Way2slow

fuel pump not pumping. Gummed up, or bad or not getting pulse signal from crankcase for some reason. needle stuck in carburator/gummed up carbs.

How many rpm was you reving the thing? Pull the spark plugs and see if one has metal on it or been hit (gap closed). You can also take a little LED flex light and stick in the plug holes to look at the pistons. Best to do this in low light/night conditions. Makes seeing them much easier. A small bulb that fits in the plug hole and wired to a battery works also. It's easy enough to pull the head and look at them.

I'm kinda lost on what you're talking about. This is a picture from Nitro's web site http://www.nitroboats.com/boat/?boat=3209 and it they seem to be sitting much lower than the decks to me. Now, if you're talking about the pedistal seats on the decks, as others mentioned, those are fishing seats, not for riding down the lake.

Nope, no hour meter. I'm not sure about the merc's but if it's a EFI or Opti-Pop motor, it's possible the ECM may have the hours stored in it but you would need the service software or have a dealer read them. The Evinrude DFI motors track the hours and percentage's of what rpm ranges it's operated at. If it's a carbutated motor, you would have to install your own hour meter, and possibly even if a EFI.

I use a bottle jack under the frame, just be sure you get one that's long enough to lift the tires clear of the ground. You're second option is a small floor jack under the axle, the down side to that is you may find yourself having to lay on the ground to get it under there . Part of my standard load that's alway in my pickup is an e-tool (that's one of the folding shovels the military issues you when you go to the field), a foam bed role (again one of the olive drab ones the military issues you) to lay on if needed (a small carpet role will work) and a 12" sqaure piece of 3/8" thick aluminum plate (3/4" plywood will work) to put under jacks (vehicle or bottle) when in soft dirt/mud. I also keep three road flares and a couple of foulding emergency triangles, and a "Sling Shot" (heavy nylon tow strap). Then there's always a magniesum fire starter and LED flashlight in my truck and boat.

It's not just the more amps, the faster the charge. It's the more amps at the proper phase of the charge that makes them charge faster. Until a battery reaches approx 80% charge, you can crank bunches of amps into them, AGM's are almost unlimited as to the amount of amps they can handle. The reason for the 10% of the batteries rated Ah capacity, on flooded cell batteries, you want enough current to generate enough bubbles rising to keep the electrolite mixed. If not, the electrolite stratofies and the acid becomes a lot more concentrated in the lower section of the battery and much weaker in the upper section, eating away the lower section of the plates much faster. If you use large chargers that can kick one in the butt, you should run a charger that uses temp sensors attached to the battery, that way it can regulate the charge to keep it from getting too hot. Batteries are very sensitive to heat, that's why a lot of car companies have started using AGM's and VRLA batteries and putting them in the trunks and under the back seats etc, to get them away from the engine heat. That's also why you almost always see batteries mounted in the front of the engine comparment, or some place fresh air is blowing on it.

You already have it, it's a little late to be asking advise now. Yes, it will charge your batteries if you don't need to use them again for about 24 hours. Yes, it's also smaller than the recommended size charger unless you're running 50 amp hour batteries or smaller. When you figure a group 24 averages 80 Ah, which should be charged with a minimum 8 amp charger, you're charger is about half the recommended size for a group 24 battery. Then you ask, if these small chargers are not suited for the average TM battery, why do they sell them. The answer is very simple, they are cheap and they sell tons of them to people that can't really afford a 10 - 15 amp per bank charger and wouldn't buy an onboard because of the price, or don't really understand a batteries charging requirements. With all that said, for the occassional user, the smaller chargers are all they need. They go fishing maybe once or twice a month. They may not cycle their batteries more than a dozen times a year and the batteries go bad from inactivity long before any ill effects of using too small of a charge rate could ever show up and if you get one that has a float mode, they make great maintainers for all the batteries at a very reasonable price.

Not really a recommended setup but you can do it. However, no one circuit protection is going to work for all. You will need a circuit breaker (manual or auto reset) the recommended size for your TM. Then you will need to run fuses, again recommended sizes for each of the electronics devices. If you're going to wire running lights to it also, they also need to be on a seperate fuse, approx 5 amps.

