Way2slow

Another option you might want to consider is using the power tilt is your motor has it. Generaly, motors with power tilt have a button/switch on the side to operate it at the motor. stand on the anticav plate and raise the motor, as it come up reposition to the mid section. I've tried this a couple of times on mine (225 OMC) even one time when water was about 45 degrees just to be sure I could do it in extremely adverse conditions and it worked like a champ. I too am getting a lot of snow on the roof and was looking at adding a folding bording ladder, but this worked well enough I decided it was not needed.

First thing I would do is throw that roller in the trash and install a V-Stop like one of these. http://www.easternmarine.com/Bow-Stop-Rollers-V-Shapes/ Yes, I also agree you should have it just above the bow hook and set to the rope for the winch goes through the bracket and guides the bow to the stop.

the WOT is what I meant, once you get the handling down. It seems for most, that's about a six week training session. I have to commend you, most who get them seem to spend a hellava lot more time running than gunning until they get the "Bullet Syndrom" out of their system. They do very well on gas, even at WOT, when you figure you're coverin about twice the distance on the same amount of fuel.

Well, I see the bass are going to be much safer in your fishing areas for a while now :D. However the cost per trip is gonna go up greatly. Very nice, very fast setup, how are you with the Bullet stroll?

Do a s search, there are bunches of SeaStar Pro HK7400A systems for $700 - $800. Some are with, some are without the hoses, if they are without, hose kits are approx $90. This will give you everthing you need to take the cable system out and install the hydraulic system. I didn't check the specs put I think the 5345 cylinder that comes in that kit is rated for up to 300 hp. I would not get a BayStar system, they are smaller and cheaper because they are rated for much less hp, but the 7400 kit is a proven system and holds up very well. Diggin deep, that's paying a dealer to install two new cables. $800 to get rid of the cable system is not digging that deep when you look at the fact you may be doing it again in a few years. Oops, depends on your steering wheel That may need some help. A nice tilt helm can cost you another $125

Good luck with all the lubers. There are a number of little tricks you can do to help free them up some, but nothing is going to work like a new set of cables. Then you can put your lubers on the keep usable a lot longer. Hopefully, you can replace them yourself because they are such a pain to replace, if a dealer does it, things are going to get very expensive. If you consider having a dealer do them, go ahead and invest in a new hydraulic system. If you install it yourself, you can convert it for about the same as paying a dealer to replace your cables. Most cables will have a string of numbers near the helm end. This will give you the type and length, all the info you need to order two. If you want to try and save a few bucks, many times it's only one that's bad and you can just replace it. The easiest way to tell is unbolt them from the helm and then undo them from the cross bar at the motor that hooks them together. Stick a screwdriver through the hole and push and pull each cabel. If it's a good cable is will work fairly easy, if they both are hard to push/pull, they are both bad. The last time I bought a pair has been a couple of years and they were approx $150 each. Couple of hints, sometimes they tie wrap wires/cables to them and sometimes they are tiewraped to loops in the boat so don't just go jerking on them. Tie some heavy nylon rope to each one and pull it through when you pull the cables out. When pulling the new one in, start under the console and pull toward the motor. Use paper and tape to build a tapper on the ends where the end comes out of the housing. This will help keep it from hanging everything coming through.

To show you want can happen to new boat owners. Back in the late 60's a local hometown hero got drafted by the Oakland Raiders (small town) and they had a special day and parade to celebrate this. A boat dealer gave him a nice little Bomber style boat, the chevy dealer gave him a new Blazer and there were a number of other gifts bestowed apon him that day. A couple of days after this, my dad and I were coming in from our morning bass fishing trip and he was at the ramp launching his new boat. I pull to the bank and wait because he was having his problems. He leaves his boat in the middle of the ramp while he goes parks his Blazer and I'm noticing it looks like the back is getting deeper in the water. I walk over and look, he launched without puting the plug in. I holler for him to bring his trailer back. I help him get it on the trailer and drain it. Now he's getting all nervous and shook because a couple of others are waiting on the ramp also, jumps in the Blazer, backs back down to launch the boat again, jumps out as he's slamming it in Park, it didn't make it to park (guess what gear comes before park). Well, this is a fairly steep ramp and the door knocks him down as he exits the vehicle. It wasn't long before the whole Blazer was out of sight and with the winch still hooked to the bow of the boat, it pulled the bow down until it started taking on water and joined the Blazer. I dove down with a tow strap to hook to the front but it wasn't long enough to reach the bank so I finally tied a life jacket to the end and gave him a ride to the nearest phone so he could call wrecker to get it out. See what fun the first trip to the lake can be in your new boat and don't laugh. There ain't no telling how many get launched without the drain plug in, he just had a very bad day.

