10' Talon in 8' Deep Water

[tnbassin]

I thought I would share my experience with you.

I was in 7-8' of water. I wanted to tie on some lures so I remembered my two new 10' talons. So I deployed them in about 8' of water. There was some wind and pretty good chop going on but not super big. After a couple of minutes, I glanced back at the talons and one of them had moved sideways about ten or so inches. I jumped up and went back there. I thought I had bent my expensive Talon. Tried to raise it and it wouldn't raise. I tried pulling it back straight but couldn't get it to move. I kept pushing the button and finally got it to raise about a foot at a time. Finally it came up. I went and took the boat out and saw where the talon had moved sideways in the slots on the bracket. The nuts on the bolts had loosened up.

Lessons learned:
- make sure the nuts are always super tight. The boat is only 8 months old and talons were installed by the dealer. I had no reason to think they wouldn't be tight.
- don't deploy a 10' talon in 8' of water when there is any wind. The 10' designee is for calm water only.

[scotti509]

30lbs max torque on the 5/16" nuts/bolts & 50lbs on the 1/2" nuts/bolts. The nuts should be self locking type and I would use lock washers also. You should check torque before each outing.

[Fishysam]

Your supposed to check all screws and bolts periodically. Also I have used 12' talon in 11' with wild wind and waves. Only reason it wouldn't hold is if the waves lift it off the ground. As I blow away. I would assume you will be fine. But next time if you have spun some use the tm and bring you back to the original direction then lift the spikes. That will unload the torque and they will rise.

[Milo30]

I thought I would share my experience with you.

I was in 7-8' of water. I wanted to tie on some lures so I remembered my two new 10' talons. So I deployed them in about 8' of water. There was some wind and pretty good chop going on but not super big. After a couple of minutes, I glanced back at the talons and one of them had moved sideways about ten or so inches. I jumped up and went back there. I thought I had bent my expensive Talon. Tried to raise it and it wouldn't raise. I tried pulling it back straight but couldn't get it to move. I kept pushing the button and finally got it to raise about a foot at a time. Finally it came up. I went and took the boat out and saw where the talon had moved sideways in the slots on the bracket. The nuts on the bolts had loosened up.

Lessons learned:
- make sure the nuts are always super tight. The boat is only 8 months old and talons were installed by the dealer. I had no reason to think they wouldn't be tight.
- don't deploy a 10' talon in 8' of water when there is any wind. The 10' designee is for calm water only.

I have one 12' talon and I use it in 11' of water and 15-20 MPH winds all the time and it has no problems holding as long as I put it in rough water mode. Your problem sounds like it was more of the fact that they had loosened and they turned on you allowing the talon to bind. As mentioned, using the trolling motor to release the pressure of the flex and they'll come back up as long as they aren't buried in mud.

[slipknobber bot]

I had my 12's deployed in 10ft of water in 40mph winds for 4 hours and never had a problem, and that was over a year ago.

[tnbassin]

I guess everyone but me checks the tightness of their nuts and screws. To be honest, it never occurred to me that an almost new boat would have loose fasteners. Lesson learned.

[Fishysam]

Yeah, my boat I got new in 2015 I have went through and tightened every fastener I can find 6 times and randomly check important ones more often. And I have lost and found screws rolling around that I have missed or needed to do more frequently. My boat has less than 200 uses under its belt so my meticulous checks are proball about every 30 uses. It's all good. Run the anchors hard and if it happens again maybe something led is going on. But I would bet you will be happy to anchor away in 9.5'

[tnbassin]

I went and got the torque wrench out. Every bolt and nut holding the Talons on was loose. Also, every bolt and nut that holds the jackplate to the boat and motor to the jackplate was loose. Again, lesson learned. This boat is less than 10 months old. Makes me wonder if they were really tightened correctly by the dealer. Surely they didn't all just work loose that quick? The boat has about 60-70 hours on it. At least they are tight now. Thanks

[hunter35745]

You gotta remember, a bass boat takes a beating, especially in rough water, that's a tremendous amount of vibration, I would check everything at least weekly, especially, motor,jackplate,trolling motor, and don't forget the trailer.A little PM goes along way. But that's just me and I have been in maintenance for the last 35 years.

[Milo30]

Here's a short video of someone talking about checking the bolts on your motor and jackplate. They were probably adjusted properly initially but need to be checked periodically.