Some New Equipment for my Boat

Yesterday, my buddy MikeWalleye came over and helped me install a few new gadgets on the boat in preparation for the season opener, which will happen on friday may 13th, on Lac Saint Pierre. We installed the following :

1. Minnkota Co-Pilot for the bow mount electric motor. This required little effort, simply put one of the side plates on the bow mount had to be removed and replaced with one which contains the remote control sensors.

   

   This new addition will help me control the boat's drift in the Saint Lawrence as well as anywhere else. Because this unit operates with a remote control, which I can mount on my rods or even wear as a bracelet on my wrist, it will give me much more flexibility and I will be able to move around the boat while controlling the drift. Huge advantage I think.



2. Garmin Swiveling GPS holder for the console. Because I already own a GPS (eTrex Legend) I did not feel obliged to spend the 1,000$+ required to get a 2 in 1 fishfinder/sonar unit.
   
   This year I will continue to use the handheld GPS unit, but it will have a good place on the console.



3. Inline 24 Volt 2 Bank Battery Charger. I did not have an inline charger before, which means each time I came back home, I had to plug in one battery after the other and try to guess when they were ready to receive a lower voltage chart and when they were ready to be unplugged. Then I had to do it for 2 batteries. In other words it was impossible to manage. This new unit installs in one of the bow compartments with 4 stainless steel sheet metal screws, it cools by convection, all I need to do is leave the unit a little breathing room to maximize its efficiency, which I will do by leaving the trap door slightly opened when charging.




4. New Trailer Winch Strap & Hook. Last year I damaged the pull strap on the trailer when it got caught in the gears. Some of it was chewed right off so it needed to be replaced.
   
   
   
   The job took no time at all, I only had to unwind the old one, remove the bolt which holds it in place, replace it with a new nut and bolt assemble and a new strap/hook combo, which costs less than $15.