Way2slow

The ONE YOU BUY. Another "The Best" poles. If you realy think about it, there is no such thing. Everybody likes to think they bought the best, and probably is for what they wanted when you look at the price and their needs. You're gonna have those that think the Dual Pro, MinnKotta, Guest and so on. While they are all good chargers, they are still old technology. Then you're going to have the more informed that like the ProMariner Pro Tournament 300. I'm one of those. Yep, gonna get slammed by the Dual Pro guys but hey, won't be the first or last time. I took a Dual Pro two bank out five years ago when I upgraded to the PT-300 and it beats the Dual Pro in every way you can think to compare them. Unless you want to compare which one takes the longest, then the Dual Pro wins, hands down. Then you're going to have those that go for the Stealth but it has limited versatility and is not a three bank. Oh, I guess I should mention one plus for the Dual Pro is it is Made In the USA and the PM PT300 is made in China. As for customer support, I wouldn't rate one any better than the other, they are both great. I've had a Dual Pro go bad and had another the next day. I've had a PM go bad and same thing, I had another the next day. Both with no questions asked.

DINKY

Group 24 is a very common battery. You can get the rectangle holders that sit on top and long j bolts going down to the tray. You can also cut slits in the tray and use heavy duty, 1" wide nylon strap to go around each one and a short 1/4" bolt/nut through both ends on top of the battery to hold them. That's how I do mine. I fastened group 27 trays to the floor of the battery compartment with the straps under them and pull them over the batteries and bolt the ends together. It's been airborn over some better big waves and wakes bunches of times and they've always stayed right there.

If the base of the new motor covers them up, don't worry about them. As mentioned, I would try to reuse any that might fit. A couple of hints I will pass on. I would not spend the money for those TM bounting bolts that requires you to drill a huge hole for each one and have the rubber base that compresses into that huge hole. I've never had a set of those hold up, and the motor is constantly getting loose. I drill 1/4" holes and use 1/4" brass or stainless bolts with self locking stainless nuts and washers on the under side. Make sure the base is level/squared off on the mounting surface, this usually requires using stainless washers as shims between the mount and the boat. If it's not level and one corner pulls down more than the others, even just a little, it can make getting it to release a real pain or you will have to pull extra hard on the rope to get it too release.

If you're going to persue this, I would have a certified mechanic pull the heads off and look at the pistons/sleeves and see if the pistons were even replaced and the sleeves bored. You mentioned you saw scratches in the sleeves and I've heard of others that got their motors back and they were never even bored. I don't do black motors but I would think they have the oversize diameter in the dome the same as most others. However that's not a true indication he installed new piston, I've seen post of people getting their motors back with used pistons in them. The guy is a crook, plain and simple, how he has kept this up this long is beyound imagination. He must be a pretty good one also because no one has brought him down yet. His first statement is always if they had a problem, they've never given him ample opertunity to correct the problem If the invoice says "Remanufactored" power head, that normally means all six cylinders have be resized, all new pistons and rings, crankshaft checked/replaced and rods checked/replaced if needed, all new bearings, crank seal rings and gaskets. That's expensive and that's why reman'd powerhead cost so much. One guy said he sent his motor off to them, got it back as reman'd and all they did was replace the rings.

An old used boat that would probably cost another 1K to make usable. An older used aluminum or jon boat with 9.9 - 25 hp motor. If you could find someone in your area that has one like I have that they would just like to get out of their yard, you could find a 15' Fisher aluminum with a 48hp Evinrude, trailer, console steering, two casting decks and two running seats and good bow mounted TM. All for $1,000 and I've got almost $2,000 in it and haven't had it in the water in over two years.

First off, a 3/8" drive in anything is going to be too small. As a minimum you need a good, long 1/2" drive breaker bar and a good six point socket, possibly a short extension but none of this made in China stuff. If just the breaker bar won't break them, put a 3' section of pipe on it so you can get serious. If it's where you can tow it, just take it to a tire shop and let them put their impact on it. My IR will take them off with no problems, they are either going to screw off it break off, but they will come off.

