Way2slow

You should check the water level in them and charge them each month, never go longer than two months. A lot of deep cycle batteries have carry straps built in. If they are Trojans, or a similar top, the Trojan dealer can give you a carry strap for them. I would just undo the nuts on the studs but if you want a quick disconnect, these will work fine http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0001110011811a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&QueryText=connectors&sort=all&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

The first time you are near a dealer or someone very knowledgeable have them look at them. Stress cracks in the top gel coat is very normal and no, I would not waste the time or money getting them fixed, good chance some more will just show up. There's not many boats you will ever own that won't have some show up. Now, if they are deep cracks, that could be a sign of things not right, like a weak transome. That's why you should have an experienced person take a quick look at them.

I've never used Imron MS1 so I went to Duponts web site to double check the sanding grit, 320 seems awful course and is going to leave sanding marks in your finished clear coat big time. Not sure where you got you the 320 grit recommendation from but Dupont says the final top coat finish should be 800 grit before spraying the Clear coat. If I was going to recoat it with anything other than gel coat, I would use Awlgrip. It has great UV protection and it's about the next toughest stuff to gel coat. However, Awlgrip is also ungodly expensive and very hard to apply. I've done one boat Awlgrip and two that I've re-gel coated. Neither one of the process are much fun and not for a beginner. You are going to have to be very careful after you clear coat it, it chips very easily and once chiped, they want to grow on you.

I guess those recommending a 36 volt golf cart charger haven't priced one. Plus, those are generally 20 - 25 Amp chargers, way too hot for your TM batteries, you would need one with no more than 15 amps. Three single 12volt 12 amp Smart chargers, you can pick up for around $50 each would be your cheapest way. A ProMariner ProTournament 300 would be your best way.

Most so called deep cycle batteries are not truely deep cycle, the are about 85% deep cycle and 15% cranking. The will actaully have more cranking amps than many of the straight cranking batteries. If a battery is a pure deep cycle, it will usually only have the AmpHour capacity on the label. If it have CCA, it's intended to be used as a cranking battery also. The big difference is they will only deliver that CCA for several seconds, which is more than enough to start most motors. If it's a hard to start motor, then they can get you in trouble by making the motor even harder to start or not start at all because they don't have the reserve CCA to maintain full voltage while the starter is spinning. AGM TM batteries will give you more CCA than almost any straight flooded cell cranking battery made to fit in the boat. Glenn, there is no way you could ever fish with me. I don't even listen to the radio in my vehicle and I dang sure ain't gonna listen to one while fishing. If a person turned on a radio in my boat, it would be a toss up on what hit the water first, them or their radio.

Plastic tanks do not develope condensation inside them like the old aluminum tanks. Since they don't conduct heat as efficiently as the metal tanks, the more gradual temperature changes inside them tend to cause significantly less of a condensation problem. As for storing a full tank of gas, I do just the opposite, I always pump any remaining gas out of my tank when I park the boat. I absolutely will not run gas that's more then six - eight weeks old, I don't care what kind of additive or stabalizer is in it. I also disconnect the input hose to the prime bulb and stick a short piece of fuel line on it. Every month or so, I use a small one gallon fuel container with about a 1/2 gallon of gas and one ounce of Sea Foam, put that piece of hose in it, crank the motor and run it until it has use most of the 1/2 gallon of gas. Doing this, there is no need to fogg, worry about carbs or DFI injectors getting gummed up. Since I lost my fishing partner last year, I haven't been doing much fishing so before I go, I pull the plugs out and clean the soot of them. Fichts will soot a plug after extended idleing and I may run it several times between trips. Fogging a motor depends on where you park it. If it's under a shed or in the garage, it's not needed. Where the problem really comes to bear is when the boat is parked so the morning sun hits it. On cool mornings, the sun raise the temp inside the cover very quickly, this causes huge amounts of condensation to develope inside the cover and the motor it's self will get soaking wet. Pull the cover off some cool/cold mornings after the sun has been shining on it for a 1/2 hour or so, you will think someone sprayed a water hose in there. This can eventually break down the oil film on the internal engine parts and cause rust in places you really, really, don't want it. For this reason, you should never, ever disconnect the fuel source and let the engine run out of gas. That leaves almost no oil film in the engine to protect it. When fishing a lot, I changed my LU oil twice a year, Now I just change it once this time of the year, matter of fact, I will be doing mine this weekend. I change water pumps every three years but I do that at the first of the spring season. Don't forget the trailer, the bearings need to checked/packed and axle seals replaced once a year, when you winterize is a good time to do that. Even running the oil filled hubs, it would be smart to reseal them and check the bearings each year. If running bulbs, it's smart to pop them out and put dielectric grease on them, and fill the connector with it. Then you have the boat, all water needs to be purged from the live wells, pumps and lines. If you cover the boat, the lids needs be proped open a few inches to keep the condensation for keeping everything in them from being soaked, this also helps keep the electric connnections in the console for corroding.

