Way2slow

I pack trailer wheel bearings, change lower unit oil, grease any fittings on motor, clean all battery cable connectors and give all hoses and wiring a good inspection, and change fuel filters every fall. Since I fish pretty much year round, I don't fully winterize my boat but do most of the stuff you should do to winterize it. I change the LU oil again in the spring (because I use it a lot during the winter also) clean battery cable connectors, grease fittings and do visual inspection and change fuel filters. If my boat was going to sit for a few months, I would pump out any gas in the tank, drain/purge fuel from carbs and lines. I replace my water pump impeller every three or four years. There are a number of other things you do as the start to show signs of degrading like trailer bunks and winch strap.

I have a 17 1/2" neck and 44" chest, I use the Sospenders World Class 38 Series Long model and barely notice I have it on. I've been using mine about two years but I don't remember it ever giving me a problem.

I would just leave it alone, it's not going to bother anything. Who know, you may want to use it one day, cut it off and sometimes they can be hard to replace

You will probably find your speedometer doesn't work unless someone installed a pickup on the hull. That's the speedo pickup built into the LU but sometime they get plugged and people install a pickup. If they didn't add a pickup, you should find the other end at the back of the boat somewhere.

For someone with the tools and skills, it's very easy to make a 2.5, 150, a 225 or anything else you want. The motor does have to be torn down and when you start getting much over 225 hp, you start cranking up the rpm, that means much shorter ring life. Then someone with the know how goes in with a die grinder and cleans up all the crap the factory casting leaves behind and change to port heights and sizes to that of a 225. I don't do mercs but I'm pretty sure the 225 has bigger reed blocks so they have to be changed, which also means changing a lot of other stuff in the front. Since I'm an OMC guy and can do just about anything with them, I would suggest going here http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=20. There are guys on there that can tell you anything you could ever want to know about mercs. Nothing you do is going to make a noticeable difference in weight.

Not exactly true. My hot rod motor is probably a whole lot more reliable that any stock motor and until I start feeding all 324 of those ponies, it gets a whole lot better fuel mileage than any stock 225 Johnson could ever hope to get. Cruising at 45 mph, I get five miles per gallon pushing a 20 ft Javelin DC Renegade, that's almost as good as my 225 DFI motor gets. Properly modified, the motor is a whole lot more efficient, makes a lot more power on the same amount of fuel, and the parts that most commonly break are modified so they don't break. For instance, a common problem with two stroke motors is the ring locator pins coming out and making the motor go bang. Mine are top pined and welded so that can't happen. It's not ported to turn huge rpm's so ring life is just as good as a stock motor. Now, as for a "Stroked" mercury motor, there ain't no such thing, somebody is feeding somebody else to BS. Mercury makes a 2.0, a 2.4, a 2.5 and a 3.0 V-6. Any stroking that can be done to these motors is minimal and that would have to be done by a custom built rotating assembly and know of no one doing that. More Horse power from a mecury comes from porting, bigger reed cages and front section. None of this is going to make the motor weigh any less either. Now, if you XR6 is a 2.5, 150, it can be ported to 300 specs, reeds, intakes and carbs, and front half from a 300 installed and basically have yourself a iron sleeved 300. All you have to do is turn it 7,500+ rpm's like the 300 and replace the rings every 100 hours or so.

If you hate getting beat, go ahead and put you a 260 on it. You still may get beat but only by a few. I can put my 324hp hot rod motor on my Javelin, run 83 mph with two people and gear and still get beat, so don't thing you're not gonna always have one faster. Granted, when I'm running in the 80's ain't many bass boats gonna come by me but it has happened. Even had the game wardens staying right behind me one time. He just wanted to know what I had done to make a boat that big run that d**n fast with a Venom 225 on it, (he was running a Triad with a 225). Told him it was all in the setup, of course the extra 100 hp from the motor helped.

