BKeith

I think most carbureted motors have them. its controlled by the ECM in most fuel injected motors. Some wont even let you advance the throttle, they wont start if you do. not all have a separate lever, some have a release for the control handle so you can advance it without putting it in gear.

I've had a couple OMC's that did that. They always worked fine when actually using them so I never tried to diagnose the cause. I figured, why fix what ain't broke.

Sorry I was so wrong, I guess Ranger does it wrong also. Look about halfway down this link at the picture of a Ranger hull coming out of the mold. http://www.greatlakesbass.com/fishing/buildboat2.htm That sure looks like a finished hull to me. Saying what I think about some post is what has gotten me one warning so I will just keep quit now.

I sprayed and new clear gel coat on a Stratos 285 Pro and I will never gel coat another. It's a hellava lot of work, and after about three years, it started getting dull, turning loose and flaking off when bumped. First you have to understand Gel coat is intended to be applied first to a well prepped, polished surface, like inside a mold. The clear coat is applied, then the color coats and fiberglass is applied over it. It's not really made to go on as a top coat after the product is made, but with additives is can be used on top. You will wear your arms out, first it has to be sanded and scuffed, and if it's already down to the metallic color coat, that's hard to do because every time you hit a metal flake, it turns silver and looks like crap when finished. Then you have to apply the gel coat and hope it cures, because for it to cure, I has to have the air away from it, you use a wax additive so hopefully it floats to the surface and makes a sealing layer. Next is the fun part, no mater how it's applied, sprayed (which is what I did) paint roller or bruch, it will not be smooth. It has to wet sanded and buffed to get a smooth glossy finish. The stuff is hard and takes a whole lot of sanding and buffing. You will spend a couple days just sanding and buffing. Then it only lasted about three years before it started getting dull again. My next one will be with Awlgrip Marine paint or something similar, it will never be another gel coat. Do your homework on coatings you plan on putting on top of gel coat. Not many work that well and are very expensive by the time you have finished.

What size canoe, is it a square back for a motor or are you using a side mount, and how scary do you want to get. I have a very old, 17' Grumman cargo canoe (fairly wide and flat in the middle) with the square back and a 4 hp merc I use on it sometimes can raise the pucker factor if you are not careful.

Or, for $32 I just ordered 10 off eBay, delivered to my door, ready to use, and was a whole lot less work.

That should solve your battery problems, as long as you charge it when you come in. Shouldn't do anything about the motor stalling, that motor does not need a battery to run, With the CDI system in it, If you could get a pull rope on it, or some way to spin it over at 250rpm, you could throw the battery away and it run just fine. The key switch has to ground out the ignition to shut it down, Your bogging should be something else, unless somebody did away with the VRO and put an electric fuel pump on it, then a dead battery could cause you a problem. However, I wouldn't get too concerned until I had a good, fully charged battery in it and it was still stalling. Strange things can happen, and if you never had a problem with it stalling until the battery was down, I would wait and see if it still did it. Shouldn't have any affect on it though.

OK, you have just explained a lot. I'm pretty sure the 1996 115 Johnson only has a 10 amp charging system, which does OK in run-abouts but not good in bass boats. 10 amps barely keep the battery charged from the regular cranking of the motor, and will not keep it up with all the electrical stuff on. That's why they had a second battery in the boat, which would not be necessary if you run a big dual purpose and charged it at the end of the day just like you do your TM batteries. I would recommend checking the charging systems output voltage and make sure you are putting out over 13.8 volts at 2,000 rpm. Check this by just reading across the cranking battery with a Digital Volt Meter. I would have the cranking battery in the boat tested. If it has caps on it, you can buy a hydrometer for about $10 and check it. Minimum 1.26. Deka Intestate DieHard Most any name brand battery

If you have a Northern Tool, you can pick those sealed lights for about $10 each. I tried LED's for a couple years a while back and they gave me way more problems than the sealed lights so I went back to them. I usually get a couple years or more out of those. Catt is right, trailer lights usually work in the driveway, and never work when you are driving through some small town where the cops have nothing to do but pull you over.