Glenn, Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you turning off the circuit breaker to you electrical system and not one that's disconnecting the cranking battery from the charger. Where the problem comes in is connecting and disconnecting from the cranking battery. The rectifier/regulator that charges the battery is always connected to the battery, turning the switch off or turning off the circuit breakers for the boat, does not disconnect it. Any time you connect something of a different potential (voltage) or something that's going to place a load on the battery, there is always going to be an arc. The peak voltage spike caused by this arc can be several hundred volts. As I mentioned, the capacitor affect of the battery will normally asorb this, but when the planets line up just right and the moon phase is right, that might not happen and that voltage plays havoc on your engine electronics. Usually it get the reg/rec at about $300 but can get into the ECM. You may connect jumper cables to it a dozen times and not bother a thing, but the 13th time and a few days later you find it's not charging, think back to when connected/disconnected the battery or jumper cables. The problem with using the motor to charge your battery is that can burn out the stator or reg/rec. The charging system in outboards is not very robust and is basically designed to replace what you used cranking the motor and running the electronics. Normally when someone has to jump a battery off, it's because it's no good. A bad battery usually will not charge to full potential but the charging system is going to keep on cranking power into it trying. It's not long before it finally overheats and again, the stator or reg/rec burns out. The charging system burning out because of a bad battery is very common in automobiles also. A bad battery can make just about any charging system to go up in smoke. I know I came on a little strong with my rebutal of the battery post but sooo many times I see people posting on here how you should run a deep cycle battery completely down and that's just totally wrong and causes damage to the battery. Also those that say it's best to charge one at 2 amps, that's not enough. Approx 10% of the batteries rated capacity is the recommended charge current. For a group 24 you can figure approx 80ah, group 27 105Ah and 30/31 120Ah. So, you would use 8 amps, 10 amps or 12 amps to charge them. Then you have somebody that says run it all the way down, and then crank a massive amount of charge current into it. That's a double whammy of being wrong. Discharged to 50% and recharged, you can get 400 - 500 cycles, (days of fishing) out of most good grades of deep cycle batteries and the battery is properly maintained. Improper use and charging practices, you may only get one season out of the same style battery. It's usually not the battery that dies, it's the owner that destroys it long before it's normal life expectancy.

Wow, Long Mike you're starting to sound like me. I was not going to get into that one because I figured I had stirred the pot enough with the battery. Even though, there is a hellavalot more danger to the engines electronics using a circuit breaker to connect and disconnect the cranking battery. Connecteding/disconnecting the cranking battery, the voltage spike generated has way more potential of wiping out electronic components than the onboard charger. That's one of the main points in having an onboard, to keep from having to connect and disconnect anything that could generated sparks. People don't realize, even though they are only dealing with a 12 volt battery, the spike generated can be hundreds of volts. The capactive affect of the battery will assorb much of it but sometimes it's in the wire being disconnected and not on the battery side, those create very expensive problems, blown requlator/rectifier is the most common but power packs and ECM's are not emune. One work of caution while on the subject, never, ever connect jumper cables to the cranking battery. If you're going to jump off another boat, use your TM batteries. If your cranking battery is down, and you use a TM battery to jump it off, you're taking a big chance. Charge the battery, don't jump it off or let you're engine electric system charge it. You can very easily blow the regulator of burn out the charging system trying to charge a dead/bad battery.

