Way2slow

Well, want my opinion? It's dumber than dirt to operate a motor with a warning buzzer sounding. The reason for the buzzer is to let you know there's something wrong that can cause serious damage to the engine. To ignore that is playing Russian roulette with a motor. If in doubt about the oil pump, mark the oil reservoir, and premix the gas in the tank. This will double oil and make it smoke a lot if the oil system is working but it won't damage the motor if it's not. Now the easiest way to check this is to use a 5/6 gallon portable gas tank, even if you have to set it on the rear deck for that day (just be sure to secure it), disconnect the line from the primer bulb going to the boats tank and connect it to the gas can. Know exactly how much gas is in the can, after running at least half of it out, measure what's left so you will know exactly how much you burned. Calculate at a 50:1 how much oil it would have taken to burn that amount of gas. If you burned three gallons it should take approx. 7.5 ounces of oil to fill the reservoir back up to your mark. As for running hot, more than just the water pump can cause one to get hot. The motors have thermostats in them, and I've seen more than one stuck closed and the motor will get hot very quickly if it does. I've seen mud/silt sucked off the bottom plug water passages in the motor. You could just have a bad sensor. What ever the cause of the warning buzzer, you need to find out, unless you are looking for an excuse to buy a new motor. As for the not being able to give it gas when the buzzer was sounding, some motors have limp home modes that want let it increase rpm beyond a preset point, some have shutdown features than will shut it down if certain conditions exist. What ever the case, I would suggest you find the cause. If you don't trust "Your mechanic", don't go to him. If you feel you need use him because he's cheaper than everybody else, there is usually are reason for that. Usually, those are the ones that end up being the most expensive. They don't know how to diagnose a problem, they just keep throwing parts at it until they finally find the one that fixes that problem, but many times create other problems in the process.

What make, model and year is your motor? Do you have a better description of "Toast". Did internal parts become external. Where are you located?

First guy was an idiot with a new toy he knew nothing about. Second guy was no stranger to boating. Pay attention to how he came in slow, made his turn, chopped the power just enough to let the back drop and lift the bow a little, then poured the power to it. The motor also has a little outward trim to it. Years ago, I had a 17.5' I could pop around like that, but not my Stratos or Javelin. They just want to blow the prop out and settle in the water. Basically, what you are doing a low speed bat turn, which are a lot more fun than a high speed one.

One of these if you can take the caps off. http://www.otctools.com/products/professional-battery-hydrometer. I prefer this style with the thermometer for moe accurate readings. The one like it without the thermometer is ok also. Don't waste your money on those that havethe colored balls or pointer. You can find the one with and without thermometer at many parts stores, eBay and Amazon for $5-10. Depending on the electrolyte used, a fully charged battery will read 1.260-1.280 after resting 24 hours. Granted, the ideal way to check it while charging is with a current meter. As the battery charges the current drops as it reaches full charge. Once it reaches full charge the current will level off as some very low rate. This low charge rate should be maintained for approximately 20 minutes for the battery to reach a proper full charge. This 20 minutes or so over charge is called an equalization charge, which ensures all cells are fully charged, and is very important for long battery life. This phase of the charge your cheap hot box automatic chargers can't do, once the current drops drops to minimum, they quit charging.

I have a Stratos 285 Pro, 18'6", with a 65# Motor Guide on it and have never had any complaints. Now, if you are trying to hold on points in gale force winds, you might not be happy, but other than that, I don't think you will have any problems. Speed wise, under normal conditions, it's about as fast as my 20' Javelin with an 80# motor.

The only time I've ever really had a need for brakes is when moving extremely slow, like easing to the dock or up to the bank or something to retrieve a lure or holding on a spot. As mentioned above, water creates a tremendous amount of drag and will bring a boat down from 80 mph to 5 mph pretty dang fast. It's below that 5 mph I've wished many times there was a brke pedal. Big motor on a go fast boat, or little motor and a putter putter boat ain't gonna help that situation none.

