Way2slow

When I sold my Javelin last year, we took it for a test ride, it had the 225 not the 300+hp modified engine on it but still ran 76 with both of us in it but stripped of TM batteries. charger, TM and no gear, and only about 10 gallons of gas, so it was running pretty light. I told him since it has been a while since it was in the water, I would drive it first to make sure it was all good to go. I slowly eased the power to in intervals until I felt it was ready, then I trimmed it up and aired it out, 76.2 on the in dash gps. I looked over at the guy buying it and it was very obvious he had never been that fast in a boat, you could see the panic and fear all over his face. It was a dual console so your cheeks were not blown back past your ears. I then put him in the driver's and let him drive while I was showing him and teaching stuff about the boat. He got up to about 50mph and after a bit I told him he could go ahead and hit it and I would try to teach him a little about driving one with chine walk. I got a real quick, NOPE! I'm good. He's the kind that hopefully does not try to run one WOT for a long time.

There are a lot of times you anchor in one spot night fishing. Crappie fishermen do it all the time. That's why there are laws on the height and intensity of the white light, so they are visible from a long distance and must be visible for 360 degrees. The RED/Green Nav lights are only visible for 180 - 270 degrees and most of those you can usually only see them for a few hundred yards at most, so basically, if another boat is not coming at an angle from the front, they are never going to see them anyway. I've never had a problem with turning my NAV lights off at night, a lot of times they will have other light's on that are annoying and not needed when anchored. With my pontoon boat, I can turn on enough light they would think they are driving into the sun if they don't act like they see me. However, as they say, "different strokes for different folks".

I prefer any lights I install on a separate switch from the NAV/ANChor light switch. I don't like running at night with lights in the boat on, makes it hard to see. If on the anchor side of the switch, the Nav lights don't have to be on but then you still have no way of turning the LED lights off without turning the anchor light off, and I don't think you want to do that on the lake. Now I am assuming you know the Anchor side of the NAV/Anchor light switch is the tall white light in at the stern of the boat is the anchor light, and when you select the anchor side of the switch, it tuns off the RED/GREEN bow NAV lights and leaves the white light in the back on. I don't know how many people I've run into that doesn't realize that. The white light has to be on at night when sitting on the water, but not the running lights. For lights in the compartments and a little light inside the boat, I like those small led lights that are about 3/4" x 3" or so and mount with two small screws, self-drilling works great in aluminum, and they can be glued in it tight places. Green gives off a little more light if used inside the boat, but red is better at helping save the night vision. They draw so little current; you can easily use 18ga or 20ga wire to connect them. For casting and lighting up the bank some, I use UV lights with a color temp between 375 and 400. For still fishing or bow fishing where I want some serious light on the water, I use 24V high powered LED lights and run those off the TM batteries, don't have to worry about a dead cranking battery then. If you are running a 36v TM, you just connect them across two of the batteries. Beats the crap out of the old HID lights we used to use. Another thing you can do is get one of the small inverter generators, that are super quite and plug your onboard changer (provided it's at least a 10amp or so), into it to help keep the batteries lasting all night if you fish that long.

That's one advantage of being and old fart that had fast boats all his life. You could only go as fast as the technology back then would let you and as the technology improved, your driving skills and knowledge was able to improve gradually with the technology. There was no such thing as buying a boat off the show room floor that was capable of running in the 80's, 90's and 100+ mph, unless you do like I did back in the 60's when Mercury came out with the 135BHP and put two of them on a 16' Allison (that ran 83). I usually managed to keep modifying until they did. Where there is a huge disconnect between boats today and boat operators is the seat time at speeds where there are only one to two square feet of the hull in the water. First just knowing how to drive a boat that chine walks, fast boats are going to do that (except maybe tunnel hulls). The main thing missing is the most important part, knowing when and when not to have one aired out. My last bass boat was a 20' Javelin that would run a touch over 80mph with two men, and gear and it was fun to air it out from time to time, but the nicest part about it, I could sit back and comfortably cruise at 50-60 mph and burn very little fuel. When you are feeding 300+ horses running 80mph, it hits on the hip pocket pretty darn good.