Well, I lied, so I am making one more post because a fully discharged 12V battery is a battery that down to approx 11.6 volts but should never really be brought below 12 volts. A little from just one of many info sights you can go and learn about batteries. Battery life is directly related to how deep the battery is cycled each time. If a battery is discharged to 50% every day, it will last about twice as long as if it is cycled to 80% DOD. If cycled only 10% DOD, it will last about 5 times as long as one cycled to 50%. Obviously, there are some practical limitations on this - you don't usually want to have a 5 ton pile of batteries sitting there just to reduce the DOD. The most practical number to use is 50% DOD on a regular basis. This does NOT mean you cannot go to 80% once in a while. It's just that when designing a system when you have some idea of the loads, you should figure on an average DOD of around 50% for the best storage vs cost factor. Also, there is an upper limit - a battery that is continually cycled 5% or less will usually not last as long as one cycled down 10%. This happens because at very shallow cycles, the Lead Dioxide tends to build up in clumps on the the positive plates rather in an even film. The graph above shows how lifespan is affected by depth of discharge. The chart is for a Concorde Lifeline battery, but all lead-acid batteries will be similar in the shape of the curve, although the number of cycles will vary. Back to top Battery Voltages All Lead-Acid batteries supply about 2.14 volts per cell (12.6 to 12.8 for a 12 volt battery) when fully charged. Batteries that are stored for long periods will eventually lose all their charge. This "leakage" or self discharge varies considerably with battery type, age, & temperature. It can range from about 1% to 15% per month. Generally, new AGM batteries have the lowest, and old industrial (Lead-Antimony plates) are the highest. In systems that are continually connected to some type charging source, whether it is solar, wind, or an AC powered charger this is seldom a problem. However, one of the biggest killers of batteries is sitting stored in a partly discharged state for a few months. A "float" charge should be maintained on the batteries even if they are not used (or, especially if they are not used). Even most "dry charged" batteries (those sold without electrolyte so they can be shipped more easily, with acid added later) will deteriorate over time. Max storage life on those is about 2-3 years. Batteries self-discharge faster at higher temperatures. Lifespan can also be seriously reduced at higher temperatures - most manufacturers state this as a 50% loss in life for every 15 degrees F over a 77 degree cell temperature. Lifespan is increased at the same rate if below 77 degrees, but capacity is reduced. This tends to even out in most systems - they will spend part of their life at higher temperatures, and part at lower. Myth: The old myth about not storing batteries on concrete floors is just that - a myth. This old story has been around for 100 years, and originated back when battery cases were made up of wood and asphalt. The acid would leak from them, and form a slow-discharging circuit through the now acid-soaked and conductive floor. State of Charge State of charge, or conversely, the depth of discharge (DOD) can be determined by measuring the voltage and/or the specific gravity of the acid with a hydrometer. This will NOT tell you how good (capacity in AH) the battery condition is - only a sustained load test can do that. Voltage on a fully charged battery will read 2.12 to 2.15 volts per cell, or 12.7 volts for a 12 volt battery. At 50% the reading will be 2.03 VPC (Volts Per Cell), and at 0% will be 1.75 VPC or less. Specific gravity will be about 1.265 for a fully charged cell, and 1.13 or less for a totally discharged cell. This can vary with battery types and brands somewhat - when you buy new batteries you should charge them up and let them sit for a while, then take a reference measurement. Many batteries are sealed, and hydrometer reading cannot be taken, so you must rely on voltage. Hydrometer readings may not tell the whole story, as it takes a while for the acid to get mixed up in wet cells. If measured right after charging, you might see 1.27 at the top of the cell, even though it is much less at the bottom. This does not apply to gelled or AGM batteries.

I'm gonna really tick somebody off big time but I get sick and tired of reading post by the different "IDIOTS" that say deep drain a deep cycle battery, run your trolling motor until it quits. You DO NOT fully discharge deep cycle batteries. Doing so greatly shortens the life and is actually doing damage to the battery. Those that think that, and those that think you should charge one at 2 amps need to do a little research and get yourself educated so you can make "educated statements" and not what you think is right. Too many people read these post to be giving "Totally Bad" info. You can come back with all the hype you want, I will not respond again, but let's see if you can find on statement from a battery company of other reliable source that say's otherwise. Maybe you can learn something about batteries trying to find one.

Not me! Those are two year batteries if you use them very much. Trojan or Deka's. If your onboard charger will do AGM look at the Deka group 31. They usually give you 5 - 6 years of fairly regular use. Trojan SSC225 are very good flooded cell batteries. Trojan is also a good battery but I get Deka's wholesale and they are just as good if not a little better. If you gave me a Optima, I would use it as a trade-in for a Deka or Trojan.

Fishbone, You are right about batteries have a cycle count but you are way out in left field about how it works. If you deep discharge a battery down to 20% charge, you may get 150 - 200 cycles. If you only disharge it to 50% you may 300 cycles, at 75% you will get even more cycles. It's recommend not to recharge one with more than 90% or more charge but I'm like Catt, I ain't going out without a battery that's 100% charged if I can help it. You should never discharge a battery below 30% charge. Doing so causes plate damage in the battery. Also, your amost right on degassing. Degassing is caused by a state of over charge, which to fully charge a battery, it needs to be overcharged by 6%. That's why those cheap automatic chargers just cause a battery to die a slow death. They don't have the capability to hold a battery at full charge for the extra time it takes to overcharge one so they never fully charge the battery. During the charge cycle, small bubbles are being developed, too low of a charge current and these bubbles are to small and too few to keep the electrolite mixed. This will also be my last reply on this post because I see where it's heading and I'm not getting into it.

