Lipstick On A Pig

With the extended downtime from fishing trips I've taken the opportunity to do just about every chore around the house that I've been putting off for years.  But I've also had time to have some major work done on the Anglers Mark so that when all this virus stuff blows over I'll be ready to go with a boat that's in top condition.  The boat is an Angler 2200 Grande Bay and was purchased originally by Mr. Jim Williams. I had been fishing out of a 15' Mitzi Skiff flats boat which allowed me to get extremely shallow, but I could only take one and at the most two people fishing.  I sure miss those days, but I don't know if I could even stay balanced on a poling platform now!

So I purchased the Anglers Mark as a used boat in 2007 and if you remember, it had a 150 Johnson 2-stroke engine that had about 50 hours on it.  Angler didn't make it thru the recession of 2008 but they re-opened as Angler Pro. They're calling the 2200 Grande Bay an Angler Pro 22 Hybrid, but you can tell by the pictures it's the same boat.



As the Virus came on strong and as my trips trickled down to none, I still ran a few chartes with some "local" anglers - those that didn't have to travel from out of state. I had been having issues with my tilt motor working and deducted that the fluid was leaking. I added fluid over a two week span, but eventually left  it at Amelia Island Boat Repair who quickly replaced the seals and had it ready to go in less than a day. These are the same guys that replaced my gas tank in December. That entailed removing the console completely, removing a huge deck plate, then a second deck, removing the old gas tank and replacing with a new one (80 gal), then putting it all back together. I thought the cost to do this was very reasonable.

The last three trips I ran in March, each one of them had the engine just shut down as we were running. I could tell that the engine wasn't getting any gas.   So on a trip to Jacksonville, I dropped the boat off at Atlantic Coast Marine where I had originally purchased the Yamaha 200 engine about 4 years ago. They did a complete "100 hour" service, replacing the engine oil, filters, spark plugs, etc - and serviced a valve that they felt was causing the shut down issue.

West Marine had a sale on GPS/Fish Finders so I purchased and installed a new Garmin EchoMap Plus 94sv that has the traditional sonar, but also a SideVu feature and DownVu feature.  In addition to installing the GPS, I had to install a new transducer and pull a cable to the console.  I had installed a new VHF marine radio a year ago, but it was never linked to the GPS so after joining Boat US, I was able to get a MMSI number, program it into the VHF radio, and link the radio to the GPS. Now, if all else fails, we should be able to hit the "distress" button!

 



The installation of the transducer turned out to be trickier than I expected. I originally installed it where the old one was. On the first run, the sonar picked the bottom up at all speeds, BUT, there was a huge rooster tail being thrown up at high speed and water was being thrown into my engine cowling. After some research, come to find out, you can purchase and install a "spray shield" that eliminates the problem of the rooster tail.

I've always thought that the little storage boxes under the steering wheel were a waste of space.  After the gas tank installation I had thought I'd clean up the wiring in the console, but I wanted to also replace the storage area under the steering wheel and some of the wiring terminals were attached to the back of the storage. So I built a new storage cabinet out of Starboard material that incorporates the fire extinguisher, first aid kit (getting them out of the console area)  and shelves for bug spray and sunscreen, wallets and keys. After it was installed, I was able to remount the wiring terminals on the backside and clean up the wiring.

The gas gauge has never worked properly since I purchased the Anglers Mark. The "sending unit" tends to go bad quickly and it's difficult to get to. So after talking to a neighbor, I purchased and installed a Garmin GFS-10 Fuel Flow Meter  This links via a (who knew?) a NMEA 2000 network that needed to be installed, too. This is in the works - I'm waiting on one more power cable, but when all said and done, once I've entered the gas tank capacity, the Fuel Flow Meter will communicate with the Garmin Echo Map 94sv and I will be able to tell what is the best speed for fuel consumption AND how much fuel I have left in the tank! That Fuel Flow Meter came with its on Fuel Filter, installed, and note the new Water Separator housing and filter.




The 110v plug that I use to recharge my trolling motor batteries had a broken housing which prevented me from tightening the screws - the plug would want to come out when I removed the cord. So it got replaced, an easy fix.
There's no picture, but the automatic Bilge Float Switch had gone bad. When too much water gets in the bilge this switch will "float up" and turn the bilge on automatically.  This was replaced.

Two of the trailer tires were bald! Both were replaced with new, and all four hubs were greased.

So, the Anglers Mark is ready to go! When they open things up, please plan to book your trip and let's go fishing!