As I mention before, just because it one companies brand name on it, does not mean that company made it. They are constantly being outsourced to different manufactures. This is just a small example, you don't know for sure who made what's under that label and that's truer today than ever before. Yamaha actually got started in the outboard market making parts for OMC, that's why so many of their V-6 parts were interchangeable with OMC V-6's and they looked so much like the OMC V-6's. There are also some things in that I don't think are right. I'm pretty sure Tohatsu still makes the 25 hp merc and probably a few others and they mayhave moved almost all their smaller motors to China by now. Who makes Mercury outboard motors? July 11, 2022 by Mark Bunting Tohatsu Marine’s factory has undergone three major reforms to date. One is a capital tie-up with Brunswick that makes the Mercury brand of outboard engines as explained above. Table of Contents show Is Mercury outboard American made? Mercury Marine gets a break on tariffs for its Chinese-made outboard engines. Boating engine company Mercury Marine, based in Fond du Lac, has been granted exclusions from 25 percent tariffs for its outboard engines assembled in China. Are Tohatsu and Mercury the same? Tohatsu Marine Corporation was set up in 1988 as joint venture with Brunswick Corporation, USA. Mercury Marine is a division of Brunswick Corporation and many of the smaller Mercury Outboards are just rebranded Tohatsu Engines. In addition, the entire line of Nissan outboards are rebranded Tohatsus. Which outboard motors are made in the USA? Elco electric outboard motors, Made in the USA, are available in a wide range of horsepower options, from 5HP to 50HP, with remote or tiller control and long or short shaft to fit boats of all shapes and sizes. Our electric boat motors look like traditional outboards because for us, they are. Is Mercury boat motors owned by Ford? Mercury Marine is a marine engine division of Brunswick Corporation. Are Mercury engines made in China? It opened Thursday and is expected to attract 150,000 spectators. Mercury currently manufactures some engine components in China and is shifting production of 40- to 60-horsepower four-strokes to the new factory near Beijing. What Mercury outboards are made in China? Re: chinese outboards – Mercury makes all the Verados, Optimaxs, and 2 strokes in USA. Where does Mercury make their motors? All of the new engines are built at Mercury’s headquarters in Fond du Lac. Are Mercury and Evinrude the same company? BRP owns Evinrude along with boat manufacturers Alumacraft and Manitou. It will now buy engines for these brands from former competitor Mercury Marine. Did Evinrude get bought out? BRP stepped in, purchased the brand, recalled bad engines, improved the technology and brought Evinrude back to the marketplace in 2003 with the launch of the E-TEC line of outboards. Do they still make Evinrude outboards? Evinrude outboard motors will no longer be manufactured. The boating world received shocking and surprising news. One of the world’s leaders in outboard motor manufacturing will no longer exist. Who is mariner made by? Mercury Mariner Manufacturer Mercury (Ford) Production 2004–2010 Model years 2005-2011 Body and chassis Are Honda and Tohatsu outboards the same? The eight new outboards — 60-, 75-, 90-, 115-, 150-, 200-, 225- and 250-hp models — are manufactured by Honda and rebranded under the Tohatsu name, Kurt Gardener, national sales manager for Tohatsu America Corp., told Trade Only Today this morning. Are Mercury motors made by Yamaha? In 2006 models, Mercury four stroke powerheads from 40 to 225 HP (except the Verados) are built by Yamaha. Mercury’s agreement with Yamaha ended in March 2006, at which time Mercury is expected to phase in more four cylinders (75 to 115 HP) based on the Verado engine block, but without supercharging or intercooling.

MN Fisher, I hope you are not putting 1 Qt per 6 gallons of gas. 6 gallons uses 16 ounces, (1 pint) Also, for those that have never heard of some of those Japanese brands. For many years, when you bought a lot of those "American name brands" you were actually buying a rebranded Japanese motor.

