Way2slow

I installed red, side marker lights in all mine about six years ago. I used red because about the only time I need light is at night and don't want to be seeing white light at night.

I might suggest 1/4" up each time, 1/2" is a bit much. The things I look for is, if it starts to loose bow lift, if water pressure drops below 16psi (even in turns), if rpm increases but speed doesn't and I trim down slightly and it actually loose speed, or it starts towant to blow out in turns worse in even mild turns. When I get to this point, I drop it back down 1/2" and leave it. However is you try a different prop, you have to start off all over again.

That's about the going price for those 50 amp brakers but I don't think the make those any larger than 50 amp. This is very similar to the one I used http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21380&id=0031071017271a&navCount=1&podId=0031071&parentId=cat21380&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=QL&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true but I got mine at an Auto Parts Store and was a Standard Ignition BR27. I had to pay the rediculous price because I wanted it for this weekend and didn't have time to order one. I might be wrong but I think you will be tripping a 50amp if you run on max very long. This is a pic of the one I used http://www.woodys-auto-supply.com/auto-part-details.asp?prod=STD-BR27

A 70 amp motor will probably pull between 50 - 55 amps on max. #6 wire will give you approx %4 (about 1/2 volt) voltage drop when running on max. If you spend very little time running on high, #6 would be fine. If you spend a lot of time chasing schooling fish on high, you would see a drop in performance and some loss of run time. But figure on spending some change if you upgrade to #4. I just upgraded mine to #2 for an 80# motor I just just put on today. I had 25' but had to buy another 25' roll to have enough, that was $65 and another $68 for a waterproof 60 amp breaker.

Yes, no problem doing that. You can connect one of the TM cables directly to the front battery, run a cable from the other post to rear battery, then run the cable from the other post on the rear battery to the TM. You will just still follow the same guidelines for installing any 24 volt series system. You can put your circuit breaker on either battery.

It's not the getting wet that causes them to inflate. It's the sudden minute difference in atmospheric pressure that's caused when it goes a few inches below the surface of the water. The things you need to look at is how often they recommend replacing the charge and what they cost. Some get rather expensive and they recommend replacing them every six months. Another thing is how well it fits and is it comfortable enough to wear, some with wear your neck raw. Then you have to figure how well it's made. Get thrown from a moving boat, will it stay together. I know you're suppose to put your life vest on when moving, but many times that doesn't happen. I had to buy two. During the summers, my dad would never wear his life vest, so I bought two similar to this one http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_104808_100021002_100000000_100021000_100-21-2. I got me one and wore it so it wouldn't have an excuse not to wear his. About two months later, he got to see just how much they were worth and was glad he had it on. He left a rod on the rear deck and I had started off and was probably up to 30 mph when he all of a sudden jumped up and went to reach on the back deck to catch it. Well, he ended up in the water. His $400 rod/reel stayed in the boat though, so all was good. ;D

Baot and trailer is worth $300, even if you threw all the other stuff away. A new, cheap jon boat trailer is going to cost you $500, a cheap 12' jon is going for another $600. Let me warn you about one thing. Those seat brackets "WILL" throw your butt in the water. The first time you lean a little sideways, the will lay over on you, making you hurt yourself trying to catch yourself or pitch you right on over. Also check your lakes. I think a lot of AZ's lake are National Park lakes, placing them under federal guidelines. Which means two stroke anything is not allowed. You will also need to make or buy you a set of side guides to go on the the trailer. A jon is very difficult to load without them. If in current on a steep ramp, you will need the post sticking up on both sides of the back or you will never get it on the trailer. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21382&rid=&indexId=cat21382&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat21382&id=0030707 The side guides work fine until you get on a steep ramp like a river bank that has current, then the side guides are not long enough and the boat will get pushed sideways over them.

Make sure there is no play in the steering, I mean "0" play. Make sure the motor can't move back and fourth any without the steering wheel moving. Any play in the steering lets the motor move back and fourth on it's own and there is almost no way you're going to be able to control it. As mentioned, then you can play with the motor height. The more you can get it up and keep bow lift, and it never lets the water pressure drop below manufactors minimum pressure (usually about 16psi), the less it has a tendency to walk. The right setback and motor height is key. Over trimming will also cause one to walk. What you want to do is keep the motor trimmed down slightly until you get to max speed, then start bumping the up. Just when you fell it start to slowly walk, leave the trim alone and practice countering the walk. Get you timing so you're slightly moving the wheel to the left, just before it starts to go right, and vise versa. you will always have to slightly rock the steering well while you compensating for the direction it wants walk. As you get better at second quessing, you trim it up a little more. That's going to make it walk faster and you increase your rythm. Give it a few months and it will be second nature. Might want to play around with your load balance a little also. Chine walk is caused by when the hull gets all the way up on the pad and off the strakes, it falls over to one side and the water knocks it back over to the other side. It's just going down the lake falling from side to side on the pad. You have to learn to keep it balanced on the pad before it can fall over enough to one side or the other to hit the water. Normally, the prop torque is going to make it fall to the right first so you're bumping the steering to the left. To start with, you usually have a tendency to go too late and too much so you find yourself having to correct back to the left. Get the balance right and the rythm right and it will usually just be sligth bumps to the left.

