I on a 2001 203. Does anyone have talons on a similar model? The brackets appear that the will stick out past the transme? Does that cause extra drag on th holes hot? Once up and running it will be out of the water. Plus the extra weigh makes it sit even lower in the rear?? Thanks for replies. Pictures would de awesome....
I have a 198, so it might be different. The previous owner of my boat had dual talons and 4 batteries, no doubt the extra weight makes the rear sit way lower. In fact I’m convinced this is why my boat has water in the hull. The topcap and hull of my boat weren’t sealed up from the factory very well and water was running into all the holes and cracks under the rear stainless steel trim piece.
If you install them then you better pull your stainless steel transom cap off the back and make sure that there are zero places for the water to soak into like my boat had. At least maybe stuff a basketball into the jackplate to help lift the rear back up a bit.
I have a 193 (2000 model) Exact same boat except for 1 foot shorter. I would not put Talons on one of these models! they are very heavy. I have 2 Power Poles on mine and it makes some difference in the way it sits in the water. It's not enough to matter,but Talons are much heavier. The P.P. added about 75 pounds to my boat and one Talon with brackets will way that. You can put them on, but my boat is very sensitive to added weight on back. I wound up buying lithium batteries to offset the weight of the Power Poles. The weight savings of the batteries did offset the weight of the poles on mine. I had rather had the Talons,but just too heavy! Hope you consider this.I would not consider putting a Verado on the back either.
You are correct. I buddy has a 1996 202 and he put 12' Talons on it. The hole shot went to crap. I was with him and was looking back at the plow the brackets created due to the design of the transom on those boats. I wouldn't put Talons on that rig for sure. If you have to have poles get Power Poles as they fit closer to the motor and are lighter as the pumps can be mounted forward if you can find the room somewhere. BTW, he only put one Talon on it and it killed the hole shot, even runs a H.S. plate.
2000 Javelin Renegade 20 DC.
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The newer wide body's can handle them but I would not put one on the narrow body models.
That is what is was thinking. My son thought they would work and already bought them. :(. Have to have that discussuo.
thanks !!! See article on my son on bassmaster. https://www.bassmaster.com/news/fish...-s-bucket-list
A good compromise would be a spot lock trolling motor.
Adding gadgets to the older rigs that we not designed for them is not a good idea. Some people have luck with em, most don't. I personally wouldn't do it but it's your dime and time.
Well the talons I bought are non refundable. So they took th
back.
Last edited by DrCFishing; 11-06-2017 at 05:55 PM.
I put 12' talons on mine, switched to lithium batteries, pulled my charger off the boat and the whole shot is still good. I purchased a hole shot plate from Chris, but haven't mounted it yet, however I think the boat will perform even better with it. I never use the charger on the water, so I figured why even have it on the boat? I just plug it in when I get it back in the garage.
2005 Champion 198 DC Elite
2005 Mercury Optimax-225hp (Serial#1B073011)
The on board charger is particularly handy when traveling over night. No need to haul extra chargers.
Lea, I'm not hauling an extra charger. I took the on board charger off completely. I just toss it in my truck on overnight trips and when off the lake, plug it in and charge my batteries. You never use a charger on the lake, so why carry around the extra 30 lbs? Plus, my lithiums charge very quickly and I can actually go two days without a charge. Plus it frees up space in my rear compartment.Originally Posted by Lea
2005 Champion 198 DC Elite
2005 Mercury Optimax-225hp (Serial#1B073011)
Wide beam Champs = ok, narrow like mine =not okay. But that's just my opinion. I use my power poles a good bit. This time of year they are real handy. Launching by yourself they are great! In the summer they get in the way some. Trade out for some Power Poles and you would be fine. What I like about Talons is the fact you can take them off when fishing deep open water. I recently discovered a handy trick with the poles. when fishing with the wind to your back,you can lower them into the water a couple feet and they slow down your drift. it's enough to notice. They make paddles for them that would do even better.
I did the same. Less weight,more room, and less stress on charger. I mounted mine to a small piece of plywood. I still use my old 2000 model charger that came in my boat to charge cranking battery on occasion. It's mounted to the wall of my shop. I carry a small portable 10 amp charger on trips for cranking battery. With a bad hip,there has been no trips further than Pickwick for me. About 25 minute drive.
I have a 99' 203 (225efi) with two 12' Talons. They have changed the way I fish for the better, not to mention the other conveniences they provide. Now the whole issue was adding the weight and trying to reach a compromise between holeshot, top end, etc. Before adding anything, I was using a Trophy 25p. 3 1/2" below pad. Hole shot was lightning quick, and saw high 60's to 70 mph loaded. (I'll add I carry way too much stuff) Adding one Talon did hurt performance somewhat, but through trial and error with PVS plugs got things acceptable. Added a second, and holeshot went to hell. I figured using a Bravo1xs with 8 PVS holes would give more flexibility. It helped but still couldn't get things back to "normal." I raised jackplate, went crazy adding and removing prop plugs, still not great. Did a bunch of reading on all of BBC and decided to try adding a Chris Bailey foil. That thing is magic at least on my 203. I'm running the Bravo with one large hole plug back at the original 3 1/2" below pad. The large diameter of that prop does take a second or two to spool up before it gets spinning, but the the boat pops right up. I have 170lbs of batteries, two 12' Talons with jack plate brackets with tilt mounts, and I still can hit close to 65 @wot. The trade off for those last few mph isn't even a blink to how happy I am with the boat now. Another upside with the Talons is, iif I know I'm going to be fishing deep water for the day, with the quick disconnect power plugs, I can remove them both in a minute or two.
I had one on my 95 181 and had no issues. Two might of made an impact but one did not.
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