BKeith

Is it a metal or composite shaft? I've shortened a number of metal shafts, but not sure you can do anything with the composite shafts.

After 50 years of using one, I still haven't found anything better when moving down the lake at high speed and still have about a 1/2 dozen of them.

Cadman, to the best of my knowledge, I don't know of an automobile manufacture in the US that sells a vehicle with a two stroke motor in it, but if they did, I would recommend running their oil. This topic was about two stroke oil, not four stroke, two totally different engines and the way the oil is used in them. Ever seen the heads off an oil burning four stroke car engine, usually one big carbon mess. That's what the inside of a two stroke looks like that's been run on a lot of these cheap TWC-3 oils sold for two strokes. Also, the most of the two strokes built of the past decade have a very sophisticate oil injection system and a small change in the oils viscosity make a huge change in the engines oiling system. Like I said though, I could absolutely, 100%, tee totally care less what anyone runs in their motors, I just know I've been building and racing outboards since the late 60's and have seen the inside of a whole lot of engines, so I know what I will run in mine, and it won't any of those bargain brands. In my DFI motors, I will only run the manufactures oil because of the oil injection and the viscosity it's tuned for.

I've never understood why someone would spend thousands of dollars on a motor, and then want to save a nickel buying that cheap a** gas and oil for it. Do you think because all gas comes out of the same pipeline at the bulk distribution center it's the same stuff going to all the retailers? Based on who's getting it, is what additives are added to it at the bulk center. That's the same way with the oils. None of the motor manufactures make their own oil, but they do say what additives they want in their oils. Oil companies make numbers of brands of oil with a host of different labels, but that doesn't mean all the different labels have the same oil in them. If you think so, then I have some ocean front property in Arizona I would luv to sell you. When you tear down a few dozen motors, some with no more than several hundred hours, that have had this cheap oil run in them, you will see why I'm against most of that crap people think they are saving money with. However, I've always said, nobody is going to tell me how I should run my equipment, and I'm sure no one going to convince those that thinks all oils are the same is going to be convinced otherwise. After all, it's you motor, you can run the used motor oil out of you car if your so desire, it's probably as good as some of what's sold for outboard oil.

Which gear case, Lightning or standard. If it's the standard, I would just buy a good used one. If it's the Lightning, Lightings are hard to come by used and not sure the used would be much better than what you have, they are not a very strong gear case and unless you are running well into the 70's I would change a Lightning out for the standard. I would think you should be able to buy a good, standard LU for less than $1,500, sometime even half that much. Just make sure it's a fresh water unit, do even mess with a saltwater unit. Any V-6 LU later than 1993 will work. Check out Scream and Fly, there should be several people on there with LU's for sale. The guy that goes by Racer (Al Stoker), is a dealer and usually has a good source of used parts and is a very good, honest person to deal with, may not be the cheapest but you can depend on what he tells you.

A hooked hull can be caused by a number of problems. One of the main causes is not sitting on the bunks properly. Then you can have a manufacturing defect, where the hull was not properly supported or the mold was bad, and developed a hook. Since this is a 2011 hull, one would think it's not a mold problem if this is the first one Nitro has had, or could just be the one that has shown up first, and once they check yours, they may send out a bulletin to have all the hulls that were popped from that mold checked. I remember back when Stratos replaced a bunch of hulls on one of their boats because they would do a Bat turn for no real reason when up and flying on the pad. Then you have boats that have a hook built in to help performance. Allison is one, if you take the hook out of some Allison hulls, you will ruin it. However, a hook in a hull that's not suppose to have one, is never a good thing. That's why I always blueprint my hulls with a lot of body filler and sand my hulls with 320 grit. Makes them flat and smooth so they slide across the water nice and FAST.

