Carrying a roll of gaffers tape is great idea.  I have a bit of kydex leftover from other projects, so I will probably use that for the glare shield. 

I like the idea of contour mapping - that would probably be a game changer for rockfish.  I wonder - will the transducer for my current Striker 4 GPS work for the Striker 4 Plus?  I think if I get the new unit, leave current transducer in place in one kayak, mount new transducer in my other kayak.  Two birds, one stone kinda deal.

Can you vet the list of fees, totaling $149, that DMV wants me to pay to register my $250 kayak?  What are they and are they legit?

I went to register my kayak this morning.  Some experience it was.  One confusion after another.

First the staff did not know and could not comprehend why there is no previous title. I explained it was previously human powered but now I want to put an outboard motor on it. The rep thought about it, got up, went to some back office.

Rep came out and said "why don't you get the motor first, then you can register". I took out my phone, show the rep a picture of the kayak, pointing to the 2x4 mounted on it, and explained that the motor is ready to go on that mount. We can consider the motor already on the kayak. The rep got up and went to back office.

Rep came out and started keying in data. Then system asks for "emission certificate". I don't have it and don't know what it is, so I asked the rep what it look like? The rep explained it's just like with automobile; you get it from the dealer.  I registered cars before; I don't really recall any emission certificate. I asked what the certificate looks like? The rep got up again; went back to office.

Rep came out saying "Go to dbw.ca.gov and they have info there. Get the certificate, then come back."  The staff pushed my paper back signaling we are done for today.

I was determined to get a CF number; so I told her "how about I register the boat without the motor? that should bypass the emission certificate requirement." That threw the staff off. the staff could not understand what that means or whether that's doable or not.  I explained "if I am to put a sail on the kayak, I would still have to register, but there would be no motor involved; hence no emission involved."  The rep got up and went back to office.

Rep came back out again and said OK we'll proceed.  After punching in more data, the list of fees came off the printer.  It was a whopping $149.  I was expecting to pay only the $49 odd-year reg fee, plus the sales tax on $250, something in the neighborhood of $75.

I looked over the list, a bunch of abbreviations, and many seemingly duplications. I asked the rep what each is, and the rep could not tell me. I could just pay it to get it over with, but I know this mystery will bother me continuously. At this point I did not want to trouble the staff any more; I said "Hmm...  this may not be worth it; let's pause on this registration, let me go check with my buddies at Norcal Kayak Anglers, then I'll come back."

So here I am, asking for help again from the experts. If all those fees are legit for "kayak with sail" (this was the assumption to proceed with today's transaction) I'll gladly pay. But are they?

And what's with the emission certificate for an outboard? (Mine is brand new Suzuki 2.5 hp) Where do I get that? I checked the dbw.ca.gov site that the staff directed me to, and sure enough emission certificate is NOT listed as an item under "Registration - You will need..."

We were just talking about the fact that we have several bags of tail sections in the freezer that need dealing with (usually tacos), but I think I've found the solution! Thank you for the inspo!