The ProSport II 20 plus would be an excellent choice if your running two TM batteries and cranking battery. This is actaully a bigger charger than most realize, because they don't understand how it works. It will actaully charge your batteries just about as fast as a three bank, 10 amp per bank Dual Pro or similar charger, at half the cost. It starts charging all three equally, at approx 7 amps per battery. Since the cranking battery usually only needs a small amount of charging, it charges up pretty quick. Once it does, the current going to the cranking battery is transfered to the TM batteries, so they are being charged at 10 amps each. Granted, it's not a ProMariner ProTournament 300 (which is all I run for onboard chargers) but it does mighty well for the price. They also have an excellent warrenty and customer service. To be totally honest with you, I would chose it over the any of the other brands 3 bank, 10 amp per bank onboards. I'm a firm believer in keeping a battery on a maintenance float mode, many of the other brands do not have a float mode, they cut off at the end of the cycle. Some come back on after the voltage drops to a set level, but I prefer not having that, float is best.

As long as you have ample water going through it, there is no time limit. It's just the longer you run it, the more carbon is going to build on the pistons and plugs, so there's the chance some plugs will foul the next time you go to start off at the lake. Just never rev it over 2,000 rpm with it on muffs or in neutral. There's nothing in the world that will make you mess up a pair of drawers any quicker than having you're two stroke outboard in runaway.

Charge as a normal battery, just most normal chargers will not meet those the requirements. Check the following out. There are a lot of different opinions about battery charging and we hope this will help clear up any confusion that our customers have. AGM batteries are still technically a lead acid battery and they charge very similar to a wet cell. Regardless of what some rumors portray, AGM batteries are not as sensitive as once believed. They often get confused with Gel Batteries, which are very sensitive to voltage and they need a special charger. Lifeline AGM batteries can also be equalized to regain capacity if need be (instructions for equalizing is listed below). We also offer very personal service if you would like to reach us by telephone should you have any further questions regarding our batteries. Battery Charging: Charge 1 with voltage-regulated (constant potential) charger. The following charging voltages are recommended for maximum battery life. 3 Stage Chargers Bulk 14.2-14.4 volts Acceptance 14.2-14.4 volts Float 13.2-13.3 volts 2 Stage Charger Bulk 14.2-14.4 volts Float 13.2-13.3 volts Single Stage Charger Bulk 14.2-14.4 volts Once the battery is fully charged, remove it from charger. The standard old Automatic charger has a charge voltage much higher than 14.4VDC, more like close to 16 Volts

I guess my key comes out but have never tried to see if it does. It does have the keys to the rod and storage lockers on the ring with it but I never lock them either, so see no reason to take it out. Besides, if it fell out, it would just fall on the floor.

There are way too many variable to say how long a battery will last. Even how many charge cycles you can get from a battery. Cheap batteries are not going to give the life deep cycle Trojan's, Deka's or US Battery will give, that's just a plain fact of life. High quality, true deep cycle batteries will have solid lead plates. Just about all other cheaper batteries will have a lead alloy sponge plate. That's why the those three brands cost so much more. Besides battery construction, you have how the battery is disharged. Let's just use 100%-20%-100% cycle's (fully charged battery discharged to 20% and recharged) as example. Say your battery last 150 cycles discharged to 20%. It will last 300 cycles discharged to 50% and possibly 600 cycles if discharged to 80%. At 50%, that's 300 days of fishing. These are numbers based on cheaper batteries, you can almost double that with the Big three, Trojan, Deka, and US Battery, of course you will also pay a heck of a lot more for these three. You pretty much get what you pay for. With one of their AGM's you can expect about 20% more battery life, but at a reduced capacity for same size batteries. It should also be noted that long periods of inactivity is also damaging to a battery, even if stored on a maintainer/float charger. The number one killer of all batteries it the charger and the person charging them. Cheap, automatic chargers will not charge a battery to 100%, unless you put it in manual after it cuts off and charge it approx another 30 minutes or so. Not fully charged lets the battery sulphate so everytime you charge it, you loose more and more capacity from suphation. These chargers also charge at too high of a voltage. A battery should never be charged above 14.6 VDC. Trickle charging one long periods of time is just as damaging as overcharging. As for a cranking battery not needing charged because you're motor is keeping it charged. Numerous studies have been done on just that subject with tournament fishermen and the average cranking battery state of charge at the end of a days fishing is 80%, so it needs charged everytime you come in just like your TM batteries.

Well, no battery is as bad as powerman's experience. I'm not an Optima fan either but when I say they don't give the life span of a good stacked cell AGM, unless destroyed by improper charger, they usually last at least three years for the average user. As mentioned though, they do have special charging requirements and can easily be destroyed by improper charging. I know this comment will create fireworks but I would have to suspect improper charging as the cause of the failures over the batteries being junk. I feel there are better choices for AGM batteries, but the Optima has been around way too long to and have way too many satisfied users to be junk.

