Keelshield size for 700lx?? Tox?

[TrepMan]

Tox or other Keelshield dudes, the Keelshield site is down this morning, and Bass Pro has the Keelshield in Black, white and light grey on sale 33% off!! Basspro.com doesn't have a chart, I thought I saw yesterday that Keelshield recommended a 7ft for a 17ft boat, but I checked their competitor keelguard on basspro and they recommend a 6ft for a 17-19ft boat.



I realize there is no perfect answer, but being barely 17ft would the foot difference between 6-7ft make a difference?



Not being cheap this time, just don't want something larger then I need, I plan to keep this Nitro for atleast the 5 years I kept the tracker and our home lake drains 18ft down every winter and the ONLY way to lauch your boat by yourself is to beach it.



Thanks guys!!

 

[Jim B]

I would get the 7' one. It will protect further down the hull, sometimes when you beach you are actually resting down pretty far.



If you want to see what lt grey looks like take a look in my library. The one i put on last year is light grey. If i had to do it over again i would go with dark grey or black because the light grey is very light, almost white. My hull is lt grey, the keelshield is even lighter.

 

[TrepMan]

Jim - Thanks, mine is black on the bottom so its an easy choice - BLACK!!!



Also, any tips, suggestions, OOps on the install? It looks like Dan (he has a 640lx) and I may get them together and do them later this spring as a team.



Did you get the 7 or 8 ft for your 882? If you want 7ft, as my boat is 14 inches shorter I would think the 6ft would be fine?



Oh and i'll want to follow up with questions on how you did your stereo and how you mounted the speakers. I'm looking at a stereo for my 2nd console and was cringing at cutting into the fiberglass near the seats, and what you have looks great.

 

[Steve Gibson]

Hey Trep ,i was looking at your library at Dans 640, is that a 24" bar he has for his front seat?

I was at bass pro and saw one on the 640 and 700.but bass pro does not carry a 24"- not even in the catalog. It's made my swivl-eze but they do not have it on there site.Do you Know where he got his or did it come with it when he purchased his boat ?:unsure:

I would also like to put a radio in mine ,i just havent figured out where to put it yet:wacko:



Steve ><}}}}'>

 

[TrepMan]

Steve - Why YES the front power pedestal on that picture of Dan's boat IS the 24-30" adjustable! now how did I know that? 'Cause its on MY boat NOW!!! It was too tall for Dan with that HUGE pro seat his boat came with (from the prior owner) and i'm taller, so I swapped him my 16-22inch adjustable for his.



It's a standard Bass Pro carried seat, here is the on-line link



Swivl-eze
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/cata...arClassCode=4&hvarSubCode=9&hvarTarget=browse

 

[Steve Gibson]

Ohhh sweet!!

i may have to go to the power pedestal. the ones that they had on the boats at bp were the solid bar like the standard ones that come with the boat but are 24". thats the one they dont have in the catalog but didnt get to ask a boat salesman where you can pick one up at. being that are a seperate (company) the boat supply guy wouldnt walk 30 yrds to check it out. I was going to check with ohio marine where i bought the boat.

 

[Jim B]

Yep i put the 7' one on my boat. I went with what the website said, up to 19' use the 7' model. I would get the 7' one. You may be able to get away with the 6' but for what little is costs the extra foot of protection is worth it.



On the install, an extra set of hands is really nice to have. i had my father help me with mine, i dont think i could have done it solo. Or at least not as easily. One thing i did that i think really helped a lot was i laid the keelshield on the deck of the boat and let it warm up in the sun for a few hours before i tried to install it. It was so curled up when it came out of the box, letting it warm up in the sun made it much more flexible and easier to work with. I also used masking tape to mask off the area around where you need to degloss the hull. The tape helped me not sand where i didnt want to. overall the instructions are pretty straight forward and it wasnt too bad of an install. My father and i did my boat and his boat the same day.



As far as the stereo goes, on my 882 there is a provision for a radio in the dash. I ued that to mount the radio but since it was only flimsy plastic i had to beef it up. I made some plated out of stainless steel ay my fathers shop and sandwiched the plastic between two peices of steel and fiveted it together with pop rivets. Its been in there for 4 years now and has never come loose, i boat in some pretty rough water too.



The speakers were pretty easy to do. On my 882 on the drivers side there was a carpeted plywood board that was there from the factory that covered the gap where the fiberglass ends to th efront of th econsole underneath( kinda hard to exlpain). I made another one just like it for the passenger side and mounted the speakers in there. Like you i wasnt too interested in cutting fiberglass so this was the best solution i had. The other solution i thought of was mounting mounting some boxed ones( Bose 151's) at the front wall of the console.

 

[TrepMan]

Jim - thanks for the suggestions, sounds like a relatively straight forward approach, like the idea of masking the area.



My 700lx DC has the same area in the glove box ready for the radio, but I will probably do the same thing as you to reinforce it, but the $$ is low on the priority for the radio right now. I don't have the carpeted board you mention on the drivers side, so I may need to fabricate something if I get to the radio.



I'll also look at mounting boxes that are marine/water proof.

 

[Jim B]

I was thinking of the boxed speakers for a while. I ws thinking of mounting them under the console against the rod locker wall right on the floor so they couldnt shake loose. It would have worked fine and actually been easier to setup. But i ended up getting the Bose 131's i have in there now for really short cash so I ended up with what i have now and it really has worked well. The only modification i made to 131's was to paint the grills black instead of white( i need to repaint them they are pretty beat up now). take a look at the link i put at the bottom, this is the other speaker i was thinking of going with when i did mine.



As far as the radio goes i got the cheapest one i could find. The one thats in there is a pioneer that was like 45 bucks at best buy. Originally i had a Jensen Cd marine cd player and after one rough run across winni the cd mech was toast. I ended up returning that( i only had it 4 days) and getting the cheap pioneer. I figured if it lasted 2 years i got my money's worth and its lasted 4 and still works great. I also bought a cable that allows me to plug my ipod into its cd changer port so i dont need that stupid cassette thing anymore.
http://www.bose.com/controller?event=VIEW_PRODUCT_PAGE_EVENT&product=151_outdoor_features#tabs

 

[TrepMan]

Jim - How did you decide how far towards the bow stop to run the Keelshield? I've read on the site that the trailing edge should NEVER touch the sand/ground, i was wondering some of the pics on the Keelshield site have the front edge very close to the bow stop, and some have it a foot or more down?



So i'm torn between 6 or 7 ft on my 17ft 700lx. Not thinking of the $$, its only $20, but more of the need.

 

[Jim B]

They mention somewhere in the instructions about the top edge being 6" or so above the resting waterline. Thats where i started with mine, the directions are on thier website. Check them out, you will know whats involved before you even get the keelshield.



Get the 7' one. Your better off having it and never needing it then you would be if you needed it and didnt have it there. IMHO for $20 its not even work thinking about.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Jim is spot on. I install them alone and it is no problem. I start 4-6 inches below the the bow eye. Any extra length underneath is irreleavent. I use painters tape on the outside edge to mark the shield area and so that I don't scuff up any more than necessary. They reccommend a wax pencil or crayon. I lay them on the hottest asphalt or cement I can find to get them soft. E-mail me if you have any questions.



TOXIC

 

[TrepMan]

OK Ordred the 7ft one in black to blend in with my black boat bottom. Wife said "it's $20, get the right one since you ARE keeping that boat a long time!!! " LOL



When the weather gets warmer, its ONLY gonna be 72 tomorrow, we'll Get-R-Done, Dan and I as a team. Unless Tox ends up down here!!!