With all the port matching work done on those motors, they are very efficient and burn much less fuel than most. The main reason I don't run one of them all the time, if you have to let off the gas very fast, like when someone cuts you off, when the butterflies in the carbs slam closed, and you don't have time to press the primer button first to shoot some fuel in it , it creates and extreme lean condition that will melt the dome out of a piston in a heartbeat. I've got a five gallon bucket full to attest that point. I need to convert them to fuel injection, but with the bigger 3.3 motors available now, I going to wait until I can get my hands on one of those. The 3.3 will give me about 60 more Pounds Feet of torque and another 150hp, about 475. As for scared, no. Can it raise the pucker factor when the unexpected happens, very much so. The boat is heavy and actually very stable, once you learn to do the chine walk dance with your hands and steering wheel. Check this out for a bass boat motor, this is my next project. Notice he mention this is a pump gas motor for a bass boat. His race motor he refers to is over 600hp. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bushes+dino+test&FORM=VIRE10#view=detail&mid=69629EF927E0F845D0D569629EF927E0F845D0D5 Now, if you want a fast bass boat, do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6h4nQdeLsM#t=121

Normally, you will have some sort of visual indication, LED or something that will let you know the charger is on. Most chargers are also going the emit a small amount of noise when working. How do you check to see if its working? Connect it to a battery, connect a voltmeter to the battery, fully charged it's going to be reading approx. 12.6-12.8 VDC or less depending on state of discharge. When you plug the charger in, that voltage is going to increase to a little over 14. Now, if the battery is fully charged, it may drop back after several seconds. If when you first plug it in and the meter does not change after several seconds, then it ain't working. Most onboard chargers are sealed but you might want to look and see if there's a fuse hiding someplace on it. If there is no serviceable fuse, then it's probably junk, unless you are pretty good with electronics.

Well, I can tell you a 1999 Javelin Renegade 20 DC will run 81-83.6 mph depending on chop, with 445 pounds of bodies, all their gear and about 15 gallon of gas, (no water in livewell) with a 3.0 Johnson putting out 326hp and turning 6,500 rpm. I've seen that many, many times on my boat when I get that wild hair and put one of my modified motors on. The stock, 225 Ficht that I normally run pushes it with the same load approx. 72 mph. I'm a firm believer in a car or boat can't be too fast or have too much horse power. Now, do I drive it like that all the time, NO! but it's nice to be able to when I do want to. It's also very satisfying to be cruising along about 50, have one of those Tritons come by, looking at you with that s**t eating grin, and then blow back by him like he dropped his anchor and watch that grin go away. There are tons of things in life you do because you want to and can, even though it's not the most practical.

Add the shipping and those are higher than others with free shipping.. As for upgrading later, if that time ever came, just get a 6 amp single bank for the cranking battery and use the two bank for the TM batteries. This post jest cost me $220. I needed another charger and looking at these for you, I ordered the 330D. I guess I'll find out if they are good or not. It was $249 with a $30 rebate so I figured what the heck.

I've never run one or had any dealings with one, but these seem to be getting pretty good reviews, and when you add the $30 rebate, that's a pretty good price for a 10 amp per bank charger, which I would recommend. http://mk.factoryoutletstore.com/details/20873-36569/minn-kota-220d.html

"Most" onboard chargers are designed to be left on the battery 24/7 without doing damage to the battery and to keep the battery charged while not in use. I would not trust leaving your B&D on the battery after it has reached full charge, and it needs to be reconnected every six weeks or so the top off the self discharge the battery is going to do. If not, once the battery gets below approx. 80% charge, it will start to sulphate (dying a slow death). Most typical battery chargers are designed to charge the battery only. Leave them on the battery and voltage leakage from the charger can over charge, and fry the battery over time, or it can turn back on and fry the battery. Yes, you want to charge the battery as soon as you get back from fishing. Again, a battery below approx. 80% will start to sulphate within 24 hours. If the charger is only one bank, and is bad, I would recommend replacing it with a two bank (three bank if 24V TM), so the cranking battery and TM battery is charged and kept on a maintenance charge. The cranking battery is almost never fully charged by the big motor and needs to be charged when you return, or you are back the to sulphate issues again. If you do replace it, make sure the replacement charger has a maintenance charge feature, preferably a float charge. Some of these cheap things being sold don't. It will pay you to stick with a name brand that has a good reputation.