Stay with what you can afford and hopefully won't have to finance, if finaced, keep it to only a year or two. Boats are expensive to operate and they have a tendency to get used less and less, the longer you keep one, so minimize what you're loses will be if you decide that's not what you really wanted. I prefer fiberglass because of the ride, storage and comfort, but they are the most expensive to own. They are heavier so you have to pay closer attention to what you're going to tow with, and it takes more gas to tow them. They also require a bigger motor for the same size boat as aluminum so they will use more gas to run. They do tend to have more storage room for the same size boat because the aluminum has less under floor floation, so they have to add it in areas you could have used for storage. Aluminum is usually the better option for a new owner and want to keep limits on what it cost to use it to a minimum. One thing about the two, if you are fishing rivers, or a lot of areas that have a lot of obstrucions, then aluminum is a lot more in line to your needs that fiberglass. The first time you hang or stick a fiberglass and have to get out of the boat to get it free, or in a area you can't get out and have to get help to get it free, you will keep thinking how much easier it would have been in an aluminum.

Good thing you changed. Now you are doing it the way it's suppose to be done if you want your batteries to last.

How long do you want the batteries to last? As mentioned they do have a life span based on cycle counts, (one discharge and recharge is considered one cycle). This cycle count is greatly influenced by how deep you discharge the battery. Run it down to 20/30% each time and you may get 200 cycles, run it down to 50% and you may get 400 cycles. Only run it down to 75% each time and you will even get a whole lot more. Oh, if you run it down to where the motor is barely pulling each time, you may only get 100 or so cycles. That's why it wise to buy big enough batteries that at the end of the day, your batteries are still at 50% or more. Yep, bigger batteries cost more up front, but they get a lot cheaper when they last twice as long. As for charging you Optima batteries. I strongly recommend you get a "GOOD" AGM charger. DO NOT use one of those el cheapo automatic or manual chargers on them. They do not like have voltages gearter than 14.6 - 14.8 VDC hooked to them. It does damage them and will shorten their life. They also have a different maintenance voltage requirement so the charger should be selectable for AGM. If you are going to try and use a cheap or standard battery charger on them, charge them very slow so as the limit the chargers output voltage. Probably only a couple of amps, and it will take many hours to charge them that slow. Use a DVM and measure your charger voltage and make sure it never gets above 14.8 and better at 14.6. Oh, and for those that have read me saying never charge at two amps, that's for flooded cell batteries, it does not bother an AGM to be charged at very low current rates. I would also use a different voltage chart. I don't think many AGMs or any other deep cycle battery is only going to be at 12.6 volts when fully charge. It's more like 12.8 to even 13.0 so this will raise the minimum voltage that you should discharge to. I just always say if a 12 volt battery is at 12.0 volts, it's time to recharge it.

If you have a live well with pumps or drains, or even your bilge pump, these are very common areas to get leaks. Older, rivited aluminum boats will leak simply because they have nothing better to do. If it has a livewell, I've seen more than one of those leak around the seams from corosion after they get some age. If you have one, plug the drain, fill it with water and see if you start getting a puddle in the boat. As mentioned, with the boat on the trailer, partially fill it with water, if the trailer will stand it, go up to the water line. This will usually show any leaks in hull itself. Just be carefull, at eight pounds per gallon, it's very easy to add 400 - 500 pounds of water and that could damage your trailer. As for how often, I've had old bass boats that I would run the bilge every hour. Some of the plumbing for the livewells etc would leak and almost impossible to get to. It was just easier to keep them pumped out.

