I'm from Charleston SC so I fish Santee Cooper lakes and Cooper river, also fished Lake Murray in Columbia. The Checkmate was a full restoration, stringers, floor and transom, took around 6 months to do. Your Triton is sweet, I like the power pole wanna get me one.
Very nice man! I was asking about Hartwell since 2 years ago I almost fished a Toyota Owners tournament there since I have the boat and my friend has a Toyota tow vehicle (Tundra). So I was going to tow it with the Tundra and fish it with him, but found out they had to be registered to the same person. Makes sense hahah.
The Power Pole..."ehhh" sums up my thoughts on it. I spend the majority of my time in the summer fishing grass in well under 8 ft so the 8ft Power Pole is really helpful*. I put the * since its really helpful and nice
when it works! After the first year, this thing has been nothing but issues. I have had probably an entire quart of their GreenMarine Hydraulic fluid down in my bilge area. First issue happened when one of the hydro lines cracked. Tried to get the line out of the pump and it wouldn't come out, the connection was seized. So I had to get a new push-fit fitting under warranty. I get it, screw it in, and then make a clean cut on the hydro line and re-insert it. However, it leaked when the powerpole would come up. It was intermittent, so I let it ride for a little bit. What ended up happening is it looses pressure. The line is the UP line, so it just starts to fall. We have some rough water here on the Potomac (can be routine 2-3 fters if it blows 15mph, especially against the tide) and the rough waves make it bounce and loose pressure, so it just goes down a bit while underway.
So when I deal with it, it turns out it needs a new pump. So I got a new pump under warranty. Worked great. For
3-4 whole months. Then yet another hydro line crack. Go to get the line out of the pump - connection is seized AGAIN! I'm thinking you have GOT to be kidding me! So I have another one of their push-fit connections handy, got it in, cut a clean cut, reinsert, and it leaks with a tremendous flow. Did it 3 or 4 times.
I ended up putting a compression fitting on it that I bought from a hydro construction place local to me to get me through the rest of the season, but I lost significant UP power out of it. Meaning it almost gets stuck in the mud and takes 15 seconds to come all the way up. This thing is just constant problems. Oh yea, and it looses UP pressure still so it will get to flopping around while underway. Good thing I always use a strap while towing otherwise it would end up dragging the road after a while driving since it slowly looses UP pressure.
I might try to take a look at it again before this season and figure out what is going on with it. If it becomes a nightmare for a 2nd straight year I am just going to take it off.
So my overall recommendation would be to save the $3000-$5000. No doubt it looks cool, and before these headaches I was going to buy another one for the other side. Now - no way!
