I finally found a Sea Chaser 17 that fit my budget so I made a 1300 mile trek from Denver to Astoria, OR to pick it up and now it sits in my driveway. It is a long way to drive to buy a boat but Arima's do not exist here. I have only seen 2 in the Denver area in the past 30 years so finding one closer to home was not a possibility. I will be looking for a motor to re-power and have already purchased a new 2014 Honda 8 full remote power tilt kicker and a new Mac's prop ring for it. It is going to get new Scotty's and electronics and all the gadgets that we require for a good day on the water. I have wanted an Arima for decades and am happy to join the club!
I will be traveling with the Sea Chaser up to Vancouver Island to Moutcha Bay this coming late July if anyone wants to join in and caravan up that would be fun! I trailered my last boat ( a starcraft 191 Islander) up to the island 6 years in a row for a 10 day salmon fishing vacation but never to Moutcha or Nootka sound so I am looking forward to that trip.
Later
Tim Mercer
Denver
Tim,
Congratulations and Welcome Aboard!
Terry
Well thanks for answering my question about where will you use the boat! Nootka Sound is absolutely enchanting and has pretty good fishing, too.
Congratulations on the new boat and we look forward to 1. seeing pics and 2. having you as a member of the forum.
Congratulations Tim. I know you will love it.
Long commute to the pacific!
Welcome to the site Tim !
Nice bunch of folks on here and everyone is Super helpful and supportive. Congrats on the new vessel as well , I know how it goes wanting an Arima and seemingly waiting an eternity to find (or afford) one. I recently got my first one after waiting close to 20 years, but believe me it's worth every second of it! You are going to love it !! Good luck and Happy boating ...
Oakiesdad. :gone_fishing:
Congrats on the new boat Tim! Your yearly trip sounds fun. What kinds of fishing opportunities areavailable to you in Denver? You need to post a few pics! :biggrin:
-Shawn
Wow Tim, way to get er done!!
We have several members who fish Nootka, I hope to get back to Critter Cove again soon- if not this year. That SC 17 should trailer nicely.
Pictures from a couple years ago..
http://www.arimaowners.com/index.php?topic=2862.msg30287#msg30287
Welcome !! And welcome to Nootka !! Let u know when you will be there !! I hear some of the guys on the group know the area pretty well ;-)
GoodDays Greg
Tim....Welcome aboard. You'll be pestered to death with lots of compliments and questions using it in CO. Be careful when returning to the PNW......they may steal it back. Wishing you safe travels. LVR
Congrats for stealing a boat from the motherload for once. Those guys up there cannot let it rest that some Arimas have escaped the PNW and are always trying to get them back. Post some pics to thumb your nose at them.
Congratulations! You will not be disappointed with your new Arima, they are great boats. Post up some pictures when you have a chance.
David
I hope your cross-country trek was uneventful, too!
Welcome!
Couple of photos from Nootka last year.
John
Thanks for all the welcomes! My last boat was a StarCraft 191 Islander with a 165hp Merc I/O and was a good trailer boat but it was not an unsinkable boat which always bothered me and this Sea Chaser I now have is 2 feet shorter but has more cockpit room for fishing AND is unsinkable or close to it!
The places we have to fish that are worth fishing west of Denver are high up in the Rockies at 8500 feet above sea level or higher which I would say would make most of you "sea level" guys dizzy to say the least and your motors would be way down on HP! We lose 20% here in Denver before we ever turn the key and to go west up high that figure doubles so you have to put up with getting nowhere fast on the water but the Kokanee and trout fishing is worth it! I will put up some pictures as soon as the repower is complete and I "make it mine" with all the goodies I purchased for it!
Tim
Quote from: troll4fish on January 16, 2015, 06:15:46 PM
I would say would make most of you "sea level" guys dizzy to say the least
I don't know about dizzy, but a bottle of wine sure can do that to a flatlander at that altitude :biggrin:
StreamFixer
I just finished my first season with my 1991 17ft sea chaser I installed a new 90 4 stroke and boat and motor performed great. I have an older 8hp 4stroke that works great but it has a manual tilt too hard on my back and in rough water it come off the raised tilt position. I have a garlick bracket. What kind of bracket do you have or are you replacing it? Thanks Peter
Welcome to the family and congrats on the boat. I'm a newbie also, hauled mine from Maine.
You are gonna love the boat and the people here. Can't wait to see some pictures of the boat.
I have purchased a fixed bracket from Arima, it is made by "SaltBoss" but I have to add a wider plate for the Honda 8HP power tilt flange as the flange is 1 1/2" wider than salt boss's motor plate. No big deal I just had a piece of 3/4" 6061 T6 cut to 12 1/2 by 13 1/2 and will powder coat it and bolt it over the narrower plate . I also purchased the transom clamp screws for the motor so I can bolt through as required for this motor by Honda and clamp it and lock it to slow down the thieves. No pictures yet, I don't have it in any shape to present her yet! I am still mounting all the new toys for her as we have a nice break in the weather here in Denver. 70 degrees and sunny today!
Tim
That was a smart upgrade! Sounds like you're making your Arima your own.
Just to clarify, Arima makes two kinds of kicker brackets now- one, a fiberglass version and two, an aluminum model that looks a lot like the SaltBoss (who appears to no longer be in business).
Unless the Arima folks told you that they source their brackets from SaltBoss.........? If so, please let us know.
:yeahthat: :stirthepot:
Actually, I assumed that the welded aluminum bracket came from Saltboss as it is so similar! My bad if it is not a saltboss but at any point I needed to make a new plate to bolt on my new Honda. It is a very robust bracket and I am sure it will give years of service. Today was cherry picker day as I removed the 1983 Evinrude 115 and got the new Mercury out of the back of my truck and opened the crate and it now resides on it's skid and on rollers in my garage. I had to order the lifting ring so before I can mount the new motor I await it's arrival.
Tim
Yes they do look very similar!
25 years out of a 2 stroke is pretty good! We'll await the pics of your install...
I grew up in the Denver area. That will be one sweet fishing machine, I guess that it would be up there in Colorado. Hope you got a good trailer for all the traveling you will be doing. Good luck to you, sounds like you are on the right track.
That sure is a long commute. Congratulations on a fine boat. I have a 17 SC as well land love it. Welcome to the board. Okay, we have all seen 17 SC's before, but you never grow weary of looking at more. How about a picture when you have it repowered.
Yes, welcome and congrats, Tim. That's a long way to come and back for a boat, but we know why it's worth it.
I am sure my will want to know just where and for what species you would use the boat at that altitude.
Steve
Steve,
We troll for kokanee salmon and all trout species about the same as trolling on the tidal waters for salmon we just use smaller baits and don't have the saltwater corrosion issue on our boats and gear. the high altitude fishing is fun and hooking into a big (25+ LB) lake trout is a blast (which does not happen often) but I really look forward to my annual Vancouver Island trips. There is nothing like doing battle with a slab spring! I cannot wait to do my first Nootka trip later this year!
Tim