Way2slow

You can use solar panels on 24 and 36 volts setups, you just have use one solar panel per battery, ie if you have a 24 volt system, you would need two solar panels with one hooked to each battery. As mentioned they are stickly for maintaining the charge after the battery has been fully charged.

For llittle it means, here's my .02 on it. For absolute max run time the flooded cell batteries are going to give you that. The down side to them is they require more maintenance, keeping water levels set and terminals clean, they tend to corode the terminals more. In the flooded cell batteries, there are couple of good ones, Trojans being one of the most popular and has an excellent reputation. The next step up maintenance wise would be a sealed flooded cell, but they are not going to give you the run time as the ones you add water to and are not going to last as long. The best of the maintenance free Deep Cycle batteries are going to be the AGM's. All you have to do is keep your onboard charger on them and clean the terminals about once a year, (just as a precaution, they usually don't corrode the termninals but in the humid compartment they can). A top quality one willl come close to the run time of the flooded cell batteries. As for which AGM, don't waste your money on Otima's or any of the spiral wounds they are about the sorriest of the AGM. The stacked cell AGM are your best choise. Trojan, US Battery, East Penn's Deka's are all good batteries and I think just about all are available in a 190 RC @ 20 hr rate. Now the real rating would be at a 5 or 6 hour rate, but very few companies are going to give you that. A six hour rate is much closer to how you are going to be using the batteries but that brings the capacity way down over a 20 hr rate, and those lesser batteries could not compete. Boils down to if you want care free and max battery life (Four - five years nominal), get top quality stacked cell AGM's. If you want absolute max run time get quality flooded cells you have to keep water added to.

Been backing boats in the water for over 40 years and I never have, and never will. Even with bulbs and not LED's, if your lights are good and the right type, total waste of time. If you're poping bulbs, you need to replace your lights with the right kind.

You will have to take the top cover off. Take the rack out for the steering and Disconnect all the wires. You will see a small allen screw in the steering gear all the wires come through, loose or take that allen screw out. You will then unscrew that gear off the shaft. It sometimes can be a little difficult to unscrew because that allen screw that locks it on damages the top threads on the shaft. Once you get the gear off, you slide the shaft out, put you new bearings on, slide it back in, and put it back together. Home Depot usually carries those butt crimps they use to connect a couple of the wires. One thing, hold the wires so they don't twist around while screwing the steering gear off and on. Make sure the rack is centered with the motor going straight when putting the steering rack back in or you may not get full steering in one direction. I am assuming this is a foot control steering when I say this. Make sure all the balls are in place in the top bearing. You can always just slide the collar down, take the balls out of the new bearing to replace the missing balls in the old one, and not take it apart. I've done that many times because it's a pain in the butt to replace the whole thing. Even if the cage no longer holds the balls in, it doesn't matter as long as the collar is kept in place and not let slip down like it did, the balls can't fall out.

Well, I thought I had one off a 25 that would have worked but dug through all that junk and I must have trashed it last fall when I threw away a bunch of that old junk, sorry.

no, it's not the key switch. Back on the terminal strip, there is a black/white possibly black/yellow wire coming from each power pack to the terminal strip, These are the kill wires. The one going to the pack thats not cutting off is not making connection, possibly broken inside the terminal or right at the pack. If one is cutting off, that means the key switch and wiring to the terminal strip is good, you problem is only with the one wire going to pack that's not cutting off. Johnson's ground out the pack to cut the motor off, and that one pack is not getting the ground.

I might have one, but will be tomorrow before I look.

Unless you can come up with a source and price for a good, used LU, you will probably be $75 better off walking away from it. If water has been in the LU and left there for any length of time, most likely the whole thing is junk. I doesn't take it long to rust the gears, bearings and just about everything else in there.

If you have to buy any of the hard parts (gears/shafts etc) new, they will probably cost much more than an on old, small motor is worth. Your best bet is to see if you can find a good used LU if you need to do anythng much more than resealing it.

That is perfectly normal. Mercury's have a ratcheting type drive system so the prop will free turn when you let off the gas. This prevent's a problem called decel knock common with motors like the OMC/BRP's when you back of the throttle quickly. The clicking sound causes no harm. If you put the motor in gear and spin the prop by hand, you will not be able to turn it in one direction but will spin somewhat freely in the other, making that same clicking sound while doing so.

Oh, Well, I guess I need to tell the head engineer at US Battery company, he doesn't know what he's talking about either. However, personnaly, I will still take his word Ya'll preach so much about how great the Dual Pro and a lot of these other battery chargers are that don't have a float mode, they drop the voltage lower than that before they turn back on. Guess they don't know what they are doing either.