A battery should be charged at approx 10% of it's rated capacity. 2 amps is way to slow of a charge rate for any group 27 battery and is actually harmful to the battery. When charging, the battery needs enough current to develope enough bubbles to keep it from stratifying and periodically needs enough charge current to cause some degassing to equalize it.

Depending on the Amp hour capacity, and how far it's discharged. 105 Ah battery discharged to 25%, it will take your 4 amp charger 20 hours to charge it back. With that said, that is way too small of a charger for those batteries. You need at least a 10 amp per bank charger to properly charge that size battery.

Your best bet would be to go here http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=20 There on guys on there that can tell you anything you need to know about mercs. I'm not a black motor man. I'm not sure if a 97 powerhead will fit on a 93 LU or not. Even if it will, you still have the same problem with corroded bolts. If the drive shaft is stuck in the crank like they are subject to do, you may not get the powerhead off. I would pick the guys on S&F's brains. The other problem is the water passages in salt water motors get blocked, that's why I mentioned cooling problems.

That old of a saltwater motor, you are asking for some very expensive problems. First, it's a good chance you will have cooling problems, even though it runs fine. When it comes time to do any kind of repairs, the corrosion is going to cause screw, nuts/bolts not to come out, break off and very time consunsuming to get them out. Sometimes it requires a new part because at $100 per hour, it's cheaper. Matter of fact, it's a good chance you can't even get the lower unit off to change the water pump. It's very common for the drive shaft to be rusted into the crankshaft if they didn't do regular changes on the water pump. I could go on and on but basically, I wouldn't touch if with a 10ft pole.

I like Lowrance electronics but I've never had one (and have probably had a dozen or more) or one of their Eagles that did not fog some on the inside when the sun hit them on cool mornings after they were about a year old

It's the software, not the computer that may be different but all versions of the software read all the basic info, like hours. It even breaks the hours down to what percent of the hours were spent in the different rpm ranges. The ECM tracks the hours, the software only down loads them, if the ECM has 300 hours, it's going to show 300 hours no matter what version or computer is hooked to it. What they may have done it put a used ECM on it from another motor, thinking that might have caused it to blow, which is a good possibility. The early Evirude ficht's and rams have had a huge number of upgrades done on them over the years but those are not something the dealer does. The only time you get the latest upgrades is when you either send yours off and have them done yourself or buy a new one. It's not something they do a recall on or do for free. Usually, Only major safety issues get a manufactors update or recall. I'm pretty sure a lawyer is going to be you're only recourse and unless you have all that in writing, so it's not a battle of who's telling the truth, I doubt you're gonna come out a very happy Evinrude owner.

Run Penzoil full synthetic and don't worry about it. I only run the manufactors recommended oil in DFI motors but in my carburated and hot rod motors I've been running Penzoil synthetic for years.

With the motor trimmed out and with the motor at wide open throttle (WOT) where you're getting max speed and not cavitating the prop, you want close to 6,000 rpm with you normal load. It's not going to hurt for it tor turn 6,100 running with a light load. Bigger props don't mean more speed. You can actually run slower because it can pull the engine down below the peak horse power curve. I don't know anything about Merc props so I can't say what a tempest will do for you. Adding the jackplate first will help get the bow up so you need to do that before you do anything about changing props. It can all change if you mess with props first then add the jackplate. The shooter is also not a very good prop for that boat. It gives you almost no bow lift. You need a high rake prop to help get the nose up. That's why a Raker that has been custom tuned works so good. They can give you the bow lift and tune some sturn lift into them to help get the hull up and flying.