The pump I use is a pump I use with my hotrod motors when I put one of them on http://www.jegs.com/i/Carter/180/P4594/10002/-1?parentProductId=748050. It's more pump, and probably more expensive than what you need, but it's already mounted in the boat so I only have to switch a hose and turn it on. My ficht motor does not use it. I also use a one gallon plastic gas container and mix approx two ounces of SeaFoam to a 1/2 gallon gas and connect a hose from the primer bulb to it. Every four - six weeks I run the motor on the hose long enough to pull a quart or so of fresh gas into the motor. Do this and you will never have carb and fuel related problems caused by old gas. I keep a spare set of spark plugs in the boat, if you run it several times, sometimes it carbon fouls the plugs so I just swap them out and sandblast the fouled set.

The engines compression ratio and state of tune is what determines which octane gas it should run. A properly tuned engine, designed to run 87 octane gains no benifits from running higher octane. It's just the opposite. The higher octane burns slower so you actually don't get a full burn, which leads to a slight loss in performance and increase carbon deposits on the piston domes. Now, if you're one that uses his boat only every now and then, and it sits for several weeks or months, with the same gas, it would probably pay you to buy the next grade up. Gasoline looses octane very quickly. I will not run gas in my boat motors that's over a month old. Since I no longer fish two/three times a month, when I come in from fishing, I have an electric pump that I pump all the gas out of my boat and put it in my vehicles. I do not leave it sitting in my tanks.

As others have mentioned, just because it say's Marathon on the tanker or pipeline, doesn't mean it's the same gas sold under the BP logo as sold under the Marathon. The pipeline feeds pure, untreaded gasoline to the distrubution centers. Then it depends on who's the customer as to what additives are added, whether it be methanol, detergents, or other witches brew the retailer uses. Methanol is a cheap octane booster, when they add zylene or other additives to get the same octane boosting benifits as methonal, it cost a little more. Personally, I also run BP and try not to buy any gasoline that has methanol, however, in some areas, even some of the BP's you pull into have the 10% methanol sticker on the pumps.

A tremdous amount of what determines any battery lifes is the quality of the charger and how well you observe charging requirements. With a high quality charger and proper charging, then it's going to be determined by charge cycles and how deeply the battery is discharged. The deeper the discharge, the fewer cycles you will get. Now, with all those things equal, and you are using a high quality charger on both, the AGM can give you as much as 25% more cycles than a good flooded cell and as much as twice as many over the cheaper flooded cell batteries like the Everstart Maxx. The problem is, AGM batteries are more sensitive to charging conditions and without a high quality AGM charger, you will probably not get any more service life from the AGM than the flooded cell, any possibly won't get as much. These cheap Wal-Mart and parts store chargers are designed for the farmer or person that needs to charge a battery every now and then. They do not provide the best charge for the battery and not a good choice to repeatadly charge your boat batteries. The Smart chargers are by far a better choice than the old automatic and manual chargers but nothing like the quality of a good onboard or commercial type charger.

I've never been bashful about saying I wouldn't have one, but look at the reserve minutes of the Optima's and then compare that to you're current batteries and see if you're willing to give up that much capacity (run time). Their largest Yellow top D27F is 66Ah or 140 Reserve minutes. Their largest Blue top D31M is 75Ah or 155 Reserve minutes. Wally Worlds EverstartMaxx is 125 Ah (about twice that of the Yellow top) Most flooded cell, group 29 deep cylce batteries will give 105 - 125 Ah and group 30/31 will give 115 - 130Ah, all at a whole lot less cost the Optima's. That's about 25 - 50% less than a comparable size flooded cell battery that cost about 1/2 what the Optima's cost. The group 31 Deka AGM will give you 105Ah and 185 Reserve minutes, and it's a better battery. Also, check and make sure you're onboard charger can be switched over to charge AGM batteries. AGM batteries can give you as much a twice the battery life over most flooded cell batteries, but that's only if you have a high quality charger, designed to properly charge and maintain AGM batteries. If not, you will only get a little more battery life over the flooded cell batteries, and can get less with the wrong style charger.