There is a water pressure line that goes from a port on the block to the gauge. Since I don't do Merc's can't tell you exactly where it's at but it will be a small hose about 1/4" in diameter that will go out the front of the motor and up to the console, should be the only hose leaving the motor like that. It's possible the hose could be pinched. The easiest way to check the gauge is to pull the hose off the back of the gauge, put a piece a couple of feet long on the gauge, apply about 25 pounds of compressed air to it and see if the gauge reads the pressure. If not, the gauge is bad. Don't forget to put the hose back on or you will have a wet surprise the next time you run the boat. If it just stopped working, something probably broke in the gauge, if it hasn't worked all summer, it probably froze during the winter and burst the pressure chamber inside. Ask the dealer if the warrantee covers all mechanical problems. The water pressure gauge is a mechanical gauge, not electronic. The only thing electronic about it is the light bulb in it. The gauge is so simple to check and replace, there is no way I would pay a shop their outrages price and be without the boat that long. I also know to never buy a Nitro boat if they won't warrantee something that new. That is just plain total lack of customer service. I would email them a link to this web site and let them see how stupid that makes them look.

Depends mainly on how you plan to use it, how much running around you do and how you haul it. If you haul your boat in the back of a pickup, big batteries get to be a real pain lifting in and out of a boat every time you load and unload. The same with a big, heavy TM. Walking through a boat in the water to mount or remove a heavy TM can be a feat in itself. Many times you are not able to hang the motor before sliding the boat in. For my small water jon I use a 30 - 35# motor, the Endura for now, and have been for more years than I can remember. It's not fast, but it's fairly easy to take on and off the boat. As for the battery, that's going to depend on how much runtime you want and how fast you want to go. On high, most TM's will drain a large battery within 1 1/2 - 2 hours, and the bigger ones can cut that back to and hour or less, but if you are just easing along, they could last all day. If you only go for a few hours and don't need the battery to last all day, those smaller group 24 size AGM's that weigh about 40 pounds sure are nice when it comes to getting them in and out of the boat. If you want to make an all day trip, then you are going to need one of those huge group 30 or 31's that weight about 70 pounds, real back breakers.

I hate to bust your bubble, but when you buy and connect a new battery in series with the battery you already have, one of them will be dead before very long. When you connect two batteries in series (which is necessary for a 24v TM) they both should be the same. Same age, same type, same manufacturer and a same size. In other words, the are identical twins. That's where those cheap wally world batteries will drive you nuts. You buy two brand new ones, and one goes bad eight months later. They are only going to replace the bad one, so you install the replacement with the first battery, a few months later, ones dead again. You get hung up playing battery ping pong. They both have to be replaced. You can't put a new battery with a like battery that has been charged over 25 times without having possible problems. The batteries must have similar internal resistance, since the same amount of current is passing through both. If one has more than the other, the one with the lesser amount will be working twice as hard, and the one with the greater amount will be overheating. As far as wire connections, the TM should be the only thing running on the two TM batteries. All other wires will connect to the cranking battery. That's also why you should only use BIG, at least group 27, dual purpose cranking batteries.

I don't think there is a real cure for it. Making sure the carbs a sync'd together and all the butterflies are fully closing will help. I had a 3.0L V-6 Johnson so bad about it, since I premixed my gas anyway, I finally installed an electric fuel pump. That way, all I had to do was hold the primer (choke) in for a couple of seconds and the electric fuel pump put enough fuel in it, it started as good as any DFI motor. Never had anymore problems after that. I know what causes it, but have never understood why hundreds of motors just like it never have a problem and then one does. Understand though, while I mentioned heat soak, there are lot of other things than can give the same symptom but are very much repairable. It could just be your primer valve is not letting fuel into the engine, while you are hearing the solenoid, doesn't mean fuel is going through. There is also a little trick you can use by just cranking the motor a couple of seconds and stop, press and release the the primer, crank a couple more seconds, stop and press the primer again, doing this three or four times. Cranking let the fuel pressure build up, then you release it into the engine without the air mixing and evaporating part of it, giving a much richer prime. Again though, if the primer valve is putting fuel into the engine.

Let me make a suggestion. Hopefully you have someone with you the next time it does this, if so, with the key one, have them hold the choke/primer in and you squeeze the primer bulb a few times. Then see if it starts. If that helps, for some reason the motor is not getting primed. If that makes even worse, then it's probably being flooded, where maybe a carb needle is leaking by when sitting or the engine is getting what's refered to as heat soak. Heat soak is where the heat of the engine makes all the gas evaporate when it sit's for a short time after a long run. This will cause one to be extremely hard to restart after a long run or bog down when you start it and go full throttle to start off shortly after.