Right now, I would not going any more on the prop pitch, it will probably slow you down, and for sure load the crap out of your motor, and two stroke motors don't like being run loaded down, they live a much longer and happier life being able to spin at near their max recommenced rpm. Stock, Non DFI motors, I will actually spin 100-200 rpm over max before I would spin one 300 - 400 under at WOT. It's not hurting the motor, it's just getting above the power band it's ported for so you don't really accomplish anything doing it. Once you get a jackplate and get your motor up so it's 3" or so below the pad ("the prop shaft" and that's determinded by the prop and hull) will want to try different type's of prop. Some hulls like a lot of bow lift, some not so much and some need a little stern lift with bow lift. You will need to hook up with friends that run black motors that might have different props, no way will you want to buy all the different props you might want to try. When you start getting close on your setup and the speed has increased, you may need to go up one pitch size on the type prop that's giving you the most to get you back down to the recommend max on your motor, but not until then. Also beware, when you get the hull up and flying like it should be, there is a good chance you're going to find out what the phrase "chine walk" is. ONE NOTE: Don't waste you time trying anything aluminum.

It would be nice if it was that simple but it's a whole lot more involved than just sticking on a different prop. First off, you want to prop it so it's turning the factory recommended rpm with you normal load. Just changing the pitch of the prop is probably not going to do a thing for top end, other than load the motor down more. There is a lot you can do with setup and trying different types of props. The first and formost item that is essintial in dialing one in is a jack plate. A 6" hydraulic would make it a whole lot easier but a manual works just fine, you just have to keep adjusting it until you find the sweet spot. You also need a working water pressure guage to make sure you don't get too high with the motor. Different style props make a huge difference in how the boat motor combination run through the water. Some give huge bow lift, some give bow and stern lift, some give very little bow lift. This is because different hulls need different things to get optimal performance. It's all just finding the right amount of setback, the right prop shaft height, and the right prop for your boat/motor combination. It's a lot of work.

distilled water "ONLY"

The motor does not have an alternator per say. The charging system on a 89, 60 consist of the stator and rectifier. I does not have a voltage regulator so it's very possible it could be showing over 16 volts. A lot has to do with the condition of the battery and the batteries state of charge. A battery that is on it's last leg or one that's fully charged will not load the charging system so without a regulator the voltages can run high. Dirty/bad connections will also cause high readings. I would also have to question the accuracy of the sonar's voltage reading if you say it show's 13.4 volts when the motor is off, unless you are refering to when you have just shut the motor off. It's not possible for a battery to hold that high of a voltage for a prelonged period, so after 24 hours, the battery should only show 12.6 - 12.8 volts, depending on the make of battery and condition.

You should never run a battery below 30% charge. Deep drains on the battery greatly shortens it's life. The average battery gives say, 200 cycles when run down to 30% may give 500 cycles when only discharged to 50%. Now, these are only examples so don't get real picky about the numbers. Run one all the way down to zero, it may not give 100 cycles. A cycle is a discharge and recharge. You want to maintain enough current going through the battery for bubbles to form in the electrolite. The rising bubbles keep the electrolite mixed so the acid can't concentrate in the bottom and only have water in the top (stratification). That's why it's important not to use a low amperage like the 2 amps many seem to think is best. No regular charger is going to get rid of sulphation, don't care what amperage you use or how long you charge it. Some of the high frequency chargers will. I know the Battery Minder will because I've been using them for several years and have reclaimed a number of batteries. I seldom use my van and the battery in it had gotten down to 430 CCA from just sitting. After six weeks on a Battery Minder Plus, it's back up to 780 CCA.

He uses the lowest amps because he doesn't know that's not good for the battery and can lead to stratification, which seriously damages the cells. The battery should be charged at 10% of it's rated amp hour capacity. That's approx 8 amps for most group 24's, 10 amps for 27's and 12 amps for 30/31's. You must maintain proper water level and only add water after the battery has been fully charged, unless it's below the cells, then add just enough to cover the cells to charge the battery. As for bringing a battery that appears to be on it's last leg back. Depends on what's wrong with it. If the cells are deteriated from stratification, deep discharges, overcharging or lack of water, they are pretty much junk. If the cells are sulphated from letting it sit in a discharged state, a high frequency conditioner/maintainer like the Battery Minder can restore it back to it's full potential but it will take a month or two. If I was going to try and run only one battery, I would get the Trojan SCC 225. You will want a group 30/31 battery that has 120 - 130 amp hour capacity. Bear in mind, this is going to be one heavy *ss battery. Don't waste your money on Optima's or most other AGM batteries, they will not give you anywhere near the runtime a good flooded cell battery gives. No matter what battery you get, you WILL NOT be able to use you high speed settings on the TM and expect the battery to last all day, don't care what size TM you plan to use. If you get one of the digital TM's (with fully variable speed control) they will give you a hellava lot more run time at partial speed settings than the TM's that have a set number of speed settings.

