I had a 71 model and can say it was a excellent fishing boat & has a very high load capacity. 30mph/35hp
Plus it rowed well. Although a very rough ride when the chop was up!
Out of curiosity is the transom straight across or curved?

Another fishing method is with a magnet(outside) and steel plug(inside) with a light monofilament line attached to pull a stronger snake line through.
Hope it helps.

There are locks on both sides of the Colorado river on the ICW, so you may want to pull up short to Palacios instead of the river.
Sailing from south to north is the way to go on the ICW here in texas, Most of the blue water sailors sail the gulf down the coast and the ICW back for an easier trip.

Another option here in Texas are the lakes. Lakes Texoma,Amistad,Travis and the Canyon Lakes. Of course you would need to check out the water levels. Here are some links. CC Marina http://www.corpuschristimarina.com/pr/marina.cfm TPWD. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/ PINS. http://www.nps.gov/pais/ Amis...

On 2 of the larger outboard boats I have owned. I put a transom saver on the last roller of the trailer in which you would lower the motor onto it and strap it down.
However the Mac trailer is not long enough to add this device.

I was hoping Louis & Jonbill would post answers to this thread. Corpus Christi,Port Aransas/Rockport/Kemah,Clearlake,Galveston have some decent Marina's. Galveston & Corpus Christi have some touristy things to look at and do. I am boatless right now and all of my experience is boat camping/f...

I like the cockpit & transom setup.

I had an old Ford E300 van that I stuck a hitch ball on the front bumper for use on some of the tougher ramps. My boat at the time was a johnboat and very light! Would not work with something heavy you could see the bumper bowing, But it was handy.

With the Feds possibly going after rec. boats with ballast tanks this fall, It is something to do some R & D on. It may affect my purchase decision down the road also.

How about a hose screen like they use on your hot water inlet on your washing machine. Probably get them at a appliance repair supply.
They fit the standard garden hose female fitting, But are used in a lot of other apps. like washdown pumps,etc..

If you do paint it maroon and later on decide to sell it, Be sure to list the color as Texas Aggie maroon and jack the price up 10K. An Aggie will pay more for anything maroon!

Seems like I have seen a mod where the owner put 1x4's on bedding compond on top of the ballast tubes to prevent the aft berth boards from flexing.

A out of the blue problem could be the prop's hub insert is slipping on you.
You can mark or spray paint on all of the parts,sleeve,rubber insert and the prop and run until it happens again. If that's it, take it to a prop shop and have a new insert pressed in.

To top it off Origo has new model stoves out with 12 volt ignitors in europe, But they aren't sold here in the US for some reason and they have also been bought out by Dometic.

Most Police interceptors have truck rear-ends, So that would be a good choice.