Won't crank, means motor does nothing, other than maybe click or something, the starter is not spinning the motor. Won't start, means starter is spinning motor but the motor does not start, like it's not getting fuel or ignition or something. Now, if it's not starting, I would check my fuel delivery system and primer (choke) first.

For them to be effective, they have to be placed so you can stand in a comfortable position. Too far back or forward make them almost as uncomfortable as having that one leg raised. Once you decide where the most comfortable placement would be, you have to make sure there is room underneath the deck for it. Also be sure to place some long rods in your rod locker and make sure where you are placing it does not get in the way of the rods, it's possible to could loose use the rod locker. If there is room underneath, and it's not going to kill the rod locker or take out most of your front storage box, they are not very difficult to install. As for your boat model and that particular one, in specific, can't help you.

That charger has a logic control board that takes care of everything for you. Leave it on 10 amps and if it a flooded cell battery, (one that has caps you can take off and check the electrolyte in, which you should do every couple of months)then just leave in on the Standard setting. When the battery is fully charged, the charger goes into a maintenance mode that keeps the battery at the proper voltage. While they are a pretty good charger for the price, they are not the of the highest quality, so as with any charger's float mode (maintenance mode) I recommend double checking the voltage to make sure it's not too high. 13.17 volts is the recommended float (maintenance) voltage for most deep cycle batteries. Even at 13.4 volts (which is what AGM batteries should be) you are still ok but you have to keep a closer check on the electrolyte level because it will make the battery loose level quicker. That charger is designed to be able to set it on 10 amps and connect it and leave it until the next time you go to use it. It does not actually shut off, it just goes into the maintenance mode. I looked at O'Riley's web site and it looks like that's just a maintenance free, flooded cell battery so just use the regular setting. Also, forget what I said about checking the electrolyte, since that looks like a maintenance free, you don't open it.

If it was this one, you are in good shape. http://www.basspro.com/Schumacher-SC1000A-10/6/2-Amp-Charger/Maintainer/Tester/product/10205469/ You should be able to leave it connected 24/7. If you have a digital volt meter, just to double check the maintenance charge voltage, the next day after connecting the charger to it, check the voltage (with the charger still on) and make sure it's not more than 13.2 VDC (13.17 is the ideal for most flooded cell, deep cycle). Most have a tendency to be a little lower but if it's more than 13.2 or 13.4 for an AGM then I would not leave it on 24/7,

When you hear all this stuff about how you should slow charge a deep cycle battery, remember the manufacturers considers 10% of the battery capacity a SLOW charge. So, a 100 Ah battery would be charged at 10 amps. The two amp setting is for your lawn mower size batteries, not a TM battery. A flooded cell battery has to be charged at a high enough rate to case a small amount of gassing, (bubbles forming in the cells) to keep the electrolyte mixed. Charged a too slow of a rate so it does not generate gas bubbles, the electrolyte will stratify, creating a heavy concentration of acid in the lower part and almost pure water in the upper part, again, causing damage to the battery. As mentioned above, to fully charge a deep cycle battery, it requires being over charged by 6%, Your standard "hot box" as I call them automatic chargers will not do this. Most of them will actually cut off before it's reaches 100% much less over charge it the necessary 6%. Basically causing the battery to die a slow death. Those chargers were designed for the farmer or person to on occasion charge a run down battery, not to repeatedly charge the same battery. Another thing those Automatic hot boxes do is charge at way too high of a voltage, damaging the battery more every time you charge it. A battery should never be charged at more than 14.6 volts, most of those things are well over 15 volts and even to 16 volts. A good logic controlled charger that will go into a 13.2 volt maintenance charge when the battery is fully charged is your best choice. Also, never run a battery down below about 30% capacity. Running almost any battery down completely will damage the battery. From time to time you will hear some idiot say you should run them all the way down so they don't develop a memory. Lead acid batteries DO NOT develop memory and running one down too far cause the plates start separating and flaking.