Dang, after all these years people are still falling for BlackBirds power heads. Over the years, every boating site you go to have always been full of the horror stories about dealing with Blackbird Ind. Some of the bigger sites won't even let him post on them, I guess that's why he moved to ebay. I didn't even know he could still find enough unknowing people to sucker in to still be in business. Sorry to hear about your dealings. That's why I always say when dealing with stangers you had better do your homework.

Aspirin is not going to do anything for it. There are a couple of causes of your problem. The first is just the battery went bad, that does happen to even brand new batteries. Second, you ruined the battery by not properly maintaining it. This could have been from not fully charging it within 12/24 hours after use. Charging it at too low/too high of a charge rate. Not keeping it charged when not in use for more than a month. Running it down too far before recharging it. Not keeping the proper battery water level Over charging, charging a too high a rate starts cooking the battery, and letting the cells get dry all cause the plates to deteriate. Charging one at too low of a charge rate causes one to stratify, acid and water seperate, letting acid eat up lower half of plates. Letting one sit discharged lets the plates sulphate so they can not pass electrons. About the only one there is any hope of salvaging the battery is sulphation. You can get a 1 amp BatteryMinder Plus maintainer/conditioner and connect it to the battery. After a few weeks you will start seeing an improvement and after six to eight weeks the battery will be back to full capacity. They are a wise investment anyway because you can charge the battery and then put the BatteryMinder on it and forget it until the next time you're ready to go. Another thing that shortens a batteries life are cheap chargers, like those automatic things everbody sells and seem to use. You should never charge a battery at more than 14.6 volts and those cheap chargers can be hitting over 16 volts. A good three stage or four stage microproccesor charger are well worth the few extra bucks.

If it's over four - five years old, I would put a water pump inpeller in it. Check/change lower unit lube. If it has a built in tank and had old gas in it, it's probably gummed up with shelac and you will need to clean that out. If remote tank, you will need to check/clean it. If it's shelac'd up, place a couple of handfulls of small rocks/large gravel in it with a quart of denatured alcohol and just keep shaking if until it's all cut loose, then pour it out and rinse it with a little fresh gas or alcohol. There is a good chance the carb and fuel pump are going to need cleaning/rebuilt. The whole fuel system will need to be flushed for sure.

Manuals ;D ;D ;D They were one of the top boats in their day. Any boat that old, I would be sure to check that transome good. Transome and floor rot would be your main concerns. Rotted floors also usually mean rotted stringers.

First off, not sure which hull your looking at but I'm pretty sure they were all modV hulls (Vhull with tunnels down both sides). They are very fast and rather light weight. They are also very weight sensitive. A friend of mine had a 20VT and with a motor I built to put out 312 hp, his ran 93 mph. As for the cap being glassed on or not, I'm sure it's going to be glass across the transome and probably to the floor but back then most boat's caps were screw on under the rub rail. They a primarly built to go FAST, they are not the strongest and best fishing platform you will ever own. Just sitting in the water, they look very similar to a Bullet but with the Mod-V hull, you don't have to worry about chine walk, like with the Bullet. I will say this, if it was a 19 or 20 ft, even if it needs a transome and the price is right, I would have been interested. Being from TN, you could probably check with C and O Marine, http://www.candomarine.com/ they can probably tell you whats involved in getting the cap off.

Keeping the tank filled is a left over from the old aluminum tanks. I try to only buy why I'm going to burn that trip. My boat has a 48 gallon tank and there is no way I want to try and dispose of that much gas. Like I mentioned before, since I'm not going every other weekend like I was before my Dad died, I pump mine out as soon as I get home and put it in one of my vehicles. Now, I will say this motor is a 99 225 Ficht and they are very critical about trying to run old gas, it will cause an injector to slow down, lean out and burn a piston. I even disconnect my fuel line and connect a small portable tank with no more than a gallon or so of fresh gas with seafoam and I run the motor on the hose or in the tank every couple of weeks when It's going to sit. Check with most any parts store, they should have SeaFoam. I bought 10 cases a couple of years ago for $2.90 a can and still have a few cases left so I haven't bought any recently to say what it cost a can now. As for water in the fuel, more than likely you got that out of the gas pump you bought fuel. With the alcohol in fuels today, it holds water and assorbs water as it's agitates it in the ground tank. You buy it and it sits in you boat tank without being aggitated, it settles to the bottom of you fuel tank. It also desolves the old shelac build up in the tank and fuel system and passes that into your carbs. I would recommend getting a fuel/water seperator and filter and install in your boat and change the filter a couple of times a year.

