you have an anchor or not. But common sense says you should. Would you like a demonstration of mine? L.O.L...

Ralph,

All kidding aside, for safety reasons one should have an anchor on board. Your i-Pilot may be wonderful but anything mechanical/electrical can fail and if the wind is pushing your boat towards a rocky shoreline being able to toss an anchor out can prevent some serious damage to your boat or worse. Been there and done that, and was grateful that the anchor held.

Im going to be in the market as soon as Tracker sends me my 1000 to BPS I was wondering how the i pilot would work on a 22 foot pontoon they have the right size for it, and about the 24 volts that has to be 2 batteries right or can i get 1 thats 24 volts.

Yes, the 24 volt system is a 2 battery configuration (2 x 12 = 24). I would highly suspect that they make an i-pilot for a 22 foot boat. But it would probably be the largest one they make.

Yes, I know and I agree. Sorry for being a smart elick.

Trust me I know what you're saying. I bought this simple little Grandpa's 12ft flatbottom boat, and then fitted it up with all kinds of crap!
It came with a motor, rotten old oars, anchor, spare tire, fishfinder - but that was about it!




Added seats, an electrical system, lights, rod holders, new oars, electric trolling motor, electric downriggers, gps, just got a newer fishfinder/gps. So yeah - I've put more into it than I paid for it! But that lil' pup gets me around, and into some of the places I want to go.

[inline "Boat & Driver.JPG"]

I've got a bigger boat now with hopes to drag the kids around, but I also intend to fashion a nice fishing craft out of it too. Need to rebuild the bow area - storage, bowmount troller, anchor system, platform, seat...



Even so - the little boat takes me to places on the marsh and river that no big boat (in their right mind) would entertain.

Then one of these days I'll get an ipilot, and I'll never be able to look back!

I was at Cabelas on Friday. I checked out the new iPilot remotes. They are WAY better and much easier to push and use. They had both the old ones and the new ones and I was able to compare them side by side. They must have listened to the owners. Now if I just had the money for the that HDS Gen II 8".........ah, never hurts to have a $1,700 dream.

LOL ... Aint that the truth. Shoot, right now, my dream is just a $150 wish for one of those new remotes.

I just bought the i pilot mainly for jigging lake trout. And in my opinion it is cheating I was used to being the guy running the motor and it made catching fish that much harder now i just set it and concentrate on fishing. the other thing i like is searching for fish in the old days i would find them and have a hard time getting back over the top of them now the second i see them on the finder i hit anchor and it takes me right back. Like i said its like cheating its awesome.

Me too. In fact, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep my little boat over the fish well enough to keep that precise presentation required for macks, I always resorted to using a guide to do the driving for me. As soon as I was introduced to the i-Pilot, I figured that just might be the silver bullet. So a couple years ago I went mack fishing with a friend that had just installed an i-Pilot. I was instantly impressed. We actually were catching fish without a guide! That did it. Within a month I upgraded from a 14 foot 15 hp tiller to a 17 foot 50 hp with a steering wheel AND an i-Pilot. We have had some pretty fun mack fishing ever since.

One clarification here: An i-Pilot isn't really the silver bullet that replaces a good mack guide. But it did help me a LOT. (That is, the i-Pilot AND six years of fishing under the tutorage of Jim Williams.)

Just bought a new boat today with the Maxxum on it and really already drooling over getting an ipilot.

to not have to try and dance on 1 foot in big waves on the front of a boat when fishing a windswept point, reef or shoreline would be worth a tremendous amount to me.

No way to upgrade my motor so thinking I will have to sell it and buy an ipilot. Not sur eif a 1198 finder or the ipilot is the first thing I "need" but hope to have both by next year at the latest.

Ok Coot, You have been on my boat and know the size and such, Im going to be getting me an I-pilot in the near future. Which shaft length do you have since are boats are simular in nature and do you have 12 or 24 volt? curious as to which one I would want.

Also thrust?

Terrova or power drive V-2

Any one else?

Glad to see you are considering an i-Pilot Mark. You are one of those fishermen that could really put an i-Pilot to good use.

I think my boat is lighter than yours (not sure). My i-Pilot is just the 12v .. 55 lb thrust Power Drive V2. Mine is equipped with the 54" shaft. Shaft wise, I wish it was a couple inches longer (don't we all?) because sometimes (rarely) in 1-foot waves, my prop will come up out of the water. But, as you know, the bow of my boat sticks WAY up in the air (typical Gregor). So a 54" shaft is probably plenty for your boat. Definitely don't go for the 45" shaft but a 60" shaft on your boat would be a waste and would unnecessarily take up more precious space.

As for voltage, like I say, mine is the single battery, 12v. model. When mack fishing, I have found that, near the end of a 6-hour day of fishing where we are using the i-Pilot heavily all day long, the battery gets a little week near the end of the day. That symptom would definitely not be an issue with a 2-battery 24v. system.

So, in summary, if I were installing an i-Pilot on your boat, I would go with the new Power Drive V2 70. It has 70 lbs. thrust (a little more than my 55 which is better for your heaver boat). That Power Drive V2 70 is a 24 v. system to better serve your heaver boat and it's more powerful 70 lb. thrust motor. And like I say, no need to get the 60" shaft ... for your boat, the 54" shaft would be plenty good.

The one drawback to getting the V2-70 is the cost and maintenance of two batteries instead of one and having to find a good location in the boat for the second battery.

I suspect that you already have an on-board charger. But if you don't, that is another toy WELL worth considering.

One last thing Mark, if/when you get and i-Pilot and/or an on-board charger, come over to my place and take an up-close look at my installation before you begin. There are a couple things I have done that I really like and some things that should have been done differently.

Enjoy tricking out your ride Mark.