A "bat turn" is not a normal turn. It's when the front of the hull bites into the water and all of a sudden the boats does a 180. Not something you really want to be part of at a high speed.

Yep, I looked at those last pictures and it's hard to tell about the hull. Not sure if that rib is just a reinforcement rib or if it's the start of one of the steps on a riser hull. If they put a high performance hull under it, that little boat, with the a good setup, would be almost suicidal with that 125 on it, and to think they are thinking a 150. Can you imagine just how fast that little thing could do a bat turn if someone chopped the throttle with it up and flying the hull. That short of a hull would come around so fast, it would launch the person/people in it into the next time Zone. I've seen 20 footers throw people through the sides.

Just a bass fisherman and a speed freak. Cars, boats what ever, I have this thing about making them go fast. Back in the late 60's I had a 16' Allison with twin 135BHP Merc racing engines on it that was running 81 mph. I have a 20' Javeline Renegade basss boat that will run 83 with two people, full gear and livewell, but thats with one of my hotrod Johnson 3.0 V6 engines I build that putting out 327HP @ 6,200 rpm. I've built two stroke race engines and had hot rod boats since the late 60's. I've built and raced cars since the early 60's. My first real hotrod was a 1955 Ford I built in 1964 with a 63, 427 Ford engine that I bored an stroked to approx 460 C.I. and have no idea how much HP it had because I didn't have a Dyno, but it was "A Bunch". I could haul 40 gallons of moon shine (that's how I made my spending money back then) at a time and there was not a cop car or ATF Revenuer that could touch it, but several tried. I probably painted that car a 1/2 dozen times, they would get wise to it, and I would paint it a different color to throw them off again.

OK, it's a 125 on a 15' hull. Not sure where you are located but there are a number of states that give you a rather healthy fine for over powered boats. Insurance companies usually will not insure one that's more than 5% over powered. Which I guess in your case will not be a problem. I do have a problem with taking a demo ride in a boat that has almost twice the HP as the motor I'm going to have. There is just absolutely no way you are going realize the preformance loss that boat is going to suffer with a 70, when you tried it with a 125. Apparently you are not in the US and don't have to worry about Coast Guard ratings. At todays standards, a 15' boat would probably be rated for about 85hp max. Putting something on the market with that kind of over powered setup is a personal invite for some massive law suits the first time somebody gets hurt by one of them. Back in the early 80's I bought a 15' ProCraft with a 70. It struggled to get on plane with two people in the boat and if there were three, one had to sit up at the bow until it was on plane. The ran about 45 mph at best with just me in it. I put a 150 Merc (which was about a 115 at todays ratings) on it and with two people in it, it ran almost 70 two people in it with no jackplate or real setup, and shot out of the hole. Have no idea how fast it ran with just me because poor ballance made the chine walk was so bad you couldn't drive it. Any way, back to your's. Don't forget the steering cable issues (I hope they had dual cable or hydraulic steering on that one you tried) because most 15' will only come with single cable steering and it's most likely going to be too short to install much setback. Don't forget the fact a high rake, performance prop is going to be a must, and that's going to be another $500. Don't even think just because an aluminum or standard prop the right pitch is going to work. Well, yes it will "work" but the performance will suck so bad, you totally wasted the money of intsalling a jackplate. One of the main functions of a jackplate is to get the motor back so it has better leverage to lift the bow and get the boat running on the last two or three feet of the pad. If you don't have a prop that's going to help provide that lift, it's kinda sinseless to install a jackplate to try and get it. Next is going to be the hull design. If it's not a riser hull, with a good pad, it's a waste anyway. If you are not aware of what a riser hull is, look under most any large bass boat built today, you will see a the pad that's about a foot wide, then it starts going out in steps so as the boat gains speed, the water starts lifting the hull more and more out of the water and with enough hp and speed, it finally gets up and running on that smaller pad area of the hull. The easiest way to know you are getting fully on the pad, it will usually start chine walking where it starts falling of the pad from side to side. Then you have to learn how to drive it so it's stays balanced on the pad. However, with a 70hp motor, I don't think you will ever have to worry about getting anywhere near the chine walk stage because that usually doesn't come into play well into the 60's or lower 70's. I've gotta quit typing so much, I'm liable to give somebody the fool idea a know something about the dang things.

