RE: New to me bass boat - Lowe Stinger 17HP -Update
Update on the 17HP - I got it out yesterday afternoon for the first time since I brought it home from Nashville. My first impressions are: 1) Love the fishing space, for a 17' boat it is very comfortable - the fishing seats are first class, very nice. The tilt steering wheel and drivers seat positions are also very good. This is a boat that I can fish out of all day and not get worn out! 2) I have a hand controlled 65 lb Maxxum on my 20' fish and ski so I wasn't sure how I'd adapt back to a foot controlled trolling motor. I also like MK over MG and the Stinger has a 24V 75 lb foot controlled MG. Wow is all I can say. 75 lbs of thrust is a lot for a 17' 990lb aluminum hull. I only needed the 5 speed controller set on 1 most of the afternoon. Set on 5 it seems I could almost pull a skier - well not really but on 5 it really moves! I can see that this boat will be at home at River Park in the current. I also found out that the story that wind moves a tin boat around easy is very true so the strong trolling motor will come in handy. 3) I'm used to having 225 HP available on my Coral Fish & Ski and I've had it to 68 mph on gps with a little to go so it is a 70 mph boat, I fish with Jmax who only knows WOT in his boat and Polo who has a 250 HP on his Aires so I'm spoiled. I will have to get used to having a top end speed on the Stinger of low 40's. It was pretty calm yesterday afternoon with slick water so I'm sure with a little chop the Stinger will go faster but the most I saw yesterday with a full tank of gas, empty live well, just me and a bunch of fishing gear was 41 mph. Cruise at 4000 rpms was 30 mph. I felt like I was standing still! I have to admit that with a hull weight of just under 1000 lbs and with a like new 90 HP Optimax on the back and unlike most aluminum fishing boats this hull is a pad-hull I was expecting upper 40's with just me so that part was disappointing. The engine is mounted in the second set of holes on the engine bracket so I might try moving it up to the third set of holes and might try a Laser II 22P prop. The boat seems to be very trim sensitive. In fact you can't use much up trim at all without inducing porpoising. I have heard this is typical of aluminum hulls but I don't know. Maybe moving the engine up will help. 4) Even though it was a pretty calm day I ran over some boat wakes and I am impressed with how solid the ride is. This boat has no wood in it at all, it even has an aluminum deck and lids so it is very strong. I like that. 5) The fish / depth finders are lower end Lowrance units and while OK the placement of the puck on the transom must need adjusting because once I got over 25 mph I got a lot of erratic readings and readings that while correct were flashing so it must have been losing the bottom. That will need tweaking. 5) Did I mention that I have a 225 Merc EFI on my other boat --- that 225 drinks gas like nobody's business. When I get out in it I feel like Exxon should adopt me or at least give me a medal. I was amazed how little gas the 90 Optimax used yesterday. I ran around a good bit just getting used to the boat and it barely used any fuel so with gas approaching $4.00 per gallon I am very pleased with the economy. 5) The live well set up on the Stinger will take some getting used to also. My Coral has the normal tournament live well plumbing with recirculate/ fill / empty controls. The Stinger has a nice 30 gallon aerated live well and has an auto setting which cycles the aerator but you have to manually put a plug in the live well if you don't want it to mostly run out when you're moving on plane or if you really want more than 4 inches of water in it. It has an overflow hose so if I had a lot of fish or big fish I could plug it, leave it plugged and just set it on auto. It would eventually fill the live well and then just renew the water by sending old water out the over flow. Again I'm spoiled by a system in my Coral that takes care of all that. 6) The Stinger has a rod locker that will handle 7' rods but I found out that evidently the front of the locker under the front deck is also where the trolling motor wiring is. If I tried to put more than 3 or 4 rods in the locker the ends of them would get tangled up in the trolling motor wiring. On the plus side the boat has a nice hold down strap on the front deck so I guess I will keep only one or two long rods or just shorter rods in the locker and the rest on the deck. Over all the Stinger has a lot of storage space for a 17' boat but again I've been spoiled by the 20' Coral. Lastly 7) I'm very pleased with the Stinger and I am very blessed to have it along with the bigger boat for longer runs /rougher water. Jmax should be happy -I've attached some better pics - I do think it is a handsome boat emoThumbsup . Anyone with tin boat experience, especially Lowe Stinger HP seat time please give me some pointers.
emoThumbsup Jmax
