The hoppers used on the Stealth are made from
tough and long lasting material, they are simple in design and drop by
retracting a stainless steel rod away from the bottom of the hopper floor, this
allows the contents to drop from inside the hopper.
The hoppers are attached
on two stainless steel bolts fitted into the deck and then held in place by two
stainless steel dome nuts.
The stainless steel bolts on the deck are fitted
through rubber grommets, this helps to avoid overtightening the dome nuts and
allows the hopper to move upwards allowing the hopper floor to lift up and over
the bait release rod.
You can open or close the hoppers without the need to
switch on your radio system this saves on time and transmitter battery power,
you don't even need to take the boat out the water to re-load for the next
trip.
There is no heating up of components to release the hoppers, again
saving on battery power, there is no forcing against catches to close the
hoppers saving strain on the bait release servo.
The hoppers are easily
removed for cleaning and can be carried on top of the boat with the aid of the
hopper straps for transportation.
Standard option is to have both
hoppers dropping together this will allow the Stealth to carry up to it's
maximum bait capacity of 2.75K. This was determined by the amount of actual
bait that the hoppers can actually hold. Having the hoppers dropping
individually reduces the maximum recommended bait capacity to 1K (half a Kilo
per hopper).
One reason for having the hoppers drop individually was to save
on battery power, as the Stealth has such a good run time this is no longer an
issue.
If for example you were to take two lines out, drop one at 100m out
then move 60m across to drop the other line the amount of slack line left
trailing is quite a lot and the total distance covered by the Stealth when it
was brought back would be around 260m.
If on the other hand you were to drop
one line off at 100m bring the Stealth back and reload then take it back out
and drop the other line then the total distance covered by the Stealth when is
was brought back would be around 400m a difference of only 140m and a lot less
bother.
So you should ask yourself if saving 140m run time is worth the
reduced bait capacity, slack on the line or having either your rod not set up
till after the Stealth is back or have the Stealth floating around with a line
still attached while you are sorting your first line out.
Other reasons
for independent dropping include:
People who pike fish, they may want to put
the bait in one hopper and the rig in the other so they do not get tangled
together or people who want to top up swims.
To drop the hoppers independently you will need the "side by
side dropping kit" see accessories
No mater what method of dropping you
choose it can be changed later by the user quite easily.
Below is some
picture of rig and bait being placed in a hopper. |