I see all these recommendations and not once has anyone asked what size TM. Knowing the size/amp draw and how long the cables are from the battery to the TM and if it's a four wire 12/24 system in the boat or just the two wire system. These are all things needed to determine the size cable or circuit breaker needed. With todays big 80+ thrust TM's, 6 guage wire is not always big enough. In a four wire 12/24 installation it's surely not large enough if you do much running on high. In most cases, 4 guage is needed. I'm pulling out my 6 guage and installing 2 guage for my new 80#, 24V TM. Since mine is only a two wire system, 4 guage would be big enough but I already have the 2 guage wire so I'm going to it. You figure that motor can draw close to 60 amps on max, for a 40' length (you have to figure the total length of all cables) that's actually too much for 6 guage without creating a voltage drop. 6 guage is not going to over heat, but you will get internal resistance that's going to cause some voltage drop. Any voltage drop is a loss of efficiency and power. Also, don't forget the connector, those three and four prong AC style plugs are not going to cut it.

Next day shipping?? I should have asked their definition of that term. A big honking box with one very heavy TM showed up today but no sign of all the Lowrance stuff. I checked my email and had an order confirmation but no tracking number. I called the company I ordered that stuff from and they have not even shipped it. They said it takes 2 - 3 days when an item is "out of stock" to ship. Which they failed to mention that at the time of the order. I asked what happened to the "next day" and she said, "it will be shipped next day". That's after they finally decide to ship it. She did refund my next day charges and said they would pay all shipping and assured me it would be here saturday. I had to postphone that to tuesday since no one was going to be here over the weekend and holiday. Oh! how close I came to telling her what she could do with the whole order. Her saving grace was I had something come up that was going to make it impossible for me to try it out this weekend anyway.

I do. My 1040A is still my main unit when running down the lake and looking for suspended bait fish and fish. They will work at much faster speeds than the LCD units. I'm going to take it out and try the HDS-5 but have a feeling the old 1040A will end up back in the center of the dash. After 45 years of using the flasher and never finding a LCD unit that worked 10th as good when moving faster than an idle, it's going to be hard to give it up. Hopefully this new generation HDS stuff will do the job.

LM, I hope so. I liked the i-pilot feature if it works like they claim. I do a lot of deep water structure fishing and keeping the boat where I want it in the wind can be a pain. Actually, that's the main reason I went with the MK this time. I tried that occupation when I retired from the AF, but my wife was the only customer she would let me have. Once a month and she didn't pay very much, I had to go get a real job.

Well, it all shipped a little while ago. The HDS-10, HDS-7 for bow, HDS-5 for center of console, Structure Scan unit, all necessary interfaces to network and mounts, plus Navionics Platnum+ Module for my region. Should be here tomorrow, along with the Minn-Kota, Terrova 80/us2/i-pilot trolling motor. I've never used a Kota Bow mount, so this is a first for me. Been MG all my life. Now, if I can get it all installed to use it this weekend. I've been holding off on upgrading for a while, but figured I had just as well go ahead and do it. Maybe this will get me back in the mood to fish again.

Going on a 20ft Bass boat. Yea, if I go with the 10 it's going to look like a big screen TV hanging on a RAM mount. I figure the wind drag will probably slow me down at least 10mph. Because of the size of the 10 is one of the main reason for considering the 8.

Never owned a Kota bow mount before but looking at this one for the i-Pilot feature. Would like some feed back on what others think about it.

Who has one and what do you think about it? I'm debateing between the -8 and -10 and wouldn't mind saving $500 with the -8 if the screen gives all the info you want. However, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot and wish I had gotten the -10 once I started using the -8. Prefer just those that have actual experience with the either of the two.

You really need a tach reading. I would think the 19SS to be too much prop, how many rpm was you turning when you had it on you motor? That 74 115 is about the same as as your 87, 85hp on the back, provided it's a good motor. The 115's became the 90's when they quite rating off the flywheel and started rating off the prop shaft. They just droped the compression for the crappy, low octane gas the oil companies had gone to.

Resistance to the current causes the heat. When a battery is over worked, the case gets hot, just like if it's over charged. Hot terminals are cause by a resistance at the terminals, that's the source/location of resistance to the current. I hope you threw the wing nuts away and used brass hex nuts. If not brass, at least stainless.