I would seal the wood completely with resin and not worry too much about trying to glue it to the aluminum. Unless you use some type of epoxy that's made to stick to aluminum, like Marine-Tex, I doubt you will get a long lasting bond anyway.

The 20 is a totally different powerhead, it's the same as the 25, so NO, you can't easily make your 15 at twenty. The 9.9 and the 15 are the same powerheads so it was fairly easy to convert the 9.9 to a 15 by simply changing the intake and carburator By the way, this is the same reply I would have given you on S&F. It is very common for manufactors to limit horse power by simply installing a smaller/larger carburator or by using different programming in the ECU on the new motors. For instance, for many years the only difference a 200 hp and 225 hp, three litre OMC has been the carbs. On the 3.3 DFI motors, most of those are just programmed to make the hp the want.

Like WP said, drop it down so the center of the Xducer is even with the bottom of the hull. Also make sure it pointed straight to the front and as mentioned, drop the back to add a one or two degree tilt. It should then give you depth readings at just about any speed your boat will run. When you mounted it way out on the hull, you put it over one of those hooks Stratos built into your boat to help it get on plan and keep it from porposing, no way it would have worked out there. Probably also had it lifted out of the water way out there also.

Don't look at CCA, means absolutely nothing to your trolling motor. Look at the amp hour capacity, it the Dual purpose does not have the Ah capacity, look at the reserve minutes. I think you will find the Dual purpose to only be 160 minutes and the trolling 205 minutes. That could give you almost another hour fishing time if just easing around.

If you had used this, http://www.dap.com/product_details.aspx?product_id=35, it would have made your life a hellavalot simpler. Also, I hope you cut everything on the same grain. If not, it can make your carpet look two-toned, depending on how the light hits it.

The recommended charge rate depends on the size deep cycle battery. The approximate charge rates for the typical group 24 will charge at eight amps, a group 27 will charge at 10 amps and a group 30/31 will charge at 12 amps. The only time you would use two amps is when charging your little lawn/garden battery. I would never leave you're standard Automatic charger connected to a battery once it has reached full charge and cut off, don't care whose brand it is. Doing this is only going to fry your battery in most cases. Your best chargers will have a micro-processor controlled system that charges in three phases, fast, absortion and float with a float voltage of 13.2 - 13.6 volts. They will also be selectable for battery type. Most of these chargers you can leave connected 24/7. Some of the cheaper ones are not real accurate on their float voltage so I would check it after 24 hours the first time and make sure it's not above the battery manufactors recommended maintenance voltage, which does vary by manufactor and type battery.

The specific gravity of a good, fully charged battery can be 1.260 to 1.300, depending on the make of battery and what electrolite they used. All cells should also read very close to the same. If the battery does not have caps, you need to fully charge it, let it sit for 24 hours after charging and then have it checked at a local parts store or battery dealer that has a Midtronics tester and load tester If the motor is gradually slowing down, I would look at the battery. If the motor is just cutting off, I would replace the circuit breaker with a 45 - 50 amp breaker and make sure all connections are clean and tight.

The nearest dealer. You can also do an online search. A number of places, including ebay sell manuals, I've bought several for $15 for older motors. The OEM manuals are best but you can always get a Clymer that covers that model, they are better than nothing.

You have to leave it so there is a very slight movement. Get it too tight and there is no room for a grease film that protects from metal on metal contact. As mentioned a little too loose and it will still run a long time, a little too tight and they will overheat and burn out in no time.

WAAS works much better in the deep southern states. It's going to be hit/miss the further inland you get. With my old gps, I was lucky if I could find come back to within 50 feet of my waypoint. I can usually get within a few feet of my WAAS unit.

Just depends on what you plug into the acc plug. You are proabably pulling no more than 10 amps with lights on and everything going right now, but a 100W spot light with everything else going would probably trip the breaker.

Normally aspirated four strokes can't come close to being the same weight or produce the same torque as the same HP two stroke.