Hi Ben, Thanks for your reply; wow what a testimonial for the Allison! Was the first Allison you found on this site, the sexy red ProSport without Allison on the sides and a custom decal on the engine cowling?
I thought that the rod storage would be a little bit of an issue and decided that I could cut back to 'only' 10 rods. The last tournament that I won only required two rods and all the keepers really came on one rod and the same lure.
I knew that I did not care much for the Garmin's. I really like my Lowrance X38C and wish I had two in the boat! (have 332 and 510C up front). Now I understand the new Allison's will all come with Humminbirds. I know a lot of folks who really love H'birds but I only have minimal experiance with them and could not see it too well from the passenger side of the boat.
I asked 'GenoManetti' if he would take me out fishing in his XB-21 on Lake Lanier (man I love that lake) but I have not heard back from him yet. I'd LLLove to find a BasSport Pro with a 250, Motorguide (+Lowrance) like Rob Shaw has for sale but 50K leaves a lot of room for depreciation. Your deal was an awesome package and you were smart to jump on it! DaveH has a very nice 2+2 that I'd probably go 30 or 32K for (but then I think, is it really worth 2 times the value of the Ranger) and he wants 40K.
Hey, would you take me out fishing one day? I am not sure where you live in TN. I am 30 miles north of down town Atlanta; 15 minutes from Lake Allatoona. I'd really like to put this issue to rest in my head so I could either pull the trigger on an Allison or learn to be content with what I have.
Also, my Ranger just has a divided live well- great if you fish a buddy tournament, you can pull the divider and the fish have plenty of room to swim around in. The divider has never broken down but the pumps quit working once; something about leaving the timer on while the boat was in the garage for a week of two. I now carry a spare pump with an air stone, like you put in a live bait tank, even if I am a non boater. They only cost about $15 and can save all of your fish! The Rngr now has the Oxygenator built in and it really puts the O2 in the H20.
His Blessings, Mark