Some swear by them, some swear against them. Personnaly, I've seen what they can do to motors and don't use one. I runnning a 225 Evinrude Ficht sitting on a 10" jackplate on a Javelin and have hauled it several thousand miles. The trailering backet built into the motor is designed to properly balance the motor on the transome while trailering, the T-Saver is not. Most of the people I see using them don't even use them properly so they are just back there doing nothing anyway.

the flooring is an intragal part of the boats structural strength. Kinda like wanting to take the some of the rafters from you celliing.

Avid, couple of things to make life simple, if your going to use it the next day, don't charge it, if you're not then charge it. Normally it's best not to recharge a battery that still has 80% or more charge left on it. Sulphation generally starts when it gets' any lower. Now the flip side of this, even if you don't charge it for several days after using it, if you keep it stored on your charger with it in the float mode, it will eliminate any sulphates that happen to start. That's the beauty of the High Frequency Chargers. I've never messed with the one you have so I would check the float voltage and make sure it's 13.2 volts and check it a day or two after you connect it so it's had time to settle into the full float mode. Just don't make a habit of not charging if it's going to get stored. The sulphates can build up much faster than the charger can get rid of them. It can takes two to three months for a good HF charger to bring a heavily sulphated battery back from the dead.

It's a major job and would cost more than the hull is worth to have it done. If you want to do it yourself, I hope you have some experience with fiberglass and doing boat restorations. You will have to take the cap off, then the floor out. If the hull is not properly braced, it will open up like a clam shell. When this happens and you put you new floor in and go to put the cap back on, it won't fit. There is usually a lot of other rot that goes along with a rotted out floor that you will find when you get it appart. If it's a small area, screw a piece of aluminum over it and cover it with carpet. If you do try it, don't use pressure treated wood. Just get you some 1/2" BC and seal it good on both sides with epoxy resin. Your resins will not bond with pressure treated and it will turn loose after several months.

My first question would have to be, What kind of fishing are you trying to do? If fishing for bream or crappie on the bed, catfish or whatever and your trying to keep the boat in one spot for an extended period of time, then anchor it. Anchoring to keep it in one spot works much better if you drop your back anchor at least 20 feet before you get to where you want the boat, go past the spot you want the boat (feeding line to the back anchor) about 20 feet and drop your front anchor. Use the back anchor rope to pull you back and tie off both anchors so the ropes are snug when you get back to the area you want the boat. IF fishing deeper water, you will have to drop the anchors farther, you want at least a 45 degree angle on the ropes and I usually stretch mine out further than that. If you're moving and casting and just trying to stay in one place long enough to work and area good, then use the trolling motor, don't even try to mess with anchors. If you're fishing from the back seat of a jon and by yourself, a little trick that will help keep the front from going all over the place, place the battery and whatever else you can as far toward the front as you can, then turn around in the seat and run the boat backwards. Looks dumb as all hell but works great.

Opps, I have to pay $116 each for them and since I'm not listed as a Trojan Dealer with them, I just figured they were charging me more than the jober rate, guess not. I was just going by I read a post from someone a while back saying they paid $150 for some they had just bought. I also sell mine at full list and then some plus $90 minimum to install them so I don't deal with what they sell for to the public. I only deal with commercial equipment. For Instance, a $130 Deka AGM, I sell for $345.00. You need to find local batteries if possible, I think the shipping will add a considerable amount to the cost, being considered Hazardous Material. Usually they have to be shipped Motor Freight because of that. Now you see why Wal-Mart sells so many of their big yellow batteries.

I wouldn't bet the farm on it but I think East-Penn Manufactoring, who makes Deka batteries, also makes the Minn-Kota's. You might be able to find a Deka dealer that will give you a better deal on the same battery with a Deka label on it. It would be a Deka 8A31DTM, just make sure you specify what terminals you want, they can be ordered with a number of different type. You would lay a golden egg if you knew I buy them for about $130 each though. There is one huge markup in batteries by the time they are priced to the public. I haven't bought any of the Trojan AGM's but their SCS225 will cost you approx $150. Their 31-AGM will probably list for about the same or a little more than the Minn-Kota you priced. I think the 200 min RC is just a play of numbers while testing. Most all good Group 31 AGM have a max of 190 minutes. Oh, as for a truely maintenance free battery, there really is no such thing. You still should remove, clean and treat all cable connections every fall when you winterize.

Ask around some of the dealers and check NADA.com (just use that as a guide, not as the bible) and see what a 91 Tracker TX-17 is worth without the motor and add $300 - $350 for the motor. With that small of a motor, it's hard to say what the whole rig would be worth so I would figure it without the motor. That way, if you took a notion to sell it again and they wanted a bigger motor, you keep your 9.9 or sell it seperate and still get a fair price for the boat and trailer. Usaully when you see complete rigs priced, as with NADA, they are with a much bigger motor, so you will have to be very careful doing your deal.

