Some anglers never really get the chance to really “know” their boat. They think they do because they know how to operate it but some of the smallest details can turn into the biggest nightmares.
Because so much is internal to the boat, under the deck and out of sight, unless it breaks there is no reason to look under the hood. One of the best ways to truly know all of the important details of your new boat is to rig it yourself. We recently had the opportunity to rig the new Polar Kraft TX175 and got to know the intimate details of its construction and equipped it for use on our area lakes that have specific horsepower restrictions.
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The beauty of this boat is its spacious floorplan both front and back, it’s fishability and it’s ample storage in both the front and rear of the boat. Underfloor access from front to back was easy and provided enough room for cables and power wires. We removed a few screws on side plate behind the console and front access area in the bow, for running power, transducers and electronics.
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The front deck is roomy with plenty of floor space to fish two anglers and the additions of the Minn Kota Fortrex and Lowrance Elite 7 provides function and allows the angler to have control of the boat while fishing off shore or in shallow water. Two large rod and tackle storage areas are below the front deck. The access panel in front of the trolling motor foot pedal allowed for easy install of dedicated power and fuses, as well as, room to tighten the trolling motor down securely. We ran dedicated power for the Lowrance unit. The boat comes pre-wired for the trolling motor but it is important to check all of the connections for tightness when doing this install. Make sure you ask for heavier gauge wire if you intend on adding a 24 volt trolling motor.
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The console area is spacious and has switches located for easy access and user interface. The seats are thick and comfortable and provide storage below them. Wires can easily be pulled to the console area through the large storage box in front of the console. We utilized a fish tape, but it could have easily been pulled to an access opening below the console. We are sticklers for neat and tidy under the console and all of the wires were tie-wrapped and out of the way. The in-dash Lowrance depth finder comes standard and has a high speed transducer perfect for running from spot to spot. We changed out the trim gauge for the Yamaha 40 horsepower engine and that too was a simple install. The seating was well thought out and we appreciated the step between the seats for the rear angler.
The livewell is directly behind the seats and is large enough for just about any species of fish. It comes standard with a divider for fishing draw tournaments.
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This boat was equipped with two engines. One for lakes with a 40-hp maximum and the other for our lakes with a 10 hp limit. We used a TH Marine kicker plate for the smaller Mercury motor and a bit of engineering allowed for it to be bolted on tight and out of the way when the larger engine was used. We had to hang both motors so throttle and shift linkage had to be pulled and adjusted too. We added engine and lower unit lubrication with Lucas Gear Oil and Lucas 4-Stroke Synthetic Engine oil after we mounted it. We used Nylock nuts on the engine mounted to the transom and double nutted the kicker motor engine to the kicker plate for security.
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The rear battery compartment is roomy enough for three Interstate batteries and we installed a Minn Kota Smart Charger on the transom so it had flow through air and it was kept out of the way, yet accessible. The 21-gallon fuel tank is centered in the boat for balance and we mounted a single starting battery on the drivers side by design to balance the boat out at idle or standing still.
The best two days of a boater life can be when you buy one and the day you sell it. Unless you rig it yourself, you must trust your dealer without reservation and know where everything is located including fuses and power wires. Knowing that can aid you in fixing minor problems and keeping a great day from turning into a bad one. If you have your dealer rig it be sure to ask them questions about rigging too.
To learn more about this and other Polar Kraft boats got to polarkraftboats.com.