The only way you're going to find out how they are constructed is stick with a quality name brand like Interstate, Deka, Trojan, etc and go to their web sites and check them out. Deka make a lot of different batteries but only publish their brand specs, same with Johnson Contols and US battery.

First, you need to compare apples to apples. Make sure they are all the same group size 24, 27, 29, etc (the same size case) Nexty make sure they are the same amp hour capacity. If not true deep cycle they may not have the Ah capacity so make sure they have the same CCA/ CA/MCA and the same reserve minutes capacity. These things will at least let you see if your looking at similar batteries as far as capacity goes. The type plates they use also play a big role in the cost and type battery it truely is. Calcium plates are common in good cranking batteries, Lead Antimony are common in good Deep cycle. Hybrid plates are common in cheaper batteries but deliver basically the same capacity but won't have the life span of a better battery. Whether or not they are hybrids, you have no real way of knowing without being able to find the actual specs. There are only four state side battery manufactors and it's a good chance some of these batteries came out of the same plant, but doesn't mean they were built with their highest quality plates and components.

Marine Starting Service When a battery is called upon to deliver several hundredamps of power to the starting motor, the battery must be able to deliver this power quickly...within a few seconds. This power comes off of the surface of the plates inside the battery. Therefore, a battery with more plate surface area and less resistance will deliver power quicker than one with less plate surface and high resistance. That's why starting batteries are made with thinner plates...because you only use the power off the surface of the plates for starting the engine. Deep Cycle Service A deep cycle battery is called upon to deliver a long, slow discharge of fewer amps...for several minutes or hours...in a deep cycle application, such as running a trolling motor or heavy marine accessory load (e.g. depth finders, fish finders, radios, radar, lights, coolers, house power, etc.). In this case, the power comes from deep within the plates, not merely off the surface as in starting. Therefore, deep cycle batteries are specially engineered with heavier, thicker plates with fiberglass reinforcement, special power-producing active material and special heavy-duty separators. With these features, the battery can withstand the potentially damaging effects of continual deep discharge and recharge. The unreinforced, thinner plates of a starting battery cannot handle this constant deep cycling, and will fail in short order. Dual Purpose Deep Cycle/Starting Service Dual purpose batteries are ideal for applications that require starting and deep cycle service. They deliver powerful cranking amperage for easy starting, and low amp draw service for reliable auxiliary power. Dual purpose batteries are a perfect compromise between the unique demands of starting service and deep cycling, low amp draw service.

I guess in all my talking about fixing the problem I should have mentioned the main cause of blow power packs. First I will say, OMC power packs are not exactly the most reliable thing ever built and do just flat go bad on their own but most of the time it's messing around with the battery that gets them. Loose battery connections, connecting/disconnecting the battery when the switch or something is on to cause and arc. Connecting/disconneting a battery charger, or connecting/disconnecting jumper cables that cause an arc. I scares the crap out of me everytime I have to mess with my cranking battery because my on board charger charger causes a small arc (because the capacitors in it have to charge). When I installed it a couple of years ago and connected it to the cranking battery the first time, my butt like to have choked me to death I pinched up so tight when it gave that little arc. You see, my power pack is over $1,000. Since then, when I disconnect it to clean the terminals or do anything with the electrical system, I connect it to another equally charged battery with jumper wires to charge the capacitors then connect it to my cranking battery. You may arc one a dozen times and never have a problem, then have that 13th time cost you big time.

That is where you're going to be at the mercy of the repair shop. If they don't keep a good used pack around, they are going to install new ones and HOPE that's the problem and they won't take them back off. If that doesn't do it, they are probably going to try a new stator/timer base, and say they are what took the power packs out so they had to replace everything. I've known a couple of people that have gone through this, and have the dealer say, the key switch was a going bad/acting up so we went ahead and replaced that for you while we had it, and the key switch was the only problem with the whole thing, and not bat and eye when they hand them their bill for $1,200 Like I said before, if I had to take a blind guess, it would be the power packs. That's the highest percentage failure on the ignition system. If I had it where I could check it, then I would first make sure the kill wires didn't have it shut down, thin the timer base and charge coils checked OK by meter. In a shop's defense also, I've seen many components check good with a meter, but still kick your butt trouble shooting. There is no way a meter can load them the way the ignition system does so the only final test is to replace it and almost no shop will install an ignition/electrical part and then take it back off to put it back in inventory. I would also suggest that if you don't know how to replace the water pump impeller, and it hasn't been replace and the past four years, you have them replace it while it's there. As for the running hot, are you sure you ran it hot? Usually one will stick the pistons and shut down when it gets hot and you have to let it sit for a little time to cool and it cranks back up and goes again so if that didn't happen, doubt you ran it hot.