Acutally, you problaby would be better running the mid grade over the lower grade. The 87 motor was the last year they used the smaller chamber heads that boosted compression about 15 - 20psi. In 88 they went to a more open chamber head that dropped the compression down to approx 90psi to better handle the low octane fuels they were going to. With fresh gas, you can run the low octane with no problems, a motor with 130 psi compression can run it but there is no margine of error. Gas that has set in the tank for a month or so can loose enough octane to cause damage to a motor with that much compression. I think your motor runs approx 115 psi compression, if in good shape, so you have a little margin of error, but if you you leave gas in your tank, use the mid grade. If it sits for a couple of months, add about as much premium to what you have in the tank to help replace some of the octane that has evaporated off. Gas looses octane rather quickly. I'm not sure what you are refering to as carb cleaner. If you're talking about the spray cans of carb cleaner you spray in the throats, don't waste you're money. You can run SeaFoam in the tank, that will help. You can also spray a decarbonating solution into the carbs by following the directions on the can. Something like the BRP 777185 Engine Tuner. This should be done approx every 50 hours. This really helps a motor.

My money would be on the cables or cable connectors. Very possible where they crimp the terminals onto the connector, it's gotten corroded inside. I see that quite often with this cheap crap on the market now. That's why I always make my own cables, using heavy, zinc plated connectors, crimped and then soldered, then use a heavy heat shrink that has a heat activated sealant that seals them when shrunk down. Another possibitly is the studs are not making good connection where they are leaded into the battery. Several times I have seen these melt out of the battery because they were creating a resistance between the stud and the lead holding them. I work with batteries everyday that are handling way more amps than your TM and I've never seen one heat up from bad internal connections. Not saying it can't happen, but it would be very rare. I do however, very often see them melt terminals because of bad/loose cable connectors.

I keep a spare set in the boat that I have already index'd and numbered for which cylinder they go in. I change my plugs when they start causing a problems or until I've run them to the point that I think it's time. I've been running the same set of plugs in my DFI motor for about three years, and for no more than I'm fishing now, I may run them another three years. On my two hot rod motors, 50 - 75 hours is about all I can usually get out of a set.

Well, it's a little late to be asking now. Just for the heck of it, I tried to do a little research on that brand. First, I found nothing showing they make a deep cycle battery, only cranking and dual purpose. Dual Purpose give up RC to get the needed CCA. 160 min RC is only going to be about a 75Ah battery. I couldn't find anything about who makes them or what kind of plates they have. So, it boils down to you bought the old Pig in the Poke. Stick with the well known, top names and you don't have to worry about this stuff. Even Wally world batteries, you can find out what composition the plates are made of.

On the side of the motor, there is a big red connector. Pull it apart so the two ends are no longer connected. Look at the started solenoid, you have two big and two small terminals. One of the big terminals has a cable going to the starter, the other side has one going to the battery. Stick a screw driver or something across the battery side of the solenoid and the small terminal on the same side as the battery terminal. Now, if it does start, the only way you're going to be able to shut if back off is to start pulling plug wires or choke the carburators off. Doing this disconnects and eleminates all electrical from the motor to the boat, which also disconnects the shut down wires. If it's not spinning over doing this, you need the check the solenoid or cables from the battery for bad connections. If it spins and won't start, then you have other problems and not the key switch or anything outside the motor itself. One thing for other reading this, this is only for a Johnson/Evinrude motor. If you unplug the big connector (control cable) on Merc's and some other motors, they will not start. The CDI OMC/BRP uses generates it's own voltage, and you have to ground out the ignition to shut them off, which is done through the key switch. Merc's and some other motors require 12 Volts to ignition system to run. Unplugging the control cable disconnects that 12V source.

You didn't say if you have a gas motor or not. If you do, the ideal charger for you would be the three bank, ProMariner ProTournament 300. You're cranking battery would top off fairly quickly and then it would transfer that output to the TM batteries, giving you 15 amps per bank for those. The way the PT300 works, it would also charge the TM batteries a lot faster than a standard 15 charger. That's the only charger I will run and has been for a number of years.

If you get a two bank, it's going to have to be a fairly large one. Absolute minimum would be a 10 amp per bank and that could still take 15 hours or more to recharge if your batteries are down below 40%. You would really need a 15 - 20 amp per bank. If get a four bank charger, I think you're gonna have to go with a charger thats toward the most companies upper line so it's going to be expensive. Even then, I'm not sure how the charge would like having two of it's outputs hooked in parallel. Connecting the charger outputs in parallel is something you will have to verify with the manufactor, making sure their charger is designed to operate that way. Connecting batteries in parallel doubles your run time but it also doubles the charging amps needed to recharge them properly.