Just couldn't help m'self.

[DanG]

The other day when I was coming back from Hogs4hobby's place, I saw this cute little thing settin' by the road.  Now, now don't let your fantasies take off on ya! : :D  This particular cute little thing had a for sale sign on it.  I tried to call the owner right then but couldn't reach him, so I called the next day.  The price he was asking just about tripled the level of temptation, but I forced myself to cogitate about it through the weekend, half hoping someone else would buy it before today.  They didn't, so I went down there and led it home a little while ago. : ;D 8) 8)





She's a 14 footer with a 35hp Evinrude and a foot-controlled trolling motor.  As far as I can tell, everything is solid, and both motors run great.  Just gotta get a couple of anchors and I'll be ready to fish! 8) 8)

I know, I just bought a big ol' pontoon boat and ain't even had it in the water yet. :  But like I said, I just couldn't help myself when I found out he was only asking $1000!  I didn't even try to haggle. ;)

[ARKANSAWYER]

Sometimes a bad econmony is a good thing.   Nice hole in the water.   Remember the two happiest days in a boat owners life. ;D

[gary]

I fish out of a similar type of boat and have a bass boat also. The 14 footer is in the water more than the bass boat. Now if I had a pontoon you wouldn't be able to get me off the lake. Nice boat Dang

[DanG]

Thanks.   If I ever get that pontoon on the water, you might have a hard time finding me at home.  I still have to build some seats, buy some more hardware, and do some work on the trailer.  I may have just shot myself in the foot though, 'cause I'm gonna have a hard time finding time to work on it now.

[WDH]

DanG, my favorites are bream and catfish : :.  Just so you know .

[DanG]

Dat's what we go for, Danny.  Would you like to come down and catch your own, or do you want me to have all the fun? ;D

[Radar67]

There is one thing for sure DanG, well two, the first is that sure is a nice boat. The second, Danny sure knows how to eat catfish.  ;D

[LeeB]

Dat's what we go for, Danny.  Would you like to come down and catch your own, or do you want me to have all the fun? ;D

I'll take mine cleaned and vacu sealed please.  :D

[WDH]

Dat's what we go for, Danny.  Would you like to come down and catch your own, or do you want me to have all the fun? ;D

I'll take mine cleaned and vacu sealed please.  :D

And, packed in peppers  ;D.

[LeeB]

At the very least a couple on the side.  :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

I think that there boat ride with his buddy in the cypress, put ideas in his head.  : I think he wants to make his buddy grab the seats and gunwale this time through. :D

[DanG]

You ain't all that far from having me figgered out, SwampDonkey! :D :D :D  I'm gonna have to get a little more familiar with stick steering before I try that though, not to speak of getting familiar with the creek itself.  Ol' Hamp knows where every stump and shallow spot is, and just which side of every tree he should be on.  There is plenty more small water around here where this boat will go and the pontoon won't.  I'm looking forward to using the pontoon, but I don't want to give up fishing the little places. ;D

Another consideration is, some problems showed up on Hamp's little boat on that trip.  The seat I was in pulled loose from the floor, revealing some bad wood rot.  It will take a lot of work to get it back in the water....if ever.  He might just sell the motor and junk the boat.  He still has a really nice 16 footer, which we've been using a lot.  The pore ol' guy is about half crippled with arthritic knees and I have to help him in and out of the boat sometimes.  He's looking forward to the pontoon boat, too. ;)

[gary]

Dang all that pontoon boat needs for seats is a couple of used lazy boys. Might as well be comfortable while fishing. Add a picnic table and a gas grill and I could live on it.

[DanG]

I'm with ya Gary.  I don't want to get it too crowded on there.  I'm just gonna build a couple of benches for solid seating while we're running, and use folding lawn chairs for fishing.  The benches will have dry storage underneath for the life jackets and such.

Managed to get the little boat out to the lake for a short trip this evening.  I was not disappointed at all!  Everything on it works to perfection.  The 35 Evinrude runs as good as any motor I've ever had!   I need to put a couple of rope cleats on to tie off the anchors, and put a new roller on the winch stand.  Other than that, she's good to go!