I don't think he's going to a dealer with it, unless he really want's to get ripped. You have to remember, a dealer has a huge overhead and may have to sit on it several months. When they do sell it, they are going to have to make a profit as well as enough to cover the expense, overhead and inventory taxes. Huge difference in what a dealer can pay for one and what an individual will pay. Just like trading in a car, you give them your old car and they sell you their car. However, with all that said, he may have to cut it too almost what a dealer would give him to sell it this late in the season.

There is something I not really understanding about this situation. The boat you went on a demo ride in had a 125 Merc. I don't know of a 15ft boat on the planet that's rated for a 125. Then my next problem with your deal, if a 125 was struggling with, why in the heck would you order a 70. Now, if you took a demo ride in a totally different size and style boat than what you bought, what benefit was the demo ride. It dang sure didn't show you anything about the boat you bought, other than it floats. Kinda like going for a test drive in a Mustang GT, to buy a Fiesta. As for the jackplate. The VERY FIRST thing you have to do is check with the manufacturer and see if one is even allowed on how much if so. Many don't allow them on certain hulls and if you install one, it WILL VOID the warrantee. I would have doubts about an 8" being allowed. A general rule of thumb for figuring engine offset (size jackplate) is to level the boat on the trailer with the tongue jack, trim the motor until anti-cav plate is level, then measure from the bottom edge of the pad to the front, leading edge of the motor. 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" per foot of hull length is usually a very good (desired) offset. So, for a 15' boat you are looking at 18" to 21". You subtract the measurement you get from the desired offset and that gives you the size jackkplate. Too much offset and you will have a bad problem with the boat porposing at mid speeds and coming off plane. If you get the jackplate up to the height that gives you the best speed, it will usually take away from hole shot, unless you install a hydraulic unit that lets you run it down for hole shot and run it up for max speed. Which, with a 70hp motor, you are probably looking at $200 per mph gain. Another thing, unless you are running a high rake, stainless steel, performance prop, you truely really wasting your time and money anyway. Which you are probably pretty much doing that anyway for what small gain you will see. The next thing is going to be your steering cables, since I have doubts you will have hydraulic steering on a 15' boat. Most factory installed cable lengths will not be long enough to give more than 6" of setback and many won't even reach with 6". So you may be looking at new cables right off the bat.

I like these in a jon. They are simple to install, let you move them side to side to shift your weight to balance it and they let you easily take the seat off to store so they are not left in the weather. Just be sure to get the long one http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Wise-Sure-Mount-Bracket-Kit-33-rail&i=94577 You will use that same swivel you have pictured in your post. These are my favorite seats for a jon. Very comfortable and durable. http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Wise-Molded-Fold-Down-Fishing-Seat-with-Padding&i=94573&aID=601C5A&merchID=4006

Check NADA.COM for your area. Just be prepared to take a serious hit and this late in the season, it will be even tougher to sell without taking even more of a cut. If you financed the whole thing on one of those long term notes you probably owe a lot more than it's worth.

New comes with a comes with warrantee, used doesn't, unless it's fairly new and has a transferable warrantee. For $5,000 a basic jon, small motor and trailer are about all you are going to get and it's gonna loose about 25% of it's value the first month. A $5,000 used boat is going to be rather old or fairly small. There are a lot of good used boats that would provide you good service but always expect to spend some on initial repairs, but you have to be very careful in you inspection process. It's so late in the season, if you wait until right after Christmas, when all the bills and taxes are hitting peoples wallets, there are some good deals to be had It's just going to be willing to deal and walkaway from some that you might like but they are not willing to get right on the price. I haven't bought a new boat since the early 70's. My 99 Javelin 20DC with a 225 Evinrude, was a $17,000 boat when I bought in 2005 for $5,200 at auction, because some major pieces (all the injectors) to the motor were in a storage box. I spent $1,200 getting the injectors and SECM rebuilt and still running the crap out of it now. That's the advantage of being able to do your own repairs, So I don't hesitate to buy used. However, I feel for anyone that's not boat smart when they go looking. It's just so easy to get burned.