tcbass

Update: I emailed the big 3 marine onboard charger companies about leaving your onboard charger plugged in 24/7-365 and this is the response from Dual Pro, NOCO, and Minn Kota. I'm not shocked that Minn Kota said not to do it, they are the lowest quality of the 3 in my humble opinion. The other 2 said to leave them plugged in all the time. Even if I left it plugged in I'd connect it to a 2,000 joule surge protector, although a 900 joule is probably fine, for $17 you can get a quality Belkin surge protector and it's cheap protection for your charger, batteries, and boat electronics. I also turn all of the boats breakers off when it's not on the water which should also protect the boats electronics.

This article states that you must wash with soapy water your fiberglass boat once a month wax it every 6 months. I've never done that to my 2 year old boat! I'm sure it's not a bad idea and recommended but I wonder how many people really do this? http://bluehq.com.au/aluminium-vs-fibreglass/

Cool. Good to know.

That will prevent galvanic corrosion?

What type of bolt are you supposed to use? I used the short bolts that came with the quick release bracket to attach it to the TM and then stainless bolts to attach the quick release bracket plate to the boat deck.

Best thing I did was add a Minn Kota Quick Release bracket to my Ulterra when I took it off for repair. Now, if I ever have to take it off again it's easy to do. Secondly, the aluminum bracket should stop torque issues also.

Good to know! I’d presume my 2014 Minn Kota charger can charge AGMs fine?

What is RC?

They are really more expensive. However, I just almost burned my eyes out checking my boat's old marine wet-cells when I popped the cap off and liquid flew up toward my face. Luckily I was wearing safety glasses. After that and with not having to do maintenance I finally decided to give AGMs a try. Fortunately for me Cabela's AGM batteries are currently on sale. For Cabelas AGM group 27 batteries they are normally $220. They are currently on sale for $169. I bought a bunch of Cabelas gift cards at $20 off of $100, so with $300 in giftcards that's $30 bucks off per battery and then another $15 off each for returning the old batteries. That makes a total savings of $190 and each battery only costing $125 each. For $125 each I'm willing to give AGMs a try. That's only about $25 bucks more per battery than your regular wet-cell at $100. I want to sell this boat in about 4-5 years so if these batteries last longer than that perfect, the new owner will get batteries that still have some life left in them and I won't have to buy batteries again before I sell the boat.

If he's an older gentleman an auto stow/deploy would be good as would auto trim and safer for him too. Not sure if Motorguide makes that but the Minn Kota Ulterra has auto stow/deploy, auto trim, constant on, autopilot, and spot lock. All of these features can be utilized via the foot pedal or remote which is nice. The Motorguide also seems to have a high foot pedal like cable steer TM which can be hard on your legs to use, especially if your short or older. And more dangerous. The Minn Kota electric steer Ulterra has a low profile foot pedal.

Nice! Weathertech are one of the best. I had to get Husky for my Chevy car bc Weathertech didn't make any for it and Husky sucks.

Follow-up: Switched out the old wet-cell batteries for 2 new Cabelas AGM batteries. Problem solved! Motor works 100% now. I've had 2 Ulterra "trolling motor problems" with my TM and neither ended up in fact being the motor, one was the breaker and one was the batteries. Thanks for all of the advice on here. I'm done with wet-cell batteries for life now. Only AGM sealed for me now. Old wet-cell spilled out acid and I almost got acid in my eyes checking the water level, no more of that for me.

I just bought new Cabelas AGM deep cycle batteries for my trolling motor. I brought my old wet-cell Interstate batteries in to get them checked when I was having problems with my Ulterra, come to find out the batteries were fine but the breaker was bad. However, in doing so I tipped one of the batteries over causing acid to leak out. What a mess to clean up, baking soda and water all over. Now there's white stuff all over the interior of my boat. Plus, when I opened up the batteries water level cap recently to check the water level, liquid sprayed out. Luckily I was wearing safety glasses and none of it hit my face. After that I was done with wet-cell batteries forever and bought AGM sealed batteries instead. The automotive industry has used sealed batteries for years, I can't recall seeing a car with a wet-cell battery. Why doesn't the marine boating industry all go to AGM sealed batteries as standard and phase out wet-cell batteries like the automotive industry did (the price would quickly come down on them)? Just like cheaper boat trailers use hubs that have to be consistently greased and higher end boat trailer hubs do not, we could go to a standard maintenance free hub like high end boat trailers and the price would eventually come down also. Just like backup cameras in vehicles that are now mandatory by state law, all cars have backup cameras now and the cost went from thousands to included in the price of the vehicle.