[LeeB]

Sounds like you found a keeper Dan. Sooo, when can I expect my packade of fish and peppers?

[DanG]

Sorry Lee.  We didn't catch any peppers, so we threw the fish back.

[SwampDonkey]

DanG, that's a good company behind that motor. Well, to be honest I don't know much about the company. But, I do know they have always been reliable. I have a 7.5 HP, although I have never put many hours on it, it never lets me down. I've had it for over 20 years, but as I said it has very few hours on it. It was only used to move a canoe a short distance from salmon pool to salmon pool all well within a mile of river. Grand father used the brand ever since the war on canoes in the river. My motor is just like new.

[SwampDonkey]

Oh, I can send Lee his Kippered herring in Jalapeno sauce.  I bet they're on the shelves in Louisiana. ;D

[fishpharmer]

DanG,

I would rather be lucky than good. ;D  Your lucky.

Nice boat for sure.  Looks like it could handle a couple of big fella's ;)

[WDH]

Sorry Lee.  We didn't catch any peppers, so we threw the fish back.

You must be using the wrong bait  .

[Banjo picker]

That boat was ment to be yours....We are not suposed to be tempted beyond what we can bear....So if you were not suposed to have it someone would have got it before you got there... 8)  Thats my reasoning on it anyway....One of these days I will have a motercycle by the same thinking....I see a nice one by the road and think that had better be gone before a certain day...and usually it is...One of these day.... ;)  Tim

[fishpharmer]

DanG I thought you was an ole stick steerer from way back. ;D  You oughta love it.  Probably alot easier with just one plane of motion.  No up and down. 8)

Banjo, I like your philosophy.

WDH, I have sure had some peppers with some "bite" before.  Never hooked one.

[WDH]

Who knows, it might take LeeB for bait :D :D.

[Texas Ranger]

That little boat will track behind the pontoon, and you can  use it for a gofer when on the water.  A spare, so to speak.

[DanG]

This here is what put me over the top and convinced me to grab it if I could. ;)

http://tallahassee.craigslist.org/boa/1314753059.html

That sorta puts it in the investment class rather than the expenditure class, at least that's my rationalization. :D

Fish, I switched over to salt water fishing before stick steering was invented.  This is the first freshwater boat of my own I've had on the water since the mid-seventies.  Judging from yesterday's experience, I'm gonna like the stick just fine. ;D 8) 8)

[fishpharmer]

Let me clarify. I read back over my last post and it might be misinterpretted.

DanG  I thought helicopters had stick steering . Thats what I meant anyway.

[Tom]

You need a sombrero for peppers.

[DanG]

Fish, your helicopter line went right over my head! :D :D :D

You worded it great, but I guess you underestimated the bone density.

Maybe I'll take along a scoop of mushroom compost next time and try to chum up some peppers. ;D

[WDH]

Be sure to wear the sombrero  ;D.

[DanG]

That would take all the sport out of it.  Gotta give them peppers a fighting chance, ya know. ;D :D

[Ron Scott]

Great addition to Dang's fleet.

[metalspinner]

Great addition to Dang's fleet.

That's "Commandant DanG." 

[WDH]

He might become Skipper DanG ;D.

[nas]

with all those boats it might be admiral Dang 8)

[LeeB]

Who knows, it might take LeeB for bait :D :D.

I think that would be the other way around.  :D

[WDH]

Just pondering the philosophies from another thread, I wonder if peppers have rights, too ??? :.

[gary]

They have the right to be eaten

[DanG]

They also have other rights that they can exercise subsequent to their consumption.

[bandmiller2]

Dan,for anchors just git a couple of cast iron weight builder weights you know the discs with the hole in the middle.Big one for fast water[wadda if your from around Boston]and a small one for still ponds.Lets see now you need lorain,ship to shore, radar,gps and of course a fish finder[worm on a hook] Frank C.

[iffy]

Grand father used the brand ever since the war on canoes in the river.

Who won the war on canoes?  :D

[Raider Bill]

Dang Commodore

[DanG]

Funny you should bring this topic up again, Bill.