The charger has to have an AC power cord. Can't you just follow it to the plug? Most likely mounted in the gunwal or deck near the charger. Should be a couple inches in diameter with a round rubber cap over it. They may just have the power corb laying in the boat and you just plug it in.

Costco is giving you about 30% more battery for less money. I also think you are looking at the wrong, or not the best best, Everstart battery, You should be looking at the Maxx,24DC. It's approx. $90 and carries a two year warranty. It's probably closer to the RC numbers of the Costco if not a few more. Which, other than the warranty, Costco's is still the batter deal as far as the most bang for the buck. The proper charge rate is 10% of the rated capacity. Which in the battery world that is considered a slow charge. 115 Ah battery would be charged with a 10-12 amp charger. A 75 Ah battery would use a 6-8 amp charger.

If the top of an SUV Is going to be your boat trailer, the 1232 would move to the top of my list. It can be loaded and unloaded with one person by sliding it off/on the back. I bought mine off Craig's list for $80 in south Texas a couple years ago. It's old, a little beat up but doesn't leak, and not super heavy, but down there most fishing is in the bay's and not a lot of demand for those smaller boats I would think if you you are patient and shop around, you could find a used one very reasonable.

Well, I would base my opinion on how I was going to haul it. In south Texas I have a 1436 and a 1232. I bought the 1232 after getting tired of manhandling the 1436 up and down banks and in and out of the bed of a pickup truck. I'm 6'1"-180# and my son is 6'1" at 230# and even with both of us, that heavy a** 1436 got old very fast. The 1232 weighs at least 50 pounds or more, less that the 1436, then put the battery and transom TM on, it's makes a huge difference getting it in and out of the water. The 1232 is more than stable enough wth the two of us, but we don't try to pretend it's something it ain't, a big boat you can stand and cast in. As far as a V-hul, I would not have one for the way we fish out of Jon boats. They are far to unstable climbing in at out when having to do it over the bow. We fish a lot of resacas, like small, long ponds, and most don't have ramps or easy access, so unless we are going in the Rio Grande, or some big water, the 1436 stay propped against the shed. If you feel a casting deck is something you can't live without, you are looking for a 48" wide boat, or plan on just fishing warm water. A few dips in cold water takes all the fun out of a fishing trip.

Get a bigger hammer

If you are running that hard, why not go ahead and get the 225s?

I agree, I would never consider an aluminum boat just an entry level boat. It's just a more economical boat. Not everyone has the funds or care to spend what it cost to haul and operate a large fiberglass boat. To safely tow anything over 17.5' in a glass boat, you pretty much need a full size truck. Then you have the fact that it takes a bigger motor to push the glass boat versus a similar size aluminum. This adds greatly to the cost to buy as well as the cost to operate. Both boats have casting decks, TMs, live wells, storage areas, and will hold the same electronics. Granted, the ride will probably be better in the glass boat, but the fish ain't gonna know the difference. Twice now I have bought aluminum boats trying to reduce my cost to fish, but both were too small for my likeings, a 15' and a 16', and will probably try another if a good deal comes up on a 17.5/18' with something like a 90 on it. Where I prefer to fish is 90 miles, and that's also were most of mine and my wife's live. When we go, we have to go in my full size 4WD pickup that is for basically nothing but towing my 20' bass boat. When there we are doing a lot of running around also. I could tow the aluminum with my wife's HighLander at half the cost, my truck gets 13mpg, her Highlander gets 26.

The best is based on who you talk to, there are several very good brands. My personal preference are Deka batteries. You will hear many recommendations for the Die Hard and Excide and these are very good batteries. You will even get recommendations for the Wally World batteries, while they are inexpensive for the amount of battery you get, they don't tend to give a very long life, usually a couple of years. However, that ain't all bad, because if you are one that don't maintain your batteries the way they should be, that's about all even the good batteries are going to give. A lot is going to depend on what you have available and who will give you the best price. You can't go wrong with the Deka, DieHard or Excide. Just look at the Reserve minutes and get the one with the most for the money. CCA/MCA mean absolutely nothing when being used as a TM battery. Reserve minutes is your best number to pay attention to. Deka's and Trojans are the only TM batteries I have ever run, and I usually swap them out every five years, even tough they are usually still going strong. Trojans are great batteries, but I get Deka's wholesale, and they are great batteries also, so for the past 15 years, I've stuck with Deka.

