I just sold my Ranger 373 V 150 Black Max to a young man, 28 years, me 68. He lives near Segoville and is planning to Bass Fish on Cedar Creek, and other lakes near his home. I need a volunteer. The problem is, he knows nothing about running a Bass rig or never owned a boat before. He has friends who own boats, but none of them have a Bass rig, I take it that they may own a smaller craft or maybe a pleasure boat. But because I live to far, far north Dallas area, to take him out and to go through the process of how to and what not to do, I was kind of hoping I could find a volunteer near where he lives to do this for me. He needs to be taught all of those finer things, like how to launch the rig, how to drive it back onto the trailer, how the trailer should be set in the water for the best drive on, how to plane the boat and how to slow the rig down from high speed to avoid back wash. Other things like RPM and over revving. Why he should not to start the motor out of the water. What the buoys in the water mean and so forth. This is not a big deal to those of us in the know, but to a young man just starting out, it would be a big help. Especially in the early am when everyone is waiting to launch their rigs. I have no idea if he can even back a tow vehicle with a boat in tow. Maybe he can, but I do not know this.

have him read this... driving a bass boat..

Thought this little gem from the linked article above was pure gold. Perfect for the first timer...

Tell him to post here, on the TFF when he is ready to hit the lake. I'll bet he will get plenty of volunteers for a chance to ride in the passenger seat.

I don't think reading is as good as due'n it. Its like Porno! You know what I mean. Actually, he may need a driver for the first few times around. Mercs star diffrent than other rigs to. Nothing like hands on teaching.

Like said above just have him post on here. Then when he goes out.

whats there to know about boats. u start em and u drive emm. and u drink. and u fish. and u maybe one day catch a mermaid or clams with perls

whats there to know about boats. u start em and u drive emm. and u drink. and u fish. and u maybe one day catch a mermaid or clams with perls ive seen it happen

did you mean he's 18, instead of 28 ????

Thanks for posting that link kingdad101. Excellent!

I guess I have a rowboat. It barely gets over 40 mph.

don't feel bad greg, mine gets to 37 on smooth water. if you have a rowboat, i must have a paddleboat.

Great link Kingdad. I learned by trial an error. I had always drove my buddies boats which were slow v-hulls and thought nothing of it when I got my own bass boat (thank God it was a small slow one to start). I knew nothing about trim and the first time out scared the [censored] outta me when it started porpousing. It took awhile on my own to figure it all out. Luckily I had some boating experience behind me. #1 thing is to take it slow and build your confidence.

That is a good artical. I will pass it on. But there is nothing like hands on experiance. For the first timer, there is a lot of new stuff to learn and to remember, sure a lot of it seems like every day knowledge to the guy who runs a rig quite often, but not if he has never done it before. I can remember the first time I drove a Bass Boat! It was an experiance I will never forget! It was only a 17 footer, but when coming into the dock for the first time, the front of that rig seemed to have grown by almost 50 feet!

Well, he had to get premission from his wife to buy the boat!