A true deep cycle will usually only have the amp hour rating using the 20 hour method. Read this, it will help you understand that http://www.windpowerunlimited.com/batteries/Amp_Hours.htm. Sometimes they will use the reserve capacity in minutes. The reserve capacity is how many minutes the battery will last with a 25 amp load. Usually when they have a CCA or MCA rating on them, they are usually considered for dual purpose use. Either way, the battery you mentioned is going to be a rather small battery if you're only going to be running one for your TM. As for your charger, it's a cheap charger that's only intended to charge the battery. Being a three stage it may probably has the float mode but do not leave it connected after it turns off until you verify the float voltage. Never leave just any charger connected to a battery on a low amp setting. What your not understanding is some chargers have a build in float mode, that it switches to once the battery is fully charged This is a maintenance mode thats keeps the battery at the ideal storage voltage, it is NOT a trickle charge. Even on the cheaper Smart chargers like your's that have the float mode, you need to check their float voltage after 24 hours to ensure it's the proper voltage. Not too many of the those $50 chargers maintain the proper voltage. Good chargers that are best for your battery are somewhat expensive, usually over $100 and closer to $150 - $200+.

I've never had but one "Oh ****!!!" experience with a bass boat. Crossing some wakes at fairly good speed in very choppy water. As I was going over the wakes I backed off some to play it safe. Wrong move, that let the bow drop some and it hit a big roller, the next second I was looking almost straight up in the air. It just happened the motor hit another roller and that pulled the nose back down with a pretty hard slap. During the late 60's - mid 70's, I had more than I care to share while I was racing. Matter of fact, I still have a 1969 Allison with twin 135BHP mercs on the back sitting in about 90 feet of water that I deposited there in 71 and divers couldn't find it. I have been driving high performance boats since the mid 60's so I know a little bit of how to drive one. While 60 mph was near the world record for a single engine outboard back then, the boats were a hellavalot more unstable then than what we have now. The twin engine Allison I was racing ran approx 80 back then.

The VRO is a big black unit on the side of the motor, it's the fuel pump and oil pump combined so both fuel and oil lines will go to it. There is a four/five pin connector that plugs it into the main wiring harness. All you have to do is unplug that connector to keep the alarm from sounding. Also check your tank, if it has a wire going to it, follow it up to the motor and unplug it. If you need the room, you can take the tank out, if not you can just leave it. It's not going to hurt anything by just unplugging it and leaving everything in place If it's the original VRO pump, I would disconnect it. If it has been replaced since 1999, it should be the upgraded CRO unit and those are almost bullet proof. To upgrade/replace it with a new unit will cost around $400. They do make a fuel only pump that replaces it and you don't want the oil injection that cost approx $200. I convert them to electric fuel pump, tthat's approx $100 and it makes life so much simplier. No more pumping primer bulbs and a whole lot easier to start. Just turn it on, hold the key in a few seconds and start it, almost as easy as a DFI motor. Please note: not just any old cheap electric pump will work. You need at least 30gph and 6 psi, no more than 7 psi. I use a 76gph on V-6's

I plug in my onboard when I get home and don't unplug it until I'm ready to go again. Why buy a good battery charger if you're not going to use it. I've never had but one Dual Pro that came in a boat I bought, which I replaced with a ProMariner after a couple of months. I left it plugged in all the time. I never called or asked Dual Pro, but if they had told me to unplug their charger after charging the batteries, it would not have stayed a week in my boat. I never realized DP recommended unplugging theirs but MOST onboard chargers are designed to be left plugged in 24/7. The absolute best thing you can do when not using your batteries is have them on a float charge at a voltage recommended for that battery. That's approx 13.2VDC. Trojan and a few others recommend 13.17VDC float voltage but again, That depends on battery. AGM's will run approx 13.4VDC. Also note, unless they have made a recent change, Dual Pro does not use a float charge. From my past experience with them, they cycle on and off. When the voltage drops to a preset level, they would come on, top the battery off and cut back off. That's was always the main reason I never ran them, I prefered a charger with a float charge. There are other reason's I prefer the ProMariner, but not having a float voltage was my main dislike.

Depends on motor. Johnson's and carburated Evinrudes, all you have to do is unplug the 4/5 pin connector to the VRO pump and the sensor wire to the oil tank (if it has one) to keep the alarm from going off. Mercs, again depends on model. The older one with the tank and pump in the battery compartment, you just take it out and run fuel line direct to the tank instead of through it. Yama's and new mercs and other, I don't know, don't mess with them.

You have to be careful placing flooded cell batteries in confined areas where the there is very little room above the battery, especially if you're charging it in the boat. They vent out the caps and the fumes can corrode most materials rather quickly. In a very confined area, you will be better off with an AGM. I would look at a stacked cell AGM over the spiral wound Optima though. Deka's are a better battery, and generally cheaper than than the Optima. Deka also makes several other brands (BPS for one)but usually you can get the Deka brand a little cheaper than their other brand names.