I've always brought my boat back to the garage and immediately plugged it into the onboard charger. I've always left the trolling motor and starter marine batteries plugged in 24/7 all year long, including during the winter with the boat in a heated pole barn or garage. I've had 2 boats, one with a high end Dual Pro Professional Series and low end Minn Kota charger. Someone said that you shouldn't leave it plugged in 24/7 if the onboard charger doesn't have a 'maintenance/trickle' charge function. I just assumed that all newer onboard chargers had maintenance/trickle charge built-in but apparently not. He said he brings his boat home, plugs it in until it's charged, about a day, then removes it. If he doesn't go out right away again he'll plug in the onboard charger the night before he goes out. Don't today's onboard chargers have maintenance/trickle charge feature and are meant to be left plugged in 24/7 all-year long? Even if it has a maintenance/trickle charge feature are you supposed to unplug it after it's fully charged? So, are you supposed to leave your Boat Batteries plugged in 24/7 all-year long on the Onboard Charger?

I'm a Ford guy, owned Ford and Chevy but looking for a "new" used truck. Found that pricewise I could get a 2014 Dodge for the same price as a 2011 Ford. I know a guy who's always leased new Fords and 2 years ago went to Ram because he could get the same truck for about $4-$5k less. He's had his Ram for a few years now and loves it. Said his next truck will be a Ram too.

Apparently when Dodge was bought in 2014 they upgraded the trucks a lot in 2016. So I’ve been told. Now they are just Ram.

What’s funny is that the Volt was in the shop again as usual last week and I was given a loaner which was a 2019 Chevy 1500. Drove fine the 1st day, second day it wouldn’t start. Then it did. I told the dealership about it but was worried they’d blame me for something. They said no problem. But it that was a brand new 2019 Chevy with starting issues.

What is a water system? A repair system for wet-cell batteries that had the water drop too low? If a wet-cell battery has the water level drop below the plates is that battery ruined?

lol. My wife and I bought our first new car ever last year a 2017 Chevy Volt. It's been the most problematic vehicle we've ever had. It's been in the shop literally every other month since we've owned it. It was in the shop for 4 days after the first 3 days of ownership. The Chevrolet dealership's GM said, "This is the odd, this the least problematic vehicle Chevy makes." I said, "Whoa, if that's the case than I will never buy another Chevy." He said their trucks have a lot of problems. I asked if it was because of emissions standards being so strict and he said yes. Spoke to a Chevy dealer and he said they are all crap now, just throw away vehicles. I'm getting a sense that American vehicles are falling back into the mindset of built in obsolescence again because people get huge loans on new cars and just get new cars every 5 years. It's ridiculous. Won't be long before a new 1 ton truck is $100,000.......yeah, $100,000 for a dang truck....no way it costs $100,000 to make, that's for sure. Some homes cost $100,000. Btw....nice truck! I've always loved Ford Super Duties and owned 2 of them.

So, basically if you ever let a wet-cell water level sink below the top of the plate that battery is ruined? I found out that happened to one of mine.

Had problems with my TM last year and had the batteries checked at Batteries Plus. They were fine, problem ended up being the circuit breaker. After that the trolling motor, a 2017 Minn Kota Ulterra worked fine rest of the season with the same batteries. They are Interstate deep cycles from 2014. Now this year I'm having problems with the Autopilot and Spotlock not working but the TM will still work for hours without those features. Whenever I tried the features I got a set of chirps/beeps and that feature wouldn't work. I charged the batteries with my other charger rather than the onboard Minn Kota charger and got the features to work again although only for about 10-15 minutes. I assumed it was the batteries. The TM continued working again without those features for hours. One the batteries on the onboard charger batteries always goes to solid green (full charge) and one always flashes green. I checked the water in the batteries and one is definitely low. I can see the top of the plates by about a 1/2" inch. The water in the other battery is fine. Note: I do keep my batteries plugged into the onboard charger all year long and it is in a warm pole-barn all year long. Can I put more distilled water in this battery and it will work or is it ruined now?

Never tried that. That lure looks like it's going to come down to if it lands on it's round side it'll skip but concave side it won't. Not sure I'd be skipping that under a dock, normally you want something with a soft landing.

Reeled slack in, felt pressure, and set the hook. That’s what I think too. But weird since they usually engulf something that small.

Have never seen them in that lake although they are probably there. These are pretty shallow docks too.

So what do you think it is?