Dealer/Do-it-yourself/What to expect?

[Wana-B Fishin']

I have MANY questions.
First have the wish list cut back to the
"Realistic" range.
I am buying a Lund Alaskan 20' walk-through.
With Yamaha 115 4-stroke.
I walked in to a dealer in MN and handed him my list. He took his pen and said I CAN get this, this, and this.
I CANNOT get this, this, this, and this and it will take 12 weeks to get your boat! O.K. well, hum?

First should I check every Dealer in MN/Wisc.
etc. for this boat or is that a realistic ETA?

Next the things this dealer could not get was a Pinpoint motor and Graphs, Downriggers, and a Raytheon marine radio. Great!

I wanted the dealer to handle all work (I have someone to blame and bring back to if it doesn't
work).

I asked about the Dual-bank charger he say's $325
Wow! I look into Cabela's and that seems a little over-priced?

Next question: I am handy i.e. (Have wired my cabin from putting in breakers to what ever.
Have rewired my old "College" car to bypass short when headlights would not work. So putting in wiring would not be a big deal. But I don't know about shielding the wires for interference on graphs? GPS? Marine Radio?

Should I Buy the Boat and motor and do all the wiring and buy through Cabela's? Has anyone gone
this route?

I am looking for some opinions and experience in
this senero.

Thanx in Advance.

Butch

P.s.
GPS? Lorance 1600? Garmin portable?
I don't need the graph part (Pinpoint 7520 & 7820)
should handle that

[Do it Yourself!]

You will know it is done the way you want it and you will learn how your boat is really put together when you get in there and do it. It is not rocket science and you could save yourself a few hundred dollars to boot in rigging charges. I rigged my own boat and know every inch of it. Just follow the directions provided with your add-ons and you will have no problems.

[FJH1]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-12-00 AT 11:10AM (CST)[p]Butch, years ago I had a dealer rig a boat for me - never again. If you are handy as you say I would highly recommend that you do the work yourself. I rigged my Lund last summer and personally I loved it. I love tinkering around with stuff and by rigging the boat myself I really get an understanding for how everything is set up from the factory. This will help you understand the workings of your boat better and if a problem does arise you may be able to take care of the problem yourself rather than take the boat to the dealer and wait a week until they can "get around to it". The other benefit to self rigging is that you can position everything where YOU want it, not where the dealer THINKS it should be. This is very important, especially with rod holders and locators. It took me a good day on the water to figure out the exact position of the rod holders alone so that the rod butts wouldn't interfere with seats (especially when swiveled around), kicker motor handle, light recepticles... On board battery chargers are really no big deal, but then again if you take some time you will be able to figure out the best location. On my boat I fabricated a special aluminum bracket to support the charger under my console and I routed the plug recepticle to the front of my console - by doing this I can simply reach my hand under the cover to plug in my charger. On my partners boat his plug recepticle is located under his console - he has to climb in the boat to plug in the charger, this is a pain in the a** especially when it's 34 degrees, raining, and all you want to do is get in the hotel room! For marine radios, again, no big deal, just make sure that if you have a GPS that the antenna for the radio is 3' away from the GPS. Regarding interference issues, remember that trolling motor batteries are for the trolling motor - ONLY. All other electronics should be wired to the main fuse board or directly to the starting battery. Also, on Lunds I find that it's best to re-locate the front light recepticle about 12" back from its factory position. By doing this the trolling motor can be mounted so that the motor shaft is as close to the center line of the boat as possible, this will eliminate "dog legging" problems. E-mail me if you have any rigging questions. Enjoy rigging your boat (if you choose this route).

Best Regards,

FJH

[B2]

Thanx for the reply's.

The recept. for the chargers? I was thinking of mounting the charger next to the Batterys up front under the "Pro-Deck". Any thoughts on that?
Sound like I will take the "Do-it-Yourself route.

How about the charging loop from the back battery/motor getting a route to the front batterys? with a switch? To much? Interference?

Locator mounting any prob's in the past???
Does the mounting of the lights in the front "12 inchs back" get interferred/blocked with by the trolling motor while driving at night?

Thanx again
Butch

[Kurt_wi]

When I bought my boat 2 years ago, I had the dealer do the rigging. did a good job.

This year I installed the pinpoint graphs and trolling motor along with downriggers, rod holders and such. Did it myself with advice from some people here and my friend. Glad I did it myself, I learned a lot, and know how things are run on my boat in the event of a problem.

good luck
Kurt

[FJH1]

>Thanx for the reply's.
>
>The recept. for the chargers? I
>was thinking of mounting the
>charger next to the Batterys
>up front under the "Pro-Deck".
>Any thoughts on that?

Find a location that will offer good ventilation, you dont want the charger buried under life preservers, tackle bags... Most if not all chargers need good air circulation. Keep this in mind when choosing a suitable location.
>
>How about the charging loop from
>the back battery/motor getting a
>route to the front batterys?
>with a switch? To much?
>Interference?

