One of the biggest offseason tasks I have to coordinate every year is my boat changeover. It’s a necessary part of being a professional angler, but it’s more involved than most people might think.
Before I get into that, I’ll say that boat sponsorship is product testing 101. As pro staff, we test everything from rods to reels to line to lures, and it’s the same thing with boats.
Last year, I ran the new XPress XR-21 with a 250 Yamaha SHO. We spent nearly two years designing that boat, and I had the second one out of the mold.
Running that boat for this past season helped us get all the bumps and bruises out, and that allowed us to build the perfect boat that will be available in 2026.
Now, as for the changeover process, it probably sounds easy — you unload one boat and load up the other one. I enjoy it, but I can tell you from many years of doing this, it’s a lot of work.
You start by unloading every single thing out of your boat, from tackle to rods to line, to start the year over every time.
You have to unwrap your boat and get it ready to sell. Anything that’s broken or not in top form — boat, trailer and electronics — I get it fixed at XPress. Then I take it to Shipps Marine, where they do a full maintenance to make sure everything is up to date.
From there, I get my boat listed and sold. Then, I go to XPress to pick up my new boat, motor and trailer.
After I complete all the paperwork for the new rig, I’ll take it to Jones Trolling Motor and Electronics to get all my Johnson Outdoors items installed. I went through everything with Humminbird and Minn Kota weeks ago, so I have all my gear here and ready for installation.
Jones will start in the back with my Sea Clear Power Harness, which dedicates power to everything on my boat. After that, they’ll install the Impulse Lithium Batteries that run all my electronics, all my pumps, my big motor, my trolling motor, everything.
Lastly, they’ll rig two Minn Kota Raptors, my Minn Kota Quest and my Humminbird graphs. I run four Apex 13s — two at the console, two in the front on Bass Boat Technologies mounts.
I’ll leave Jones with a completely rigged boat with all my electronics, jackplate, everything. From there, I take it to the wrap shop to get it wrapped, and then I take it home to make sure everything works.
That’s the process I go through every year. It’s a lot of little pieces, and a lot of hands touch my boat before it’s ready.
Altogether, it takes a couple of weeks to get all of this done, but once it’s finished, it’s the best feeling ever.
As soon as I have my new boat rigged and ready, I’ll be off to Lake Fork and Sam Rayburn to fish a couple of tournaments. I’ll get all the bugs worked out and get ready for the 2026.
