Piece of Gear You Can’t Live Without

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Dungee

Dungee

Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Bored at work and I was thinking. What is the one piece of gear (fishing, boating, camping), that you already had, or discovered that you can no longer live without at Powell or that made the experience that much better?

I’m not even sure what mine would be? Perhaps a spring bar tent or on board battery charger...?

Interested in hearing what people have found.

Preston
 
I use the Battery Tender from Deltran to keep my batteries topped off - I keep my boat in a garage and have easy access to AC power. I have a permanent adapter bolted onto the boat battery so after I back in its easy to plug in. The Battery Tender always has my batteries at maximum power. It has light indicators to show full charge. It has a desulfate cycle - not sure exactly what that is, others will know. It is NOT a charger, it is a smart maintainer.

My original factory battery ran for 12 years from date of manufacture. The Battery Tender cost $69. My new AGM battery after 12 years cost about $300. A battery under normal conditions would last 4-5 years. You do the math.
 
Dungee Fishing said:
Bored at work and I was thinking. What is the one piece of gear (fishing, boating, camping), that you already had, or discovered that you can no longer live without at Powell or that made the experience that much better?

I’m not even sure what mine would be? Perhaps a spring bar tent or on board battery charger...?

Interested in hearing what people have found.

Preston
Click to expand...

Houseboat

Place to sleep comfortably
Cook and eat
S@#* shower and shave
Park the fishing boat securely
Clean and freeze the catch
Store all the gear
Non fisherman can comfortably stay at camp while we are fishing
Camp out of the elements and dirt
Get out or the weather
Boats to fit all budgets
Takes most of the work out of camping!

Luv it!!
D
 
I put the MK 3 DC alternator charger on when I bought an electric TM and so far it has worked flawlessly. I have not had to worry about any of my batteries even after a week of fishing. Boat is still new and I am not a LP veteran so I am sure after more trips that piece of equipment may change, but for now it is nice to know I have battery power. I added a volt meter so I could watch the voltage and so far they have stayed where they should be. Good question, it will be interesting to see all the answers. Thanks and I for one am glad you were bored!
 
Best addition/can't imagine not having: "Inverter" system on the boat

Our first 5 years owning our boat, we did not have an inverter, so 120v power was only supplied when the generator was running. The refer was 12v (so never really that cold), could not use the ice maker except in the slip, and had to start the generator to use the microwave. In 2003, I added an inverter and batteries, switched the refer over to a house type refer, added DirecTV, etc. I can now run everything on the boat 24/7 while on the beach using the generator to charge the batteries about 3 hours a day which is less than we used to run the generator before the inverter (saving $$). The addition of an inverter system truly changed our ability to enjoy the lake comfortably for extended periods with kids/grandkids.

Close 2nd answer, and probably should be #1: a boat that we can sleep on. The days of beach camping were awesome when I was in my 20's and early 30's, but if we didn't have a sleepable boat today, my LP experiences would be few and far between.

Great question Preston!
 
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Dungee Fishing said:
Bored at work and I was thinking. What is the one piece of gear (fishing, boating, camping), that you already had, or discovered that you can no longer live without at Powell or that made the experience that much better?

I’m not even sure what mine would be? Perhaps a spring bar tent or on board battery charger...?

Interested in hearing what people have found.

Preston
Click to expand...

beer can crusher
 
for me it was the addition of a good trolling motor -- for years I had a small aluminum boat with a 15hp outboard I would pull behind the houseboat-- I used that small boat to fish for bass. Then I added a transom mount trolling motor and thought I was in heaven--- -- you could spin it around and go backward, slow forward-- it was great --- Then I purchased a "bass boat" -- 16ft tracker with a 50hp outboard -- that boat had a foot controlled old style trolling motor on the front ---- again I was in heaven -- I could go "any place " in that boat ( at 25mph) I started taking trips where I did not need to take the house boat--- Then I got a real bass boat -- this one has a great trolling motor with Ipilot, spot lock....
now, I can not live without it --- I would give up all other items in boat before I gave up the trolling motor --- take away my good rods, take away all electronics, take away the big motor---- just leave me the trolling motor to get into the places I know hold fish.
 
A functioning bilge pump.

In our 25’ Nordic I/O 50 miles up lake at the back of Anasazi Cyn, discovered water on floor. Opened engine hatch, discovered seawater pump housing was cracked and filling the boat with water.

No problem, flipped on the 25 yr-old bilge pump...nothing. Got that ‘sinking feeling’ (literally).

High-tailed it to DR and pulled up just as the fuel dock was closing. Found a bilge pump for double the cost (but worth every penny). MacGuyver’ed the pump off the battery using some scavenged stereo wire. Rigged it to Automatic and safely made it back to Wahweap.

Lesson learned: Check that bilge pump regularly, it could save your life.
 
Doug Elworthy said:
Houseboat

Place to sleep comfortably
Cook and eat
S@#* shower and shave
Park the fishing boat securely
Clean and freeze the catch
Store all the gear
Non fisherman can comfortably stay at camp while we are fishing
Camp out of the elements and dirt
Get out or the weather
Boats to fit all budgets
Takes most of the work out of camping!

Luv it!!
D
Click to expand...
And that’s why we bought into a houseboat.
 
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