Quick question about boating

[WallStreetAmigo]

My wife bought me a 12' aluminum boat for my birthday, so now I can at least get out on the water more often. The first problem is that I have to have a way to launch the boat by myself. The second problem is that most of the places I fish do not have boat launches of any kind. To access the water, I park my truck and trailer by the road and hand bomb my boat down to the water and then back up to my truck when I'm done fishing. This is okay when my brother is fishing with me but I could never do it on my own. As you can see, point 1 and 2 seem to contradict one another.

My wife found a solution that I am hoping will work. She had my kids buy me a set of launching wheels that attach to the boat. This will make walking the boat down to the water and back much easier I hope. Now comes my questions:

I am new to boating, and do not know much at all. These launching wheels ride in tracks that I have to permanently bolt to the transom of my boat. When I install these, two of the bolt holes will be below the water line of the boat. I am wondering what I need to do to make sure they won't leak (preferably before I start drilling holes in the transom....). Is there anything I should seal them with or will the tightened bolts themselves do the trick? Any other insight on how to properly install these would be appreciated. Again, I am a total boating newbie but I know enough to know that I don't want to sink my boat....lol. For further info, the boat has an all aluminum transom.

Thanks for the help.

[bassfisher02]

Sealing the nut with I think silicone will do it. Dont be sparing with it, coat the whole deal amke sure its nice and covered. I'm no boat expert either, but I believe that will do the trick. There are some experts on the boards that I'm sure will chime in shortly...

[Rebbasser]

Hey, WSA! Where have you been? Good to see you!

02 called it-silicone will do the trick. One thing I have noticed about silicone-some brands say for use below the waterline, and some don't. Whether that makes a difference or is just a marketing gimmic I don't know, but to be on the safe side get the kind that says for use below the waterline.

[WallStreetAmigo]

Thanks guys.

Hey Reb, it's nice to know I'm missed when I'm not around. I've been spending lots of time fishing. I've been trying to convince my brother that there is nothing like bass fishing. He is a die hard rainbow trout fisherman who had no interest in trying out bass fishing. Anyway, I finally got him out on one of our local lakes and we caught almost 100 LM between us in 6 hours. Most of them were small but they were hitting everything we threw, and it got him excited about fishing for bass. As you have said many times Reb, confidence is the key to success. Once I got him catching quantities, I took him to my favourite bass lake where the fish are bigger on average but a little more picky. He only caught three bass that day but they were all about 3 pounds and put up a great fight trying to shake the hook. I have never laughed so hard as I did when a bass broke the 4 am pitch dark silence to smash a tiny torpedo.....I swore he was going to have to change his shorts! Needless to say he's hooked now.....lol

[1FASTLASER]

Best I have found so far if color doesnt bother you is Red RTV Sillycone ( a little humor there) silicone available at any auto store. Thats what I use to seal evrything on my boat. Just whish it would work on the wife.

[flfireman]

There's no silicone made that can stand the test of a womans mouth. If it comes out........buy lot's of stock in it. It may sell better than the whiz bang.