FishingRino, I guess he's too young for those old Fram filter commercials. I guess it's nice if you have the money, but If I had to pay someone for all the work needed, I couldn't afford to go fishing for a while, even though I do have a couple of boats. I was mainly thankful the engine didn't pop a piston. Ficht motors don't tolerate bad gas very well at all. Luckily he had been putting SeaFoam in it, but it had not run it in a year, and what gas was in the tank had evaporated in that heat, leaving the crud in the tank. The first thing I did was add three gallons of gas and three gallons of denatured alcohol before I left Texas so that could slosh around in the tank for the 1,200 mile drive back to GA to clean out the tank. When getting home, I siphoned that out, put a few gallons in with 2oz of SeaFoam per gallon, pulled the lines off the injectors and flushed the system with that. Put the lines back on, put it in the tank and started it. Like total crap at idle for a while. Turned it off, let it set a couple hours and started it again, letting it idle about 15 minutes. I did this about three times a day for a couple of days until it got where it would idle ok. Then I did it with the motor at 2,000 rpm for a couple of days. I added 15 gallons of gas, 16oz of SeaFoam, changed the filter and plugs and headed to the lake with it. The next couple hours was spent, going very slow to start with, stopping to let it cool, then add a few more rpm each time. Then came the do or die run, about three miles at WOT. Needless to say, the pucker factor was pretty extreme at this point, but it lived through it. I fully expected to feel the power start to drop and that sickening sound they make if you don't notice that small loss of power and get out of the gas in time. The loss of power is when the piston swells from the extreme heat, and the sound afterwards is where the dome of the piston melts through several seconds later. Something I have experience many times over the years playing with my modified motors.

He said he has already added 5" of lift, so the anticav plate should be close to even with the bottom of the hull. I wish he had not added the set back, that adds to the problem, but if he has the anticav plate up tu the bottom of the hull, he doesn't need to add any mor lift.

I have a Lowe 1432 and have no problems with all three of the motors I use on it. I have a 4hp Merc, a 9.9 Johnson and a 25hp Merc, all short shaft motors. The 25 is a bit much and you have to be very careful, the sucker is scary fast with it. You don't make sudden changes in direction. My first thoughts are you are not tucking the motor in far enough and have too much weight in the rear of the boat. You have to remember, that 18 Rude is the same as the 25 Johnson and is a very heavy motor to be on the back of that small of a boat. You definetly don't want to add any more set back, that will only make it worse. You need to start with the motor adjusted so the tilt pin is in the very bottom hole. If it's still making the bow go straight up in the air, add wedges between the motor mount and hull so it will trim further in. If that don't help, then the motor is probably too heavy and will have to put something in the bow to add weight. If the motor is just bogging down and not lifting the bow, then you have motor problems. Motor is not making enough power.

Welcome to the world of Optima, twice the money for half the battery. A lot of your problem is the batteries themselves, they are way too small. 50 Ah and 100 reserve minutes is about half what a good group 27 flooded cell deep cycle battery will give, which means you get half the run time out of the Optima's than you would have gotten out of even one of Wally Worlds big yellow batteries. I wouldn't give you a dime for a dozen of those chargers, and I wouldn't not have wasted my money on those batteries so with my negativity to start with, I doubt you want my help, but I will say it's going to take a voltmeter and knowing how to use it to check the charger and battery to see if there is a problem with the charger, the batteries or both. I did notice you said you have the D27M but you reference the D31. The D27 is a little better with 66 Ah and 140 Reserve but still, that's just a little better than half what a $120 flooded cell battery will give.

I keep a whistle in a small utility box, and hand held air horn with a spare can of air in the junk storage box and my boat has an electric horn like most (American) vehicles have. As for battery drain etc, no problem there, the problem has always been reliability with the electric horn. Like anything on a boat that's seldom used, it tends to not want to work when it needs to.