Depends on the size motor you have if you can use a deep cycle or not. Deep cycle won't deliver a whole lot of cranking amps and at the end of the day, you may still be in the same situation, if you have one of the big V6 motors. I have a feeling, your cranking battery is too small or about used up. Take it and have it tested. Straight cranking batteries don't work out real well in bass boats. I have always put my faith in a group 29 dual purpose in a quality battery and have never had a problem and for the past 10 years that has been cranking a 225 Ficht DFI motor. As a minimum, I would get a group 27 dual purpose. I also only run my cranking battery three, four years max in anything, cars and boats. For no more than they cost, it's not the heartburn they can cause. I buy biggest, baddest 72-84 month batteries I can, and swap them out in 36-48 months. Been doing that for about the last 40 years and have never had a dead battery since. AGM's will deliver the CCA and they give a long duty cycle, but they run a little short on Reserve capacity and most outboard charging system don't like them and they can cause problems with them, especially those a few years old. I stick with the flooded cell batteries, more reserve capacity and less cost.

Yea, I remember back in the early 60's how we laughed at the cheap Japanese junk. In the late 60's I saw my first Kubota tractor and though what farmer would waste his money on that. Little did we know. I will have to admit though, even their stuff back then was not as cheaply made with such inferior plastics and metals as stuff the Chinese are using today. Their metallurgy totally sucks, a supposedly tempered piece of steel may be so hard it brakes like glass or so soft, it bends like lead. Most of their plastics are not even fit for service in the items they put them in. Today, you don't buy an item without checking out the companies customer support, that's the most important part of the purchase, Used to be, you bought it, used the heck out of it, and never worried about premature failures. Today, you buy it and hope it works when it comes out of the box.

I know it's getting almost impossible to do, but I've gotten to where I put great effort to avoid anything I can that's made in China. Even in the brand names you associate with quality items being made in China just don't hold up. Like I said, it's getting hard, even with name brands. I absolutely will not buy anything made in China I have to really depend on. I do a lot of mechanic work on my own vehicles and will not buy Chinese made parts for anything internal to the engine or is going to require a lot of work to replace it again if it goes bad, because my experience with the junk, it will go bad, rather quickly. With name brand stuff, you kinda hope they have some say so on the quality, don't know what kind of, if any quality and quality control these unknown brands have. if you gave me a Chinese reel and told me I had to use it, I would turn you down. I got a couple of those Quantum's they gave away in promotions. One lasted and hour and I threw it in the lake, the other one I took off and threw it in the junk pile.

If it blows, the running it at WOT alone won't be the cause. You can run it WOT all day long and won't hurt it. A dirty carb, bad ignition system, vacuum leak, etc can cause one to ruin your day but a two stroke motor in good condition has no problems being run at WOT for hours.

For me, your rods too short, mine has to be 71/2-8' heavy action, and your line is way is too light. When I'm flipping, it's usually in some pretty knurly stuff and ain't no need in hooking it if you can't get it out. Even a little four pounder would be hard to get out with what your using.

His question was, should he plug the charger in if the batteries are only down by 10%, if he plans to go out again the next morning, not if he should leave his charger on them 24/7. Most manufactures do not recommend charging one that has only been discharged less than 10%. However, for me, on those rare occasions mine is at 90% or more and I'm not going back out soon, I plug the charger in just so I don't forget to later. Most all name brand on board chargers can and should be left on them 24/7 and keep the batteries maintained and will not over charge them. The last Dual Pro I had did not have a float mode, it turned off and then back on when the battery self discharged to a set point. This is also the same way most of the MinnKota chargers work. I haven't checked the details on their Precision series, since they have a high frequency mode to help desulfate a battery, they may be using the float method with those. One difference between a charge mode and a maintenance mode is the charge mode in most quality chargers over charges the battery by approximately 10% for about 20 minutes, this is to equalize the cells to insure they are all fully charged. Then if goes into the maintenance mode, which does not do that 10% overcharge, it just brings them back to it's set level. This overcharge is also why most of those cheap chargers cause a battery to die a slow death, they are not capable of providing that equalization charge. They reach a certain level of charge when the current slows down to a certain point and shut off. Repeatedly connecting one to charge that is only down by 10% is subjecting the battery to that initial overcharge every time and is what they are trying to avoid. Technically, it only needs that equalization charge (10% over charge) about every fifth time charging them but that would be kinda hard for the charger to keep track of. Industrial chargers have a button you are suppose to push about once a week to equalize the cells.

There is a little window you are playing with. It's not recommended to charge a battery that's at 90% or greater charge. At the same time, a battery left uncharged that's at or below 80% will start to sulfate within 12-24 hours. If I only use mine a little and plan on going back that afternoon or the next morning, I typically do not charge them, unless I know for sure I'm going to be using them hard and heavy the next trip, like when feel we will be chasing schooling fish. I also have a Curtis charge level meter mounted in my boat so I know exactly what level of charge they are at. However, if I only use it a little and done for the next few days or the week, the charger gets plugged in, even if they are at 95% charge, because I know if I don't, I will forget to later.