If using it for the first time in a motor and wanting to decarb it, I use two ounces per gallon for about 16 gallons. Then for carburated I usually don't run it in every tank, I one ounce per gallon every three to four tanks. On my DFI motor I run 1/2 ounce per gallon in every tank full.

Using either of the above methods will usually get the plastic part off and use MEK solvent to get the glue off. You do have to get the plastic off before using anything to get the glue.

Most people bring their motor down until it rest solid on it and quit. This is not the point of hydraulic lock for some motors. On a lot of motors you have continue to trim down until both trim cylinder rods are fully retracted to get to the point of hydraulic lock. This is not the case on all so you have to see if your's will continue to trim down and retracting the rods after pulling into the Transome Saver or if the trim motor starts bogging. If the motor starts bogging an the rods don't retract, then don't keep trying to come down.

I've been using SeaFoam in every tank for several years in my DFI motor and will continue to use it. I add one ounce per gallon about every three or four tanks to my carburated motors. It's about the best stuff I've come across. I only use it for it's cleaning properties and don't use it as a fuel stabalizer because I would never use fuel that old enough to need a stabalizer so I can't comment on how well it works in that department

Scott K Not trying to make it sound like I'm beating a dead horse, I'm just answering you question. The way the motor gets damaged by a transome saver is like this. The motor is bolted solid to the boat, the boat is just sitting on the trailer with nothing but a couple of nylon straps holding it. The transome saver is wedged between the back roller on the trailer and the lower unit on the boat. When driving down the highway and you go over a rough bump like some railroad track crossing the road, the whole rig can take a hellava bounce. 500 pounds of motor and a 2,000 pounds of boat can still stress those straps some so the boat lifts on the trailer. Well, when it comes back down you have a big rod stuck between the trailer and lower unit that has been known on more than one occassion to break the loose from the motor. I've seen all the bolt holes broken out of and a couple that got cracked. Now, I know everybody else always slows down for railroad crossings and have never gotten surprised by a rough section in the road, however, I have and I feel much better knowing that transome save ain't back their jamming on my lower unit.

Well, one of the first things I do when I check out a used boat is to raise the motor all the way up, stand in the curve of the mid section/lower unit and bouce up and down. I weigh 215 pounds and if that transome flexes, I walk away from it. I can assure you, my Javelin R20 with a 225 Evinrude on the back does not flex. There's a Stratos 201 in my drive right now, before I modified the motor on it for over 300 HP, I bounced on it the same way, it does not flex. Before I put a 300+ hp motor on my Stratos 285 Pro, I did the same thing and it did not flex. The main thing about a transome saver, if you feel you need to run one, it's worth any amount of money just for the piece of mind it will give you. I just won't use one because of the damage they can do to the motor. Even a lot of the people that do run them don't have a clue as to the proper way to use it and it's doing nothing but riding back there anyway. As for the slamming back and forth when on the trailering mount, the motor is at a balance point that actually places very little stress on the transome but again, if you feel you need it run it. Run two or three if you feel that would offer you that much more protection.

I run at least 1/2 ounce of SeaFoam (and once ounce every third tank)in every gallon of gas that goes through my motor and I still don't leave gas in my tank. Since I lost my fishing partner seven months ago, I've only been to the lake a couple of times and know I won't get back there very often so as soon as I park my boat, I disconnect the fuel line from the input side of the primer bulb, hook an electric fuel pump to it and pump the tank out. Even when I was using my boat regularly, on rare occassions if the boat sat for more than six weeks, I pumped it out, I absolutely will not run aged gas. I've been building outboard motors a long time and know what it can do.