For personal comfort, you will figure that out as you go. Waterproof gloves that are thin enough to be able to use the reel are essential. You never realize how much water comes off that line unti its ice cold. I always kept a couple of those butane pancake heaters in the boat. They don't do much for keeping you warm, but they at least give you a chance to warm your hands. Keeping my hands dry and feet warm was always my biggest challenge. For safety, a boarding ladder on the back of the boat or learn how to use the motors tilt and trim if the motor has it, to lift you into the boat in you end up in the water. You will usually have so much warm gear on that when it gets wet, it adds a bunch of weight to you and in that cold water, you will find it hard to move, so don't think you will just jump back in the boat. The biggest thing with the motor is give it plenty of warm up time before heading out. Even after starting off, go slow and gradually increase your RPM for the first 1/4 mile or so. If you have been in one location for an extended period of time, try to keep the motor down and give the motor a couple of minutes to warm up again. If below freezing, after loading the boat, make sure the motor has drained good before tilting it up to trailer it. Make sure the boats drain plug is out and live well drained before too long. If it starts snowing or sleeting, head for the ramp because if it gets ice on it, you might not be able to get up it. Been there, done that and even with 4WD I had a hellava time getting the boat out and up the ramp. One more after thought. When moving or when windy, a vinyl rain suit or poncho makes a great wind blocker. That cold wind will still cut through any fabric type material, so you will need something to block the wind.

The fiberglass in not the problem with storing outside, it would take a lifetime or two in most cases to damage it. It's everything else about the boat that gets destroyed over time. Vinyl has a very short life span outside, the thread sewing the seats together goes fairly quickly, if there's wood in the construction, it tends to rot over time and the gel coat pretty much get destroyed. So, after about five years of being exposed to the elements, your new boat looks 30 years old. Covers help, but they create other problems, and the cheap ones only last a couple of seasons. So, after you buy a few covers, you could have bought one of the metal carport things to put it under. Now, if you live in the southwest where there is extreme sun and heat, that five years turn into about two years.

I wouldn't have the room to put something like that for mine. I used 3/4" PVC pipe, some Tee connectors and elbows to make some racks to hang down from the ceiling of my shop just a little over head high. There are two rows, one on top of the other about 8" apart, 6' wide. I probably have 40 rods and reels in it. They are up out of the way and easy enough to just slide them out when I want them. Most are in rod sleeves so don't have to worry about them getting tangled up.

A-Jay is a lot closer with his reply than that chart. If you depend on that chart, make sure you take someone that can help paddle. Mathematically that looks correct, but there are some variables that are not accounted for when doing the math. First off, it's not a true deep cycle battery if it has a CCA rating so you can bet it rated using the 20 hour method. Meaning a 100 amp hour (Ah) battery is only that at about 5 amps per hour. You are not gonna go very fast at five amps per hour. As the load is increased. internal resistance increases (creating loss due to internal heat) and causes the Ah to drop. At 30 amps, you can figure at least a 20% drop in the Ah capacity of a battery The next variable they fail to account for is, that 100Ah is based on when the battery has reached full discharge, that's going to be somewhere around 11 volts or slightly less. Even at 11.5 volts the TM is going to be slowed down to a ridiculously slow pace, to the point it's almost useless, so that's another 20% of battery capacity that's going to be useless to you. With all that hidden loss, your run time is only going to be about 60% of what the math says it's going to be, and if it's not a good, almost new battery, it's going to be even less. So, good luck on thinking you're going to get what that simple math says. I should also mention, this is all based on analog TM, no digital style. Digital motors use pulse width modulation to run the motor so the more off of full speed you run, the greater the run time you can get over the conventional TM. If you are using a digital TM, when just easing around casting, you can easily triple your run time. In general, the Reserve Minutes (RM) are a much more accurate way to calculate one mathematically. RM is based on a 25 amp load (with most batteries) which is a little more realistic to what you could be using over a 5 amp load in the 20 hour rating. You are still going to lose about 20% because the battery voltage being to low to run the TM at speed when it's discharged. and you are still going to lose some capacity as you go over that 25 amps used to rate the battery but it won't be as great of a loss as with the 20 hour rating. No matter the rating method, no battery is going to last what the math says it will because of those variables.

