BassChump

Yes, I am going to fix my aluminum prop but I had no spare and I go fishing 3 or 4 times a week. I just thought it would be a cheap backup. My boat is just an old Bayliner Trophy bass boat with an 85 hp Force engine so high performance isn't an issue. Getting there safely and in comfort is what I'm after and since I don't have much spare cash, I need to watch my pennies when I can.

Thanks Catt for that insightful information. lol. Unfortunately it's a 1984 Force 85 hp engine so SS isn't available and it's just an old Bayliner so it probably wouldn't be worth the investment anyway. Hence the question about comp props. The boat gets me on the water, gets me where I want to go reasonably quickly, it's been a fun boat and I have no payments. If it sank tomorrow, I got my monies worth out of it long ago. Everything else is a bonus.

I whacked a rock last week fishing for smallies. On visual inspection everything looked fine. Once I got home I double checked and one of the flukes is bent so it's going to cost me 90 bucks to get it repaired. I was looking on BPS and they have a comp prop for my engine and the price is about the same. I am going to get my aluminum prop fixed but I have no spare so I was wondering what you guys think of com props? Thanks.

Well, in this particular case, I'm very familiar with this tilt/trim unit. If it's an 87 model, then it's the same as mine and I've been doing a lot of research on mine in the last month so with that said, and while I don't want to offend anyone, it IS filled with the motor in the up position. Also they are self bleeding systems. You don't need to do anything other than run the system up and down 4 or 5 times and it bleeds the air out of the lines by itself. To make sure it's the same one, answer a few questions for me. Does it have 3 rams? Does it have 4 lines coming out of the electric motor that runs the hydraulic pump? One of the rams is the tilt ram. The ram that looks identical but has no line to it is just a shock. It doesn't really do much. The 3rd ram is in the middle and will be much shorter but much fatter. This is the trim ram. If you need to rebuild the rams or the pump, it's almost impossible to find parts for those systems and when you do find parts, they are EXTREMELY EXPENSICE but I found a guy that works on those systems and at a fair price. As far as I can tell, he is the only guy around that rebuilds them rather than just replaces them. He can save you a lot of money. He also is a wealth of information. In any case, if you need some information on that system or any other for that matter, he is over at MarineEngine.com. His username is rrit. He can answer all your questions about any tilt/trim system. Very helpful guy.

I've never caught or fished for SM in my life until last week. I fished the Umpqua River near the Oregon coast. UNBELIEVABLE.............. Now I fully understand it when you guys said "once you start catching smallmouth, you'll have a hard time going back to LM." It's so true. On my first outing, my brother and I caught an estimated 70 SM. A lot of smaller ones but some decent ones as well. The largest that day was only a little over 1 pound but they are so much fun to catch on light tackle and since I was catching stuff virtually all day, there was no boredom. It was an exciting day. Since the Umpqua is less than an hour away, I've gone 2 other times. The last time was Sunday. We didn't boat as many fish but they were generally much larger. We boated at least 10 that were over 1.5 lbs. Certainly not huge but it makes for some great times. Anyway, so far my personal best is a 1.10. Great fun. The LM fishing around here is good but I'm sold on the SM fishing now. I have a feeling the lakes won't be seeing the bottom of my boat for a while to come.

While I'm not a profession boat mechanic, I do have some experience with tilt/trim units. If your system is building pressure and then leaking it out, that's the problem. Find the leak and the system will probably work. There isn't that much to a hydraulic trim/tilt system. An electric motor, a hydraulic pump, some hydraulic lines and one or more hydraulic rams. First thing to do is find the leak. If it's leaking then it can't make pressure to raise and lower the engine. I would check the fittings but be careful with those. They are very fine threads and very sensitive so don't crank down hard on those or you'll strip the threads and that's not a place you want to go. Anyway, fix the leak and most likely everything will be fine. Hydraulic systems can have NO EXTERNAL LEAKS OF ANY KIND to work properly. If you aren't very mechanical, take it to a boat shop and if it's just a simple leak, they shouldn't charge much to fix that. Come to think of it, if the guy had the motor repaired/replaced less than a month ago, you might take it back to that same shop and tell them about it. You never know, they might fix it for nothing. Doesn't hurt to ask.

