I could not open your pix attachment,was curious to see what a sportyack looks like?and the the weedwacker trolling motor????is it a canoe or kayak configuration? i never seen a weedwacker trolling motor? gas or electric??

I dont use anything to float the line, the hammer goes out quickly, I then make a 180, shut the boat off and start reeling quickly. If you make too big an arc sometimes the line will sink and go under the boat but that doesnt happen often. We were going to experiment with fly line on the end but that wouldnt go onto the reel easily so we havent tried it yet.......

mike sr

There is a retriever article on here in one of the past issues, it was my little dumas dv10, I used that for a couple of years and retired it because the hammer is faster and a bit bigger. The big boats work fine but it takes space to haul to the lake etc, these run on common 7.2 volt car batteries. We need to make a video of a retrieve to show how quickly its done and the procedure. We all use them at our lake which is 40 plus acres as its so much easier than hauling out the big john boat.

I wanted to make mine bulletproof, and it pretty much is, it could be done better but after all it is a retriever...

mike sr

I would be interested in a video - the guy that I run with brings the retrieval boat (row boat), and I bring the rod with a ball.... needless to say, when he goes on vacation, I can't run, even if I wanted to. I have a viper, blast, and a zigzag to choose from for retrieval, I hadn't tried anything but the Zigzag, and that was only partially successful. I have two inflatables, but worry about getting a hole by being too careless or having the raft fold while leaning over to pick the dead boat up. That actually happened once, it was pretty funny afterward, but that water running in in late September was COLD!!!

I will see what I can do on the Video, we have been wanting to do it as folks would have a better idea of how it works.

I for one would love to see a short video on that retrieval set up.....seems like if you added a couple small floats on your line about 5ft and another at 10ft behind the Hammer,that would keep the line from sinking where it is needed the most????JMO....I read the article on the little Dumas deep vee as a retriever, I use to have that same boat with a OS 10 in it and it run great! the .10 allowed for throttle control unlike most .049's. it was ideal for SMALL ponds and coves,and quite reliable also.

I have one of the heavy ply inflatables and I don't think it will fold while lifting over the side?but I have wondered about it though,it is pretty rigid unlike the cheaper models....haven't tried it yet either,I am more concerned about a puncture! especially hauling in a big gas rigger with a prop sharpe as a razor!LOLThinking of adding a removable plywood deck with carpet to sit the boats on while coming ashore....

i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll...BIKE101/004.jpg you can google sportyak by k and l industries oe bic motor google island hoppers gas outboards or gas trolling motors.get a life jacket at wall mart and an 8 dollar paddle dont swim for it i drag the boat down to the pond put motor on and run my boat from it.

Well that is the neatest little outfit I think I have seen! I hadn't seen a weedwacker trolling motor before,that is really neat and where can one buy the motor and the boat!?????I am in eastern NC and I have run a lot of searches on small boats but never seen this one,looks like ABS plastic? no up keep or repainting and the trolling motor is a step above a electric trolling motor!Is it pretty stable on water???and what length is it???thanks for posting the pix!

7 ft 44 pounds use is coast guard rescu boat flat bottom and stable love it took 1week scouring internet forit motor is slow and scares the fish and no 50 lb battery need help i can make mount for motor kind of tricky no actual transome all abs but i figured it out.o 4.5 feet wide 300 lbs weight limit cheapest i found 500 shiped
with ors and locks no trailer to register to small for boat reg either