Since there don't seem to be many Mercury gurus here, I would suggest you try here http://www.screamandfly.com/forumdisplay.php?20-Technical-Discussion/page2&order=desc. A lot of these live eat, and sleep with Mercs and probably your best source of info.

Not knowing how you fish or what you primary species is you fish for, rod selection is difficult. Personally, I would not recommend going out and buying high dollar rods until you have a good feel for what you want in a rod and develop the feel for the baits used. There are a lot of rods out there in the $75 price range that the average newbee could not tell from a $200+ rod. Worm rods and finesse rods are the ones you need to pay the most attention to. Those are the ones you need to be able to feel the fish breath on the lure, and it takes a while to develop that kind of feel in your head and hands. Once you have developed your skills, then you start going for the rods and reels that "YOU" think complements your skills. Starting off with just any high dollar rod would be like putting Tiger Woods golf clubs in your hands and expect you to play your best round of golf. Knowing they are not going to have the fit or feel, and it wouldn't be long before they went in the back corner of the garage. Feel and fit is critical to sensitivity, that's why there are hundreds of high dollar rods to pick from by different companies. For a bait caster, I feel there are three must have rods, a 6'6" medium with a medium fast tip, and 7' medium, medium fast tip, and a 7' Medium Heavy with a fast tip. If you fish a spinning reel mostly, then you might consider the same in spinning rods but I never throw anything heavy enough with spinning tackle to need a medium heavy rod. For me, spinning is light and ultra-light use so I stick mostly with medium, medium light and light action rods for those. Mostly in the 6' and 6'6" lengths and an couple 7'. For reels, there are a ton of good spinning reels you can buy in the $75 price range. However for bait casters, I feel you need to at least double that. Good bait casters make life a whole lot more pleasant on the water than the cheaper ones For me, a minimum three bait casters and one or two spinning reels would be my starting point. I feel you should not start buying the high dollar stuff until you have a feel for what you really like and want.

I did something I usually refuse to do, check your PM. I also rarely sign on here so no need replying back with a PM.

Looking at the pics, right off the bat I have doubts about the transom, when you see a piece of diamond plate fastened onto the back. For the style boat it is, and the fact you will almost have to make a new cap to make much of a change. It doesn't look bad cosmetically, if the transom and flood is good, I would clean that sucker up, put me some new carpet in it, get it back together with the motor running. and go fishing

The real answer is the manufactures recommend 10% of the rated capacity. Typical dual purpose and deep cycle TM batteries range between 75 Ah for group 24 and 120 Ah group 31, so that would be between 7 1/2 amps to 12 amps, depending on the battery. Personally, I would never repeatedly charge a group 24 or larger flooded cell battery with a 2 amp charger, all you are doing is killing the battery. You can do that with AGM's but not flooded cell.

Yep. I figured as much, looks like I will have just straight sonar on the bow for a while. I guess when I'm trying to see exactly what's down there, I will have to try and turn the HDS-10 mounted on a swing arm on the gunwale so I can see it from the front. That or take the five out of the dash and use it up there, but that small screen sucks when you are very far from it. Thanks.

Question for those using Terrova. Does anyone use an external transducer? If so, what's you secret for running the cable up the shaft? I've been running my HDS-7 I run on the Bow through the built in Xducer, but 7 has take a leave of absence for a while, so I thought I would use my HDI unit I use in my jon boat. To get the downscan capability, I have to use it's Xducer and to do that, I have to have the cable going down the shaft, which is not very practical the way it stores. Unless someone has a magic trick, Looks like my options are, forget the downscan, or go on ebay and buy me a used HDS unit I can network with my sidescan.

Well, you referenced a Yamaha manual for a Mercury motor. However, yes, I think I am about 200 over. I've been wrong before, and since I don't mess with black motors much, I may be wrong again but I though that motor was rated for 5,800 rpm. I find they run better and give much better hole shot if you let them over spin a couple hundred. Contrary to four stroke rational, it doesn't hurt the motor.

Changing the stator can cause a change in timing. If they did not check the timing on a dyno or with a test prop so the motor was loaded and above 5,000 rpm, it may be low. When you say the carbs are opening fully. Are you looking into the throat of the carbs and making sure all the butterflies are going perfectly parallel with the venture? Even when it was running it's best, it was over propped and should have been one pitch smaller. Now it may have some damage and killing even more of the rpm. If it was mine, I would have that motor turning close to 6,000 rpm with my normal load in it.