Uh..... does this look right? First time in the water, finally!!!

[Gfunk]

Reelapeelin,
Sorry it took so to repost . We ended up having an epic trip, caught 52 in all in just three days of fishing, almost all on umbrella rigs. Shame we can't use them in Ohio, they really put the fish in the boat. The gill lice weren't much of a problem, if you weren't looking you might not even notice them.
on the subject of my splashwell - I've actually kind of gotten used to it, at one point during our striped trip, my dad, my buddy, and I were all at the back of the boat and the water came in the splashwell a bit, but not bad enough to be a problem. Still going to put on the jackplate though. The outboard sits low enough that I'm getting spray into the boat and who knows how much power I'm losing. My splashwell cover I made from plastic worked good enough to make a more permanent one out of aluminum, sometime. Time to fish now, it'll wait till summer when it's too hot to fish.
on yet another note, I have decided that this by far the best fishing boat I've ever had.
thanks for all the advise guys, really appreciate it.
gfunk