---

I just bought a new Revenge ( new to me - 1984 ) in perfect shape. I am excited about the boat and am an avid Great Lakes salmon fisherman. I live in Marquette, MI, in the Upper Peninsula, and fish both Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, and the St Mary River at Detour.

I need to transfer my 4 downriggers and dipsy diver rod holders from my old Sea Ray and am looking for suggestions, or pictures, of how others have done this on a Whaler. The fish are biting now in northern Lake Michigan and I am anxious to get this done, but want to do it right the first time.

And perhaps I am not posting in the right place? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Mike

---

Looks like we got the same boat.
http://www.whalercentral.com/infusion...user_id=51

Hope that works, you can see my mounts. A long ways back, but they fish. John

---

Thanks for the reply John. Hey, where are your batteries? Mine has one on each side of the transom, in the corners, and I don't like that set up at all. Yours is so nice and clean!

Nice boat you have there. And yes, I see the bases for your downdiggers. I was hesitant to mount them there as I have 4 with square bases, and the space under the gunwhale is kind of narrow, so that only 2 of the 4 bolts would be able to bolt through. Would have to use screws in the other 2 holes.

Mike

---

I can't remember if I got all 4 bolted. Those are Scotty's. The Penns I replaced were only screwed on so I figured what the hay, at least these have 2 bolts. Battery set up
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d13...tor005.jpg

John

---

Thanks for the picture with the battery. I was looking at that spot, and considering a switch too, like you have. However, my engine oil reservoir sits in that exact spot. So either the battery, or oil, will have to go forward a bit. Thanks.

---

The black box in the bottom right hand corner of the picture is my oil in a battery box. Something to take into consideration is with my set up is that I put quite a bit of weight on one side. You might think about using the port side also. John

---

I currently have 2 batteries in the boat and will likely keep it that way.

Hey, another question since you and I have the same boat. I noticed there is no light in the compass, and I suspect there should be? Does yours light up along with panel or running lights? I haven't unscrewed the ceiling panel in the cuddy yet to look at the underside, but that looks like the access?

---

I had to add the compass to mine. Had an el-gypo monted on top of the dash. I put in a Ritchie? where it should be and wired it to I think my trim guage that lights up. Anyhow, I remove the dash and if needed, remove the ceiling panel. If you are really going to work in there, you might want to remove the locker under the helm. Remove the screws on the face plate trim and the whole thing slides right out. There might be a bolt holding it on the back side thru the bulkhead. John

---

Finally done! Put a lot of time into the boat the last few weeks but I am now ready to go fishing this weekend.

I wanted to raise the brackets some, but probably could have gone a few inches less than I did. But I like the setup. The corner riggers will be straight out to the sides, giving 5-6 feet separation from the center 2. Then I run them at different depths to minimize the chance of tangling.

---

Finally went fishing for the first time in my Revenge yesterday AM in Lake Michigan, off Cedar River. Took 3 nice Kings and missed 2 more, but it was slow coming off a period of east wind.

I put some large ice blocks in the live well with the idea it would work fine as my ice cooler for fish. Surprise, surprise. With 2-4 footers, there was a constant small slop of water over the stern that ended up in the bilge and live well. Actually the live well was full of water with the fish and ice blocks floating in it.

Is this normal for this boat? Any way to minimize? Almost seems like wasted space for anything but warm water fish that will survive in surface water temps, which was 72 yesterday!

I just got the boat in the last month and this was my first fishing outing, so I don't know the boat yet and am looking for information. Thanks.