Batteries in series are still individual 12 volt batteries, doesn't matter how many you have connected series. If you had five, 12 volt batteries in series, you could hook five 12 volt chargers, one to each battery, to charge them. Doesn't matter they would have 60 volts total, each charger is only going to see 12 volts. Now, if you are wanting to make do with what you have, I would go about it a little different. I would leave the charger just as you have it now. When I added the second TM battery, I would use the extra charger to charge it. Then I would make me a couple of jumpers with some #10 wire. When the boat was not going to be used for a couple of months or more, I would disconnect my series cable and use the jumpers I made and connect the TM batteries in parallel. That way all three batteries have the benifit of being maintained by the onboard charger. As for the motor's charging system keeping the cranking battery charged, don't plan on that unless you make very long runs at the end of the day. Several years back, there were a number of studies done on tournament anglers batteries and the vast majority of them were only at 80% charge when they quit for the day. Batteries start to sulfate rather quickly when a battery gets below 80% charge, so there's a good chance you will help you battery die a slow death.

Sounds like oil is not the root cause of your problem. If you are going through plugs that fast, smoking badly and hardly ever idle, it's time for a serious tune-up, starting with a good linc and sinc, the the carbs and possibly new jets. If the motor has many hours, it's possible the jets could be worn. Yes, jets do wear as the mixture goes through them. As for oil, Penzoil 100% synthetic is a good oil for carburated motors.

The reason there are so many different props, is there are so many different requirements. The "ONLY" way to tell what's best for your boat and needs is to try it. It's helps to check with a couple of people that have your same setup, have done the proper setup and know what they are talking about. There is no magic wand when it comes to seting up a boat for peak peformance. That's why I say, try before you buy. One thing the takes a lot of the work out of it is getting a prop that's close and have it custom tuned. It's not cheap but if you are serious about getting it right, it's worth it. Over the counter props are made for a varity of applications, some a lot more specific than others, but in the hands of a good tuner, it's hammered for just your boat.

Dextron ATF works just fine. There should be two big humps on top of the T&T unit. Ones the motor, the other the resevoir. Should be a plug in the side of it to add it. Different models have different methods of adding fluid so check the book. Some of them you trim it up, add the fluid, let it down and let the extra run out, the raise it back up and put the plug in

Yes, it will help, but only if you are willing to spend the money and effort setting up your boat. What does best is let you get the right prop, tuned perfectly for your boat. Get it right and it can add more peformance than going to a bigger motor. Just throw it on and play with a few different settings and leave it, it's not going to make much difference. Understand on more thing, most of the time it's not just saying I will put a jackplate on and doing it. Depending on the boat, you may need one with 8" - 10" of setback to get to the sweet spot. That's almost impossible with you installed steering cables and some control cables. Sometimes you can pull them enough to squeeze them onto a 6" ofset but that's about max, and don't bet on being able to get them to reach with just 6" of offset. Sometimes you can spend as much on replacing cables as you did on the jackplate.

I would first think about just having the idle mixtures adjusted properly. If that doesn't help, then you might want to look at having the carbs rebuilt. Merc's also run an idle control module that's suppose to help them idle smoothly. It might be bad on you're motor. Another thing, they have a high speed and low speed windings in the stator, might have a problem there. I would suggest seeking professional help though, all of these items are expensive. I don't work on these welfare motors so that's about all the suggestions I can give you.

24 volts is only going to be a little more efficient, will do nothing for speed. Going to a higher thrust will add some speed, how much will only be known once you try it. Two blade props give the most speed but don't do well in weeds and moss. Three blade props give less speed but do better in weeds Four blade props are the slowest but work the best in weeds. If you want speed, get a larger thrust, at least 60 lb (or more) and a long bladed, two blade prop. According to my gps, my MK 87# moves my 20' boat at 6 mph (max on a good day), but that does not mean it will move a lighter boat any faster. If you don't need a longer shaft, don't get it. When you start moving it up for shallow water, the head can get in the way.

