Way2slow

My main suggestion is anyone following this post take notes on how NOT to buy a boat. It's very obvious this boat/ motor was not test run and motor work is way to expensive to buy one of unknown condition. Had it been test run, the the seller would have been responsible for making sure it was in good, running condition. Now, you are pretty much SOL with any problems you may have. If the seller said he would fix any problems you, good luck on that one. Just having the carbs cleaned and other problems that may be with the fuel lines can run $300-$500. Add a new water pump and you are close to $800, and that's just taking care of very likely problems. That's nothing to do with other problems it may have, up to the motor itself being bad. I wish you the best and hope it turns out well for you, but being new to the world of boats and motors, you have set yourself up for possibly a very bad experience.

Take out or replace the anti-siphon valve in the bad tank and make sure you are not sucking air in the fuel line from it. May also have something going on in the selector valve.

Proper engine height depends on a number of variables, amount of setback, type prop, type hull and balance point to name a few. The key to a proper setup is getting the right bow lift with the motor trimmed approx vertical to the waters surface. However you will see sooooo many bass boats trimmed out where the motor is trimmed out way past vertical, that's the reasons for the tall rooster tail. The prop is wasting lots of power pushing down and not forward.

6750 is actually fairly low rpm for a 2.5. I run 6,500 - 6,800 on my modified 3.0 OMC,s. On a properly built two stroke, the main thing high RPM does is shorten ring life. For instance, that 2.5 Merc 225 turning 6,000 rpm, rings may last 1,000 hours. Same motor ported and modified to 300 hp, turning 9,500 rpm, ring life is approx 100 hours.. I can take a carbureted Johnson/Evinrude 3.0, 200 hp the factory rates at 6,000 rpm and using all the same factory rods, crank, pistons, etc, port and modify it so it's making apprx 350 hp and turning 8,000 rpm. Now for a light boat like a Bullet, it will fly. A heavy boat like my Javelin, it won't work, I have to be more conservative on the porting and limit the RPM to about 6,500 - 6,800 and 325 hp.

The "Allison" foil works great on Bullets, which sounds like what you have. The SE Sports work good also. On high performance boats, like the Bullet, sometimes you need to trim about an inch or so off each side to make sure it doesn't bite the water.

Ok, I was thinking it was a 14 pitch. Still though, If the motor is not hitting the rev limiter and holding the rpm at 6,000, then that still all the prop he can run. If it was mine, I would try to find someone with something like a 14/15 pitch I could try and see if it will turn it. Not knowing who or how someone set it up, but he could be rev limiting. As for those big number props though, it will never turn one, the pontoon is not going to turn anywhere near the prop a regular boat or bass boat turns.

With the motor set up to it's proper height, a hydrofoil should have no affect on speed. If the motor is set down too low, then the hydrofoil will create drag and slow you down some. Stern heavy and under powered boats get the most benefit from a foil. They provide extra lit at the stern, getting the boat on plane better and keeping the bow down. Even on a jon with tiller, when you are alone, sitting in the rear and the bow raises way up starting off, the foil be help keep the boat down.

I sure hope the OP has enough since the realize there's no way on gods green earth that his pontoon should be running 50mph with that motor. I put a 300hp motor on a friends 25' fiberglass deck boat and it would only run 62, and that's a lot faster hull than a pontoons. Somebody needs to learn more about hull designs. If there is not doubt the prop is good and not damaged, there is no need to change it. 6,000rpm is a good number, that way if he has a few extra bodies on the boat, it's not going to load it down too much. That probably won't be true if he goes up another prop size and seriously doubt he would see any more than 1 or 2 mph in speed, if he sees any.

Always charge a new battery before you use it. Then make sure you charge it after using it, don't let it sit for more than about 12 hours before charging it after use. If you don't keep it stored on a good maintainer, charge it each month while it sitting and not being used. DO NOT fully discharge before charging it. A battery should never be run down below approx. 30% charge or it will greatly shorten the number of times it can be charged (cycled).

Are you talking Hydraulic or manual? There are tons of different design types, from the basic which is just a couple pieces of heavy aluminum angle put together with adjusters and slots in the side to some much more complicated models with a easy to use singe, center adjustments. Hydraulic get pretty expansive, many use the older style, remoted, Mercury Trim pump. As for a source of a blue print, not sure you will find one. Just pick out one you like and copy it.