If the Dual Pro charger you are a going to use on an Optima can be set for AGM batteries, it will work fine. If not, you shouldn't use it. My question is why the Optima, there are much better batteries to be had. The longest run time your gonna get from almost any affordable battery is going to be the Trojan SCS 225. This is not an AGM like the Optima but is rated at 130 AH @ C/20, and has a RC rating of 225 minutes. The Trojan 31-AGM is rated at 110 AH @ C/20, and has an RC rating of 190 minutes. This is Trojans AGM battery similar to the Optima but is stacked cell instead of Spiral wound. Your Optima D31M, (same size at the Trojan 31-AGM) is rated at 75 AH @ C/20 and has a RC rating of 155 minutes. What all this means is the Optima only has about 60% the run time the SCS225 has and only about 80% the run time the Trojan 31-AGM has. Basically, that high dollar Optima will not give you any more (and not as much as some) run time than a good group 24 battery that you can buy for 1/3 of what the Optima cost. You can also rest assured, the Trojan AGM will have a much longer life span than the Optima also. There are other batteries out there much better than the Optimas, I just used the Trojan as an example because they are one of the best and are well known. Almost any stacked cell AGM of a similar group size will have a higher capacity than the Spiral wounds like the Optima. With any AGM though, you need a charger that can be programmed for AGM's. There are all kinds of claims made by Optima users but AH capacity and Reserve Capacity what determines your TM runtime. The higher the capacity, the more run time, doesn't matter who's battery it is or what kind of battery it is.

Hey LBH, unless they've changed for the valve system, you can probaby buy a pretty nice car for what a tuneup cost in that thing. If like the earlier V-12's (I'm talking early 70's) were suppose to have the valves adjusted every 6,000 kilometers. A tuneup is about a two day job. To adjust them there are disc that go under the cam that have to be changed out to adjust the clearances. Very timely process and those disc aren't cheap when you add up how many it takes. Shot it took a couple of hours just to get all them weber's balanced, on the earlier models, his may be FI. I couldn't afford to keep one maintained now, much less own on.

Actually he is not driving a stick shift. Yes he's changing gears but he's doing it with up shift and down shift buttons on the steering wheel. His hands never leave the wheel. I know a guy, a very rich guy needless to say, that bought the Factory Porsche that finished third in it's class in the 24 hour Lamans (after it ws factory reconditioned), just to let it sit in his garage and drive it around his airstrip every now and then (not even street legal). This was a few years back and says he got a deal on it, only paid $350,000 for it.

In DFI motors, if you're smart you will only run the manufactors brand and blend they recommend. Yes it's very pricey but oil injeciton system is calibrated for that oil, they know what it's viscosity will be at any given temp within it's operating range, it has all the additives the manufactor wants, and none they don't want. I've also never run anything but Quicksilver in the Merc motors I've owned. I've owned at least one Merc since 1965 and have never had an internal engine failure but I have always decarbed all my motors every 50 hours or so. I have a 1988 Merc I-6 115 that I've owned since new. It has over 1,100 hours on it, still has prefect compression and no piston rattle/skirt tick. In my 225 Ficht, I run the BRP XD-50 Ficht oil recommended for it. In my carburated OMC motors, including my 300+hp hotrod motors, I run Penzoil 100% synthetic. I've never seen any signs of an oil related problem with them. The two hotrod motors are torn down at least once or twice a year trying different mods on different blocks. I will not run any other oils in any of my motors. Yes, if it say's TCW-3 on the label, it suppose to run in your motor, and will. Just don't expect that el cheapo stuff to have the same antiwear and non fowling additives the better oils have.

Let me first say, that sounds like an awful lot of money for that boat. That boat would have to be garage kept and in Mint condition and even then, it sounds like a lot. Next I would have to be concerned about the size motor on a F/S unless that's only about a 16' boat and absolutely no more than a 17' As with any boat, you might save yourself a lot of headace by having checked out by a professional. This can cost you $100 or so, but is money well spent. Being a 96, it should have a drive on trailer, but for the other questions I would have someone you know that's very familiar with boats go with you to the lake and give you. Most states also offer very good boater safety courses that would be well worth your time to take.

How is the control head mounted. If screwed, take the screws out, rotate head 180 degrees, drill new holes in the head and refasten it. I would not try to drill new holes in the shaft unless you took the head completly off, there are a bunch of wires in there you will hit with the bit and it will drop metal shavings down inside the motor. I've done this with a very old MK but not sure how the newer ones mount.