With carburated motors, the only time a higher octane helps anything is when you have gas that has been in the tank for a couple of months. Gas looses octane very quickly, especially on these hot summer days. When you have a 1/4 tank of old gas, adding another 1/4 - 1/2 tank of high octane gas will go a long way in bringing the octane back up to a safe level. If a motor is rated for 87 octane, running a higher octane can actually be harmful. Higher octane gas burns slower, in a low compression motor, it will not give a full, clean burn. This cause a reduction in power, and increases carbon fouling. Computer controlled motors run much higher compression than carburated so sometimes they can adjust somewhat for higher octane gas, but even with those, I would not go up more than one grade over the recommended rating. Again though, that's with fresh gas in the tank, you never want to run old gas in one of those because of the fact they run much higher compression and old gas that has lost octane can melt a piston in a heartbeat.

Sablizer after the fact is useless. No way I would run that gas as is. I will not run gas three months old without adding at least twice as much 92/93 octane mixed with it. Six month old gas gets dumped, pumped or siphoned. If there's not much, you can add three or four times what you have with high octane and probably be ok, unless it's a DFI motor, then DON'T USE IT" . However, I just feel (even with the cost of gas today), it's not worth the problems it can create trying to run it. If you have an older vehicle, add a couple gallons of it to each tank full until it's gone.

I've never not owned a 4WD drive vehicle since 1967 so I can't help you there, but in 2005, my dad bought a new Dodge PU with a V-6 (salesman told him would would do fine towing his 17.5' Stratos, 2,800 lb tow weight). About two months after getting it, me made one of our trips from middle GA to the St. Johns river in Walaka Fl. When we got back, he took the truck back to the dealer and traded it for a V-8, and that was almost all fairly flat roads. I would think, as long as you're on paved ramps, 2WD would do OK. Personally, I've never felt I had a need for a truck that was not 4WD. Many times I've lauched boats in rivers, lakes, and ponds that don't even have roads to them, much much less a ramp. I've been in rivers I've had to use the winch to lower truck and boat far enough down the bank to get the boat in the water. I've alway be a firm believer, never walk where you can drive, especially if it's too thick to walk through, be surprised at just how big of a saplin truck can push down and drive over.

If you're going to compete in tourney's, you will most likely need to join a bass club or two. Check them out and see which one you think will best meet your needs. If you get into a club that fishes mostly large reservoirs, they will probably have minumum boat size and hp limit. Most will also have non boater memebers where you can fish the backseat of a boater. (Please be sure to offer to pay for a reasonable portion of his gas if you do). I would recommend you try this for a few rounds and that will give you a much better understanding of what you might think you need. Let me say, the above statement is based on a very past history, It's been a long time since I've done any tourney fishing or been a memeber of a Bass club of any type so things may have changed with this new generation.

Well, I'm sure there are many experts on here that know way more than me, but since I don't know any better I just do things my way. I can buy a quart of Vavoline full synthetic a hellavalot cheaper than I can buy BRP oil. When doing four LU's that hold 44oz's each twice a year and six more smaller motors, that's adds up. My two 300+ hp hotrod motors have lived on Penzoil for about 8 years now, and still going strong. My old 99 225 Ficht with the lightning gearcase hasn't exposed any internal parts yet, with Vavoline in it, and those things can blow just for lack of something better to do. There is not an OMC motor made you can't use the synthetic in. PLEASE note, I said OMC, not BRP, not Mercury, not Yamaha etc. Now, if I went down a bought a brand new e-Tec, no, I would not use Vavoline in it, at least not until the warrenty ran out. There are a lot of the new motors you can't use it in, a lot of the Merc's require their special hypoid gear oil and you will smoke one of those. MADE A BIG OOP's I use Valvoline 100% synthetic

If you want to flip it over to put the oil in, but you don't want to completely fill it. Once you think you have enough, put the bottom plug in and flip it back over and take the top plug out. If oil comes out, let it drain until it quits, if no oil comes out, it not full enough so put the plug back in and flip it back over and do it again.

Take both plugs out and let it drain. It should the color of the oil or black. It should not be milky tan, this is a water leak. After draining, fill it from the bottom hole until it starts coming out the top hole. Put the plug in the top hole, then quickly remove what you're putting with and install the bottom plug. Installing the top plug first helps keep the oil from draining back out when trying to intall the top plug. I use the Penzoil 100% synthetic.