Fishing in the Central Valley: Evolution and education of a boat owner

A good fishing buddy and I were recently discussing all of the lessons we have learned about how to properly care for our fishing boats. We agreed it’s been one of constant education and evolution, along with a good dose of delayed intelligence.

My early encounters with a boat started way back as an eager teenager, just wanting to get on the water, and my dad’s little 12-foot aluminum boat.

Load the boat, its 9.9 horsepower Mercury outboard motor into the back of the pickup, throw in the gas can, and it was off to the fishing hole. All was good if the boat floated and the engine started.

My next educational breakthrough began when my grandfather let me use his 18-foot fiberglass boat powered by an old 115 horsepower Mercury engine for the summer.

Now I had a real fishing vessel which took a lot more energy, time and money to prepare for my trips. I had to tow a trailer and check if the bearings were greased, the tires were ok, straps connected and the ball locked in place. In addition, the engine was kind of snarky, and it would just shut down as I was going along at full throttle. I finally figured out that it had a sticky float in the carburetor. From then on I carried a small hammer, and if it just quit I knew exactly where to tap to unstick the float – pump the gas bulb – and off we went. It sure scared a few of my fishing buddies.

When I was just out of college, my dad bought a new 21-foot boat and he gave me his old 18-foot 1969 Caravelle tri-hull boat with a 160 horsepower Mercury inboard motor. I was in heaven. This was my real learner boat, the one I made most of my biggest mistakes in the next 10 years.

First, I was storing it outside with a tarp over it. I didn’t realize how destructive the sun could be, not only completely destroying the tarp but most of the interior too. In addition, I found that tarps weren’t good at keeping rain out of the boat, especially in a downpour. It eventually occurred to me that having a foot of standing water inside the cockpit, with fishing stuff floating all over wasn’t the way to go.

I began realizing that the oil and oil filter needed to be changed and a new set of points installed to keep the engine running. Ma Service a lower unit? That might help too. I also found out what engine freeze plugs were for, during a freezing cold winter.

Just when I thought I had the boat figured out, I began to feel my floor getting mushy. Since I had let water get into the boat, and the floor wasn’t getting dried out, the floor and stringers were rotting out.

Water in the bilge didn’t help since the bilge pump was broken. I just wasn’t taking care of the boat as I should have at the time, my priority was strictly on fishing.

I ended up selling that boat and buying a friend’s 18-foot Crestliner with a 4.7 liter inboard motor that I loved. I had now changed my basic perspective and decided that taking care of my boat and engine were key to keeping things working properly.

A new set of issues were now popping up: setup sonar systems, service the engines and trailer, and knowing what to be on guard for. This is where I figured out that being proactive was incredibly important and saved tons of money. I still had all kinds of things happen such as two broken axles over five years caused by improper maintenance. You know … little stuff.

My evolution and education as a boat owner continued from that point on at warp speed when I eventually moved up to a 21-foot StarCraft Viper powered by a Mercury Pro XS four-stroke with a 300 hp engine. That moving up also increased whatl I needed to know by a factor of 10.

It’s an endless process of upgrading and learning. And also watching that you don’t spend all of your fishing days focused on adding the latest and greatest equipment. Or being on edge looking for the next thing to go wrong.

Delayed intelligence is still whacking me these days, keep it simple my friend …and never give up!