Team_Dougherty

I have used mine to move furniture. The guy at the furniture store said it was the first time he saw that.

I can suggest that you start with testing the alternator first. I would use a voltmeter. check the voltage at the battery terminals, it should be 13.8 to 14.2 volts when the motor is running. If it is not check terminals and connections for corrosion and tightness. The only way to test the start is to pull the spark plug wires and check the voltage on a voltmeter when cranking. if it goes below 9 volt the battery is toast. You should make sure the battery is fully charged before this test.

http://jgdarden.com/batteryfaq/batbrand.htm

Most of the cost of a boat motor combo is the motor. You would have to look at the cost of fixing that motor, getting a used motor or buying a new motor. Then you can make a decision.

www.batteryfaq.org

That is great news. I thought you would never see it again. I agree that the scrap yard guy should get a case of beer.

I would search the forum here. It has been talked about many times. This should get you started. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1214966359 http://www.lei-extras.com/tips/sonartut/fisharches.asp

JB weld works pretty well. It also needs to have nice area for proper bonding. I have a friend who repaired a crack in his jon boat and I repaired a crack in my lower unit. Both repair jobs are holding up well. Like I said about you need to prep the area properly before using anything. You can try JB stik http://jbweld.net/products/jbstik.php it does not run like JB weld when you first mix it. You can also try using this http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0001390010655a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&No=54&Ntt=aluminum&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1 with just propane or map gas torch.

I have seen many people on here asking how to mount a transducer to an aluminum boat. Here is a guy who used two plungers to do do it. http://katmasters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=244&t=17563

you would be better off with one of these http://store.humminbird.com/csonar-csonarBuddy.html

http://jbweld.net/products/jbstik.php

This is true. I have it in writing it is on the deceleration page of my car insurance. Check yours.

A general rule of thumb is a 12V motor will draw 1 amp of current per 1lb of thrust. here is some info everyone should read. http://www.minnkotamotors.com/support/faq.asp?pg=general

That is plenty. The tongue weight is depended on where the boat is loaded on the trailer.

Hopefully your outboard did not suffer any damage from that. I bet the starter motor turned real fast though.

are your batteries hooked in series, 24v, or parallel, 12 volt,? If you have them hooked positive to positive and negative to negative that is parallel and will only deliver 12 volts to your trolling motor. That is half of its rated voltage and it will run very slow. See below. change "to charger" to "to motor" You need to hook your batteries in series.

I would use the 6 Gauge wire. The wire that come with the motor is usually 10 gauge. This wire is big enough to go right to the battery. For a longer run you're gonna need the bigger wire. To use the 6 gauge connector with the smaller wire. Strip the smaller wire longer than you need and fold it in half and in half again. it should than be big enough to fill the connector. Or, strip a small piece of the 6 gauge wire to take up the extra space. or you can just use a split bolt connector and electrical tape. http://img.alibaba.com/photo/11065089/Split_Bolt_Connector.jpg

It is pretty easy. For example to find watts; you can square the voltage and divide by resistance in Ohms, Or you can square the amperage and multiply by the resistance in Ohms. Or, you can multiply the voltage by the resistance. That is three ways to find The wattage of an electrical device. These formulas work for AC or DC devices. On some charts the use I instead of A for amperage and P, for power, instead of W for watts. So how does this relate to you? Easy. Lets assume, and most people use this formula, that a 12 volt trolling motor draws 1 amp for each pond of thrust. So a 50LB thrust 12 volt motor draws 50 amps. so using ohms law 50 amps X 12 Volts = 600 watts. So if you have a 50LB thrust 24 Volt Motor it will still "consume" 600 watts of power. so using Ohms law again. you take 600 watts divided by 24 volts and you get 25 amps of current. Half the current draw of the 12 volts motor. Therefore you can run a 100LB thrust 24V motor on the same wire as a 12V 50lb thrust because they will both draw 50 Amps. Now my head hurts ;D

;D

The wire is usually marked. if not you can measure the diameter of the copper itself. here is a chart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

you do not have to worry about rewiring it. The wire in your boat is probably good for 300V maybe even 600V. Plus is it not the wire itself that has that rating it is the insulation. The wire will carry any voltage you can put to it. it is whether or not the insulation will contain it. The thing you have to worry about is current. A 24V motor of the same thrust as a 12V will draw half the current. So the chances are your 24V motor will draw less current than your 12 volt. If you have 6 or 8 gauge wire i would not worry about it.

That battery is more than enough for a 30LB motor. you should put the battery on a charger when you buy it. You should also buy a fully automatic charger made for deep cycle batteries. You should charge it with 10amps, 20 amps max. A fully automatic charger will start with the full rated current and taper down to under an amp when the battery get near full charge and will turn off when fully charged. It will then monitor the state of charge and turn on to keep the battery topped up. The battery should be on this charger when ever you are not using it to get maximum life out of the battery. read here for the answers to your other questions. www.batteryfaq.org

try one of these http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?type=pod&id=0000844

Looks like it is closed cell. http://greatstuff.dow.com/greatstuff/diy/products/gc.htm you may want to use the big gap filler http://greatstuff.dow.com/greatstuff/diy/products/bgf.htm

The cavitation plate on your outboard would make a good step. If you have power tilt there is usually a switch on the motor. You can stand on the cavitation plate and use tilt to tilt the motor all the way up and crawl right into your boat.