Chief engineer evidence photo. Autopilot remains engaged.
Mechanical Engineer · NMEA 2000 Department · Motor Diagnostician · Continuous-Motion Trolling-Motor Operator
Mechanical engineer, boat builder, electronics department and Granddaddy’s fishing partner. Capable of designing nearly anything except a reason to touch Spot-Lock.
Marshall is Matt’s little brother and one of the smartest people Matt knows. If a part does not exist, Moo can probably design it. If the design needs a bracket, he can print it. If the bracket needs wiring, he can wire it.
Dad and Moo’s boat carries the evidence: deployable Mega Live and Mega 360 equipment, custom components, 3D-printed parts, NMEA 2000 systems, electronics wired by Marshall and the seat deck and foam flooring Matt and Moo installed together.
He keeps Granddaddy’s boat operational while Dad travels, drives them on the water and runs the trolling motor. Once that trolling motor starts, however, fishing becomes a continuous-motion activity.
Moo builds custom equipment for his and Granddaddy’s boat, including deployable Mega Live and Mega 360 systems, 3D-printed parts and connected electronics. Nothing is ever completely finished. It has merely reached the next testable version.
Once Moo turns on the trolling motor, the boat is moving. It may turn, steer around a dock or change course to avoid something expensive. What it generally will not do is stop.
Even catching a fish does not automatically interrupt the route. Granddaddy says they should hit Spot-Lock and fish the productive area harder. Moo turns the trolling motor and continues the tour. If you want to cast at something, cast now. There may not be a second viewing.
Moo is the man to call when a motor needs more than a wrench. He can connect a laptop, read fault codes, retrieve engine hours and handle supported programming or configuration work—including, in one remembered case, changing a setting so a motor could run thicker oil.
He also works with the boat’s NMEA 2000 marine-electronics network. He can build the part, print the bracket, wire the electronics, diagnose the motor and explain the computer. Whether anybody understands the explanation after he mumbles it is covered in Granddaddy’s file.
T rode with Moo during a Chickamauga big-bass tournament weekend and returned with one major finding: they fished all weekend and the boat never got on plane.
Moo can make the boat work, keep it running and drive it. What he cannot be pressured into doing is arriving before the equipment has time to think about it. Matt would run 73 if the boat allowed it. Moo would first like to discuss why 73 is necessary.
Moo likes Bud Light tall boys. According to Matt’s unofficial estimate, he may spill more than he drinks. The can is tall. The boat is moving continuously. The test conditions may be related.
Moo rigs Granddaddy’s boat, drives it and keeps every system communicating correctly. Communication between Moo and Granddaddy remains the exception: Moo mumbles, Granddaddy says ‘Huh?’ and normal fishing continues anyway.
He can engineer the system, diagnose the motor and drive the boat. Stopping to make a second cast was not included in the requirements.ENTER THE INVENTION LABTall-boy spill ratios and speed reports are affectionate crew lore. Technical details are descriptive, not instructions for modifying a motor.
Support 3D-printing material, marine-electronics projects, diagnostic equipment, tournament travel and the camera needed to document why the boat still has not stopped.
