stimpy17

NO! NO! Stay away from the darkness!

LOL! I had a "86" Good boat. With a 40 Merc on the back and walk thru front bow(no raised deck)but 2 nice storage boxes. My one gripe was even with the mod. "V" bow waves and chop were hard on the boat and driver.

Congrats Bro. I've used a 30 lb'er for years, is all good! OK check list; Make sure battery is charged(I know). Take paddles. When you mount motor turn it 360 degrees and make sure you don't hit the hull. Take a multi-tool. Any type of fusing involved? Bring a small chunk of 2x4 in case TM needs help fitting on tramsom. Enjoy! You won't be watersking but you will see more wild life than you've ever seen and the best part is they will never hear you coming!!!!!!!!!!! And most TM can be used as either a bow or trasom mount with the turn of a screw. Wally World has MinnKota 55 Lbs for $219.00

Ya know, I think I hooked that thing once. Almost got it to the surface before she broke my line. Talk about a challange! Whew! Is that an old Grumman?

For me it's always about trust. Do I trust that (blank) to give 100% or am I going to have to baby it and worry about it all day. "Big ole' yellers" for me too. Good price and heavey enough to counter balance my fat butt if I stow it on the other side of the boat. IMHO, also check your charger. Does it have a "deep cycle" setting? It's a little kinder to the battery. And use the auto setting and not the manual one.

Here's my guess. It's the common ground. Black wire is positive 12volt and red wire is positive 12volt=24 volts. They share a common ground wire, the red/black wire and it should be considered the netural wire and goes to the ground side of your fuse block/box. Or you could always call the 1800 number on the box...........break a leg.

I'm not sure what the Wife uses......................... ;D

http://www.mercurypartsexpress.com/PartsExpress/ProductSelection/ServiceParts/sphome.asp?CID=168163190070229065269 Look for your make and model then the drawing of your engine cowling and the attcahment points should be there. They do hide the screws under trim sometimes

Just got off the phone with a guy in AK. who has a prop in stock....or had one in stock, Hehehehe!!!!!!

Well I found a Merc 3.5hp (same model as mine) on ebay but in the middle of talking to the seller they changed from "Buy it Now" @$300.00 to a reserve price......meaning they realized they might get more money if they just let it ride. I wrote ebay a nice note and included the email from seller and so now we'll see what happends Greed is an ugly thing.

OK, I'm going to help you pay for your boat. Use it to mix "The Worlds Largest Pancake" at your local Church then write the whole thing off next years taxes! Huh,huh! Yeah I might have motor *** but I don't want to talk about it right now.

Didn't they nuke a big one of those in,"Starship Troopers?"

Hmm, that's funny. I never thought of a Johnson but the fishing camp we go to in Canada has them on the main rental boats and for the little 2hp walk in motors for the remote lakes. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm! I've had it up to here with Mercs anyway. Thanks!!!

Thanks, I've been watching them too. So here's how this whole thing started; About 20 years ago I bought a Merc 3.5hp motor for a canoe I had. I didn't like the way it kept it out of trim so I rarely used it(I mean I have maybe 5 hours on it) I stowed it away. One day.....20 years later.....the boating bug is back and I picked up a 12' Topper jonboat from BassPro. Thinking my 3.5 on the back would work out fine but maybe I should look for a spare prop and shear pin to put in the boat bag. Seems that the 84-86 3.5 motor was a ba$tard motor and parts are VERY....VERY rare. So I talked to my local Merc dealer and he gave me the run down on what would have to happen to a motor that has been sitting for 20 years. (Now mind you 20 years ago I paid $ 400.00 for it) When the Merc guy got above the $400.00 cost of the motor in just replacement parts(no prop yet) I sais "Stop". I've seen Bgiggs& Strattion(sp) 5hps going for $500.00...BUT...I don't want the weight of a 5'er (little jon has a cap of 440 lbs total) and the B&G's go 50-60 lbs. I'll keep looking but I think I'm going to do a "road test" on Mr. 3.5 and see what happends I wonder if bad motors can swim? Thanks again Ladies and Gents, if you can think of or come across anything that might help please let me know. Heck, I even watch ebay-just for laughs.

for my jonboat. Even though it's rated for a 5 hp, because of weight I want to keep it to 3-4 hp. Do you have one you love? Starts on the first or second pull. Parts easy to find(I mean REAL easy) remote tank? Is it a 2 stroke or a 4? Do you have a pet name for it? Would you buy another one? DO YOU WANT TO SELL IT?????? ;D Sorry. Make ,year and model number please and what you paid for it please. Any of you PA guys know of one sitting in a garage that's lonely? Thanks all. Spring is coming-spring is coming!

I have a 12' jon from BassPro(Topper series) What I like is the I can load and unload out of the back of my PU truck(empty the stuff out of it first, remove boat, then fill it again) and I want to keep it that way. It has a max cap. of 440 lbs total so this where I am at this point; 3.5 HP merc. on the back, I can also swap it out with a 55 lbs MinnKota for our electric only lakes. The 55 as the main motor and the 35 lbs bow mount to quietly get around. 35 lbs MinnKota bow mount w/the wires running back to the battery in the stern for trim reasons. I'll find a place for it this season, I need to see how the rig floats first. Ped. seat in bow sitting on a framework of some sort, most likely an "H" pattern. OK, so add the weight- 2 people+ 2 motors+1 or 2 battreies+rods tackle boxes and add it all up to................!!!!! So I plan on fishing alone alot. But eveything I do is with weight in mind. I'd like to do some raised decks and add this and that but at the end of the day I still have to pick the boat up and put it in the back of my truck. Trailer? No. No parking room at home. What gets me is the frist thing some guys do is to remove the seats where the floataion is and as far as I can see, never replace it. I've been in a capsize and we all hung on to the boat which was full of water but still floated. Also, here in PA. you remove floatie, you get tickie!!! And they will get you for being overloaded. I'm going slow and I keep the total finshed weight in mind. Good luck!!!!!!!!!!

Helo, I live in PA and I'm not bothered by snakes in the least. I do have a permit to carry and do so everywhere I go no matter what I do. It's a personal choice one must make. I have been too close to death and realize how dear life is, I have a great wife and life and I refuse to have it taken away from me. Bad things happen to good people. In 10 years of carrying a hand gun I've never had to show it but twice I've put my hand on it in my pocket because of the actions of someone around me. I was glad to have it. Now who in the h$ll would shoot into their boat? My.02