They improve hole shot, by help keeping the bow down and providing stern lift. They also help under powered boats get on plane. They can also help with prop issues when you have one that wants to blow out (start cavitateing badly) just as the boats starts to lay over coming on plane. Proper engine height is critical when using one, and the style being used needs to match the type boat it's going on. If the engine height is not right, (too low) it will create extra drag and slow you down. The big whale tale looking things do fine on slower boats but on some of the faster boats can be dangerous when turning. They can bite into the water can cause the boat to do all kinds of bad things. I run them on my hotrod motors but only use the SE Sport 300 because of their narrower design. It's no fun at all to be making a 70mph turn (and that is after slowing down) and have one of those things bite into the water. When you slam 325hp on the back of a 20ft boat, it wants to rare up pretty good and they work great at getting it to "launch" out of the hole. I think the main reason you don't see many of them, they are too ungodly ugly and dorky looking to use when not really needed.

Depending on the terrain, I think you will find if you use some common cense, you can tow it. If it's relatively flat and not pulling a lot of hills is the main concern. Constantly going up and down hills would kill it rather quickly. As mentioned, the weak point in your package is the transmission and it will overheat rather quickly with all the up shifting and down shifting it would be doing. The next thing would be to never tow in overdrive and limit your speed to about 55mph, even on the expressways. Going any faster and extra strain of the load, even though it may seem to be pulling just fine, like it's not even back there will cause the transmission to overheat. A transmission only has to get to about 210 degrees and it will start cooking the seals, causing them to harden and pretty soon they no longer function as seals, and a rebuilt/replacement transmission will cost more than the vehicle is worth. Now, if you really want piece of mind, you can have a temp gauge installed in the transmission and a larger, external cooler, but that may be a little pricey in your neck of the woods. That way you can see what's going on and if its starts getting too warm, just slow down and take it easy until it drops back to normal. You are not looking at that much weight, but your car doesn't have a whole lot of transmission and heat is the death of one, so be smart about it.

I haven't seen anything about how big of a pond/lake he plans on fishing but if it's any size at all, going by some of the suggestion posted, his first post after using it the first time is going to be why did my battery go dead after two or three hours, and we had to paddle to get back to vehicle. Be sure to take two paddles so your partner can help paddle if you plan to go very far. Understand, there is no crystal ball one can look at to tell you how long your battery will last, that's solely depends on how much you use the TM and what speed you use it at. Run it on max, a couple of hours and you will be barely moving. Check with Minn Kota and get the amp draw that motor has at the different speed settings. Then you have to divide those amps into the amp hour capacity of the battery. You also have to reduce that batteries rated capacity about 20% if you plan on running if on high or near high. A quick example, say your motor draws 35 amps on max. You have a group 27 battery rated for 105 amp hours. With a full 35 amp load, that going to reduce to approximately 75 amps. So, if you divide the 35 into 75, you can figure your battery will be dead in approx two hours. Another number you can look at is the RC minutes, or Reserve Capacity minutes. They are a lot closer to being realistic than the Amp hour rating because the RC number is typically how many minutes the battery will last with a 25 amp load, some companies use a 23 amp load rating instead of a 25 and I have seen a couple use a 20 amp rating, but any of those will be closer than their advertised Amp hour rating with is based on approximately a five amp load.

I use the 18" Black light on both sides of the V up front and at the back on both sides mounted on the gunwales and fluorescent line. RED LED head band lamp to see how to tie knots and RED LED lighting in all storage compartments on some set up to light the deck if needed. NO white lite allowed and only use the red when absolutely necessary. The less light you can use, the better your night vision will be. On moon lit nights, a lot of times I don't use any light when casting areas than I'm not concerned about snags and stickups. I luv those black, Jitter Bugs about six inches long when they are hitting top water. If I can get them to hit a Jitter Bug, that's all I will throw all night. It may not sound like much fun to throw the same lure for six hours and only catch five fish, but when the smallest one of those six weighs 7 pound 11 ounces, and there is one 11 pound 3 ounce in there, it's a lot more fun than it sounds, especially when they strike at it and it sounds like a huge boulder just fell in the water.