I hope you get it taken care of. I know it gets depressing when you can't get it on the water. Been there, done that. I went to the Umpqua today and slayed 'em. Boated more than we could count. We lost count at 50 SM. Fun times for all. Won't last long though. It should start raining in another 5 or 6 weeks and that will probably be it until May. With a little luck, I'll be down there by then. Good luck on your engine. Let me know if you get it going. CYA

Gee, as it turns out, there are a lot of bass in brackish waters. At least there were for me today. My brother and I were fishing tidewaters and it was a blast. We lost count at 50. We were bringing them in all day on anything we threw. I tied on an old bent up, rusty spinner bait that had the skirt missing. Nothing at all was on the hook so I stuck an old, torn up, dirty florescent green grub on there. My brother said that if I catch something on that piece of crap, he would eat a bug. Funny thing......... he had to eat 2 bugs. lol. It was a great day. I found out there are SM to be found in brackish water, we caught tons of them, the weather was awesome and the boat ran perfectly. It was a fun time for all. So now we know.

Well, sort of. Inland it's been hot but here on the coast, the most we have seen is about 80. That's a rarity here. That was only on Monday. Now it's back to the typical overcast, cool and windy. Daily highs around 65. 70 tops. Lows are in the high 40's to low 50's. I gotta tell ya, I went to the Umpqua river last weekend fishing for smallies. Never caught one before. Wow was that fun. Caught tons of them. I just fished from the bank throwing Panther Martins but tomorrow morning I'm taking my brother out in the boat. Hopefully we can land a boatload. Should be fun. I'll let you know how it goes. Sounds like you should be here IMHO. My boat is running great, the weather is finally been ok and the fishing has been good. Really good. The salmon should be in the main river in a few weeks as well and if you like sturgeon, now's the time. Anyway, hope you get your engine going. Did you find a good mechanic? Keep me up to speed. No luck on the house just yet but eventually it will go so I'll be down asap.

I have an old 1984 Bayliner bass boat with an 85 hp Force. When I bought it, it had power tilt but no trim. I found someone that gave me a bad tilt/trim unit from the same engine and between the 2, I was able to get a working trim/tilt system working. The only problem is that it slowly bleeds down. I've checked around and the rebuild kit for the pump is no longer available. I can get a new pump for $300.00 but I'm not going to put that much into this boat. I pulled apart my old pump and there isn't much to it. A few ballbearing type things, a couple of springs with ballbearings on top and a couple of springs with what looks to be some kind of check valve. Would you guys know where I could get either a rebuild kit or the individual parts? Being a contractor in this economy prohibits me from spending much money so if things get expensive, then I'll just live with it. I did do a test to make sure it isn't the rams so I'm sure the bleed down is caused by the pump itself. Everything is working normally so I'm guessing that there is one check valve or something that is bad. Perhaps I can just replace that one valve??? Since the rebuild kit isn't available, would another application have the same parts??? A/C units, refrigeration compressors, some other hydraulic application??? How would I find stuff like that???

Well, where I fished was just barely in tidal waters. Just below where the freshwater meets the tidal waters so it probably doesn't have much salt in it at all but yes, it was definately brackish waters. I do catch LM in brackish waters all the time in a local river near me so I figured there must be smallmouth in the lower Umpqua as well. We caught 3 in about 20 minutes so maybe I'm onto something. lol.

I went on a camping trip on the Umpqua river in Oregon last weekend in search of smallmouth. This was the first time I've fished for smallies and I had a blast. Even the dinks were fun to catch. I just fished from the bank but on the way back I stopped at tidewaters and tossed a spiner (black Panther Martin) and my buddy was tossing live worms. We both caught fish. Just down the road is a boat ramp so I'm thinking of taking my boat next time. Is there anything I should know about fishing for smallies in tidal waters? This area is less than a mile from where the tides no longer effect the river and about 20 miles or so from the mouth of the river in Reedsport Oregon. Anyway, I'm just looking for some advice on what to look for and what to throw? This time of year I'm assuming I'll be looking for deeper water?????? Water temps are warm, probably in the mid-70's.