I do not have a charging loop for my trolling motor batteries from the main engine. I have never run low on power yet. I fish a lot of tournaments and there are times when we are rigging and are on the trolling motor for 7+ hours non stop. I'm not saying a charging loop is a bad idea, I'm just saying you may not need it. If you go remote (Canada) for days on end w/o the possibility of charging the system may be good for you.
>
>Locator mounting any prob's in the
>past???
>Does the mounting of the lights
>in the front "12 inchs
>back" get interferred/blocked with by
>the trolling motor while driving
>at night?

For locators make sure that you can turn the locator without hitting things, make sure you can see it from multiple locations in the boat (if you are going to have a kicker, make sure you can see it while you are running the kicker.... I would HIGHLY recommend getting R-A-M mounts for your electronics, they are simply the best. Regarding the front light recepticle, I have a Minnkota Maxxum trolling motor and these tend to sit quite high, my light is still at least several inches above my motor. When mounting the trolling motor, find the position with the light INSTALLED into the recepticle. You will see plenty of boats where this was not taken into account and the motor head will interfere with the light.


Best Regards,

FJH

[Gatsby]

If you decide to do your own rigging only use stainless hardware for mounting. I would also recommend you solder and heat shrink all your electrical connections.

[Bronco]

Check with Staples Sports in Staples, Mn. Ask for Larry-- He treated me right and he was running an Alaskan for his own boat last year. They will do what you need to get it done-- That is if Lund is up to it. Lund gets a little scarey as of late.

[Kurt_wi]

i scotch-coat the electrical connections to keep out water and prevent corrosion. Works pretty well.

Agreed on Always use stainless bolts, and such.

Kurt

[legend]

Go for it! Just installed a pinpoint motor and two graphs, on-board charger, etc. The charger leads were not long enough to go around the livewell in my '90 ProV, so had to add length to these. Measure the run in advance of pulling the wires through to avoid having to splice wire with your head and arms under the deck. I relocated the bow light as advised here and it is very visible.

The job took longer than expected, but the results are satisfying, especially the performance of the pinpoint system. Good luck

[Paul H]

I'm a big beliver of the do it yourself if you can. Unless you are in MN or some state with some decent riggers.... Not to mention you should save 50$ an hour or so.

Couple hints
Use the liquid elec tape to insulate and waterproof connections - heat shrink - then liquid is best. Big believer in solder on connections.

Fuses.... or breakers

Label all connections - Radio Shack has ty straps with write on section.

Make a wiring diagram - - keep a copy in the boat - WHEN it breaks - all this will help finding and fixing - and if you do it yourself - fixing later is no big deal.

Just bough a Minn Kota on board - don't have it perm. mounted yet - but like the way it works. Spent 3 hours pulling about 6 more pairs of wire front to back for future expansion.

[B2]

Thanx to all.
I have an solder gun and some heat-shrink(somewhere).
The light in front of this boat is permanet. I might Pull it and rewire but I will see when the boat arrives. RAM seems the way to go!

I believe I have met Larry @ the Staples store. Seemed like an honest(Real) person to me. I will give him a call. I live in ST. Paul MN.

From the sounds of it there isn't to many Regrets on the "DO-IT-Yourself" therory...

Any other places then Cabela's that people goto in MN for ordering the gear? Best deal etc.

How about the Custom cover Idea? I have seen a Traveling? cover where the back half starts at the walk-through and continues down the sides.
Will this hold on the drives? Would the wind catch under the snaps on the top front of the windshild and lift all the way back???
It looked like a GREAT idea! The front had the Bow cover and the the rest was a skin from the windshield snapped down tight to the back-end...

Has anyone put additional interior lighting?
I believe I read about it above. But I could not tell if it was interior.

Thanx to all for the Idea's and support!

Butch

[bbanaszak]

I did almost everything on my last two boats myself. This board is also a great resource for any questions you have. When they come up, post them on here, and you're almost guaranteed a number of responses. After you get prices from Cabela's, call Reed's Sporting Goods in Walker. They've always been competitive and beat everyone's prices on some things.

Good luck,

Brad

[T-Mac]

Bad news....if the dealer doesn't have a 2000 20 Alaska w/ walk-thru....you aren't gonna get one.
June is the twi-light zone for us dealers....We cannot get any more 2000 product...we don't know what will even be available for 2001...we don't know prices....we don't know what we can get, nor how quick we can get it....nor what it will cost.
Really cool, huh?
Makes us look pretty dumb....even dumber than normal... -:)
But...this is just the boat situation...now multiply that by the same situation with the outboards...and we can deliver TOTAL lack of knowledge. Sorry...we only know what we have on the lot...the status and the price.

[T-Mac]

until the Dealer meetings...then we find out what is next.