Berwyn Marine puts me back on the water

Maintenance is everything. Period. End of sentence.

Boat and or truck problems can be the worst enemy of a bass fishermen. If you are not on the water, you cannot catch bass. Being in a great fishing club like Maple Bassmasters of Illinois which goes fishing every two weeks can help you understand the sport of bass fishing as well as learn how to maintain all of your fishing tools which have to be ready and working in order to fish a tournament.

I bought my first bass boat in 1978. Things were simpler then. I bought a 4 year old Bill Dance Pro Model Special.  It was a 16 foot fiberglass Star Craft tri-hull with a 70 horse power Evinrude engine with a 12 volt  Evinrude trolling motor. No power trim, no power tilt. You just put the hammer down and it popped right up on plane and took me to my first fishing spot on Castlerock Flowage or Spring Lake, Michigan or Lake Sara, Illinois.

In 24 years I never really had any problems with the boat or the motor. The trailer however was a different story. I started with 8 inch tires and switched to 12 inch tires but I was constantly welding or replacing fenders and replacing tires.  I probably put 5 different Motor Guide trolling motors on as they got better and more powerful.

Over those years I did most of my own maintenance and winterizing with input from all the guys in Maple who were always there to help me through the maintenance process. There were always guys like Wayne P, Leo D, Danny W, and Eddie J to help me crawl under the trailer again or fix a spark plug or battery issue.

At Maple we still have guys like Tommy O or Joe B who are willing to help install a trolling motor or put a meter on a battery to tell me. “O’Malley not only did you break a battery strap at Escanaba, you also fried it to death. Go get another one.”

The key to this message is preventative maintenance is everything. The last time Maple Bass went to Rend Lake for an 8 man our team was furious with a guy who drove his boat from Chicago and fixed it in the parking lot of the Lodge. Never put your boat in the water if it’s not working properly.

When I decided to retire my old bass boat to Woodhaven Lakes ( minus the old Evinrude which was still running), I shopped for the perfect replacement tournament bass boat.  Based on all the horror stories I had seen on the water over the years I knew I needed a reputable boat dealer who I could trust would get me back on the water in two weeks if at all possible.  I found everything I was looking for in Berwyn Marine.

There are 3 guys at Berwyn whom I have the most contact. Lee who is also a Illinois Bass Federation member sold me the boat. He runs the parts department and still sells me my batteries and oil. The new Starbrite fuel additive that he has me on is fantastic.

Greg is the guy who runs the service department who makes sure I do all the preventative maintenance that I need to run my boat as hard and as far and as fast as I do.  Bass boats really weren’t designed to drive  for hours on Lake Michigan but we do it any way. Greg has never sold me anything I did not want or need. I wish I could say the same for some of the auto repair places I’ve been to.

Russ is the mechanic who tells me what he did, why he did it and what to look for in the future. If he thinks my boat problem is a result of the way I drive it he’s not afraid to tell me.

2009 was a tough year for my boat as it took a lot of rough water . During our classic at Kentucky Lake it did not idle very well. I got my boat out of storage around April 1st and they had it ready for the tournament season by April 13th. It ran great on Rend Lake April 17 and 18. It is ready for the federation Nation 6 man team tournament on April 22-25.

It took 2 weeks of working on it off and on but they did find my problem and corrected it. Some of the labor I needed done:  pull the powerhead and replace blown powerhead base gasket, replace exhaust gaskets. Because engine was flooding replace all check valves. rebuilt fuel pump with new diaphram. Installed newcheck valve in vst.replaced fuel filter.