2 years ago I bought an old Bayliner bass boat. Model 1710. It's a 16 footer with an 85 horse Force engine. Both the engine and hull are a 1984 model year. I've noticed that when I apply power, the transom flexes just a little bit. Not very much, maybe 1/16 inch give or take. Just enough to notice if you're looking for it. I asked the tech that I have dealt with before at a very respectable boat shop in the valley and he said that was normal for a Bayliner and not to worry about it and go fishing. I do trust this guy, he has treated me like gold in the past but it still bothers me. The transom seem to be fine, no cracks or anything. Should I worry about it and if so, how hard is it to rebuild the transom on an old Bayliner????? I don't have the money to have someone do it and I doubt the boat is even close to worth it but it's my only ride. Thanks for your opinions.

2 years ago I bought an old Bayliner bass boat. Model 1710. It's a 16 footer with an 85 horse Force engine. Both the engine and hull are a 1984 model year. It originally had power tilt but it had no power trim so I did some research and found that the pump and electric motor are the same as used for the power trim. All I needed to do was find a power trim ram which I did at a boat shop not too far away. It was actually the entire unit with a bad electric motor. I removed the trim cylinder and put everything together from the 2 units. It all works fine except that it bleeds down slowly. Most of the time I can tilt the engine all the way up and and it takes an hour or more (sometimes much more) to bleed down to where it meets the trim cylinder. Also, when I put the engine in reverse, the hydraulic system doesn't hold it down and the engine rises out of the water although when on the trailer, I can't raise the engine by hand. In other words, it seems to lock up enough that I couldn't raise the engine manually unless I loosened up the fittings to let the fluid leak out. When I'm on the water, the trim cylinder will eventually bleed down as well. I have a spare pump so I was wondering if I could rebuild the old pump and install it. There is one difference between the 2 pumps. One of the middle fittings is in a different place. Would that make a difference? My question is what do I need to do to rebuild it so it doesn't bleed down? What is the problem and why is it bleeding down and how do I fix it? I'm assuming it's just an old or worn O-ring or some kind of check valve. Where would I get parts for a rebuild on one of the pumps I have and is it relatively easy to rebuild with simple tools???? An old salty mechanic at a questionable boat shop in a small town told me that the O-rings could be bought at the local hardware store but I'm guessing it just won't be that easy. Any help would be appreciated.

Well, looking at both sets of tires, the 12 inch are 8 ply biased ply tires, the 13 inch tires are radials and are about an inch and a half taller but they only have 1 ply on the sidewall so I'm assuming (for the time being anyway) that right now I'm better off with the 12 inch tires. When I can get some money together, I'll buy some 13 inch biased ply tires but for now, I'll stick with the 12 inch tires unless somebody can tell me why the 13's would be better.

I have an older Bayliner bass boat. When I bought it a year and a half ago, it had 13 inch tires and rims but when I hit a large enough bump or dip in the road, the tires rubbed the fenders so I had an old flatbed trailer that had 12 inch tires on it that had the same weight rating as the 13 inch tires so I put them on the boat. Since then I have replaced the leaf springs on the trailer and that gave me enough room to put the original 13 inch tires back on the boat trailer. The 12 inch tires have served me well on this trailer but I have a couple of questions. Does the tire size matter if the weight rating is within limits? I never noticed it before but the original 13 inch tires are radials. I seem to recall that typically a guy doesn't want radials for a trailer. Is this true and if so, why?

I have a 1984 Bayliner bass boat. Model number 1710 on the original trailer. I've had a problem with this trailer since I've owned it. The fenders are not outboard of the boat like most trailers. The fenders sit under the boat by about 3 inches on each side and they are very close to the hull and the tires don't have much room under the fenders. In the past I have hit potholes large enough for the tires to rub the fenders. Several times the fenders have been bumped up into the boat so I added 1/2 inch to the bunks to eliminate that problem. Last year I had to replace one of the leaf springs and everything has been ok but I just noticed that I probably got the wrong spring. It appears to be a bit shorter than the original spring and it doesn't have as much curve to it so one side of the trailer sits slightly lower than the other and that makes the tire on that side closer to the fender. Does anybody know the correct spring for that trailer???? This I do know. It's a 4 leaf spring, 1 3/4 inches wide. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