While on the subject of using onboard chargers, I would like to make a suggestion that might save someone some grief one day. This is something I think I learned the hard way but can't swear it was the cause and not just circumstances. As many of you have probably noticed connecting your onboard charger leads to your battery, you get an arc. This is cause by the discharged filter capacitors inside the charger charging themselves when the battery is first connected, and this arc can generate a several hundred volt spike in the electrical system. Years ago, after taking my batteries out, cleaning and servicing them and reconnecting my onboard charger, getting that little arc, the next time I used the boat it would not start. Hauling it back to the house and checking it out, the SECM was bad, a $600 repair and upgrade on it. I feel pretty confident that arc it what wiped out the SECM, so after that I've changed the way I connect my onboard charger and would recommend you follow this method. I always want my main engine battery cables on the terminals first. Almost anything between them and the battery will create resistance and I want the best connection possible, so all other connections go on top of the motors battery cable. Now, if you don't have a problem with other terminals under your main cable, then connect the onboard changer first, before you connect the motors cables and problem solved. The onboard charges it's capacitors and the arc can't create a problem since nothing else is connected, then put your other connectors on the battery. However if you are like me, and want the motor's cables one first, then put the onboard leads on so the capacitors charge, then make a quick switch, taking them off, putting main cables on and then the onboard back on before the capacitors have time to self discharge. I would not recommend connecting the onboard charger leads to a battery that has the motors and other connectors on it. I had done it many times without a problem, but I'm pretty sure it bit me in the butt that one time. These same thing with connecting jumper cables or a battery charger, that arc generated can destroy electronics when conditions are right. If I have to connect anything like a battery charger or jumper cables to a cranking battery, since most marine batteries are dual terminal and the motors leads are on the screw stud, I disconnect the positive lead, connect the jumper cables or charger to the lead post and then reconnect the positive cable to the stud, just make sure the key switch is off doing this. Now, I'm sure some may feel this is hog wash, but I do have a degree in electronics and know more than just a little bit about it. So if you feel it's hog wash just keep on trucking as you always have, but lets not get a debate started in the middle o this guys post.

One idiots opinion shouldn't overrule what probably another million boaters are doing with no problem. Unless you are doing more running than fishing, it's not very likely your motor is keeping your cranking battery fully charged. It's highly more likely you will damage your motor connecting a charger to it, from the arc created, than leaving an onboard charger connected.

You need to start shopping the junk/salvage yards for another seat that matches yours because yours is junk now. Don't worry about finding something to try and clean it, it was destroyed within minutes of the battery spilling on it. If you check, you will probably find the fabric is already coming apart. Also, be sure to lay plastic over those areas, they will cause damage to anyone's clothing that sits on them and can still cause skin burns. A replacement seat will probably be cheaper and better than the repair job.

800 is too course. Gel coat is hard and getting that deep of a scratch out is going to take a lot of sanding with finer grits to get them out. It also takes a lot of that thin top layer of clear gel off and you will get down to the metal flake easily. If you hit the metal flake, it's going to start leaving little shiny specks for every flake you hit. I would not start with anything courser than 1,000 grit, then work up with 1,200 and 1,500 and 2,000. Unless it's in pretty rough shape, I would start with 1,200 grit. Make sure you understand that top clear coat is thin. The more you take off, the sooner the color coat and metal flake underneath is going to be exposed, and once it's to that point, it's hard to keep a shine on it and the flakes start loosing their color.

I think you have that idea a little backwards, usually when you first get married, along comes a baby and bills and there goes the boat. So, don't be in a hurry to buy a bigger truck to tow it with.

As mentioned, if that's the boat in your picture, tow weight on that boat is probably closer to 2,700 pounds. For short trips, and taking it easy you should have no real problems, other than stopping. Emergency fast stops are will create problems, and if it's a wet road, almost impossible, the boat will push you out of control in a heartbeat. Steep ramps are hard also. Yes it's hard on the vehicle and keep it out of overdrive, or 5th gear if manual, and that will tremendously help save on a very expensive repairs later.

That's what manuals are for. It's been a long time since I've had a merc, but it seems like my 115 said to put it in reverse, but like I said, it has been too long to put any faith in this old memory. It's not going to damage it, it's just the way the position the shift rod has to be in to make putting it back in a lot easier. BE SURE you put grease on the drive shaft splines. I've seen drive shafts rusted in the crank that would not come out. I know a guy that had to destroy his LU so he could cut the driveshaft. Then pull the power head off and use heat to get it out of the crank

Tin, 4x4's, 2x4's, nails hammer and saw. Also a couple 2x6's.

Dream on Alice, your in Wonderland if you think you will do it in 15-20 minutes. On most motors it will take that long or longer just to disconnect the shifter. Let me just say, being your first, Don't have anything planned for a couple of hours when you start. I would recommend getting a manual and an extra body to help, especially this being your first one. That LU is heavy, trying to get it in place and hold it there to start the bolts can be a challenge. I always rub a little Lubriplate 105 inside the housing when putting it back together. Make sure all the blades are pointing in the right direction.

I thought most Mercury motors had the fault displayed in the tachometer/speedometer when the warning alarm sounded, displaying the cause of the alarm. There are a number of things that will. cause an alarm and no way can anyone say specifically what's causing it or what to do to fix it without knowing what the display is showing or hooking the diagnostics software to it. The alarm will even give an alarm that the alarm is not working properly. Recommend you see what fault it's showing.

Factory manuals are almost always best, and they are not that expensive. The main problem is, these new mottos require special test equipment that many times is only available to the dealers and they don't tell you anything you can use in its place. They may give you the factory part number to use for a test, and a Fluke multimeter does the same thing. However, they may have info you need you want find in the Clymor or what ever they call it.