Autographed footballs are a sore subject. I mentioned Ray Guy was my wife's Jr High School sweetheart. We had just got back to the states from Italy and stationed in New Jersey. It was late Jan 1980 (right after the Super Bowl) before we were able to get to Thomson for a late Christmas and see our families. She and her sister were eating a a popular restaurant there and of all people Ray Guy happen to come in right behind them and had lunch with them. He was there visiting also. She said they must have sat there an hour talking and catching up on old times. When they left, he asked for her mailing address, she gave it to him, wondering why he would want it. About a month later she gets a package in the mail. It was a football autographed by almost every player and coach on the Raiders team that played in the Super Bowl that year. We moved to Robins AFB in Ga in 1981 and that football didn't make it. We figured it was one of the packers that packed our household goods in New Jersey took it, but it was gone, never to be seen again, by us. They didn't win that year and it wasn't a Super Bowl game ball, but it was still a nice keepsake.

Never will forget when he kicked a bulb out of the Gondola in the Super Dome, I thought they all were gonna go nuts. As for getting old, I've always said, I had rather get old than not. I might feel like crap when I do at my age, but every morning I'm able to get out of bed is a good one. My biggest problem is convincing my 40-year-old brain, my 75-year-old body shouldn't be doing all the crap it has it doing. Crap like I had a 100ft tall pine tree with a 36" diameter stump that was a little closer to my house than I was comfortable with being that big. So, I've spent the week with a chainsaw making that pine tree disappear, nothing left but a short stump we are going to plant flowers around to hide it. Had all the neighbors checking to see what was going on when that big sucker hit the ground. While I was at it, I cleaned up almost 200ft of fence line that the junk growth was trying to take over that side of the yard. Old farts ain't supposed to be doing that kind of stuff. Don't care much for watching television and can't stand to sit around doing nothing, gotta be doing something with my hands or brain.

Yep, they just had a class reunion for my graduating class. I didn't go because the last one they had I didn't know/remember but a couple of the people there. This time they combined two years and heard there were not many even then. Of course, it was a small school, there was only 76 in my graduating class.

I see my wife's 9th grade boyfriend and hometown greats just passed away. Ray Guy the Football Hall of Fame punter for the Oakland Raiders. He was the Quarter Back for Thomson High School in the late 60's, a couple of years after I graduated before he went to Southern Miss. I played foot ball with his older brothers, Al and Larry Guy.

When I was younger, I would have been hard pressed to want to get rid of my canoe. Mine is a 17' aluminum, Grumman wide bottom cargo canoe and is actually quite stable (once you're in it) and is square backed for a small motor. The 4HP Merc I have for it now is scary fast, you don't want to make making any sudden turns. My dad and I went in on halves for it back in 1962. It came with a Sail, and out riggers and we paid $40, that would be like $500 today. For a number of years, the only time it came off the top of a 1948 Ford (I bought that one for $10) I used for my fishing vehicle was when it was going in the water, which was quite often. I still have it and haven't used it but a couple of times in the past 30 years, and I also have no intentions of putting my butt back in it now, but no amount of money could buy it. Way too many good memories associated with that boat.

Not everybody is po-folks like some of us. That's just an ego thing for those that have unlimited funds and want to let you know that. It's really no different than someone having a $100,000 bass boat and barely knows how to fish.

I'm just the opposite, #3 known as a Dual-Purpose battery, I buy the biggest, baddest one I can for my cranking battery. I run everything but the TM off my cranking battery. Cranking batteries and not designed to handle much discharge, they are designed to give a high surge current for a short time. The cells in a Dual-Purpose battery have a small grid section for the high current surge and then a more dense or even solid plate section designed to handle the discharge your pumps, and other stuff are putting on it all day. I don't think there's an outboard made that puts more demand on a cranking battery than the old 225 Ficht and other Evinrude DFI V-6s and I ran one for 10 years, never having a problem with it not cranking.

There is not a battery made on this planet that will not self-discharge, regardless of the weather. Sitting in a boat in a hot location, they are going to self-discharge even faster. If not stored on a maintainer, most have to be recharged a minimum of every two months, some even sooner. Storing them in a cool, dry location helps, but a good maintainer is almost a must. Note is said a good maintainer, a lot of maintainers are nothing but junk. Like fishing lures, make to catch the fisherman, not the fish. Also, a battery needs to be cycled periodically, just sitting for long extended periods on a maintainer, the cells will still start to breakdown.