The engine mounts have been standardized for many years so you want have a problem there. All you do is unbolt the four bolts holding the engine on (which happens to weigh a little over 500 pounds) and move the engine over/back to make room for the jackplate. Usually the same bolts holding the engine will hold the jack plate. Be sure to install them with plenty of 3-M 5200 silicon sealant on both sides. Then you bolt the the motor to the jackplate using a good grade Stainless steel bolt/nuts and washers. I recommend using self locking nuts. You will also want to do the steering cables at this time because they usually won't slide out of the motor with the motor attached to be boat. Your cables probably will not reach an eight inch plate either. Sometimes you can get a six inch plate on without new cables but I've never know of anyone to get any more than that. To install a Mercury prop on a Johnson, you will need to get one of the newer ones with the hub kit or drill the center of the splines on the older ones. DO NOT go to big on the prop. Those motors like 6,000 rpm at WOT, you don't want to load it. I would turn 6,100 before I would only turn 5,700. I prefer a Raker prop that has been tuned on them. The old raker that has had Bob Liptons hands rubed on it are mighty hard to beat. Rich Boger is another good tunner but he is proud of his work and I have never seen a noticable difference in performance between the two. I have spent many hours fishing the Chickahominy. Forgot to mention, to lift the engine you use a lifting ring attached to the flywheel. It's easy to make one using a small piece of steel plate. Drill three hole that match the pattern in the center of the flywheel and weld a heavy steel ring in the center or a very large washer. Use 5/16 SAE bolts but be very sure they are not too long, only about 3/4", inch should screw into the flywheel. Too long and they will go all the way through and screw up your stator. A very expsensive lesson to learn the hard way.

If the transome is good, you're not going to over power it, no matter what motor you put on it. It's your state laws and tournament rules that will get you in trouble when over powering it. Some states are very strick about it. Here in GA, it it fits, run it. I have a tendency to tell it like it is, which rubs some people the wrong way and I got tired of the BS mail I kept getting so I turned of my PM's. The best way to get the power and keep it legal is to put a 225 HO on it. That's a 250 powerhead with 225 decals. The second option would be to have yours ported. I've never built a motor without finger ports but the finger ported motors will give approx 300 hp and still have a very strong hole shot. I don't normally build motors for other people but I have done two for friends. The last one dino'd 326 hp at 6,300 rpm and made 302 lbs of torque at 5,500 but it had MAD EFI fuel injection. The 94 carburated motor I did for frinds 201 dino'd 296 hp at 6,100 and made 292 pounds of torque at 5,500. If and when you get serious about wanting to go into it, talk to Gordon at Monty's racing. He is fairly reasonable on his different packages. As for 10" jackplates, Detwiler is a good one, Rite Hite is another one. Keep you eye's open and you can run across good deals on used mechanical ones for as little as $125 - $150. However, steering cables are gonna cost you approx $150 each and you install. You have 13' cables and you will need to go to 14'. If I'm reading your location right, Costa Rica, I guess you don't have to worry about state laws. One word of advise, don't run it without the air box on the front of the carbs, it WILL melt pistons. The box is restrictive and if you remove it or take the baffle out, you will need to increase the size of your main jets about 10 sizes.

When you get like most that own 201's with 200's and start wanting more speed, the first thing you need to do is add a 10" jackplate. This will require changning steering cables and for what that cost, it would be a great time to add hydraulic steering. For motor mod's, you missed by one year on the better block to mod. The 92 was the first year for closed deck motors and they did not have finger ports (these make a big difference in power), 93 and later were finger ported motors. The intakes and carbs on the 92 have to be changed out also. The pre 96 carbs are very sensitive to trim angle when idling. Keep the motor trimmed level with the water while idleing and it will idle much better. The 91 - 95 intakes are totally non performance so they would need to be swapped out for the 96 or later intakes. What all this means is, if you find yourself a set of intakes and carbs off a 96 or later 225 hp motor, you will gain about 35 hp. Do this and add the jackplate and it will run 68 - 70 mph. To get anymore speed than this will require a complete tear down and porting, which your block is not the best for that. I did a 94 200 for a friends 94 201 that turns a modified 26" raker 6,500 rpm and runs 78 with two people and full live well. However, if you get thought's for something like that, figure on sending the motor to Monty's racing and spending a bunch of money. So, 68 - 70 mph is carbs, intakes and jackplate (requires new steering cables), anything more is expensive.

It would be kinda dumb not to take the drive shaft out, replace the upper seal and check that bearing after spending bunches of money on the other parts. If everything is good on it, the only thing you have to worry about is that retainer holding the top bearing. You will need the jig to see if it's warped or not, if it it's, that's over $100, and they usually are. I sure would have to spend a bunch of money and then do it half**s and have it tear up again real soon. Now I'm not looking at a manual because I don't have any on those small motors. I'm just going by past experiences with my stuff so your's may be different. that's why I say, you might want to look for a good used one. They get very expensive real quick when you start buying hard parts.

If it's not a wear surface and it didn't eat a hole all the way through, ain't gonna hurt a thing. If it did punch through, a good TIG welder can patch it. If you do repair it, you will want to seal it up and pressure checking it before putting it back in the water. Just to make sure there are no small holes or cracks that made it all the way through to the outside.