Y'all remember that little boat that we started out talking about?  Well, I'm beginning to think the DanG thing is jinxed! >:(  I ain't had nothing but trouble ever since I got it.  First time I took it out, everything was fine.  Next time, the engine wouldn't run.  Then I fooled around and had that pesky little heart attack, which slowed me down a bit.  There were those who said that a human couldn't possibly move any slower than I already was, but I guess I showed them! ;D :D  Anyway, the trouble turned out to be the powerpack, which cost me $90 with me doing the work.  Ok, now I got it running and was back on my feet, so I went fishing.  It ran great, but it wasn't pumping any cooling water! :'(  So I fished close to the ramp and came in on the trolling motor.   Got a new impeller and put it in, and guess what?  You got it, the DanG thing won't start now, and I'm pretty sure that new $90 powerpack is toasted!

I had some other things to do between naps, so I didn't mess with it for a few days, but yesterday I decided to do a couple of little tests to verify what the problem is.  As I took the cover off, I noticed some bugs flying around, then I noticed that those bugs were Yellowjackets!  I stepped back a little, since they seemed to be interested in what I was doing.  After they settled down, I crept back up to the boat and took a look.  See that little well there with the bilge pump in it?





Well, that well is only about 6 or 8 inches square by about 2 inches deep, but it has a little opening into a small bilge under the flat deck.  Now I would think that this bilge area would be foam-filled, but I don't really know that it is.  Anyway, this is the little hole that opens into that bilge, and that is where the 'jackets have chosen to nest! :-\





Now I'm in a quandary as to just what to do about it. ???  The boat is settin' right in front of the shop and I got all sorts of noxious chemicals in there that would probably take care of the problem, but I'd prefer not to have the boat blow up next time it chooses to run.  I've tried wasp spray on nests before and they don't work well when used like that.  Right now, they should be thoroughly aggravated with me, cause I plugged up the hole after they all went to bed last night. ;D :D :D

[Raider Bill]

Suck it up man! Take the boat out on the lake, 

Open that cover, beat all around the opening with pole, shoot them with spray as they fly out.  smiley_monkeyfight

Tape everything so we can watch the festivites :D
Don't forget the life jacket. Safety first I always say.
Use some kind of streaming video like Jeff does so we can see it live.
Might be worth $10k on one of them americas funniest video shows.

[beenthere]

 :D :D :D

Seriously, can you fill that well with water?

I've also heard people use Sevin powder on the nest. Not sure they knew what they were saying.

Good luck.  I've had to kill off two large nests of them in the ground here. One would have filled a two gallon bucket.

[SwampDonkey]

I filled a 3 gallon pale with honey bees from the flue. I gassed the buzzards with smoke, then with Raid foam as they hit the base of the flue from 40 feet up. Gave'm a good thrashing. :D :D

[DanG]

There's been a development.  I got a better look at the stowaways today in some brighter light.  They ain't yellowjackets after all, they're honey bees.  I called JAMES G on the phone.  He's the Son-in-law/Forumite/Beekeeper that I consult with in situations like this, and we had a little chinwag about what should be done with these critters.  After a number of brilliant suggestions from both of the involved parties, including waiting and trying to sling the honey out of the boat with some sort of a gargantuan boat-slinging device, to sinking the boat to see if honey will float, we concluded that we'd rather go fishing, so I will see to the execution of the bees on the morrow.  I've decided on a piece of tubing, a small funnel, and a La-Cockaroacha bomb. ;D

[WH_Conley]

Gee, if I can live with yellow jackets at my mill, surely you can live with honey bees. Course I can't figure how to get rid of them without getting stung. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

Well DanG is a little better off then I was. I had to climb up to that flue with 3 ladders, make a long stick with a nail to lasso a rope around the flue so I wouldn't take a 30+ odd drop with a ladder off the roof. Climb up there with flue brushes in hand and remove that honeycomb at the mouth of the flue. Then scrape the entire innards of the flue from top to bottom making sure more were not honeycombed down there someplace. And I don't like being too far off the ground.  :