What year and what make of engine do you have? I guess I'll just have to get my boat down there so you can go fishing. lol 8-)

I don't know about you guys but when they put 10% ethenol in the gas, I got 10% less mileage in both my cars. I can't figure mileage out on my boat but it feels like it gets a little less economy as well so I'm wondering where the savings are, where the positive is for the environment? I'm still using X amount of gas (plus 10% ethanol) to get the same distance...... My truck was getting 20 mpg so to go 1000 miles, I use 50 gallons of fuel. With ethanol added I'm only getting 18 mpg. To go the same 1000 miles, I now use 55.6 gallons of fuel. Where is the upside to that???? The actual fuel that is burned still puts out the same emissions plus whatever the ethanol excretes. Not sure what the logic is behind this other than to help out people that grow and sell corn and stuff to make the ethanol. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I know non if the technicalities of this stuff so enlighten me. I want to help with the environment just as much as the next guy but I don't see an upside here. At 15% ethanol, given the same parameters, I'm assuming I'll lose another 1 mpg on my truck. Would this be an accurate assessment? All this and I'm not even touching on the damages to engines and fuel systems...........

UPDATE: I NOW HAVE POWER TRIM/TILT. WOOHOO! I got the power trim/tilt unit from Mels Marine in Eugene Oregon. As usual, these guys were very helpful. The unit I got from them worked in every way with the exception of the electric motor that runs the pump. It was just a bolt on application. I didn't have to remove the engine. I just removed the pump from my system, bolted on the pump from the new system, added the ram assembly, hooked up the hydraulic lines, filled the resevior( believe it or not, that was the most difficult part), and everything works great. Many thanks to those guys at Mels Marine. They were and always have been a great bunch and I appreciate thier knowledge and all the time they have spent on my boat.

Hey Bass or Bass, I'm working on it. We got an offer on the place a few days ago but unfortunately the guy has no money and didn't qualify for much of a loan. He wanted us to lower the price by 70k and also carry a second on him for 73K and to top it off, he wanted to only pay 5% interest on the 2nd for 5 years. I couldn't do it so it's back to square one unless he can find some money. I'll be coming down there in 2 weeks so I'll give you a heads up and I'll see what all the heat is really about. lol. Dad_Golg_Fish, Thanks for the info. I can call a boat shop with those numbers and see what I can find. I'll let you know what I come up with. Thanks again for your help.

That would be great. I appreciate your help. The tilt/trim units are all the same for 60 to 120 hp engines from 1983 to sometime into the 90's. That I know. I'm hoping I can just bolt on the ram for the trim, reroute the hydraulic lines and be done with it. That's what I'm hoping anyway.

I have a 1984 Bayliner Trophy bass boat with an 84 model year 85 horse engine. It has tilt already but not trim. I have a guy that is going to give me a good unit except the pump is bad. I am assuming my pump will work on it but I'm not sure. Is the pump the same for both the trim and tilt?? Is this just a bolt on application if the unit is off the same kind of engine? If you know anything about this type of stuff, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

Hey fishfordollars. I haven't caught up to you in a while. My daughter and I still talk about all the stuff you and fishstick did for us and how much we appreciate it. Your kindness won't soon be forgotten. Thanks again. Would you know how to put a tach in this boat and how much it would cost if I did it myself? If it is just a simple installation and it doesn't cost much, I'd love to have a tach. If it's too much, then I'll just continue to throttle down a bit. It works just fine the way it is.

I have an old 1984 Bayliner Trophy bass boat and it's been a great boat for me. No major problems at all. And besides, I can't afford anything better so I'm pretty happy with it. It gets me on the water, it runs great and it fishes well. At least for me. Here's my question. It has a Force 85 horse engine. The model number of the boat is a 1710 and it's a 16 footer. It has power tilt but not power trim. To add power trim, would I need an entirely new tilt/trim unit or can I just add the power trim pushrod to the existing unit? Is the hydraulic motor the same? It's just a thought. I don't NEED power trim but it would be cool. With the little bar that you stick in a different hole, I can't get it trimmed out right. It planes out a little nose down even when I'm alone but when I put the bar in the next hole, the boat porposes. Not even considering when I have another person and the extra gear and trimming it out differently.