MrGiggles

The fishing and weather have been so good I've just been putting up with it. Troubleshooting this stuff without the Merc CDS software is difficult to say the least. You don't have that stuff do you, @fishinwrench?

So I guess it's time for an update. The Merc runs beautifully, for short periods at a time. I'm still having fuel pump problems. I tried another aftermarket part which still had that bleeder hole. Worked better but would still quit after running for a while. I ordered the Walbro pump last week and put that in. This pump has no bleeder hole. Holds prime much better but still, same problem. Runs like a champ 2-3 miles out to the first spot, fish for a while, start it up and it won't pump after that. Back to priming. I've got a small LED light back probed into the lift pump power/ground wires that will show whenever the PCM has it powered up, and another wire going into the float switch signal. I will leave them coiled up on the deck, so when it acts up I'll be able to see what's going on. For some reason I don't think the lift pump is running after a short while.

I think it's cool and all, but at the end of the day the most expensive power is the kind that you make yourself. I don't know why people spend all kinds of money just to say they're "off grid." Doesn't seem like it would ever pencil out to me.

https://www.renogy.com/2000w-12v-pure-sine-wave-inverter/ That's about equal to what a standard outlet in your house would provide before the breaker popped.

Seems like it would work but only being 50ah would be sapped pretty quickly if you tried to do much with it other than charge cell phones. A $100 Everstart 29DC, some cheap panels, and a good inverter would give you twice the capacity for half the price if weight and packaging is not a big deal. You can buy used Lipo medical batteries on eBay under the Valence brand name. They're pretty cheap compared to other lithium options.

Many have a few of my flicker shads stuck in them. If you ever want to find some just go troll for a while. You'll find every one in the lake.

Having the waypoints makes a big difference. There are a lot of piles that do not have signs, and even if they do it makes them way easier to find. Looks you were headed right to a couple of good piles in your second pic. It almost looks like you already have the waypoints loaded, I know a lot of those symbols match up to brush piles that I know of. I don't know the lake that well from Masters to where both arms meet. I usually fish from Masters down to the 245 bridge. Past the bridge you start getting into a lot more timber. Just west of the island, there is a long, shallow, underwater point that is pretty good spot. I think it's an old road bed, and there are some brush piles scattered along it. Without a contour map, you wouldn't know it's there. It's not really a big secret, as there are usually several guys fishing it at any given time in the warmer months. Stockton is pretty cold hearted. 90% dead water and it's always been kind of feast or famine for me. But when you get on them, makes it all worth it.

So how did you do? I just couldn't help it and fished Crabtree yesterday. Couldn't believe the water temp was 50*. Didn't find a whole lot. Trolled around for a while looking for shad and couldn't find much but a small school here or there. Found one and spooned a small white and bluegill out of it. I hit a brushpile after that until dark and only managed one crappie.

I'm not sure what you mean? Like on a separate pole that you can swivel 360*? When I had it set up that way on one side, I could see every direction, the boat didn't impede anything. Could even see the trolling motor and the prop spinning.

Crabtree is the worst ramp when there's a bad south wind. Can't go anywhere without crossing the big water. At Hawker you can hug the west bank and work Hawker branch, all of those bluffs to the north, and the coves that run up to Orleans while staying out of the bad stuff for the most part. If it's bad windy, I prefer Cedar Ridge since that cove is pretty sheltered and you can go either way in calm water with a south wind. That said I like the ramp at Masters a lot better. I haven't seen the giant shad schools that I like for spooning yet. Not quite cold enough. This is the hardest time of year to catch walleyes for me. Turnover is all over and done with, so they can pretty much go anywhere.

Delmar's expression in the back of that GIF cracks me up the most.

One short of a limit in 1.5 hours tonight. The bite is hot and not many shorts either. Main lake brush in 25 feet today. Caught most on a white shad style plastic, but natural and black/chart produced as well.

That was one of the good ones, along with the 5.4/4.6 2V motors, although they still have the spark plug issues. It's the later ones that were a trainwreck. I still see them around quite a bit. Farmers loved them, super reliable, always started in the winter, and would pull pretty good. They love to break manifold bolts and eat coil packs but are usually pretty trouble free.

I agree with you. More stress equals more wear, and there's a lot more complexity added with turbos. Plus a fuel issue becomes a lot bigger deal with forced induction on gas engines, lose fuel under boost and things go bad real quick. Seems like Ford learned some things with the Triton and 6.0/6.4 diesel debacles. They really invested in engine design and the results show. That would make sense since the whole front clip doesn't need to come off to slide the cam out.

Do you see similar claims with Ram and Ford? I have only done a little bit of work on Ecoboosts, enough to know how much of a PITA they are to work on. I don't know if they could've shoved that motor further down and under the cowl if they tried. Rams have all of the same MDS crap on the hemi.

Ole' Scotty is also a Youtuber and hasn't worked on anything in any significant capacity for years. He's right in this instance but I don't put much faith in his squawking.

Jeez. I bet the flat rate guys are loving those jobs. You could pretty much dismantle the whole truck in 36 hours.

You seem to know a lot about them, what do you do? Is that time for for engine replacement or lifters?

Just 2D. I sold my Livescope. Any graph will do it. Turn up the scroll speed and sensitivity. 1/16 oz shows up no problem.

Stockton gave up a few yesterday. Last pile that I hit was a winner. Deep and down in the pile. A few on the drop shot tiny fluke, and a few more on a bone colored baby shad. Only one short. Left them biting, it was getting dark. The angled line on the graph is my jig falling into the pile.

Usually the blower motor is to blame. Worn and drawing too much amperage, or it has a candy wrapper or something wadded up in the fan.

The 5.3 we have now is hardly comparable to the 99-07 5.3s that earned their reputation. Those didn't have any of the cylinder deactivation or VCT stuff that they do now. A lot of the problems were limited to the 07-13 generation. GM made many improvements, the biggest being that instead of shutting off the same 4 cylinders in eco mode, they will now shut off 2 or 4 differing cylinders, and periodically switch between varying combinations to equalize conditions in the engine. Most of the problems were lifter failure and oil consumption in the cylinders that deactivated. To reduce pumping losses, the valves need to remain closed on the dead cylinders, so the lifters essentially need to collapse on demand. It's a new concept and GM didn't quite get it right the first time. I have an 06 with 330k. Original engine (has had a rear main and oil pump seals, probably several water pumps), on its second trans and rear diff. I want to see if it'll go to 500k. It burns some oil and needs a transfer case.

I resemble that remark... I'll admit that I let my own stuff slide. I also know what needs to be taken care of soon and what could leave me walking. I'm not going to spend a weekend chasing down an evap code, but I will take care of oil changes and needed repairs in a somewhat timely manner. I have never washed an engine that I wasn't about to work on. I ruined the ECM in a Honda Foreman once with a pressure washer, so I'm pretty hesitant to go nuts with the pressure washer around all those electronics. 3000 psi easily defeats any weatherpack connector.

I've seen one go from a total cesspool to civilized after it changed hands. They don't stay the same though, that's for sure.