Seafoam help prevent gas from breaking down. Back in my Mobility Command days in the military, the government claimed it was good for a year. Personally, I would never run gas that old in an outboard, I don't care what kind of witch's brew it had in the tank. Done seen toooo many destroy pistons from old gas that has loss octane. The major problem you have with letting one sit that long is not the gas breaking down as much as you have with it just evaporating out of the carb bowls and fuel system on the engine, leaving that gummy, lacquer build up that plugs the jets and everything else. As far as bad gas, if its too bad, the motor not going to burn it. If it's still good enough that the motor will burn it, but has lost octane, which it will do rather quickly, self-detonation is going to destroy the top of the piston. If you look at the bottom of the carb bowls, (side near the bottom) they usually have a big brass screw (main jet access plug). Take that screw/plug out and look at the back side of it. If it's not clean brass, and has a coating of crap on it, you had just as well plan on rebuilding the carbs or you will stand a good chance of melting a piston from leaning the engine out. That's why when I winterize or plan to putting one away for a while, I pull all those plugs out of the carbs and purge the fuel system with low pressure air. I've had motors sit for years and still start and run just fine doing this. One other things, your granddaddy and daddy may have done this but it's not a smart thing to on a motor that sits out. Don't disconnect the gas hose and let the motor run until it dies. Doing this completely purges the crankcase removing all the gas and the oil film that is left on the moving, steel parts inside it. This makes them very susceptible to rust from condensation, which they will do heavily on cool mornings and the sun shines on them.

Those little bobbins are a whole lot cheaper to replace than a cylinder. The ones I have with the bobbin have 38-gram cylinders. They are hard to find and not cheap when you do. I've got cylinders over 15 years old that still weigh 150 grams, the same weight as a new one, so nothing has leaked out. Those will last a long time as long as you take care of the bobbins and your 10-year-old granddaughter doesn't jump in the swimming pool with it on, thinking it's a life vest because she sees you wearing it all the time in the boat. It also scares the crap out of them when it goes off.

A couple I have, have the yellow bobbins. When I buy replacements, they have an expiration date on the package, and may have one on the bobbin, never looked. If you get some from fresh stock, they are usually good for two or three years. I bought some off ebay that expired five months from the date I received them, was not happy with that deal. Forget and leave it in a compartment on the boat one hot humid day and you don't have to worry it. You just replace it and the cylinder where it let go. It's not that expensive just to buy a pack of bobbins and they are not difficult to replace. I put more value in their working if needed than saving a few pennies not keeping them up to date.

Sorry, can't help you with that battery. That's a lot of battery in a small package. That's like buying 8 to 10 "normal" Lipo batteries and add that to the fact the material to make them is in short supply and high demand with the EV push to force IC vehicles out of production is driving the prices up to ridicules levels. Batteries I used to buy for my RC helicopters and planes are four to five times more than a few years ago. I also have to ask, what the heck is an RC Bait Boat. Must be some fancy addition to kayak fishing if so, seems like a piece of long cord needs to be added to it. Unless you need that much run time, you can always go down to a lower amp hour battery and if you don't need to go full speed with it, you can drop down to a lower C, like a 15C, they are usually cheaper. A lower amp hour is probably a lot more available than that massive thing you are wanting. Maybe even find two 3S batteries and run them in series or a couple of smaller 6S and run them in parallel. You might need to get creative.

CMC makes them, but they are not cheap. Also, if you find a used one, you are rolling the dice on money wasted or not. I've run into several CMC items that are not considered serviceable and they don't sell parts for them. By a $500 hydraulic jack plate and the pump motor quits, they expect you to buy a whole new unit, they don't sell the pump motor or parts for it.

One of the best cleaners I've used and have been using since the early 70's is Spray Nine. It's sold in Home Depot and other places now. The one thing you have to be careful about is the UV protection on marine vinyl is a thin coating on the outer surface and a lot of cleaners will strip that coating off and only cleaners made for marine vinyl should be used. Never really found one of those that I liked. Whether or not Spray Nine strips that coating off or not, I don't know, it probably does but I never really cared. It did a great job at cleaning and never noticed any reduced life. I've also never bought new or new looking boats and usually ended up recovering the seats anyway.

If I had to guess, just going by its design, at one time it had something that went into the end of it to hold it and let it drop down from above and lock under the motor, and the normal storage location is up and not hanging down. Have you tried to see if it will store pointing up and not just dangling?