Way2slow

You probably are not going to have many options, doubt they come in more than three or four pitches. With the load you're talking about, I would go with the smallest the dealer has, probably about a 9" pitch.

First off, you don't want to use white light a night, totally destroys night vision. Black lights at the front and back and if you fish both side of the boat use black lights on both sides of the front and back. If you need light in the boat, use a head band light with a red filter. On very dark nights and needing to make longer cast because the water is too shallow to manuver the boat, get the black lights that have one black bulb and one white bulb. The black lite kills a lot of the white light so it doesn't bother your night vision too bad. Get used to using your night vision and once you learn just how good you can see, you will be covering all your guages and anything else in the boat that has a hint of white light. You will also truely learn to hate a Q-Beam. The cat fishermen and crappie fishermen seem to enjoy throwing that big, bright light right in your face and holding there. You had better also hope you were lucky enought to have bought a good LCD depthfinder that lets you control the light. Most only give you two levels and lowest level is still way to bright for a dark night.

That depends on the way the batteries are connect and only if you're running a 12/24 motor. Some 12/24 setups only run on one battery when running in the 12V mode and both batteries in the 24V mode. If running a straght 24V motor, doesn't matter how the batteries are. If I was going to take my batteries out and store them, I would get me some small float charge maintainers and connect to them. Some advertise they can maintain up to five batteries connected in parallel. Yes, they will do that but that is not a smart way to store batteries because the batteries would all have to be connected together and storing batteries connected together is something you should never do. If one goes bad, it can ruin all the batteries connected to it. When stored, you still should check the water every month or so and keep them charged. I just leave the onboard chargers plugged in and check the water every month or two.

They are not all made by the same company. Johnson control is just the largest manufactor in the US and a lot of brands are made by them. Of the major US companies, Decca makes their own, Trojan makes their own, US Battery still makes theirs and I think Exide still does. There are a bunch of overseas companies selling batteries in the US. Most of these discount battery places sell foreign batteries, a lot of them come out of Korea. Even though Johnson Control makes a lot of different bands, just because of that doesn't mean they are all made the same. The material the plates are made of, the grid structure, the way the plate are connected and a whole bunch of other things play into the makeup and cost of a battery and they make all types in all price ranges. I will say for the best, longest running deep cycle TM battery in the group 27 - 31 sizes, none will run longer and live longer than a Trojan SSC 225. There are lots of claims made but everytime they are tested against the Trojan, the Trojan wins. That's one reason you hardly ever see other brands tested against the Trojan.

I thing you do better with car dealers than with boat dealers. My experience has been they want you to give them you old boat if it's more than a year or two old. If you don't mind the hassles of trying to sell the pontoon yourself, you will usually do much better buying your bass boat outright with no trade. Dealing with the public trying to sell a boat is a pain in the butt and many people has just as soon take the loss rather than having to deal with selling it themselves. The last couple of cars I had after buying a new one, I've just taken to the auction just to keep from having to deal with the dealer or the public.

#1 problem with your plan, two strokes motors do not like going directly into the carbs are you are suggesting. I disrupts the air flow throught the reed cages and will acutally hurt your peformance. The outer shell mormally have the built in capability to pass more than enough air to supply the motor. That inner plastic cover is the air silencer. It's to keep down the noise the carbs make when motor is running. With some motors, (can't say about yours since I've never messed with one) the air silencer is restrictive and designed that way. If you remove it or reduce the restriction you may have go up several jet sizes in the carbs or it will lean the motor out and melt a piston or two. It would also be debateable if you would see any performance gain by removing it and going up in jet size if required. It would make a lot more noise inside the boat at WOT.

The very first thing you need to learn about using one is not to consider it a "FISH FINDER". 99% of the fish you catch, you will never see on the thing. It's #1 purpose is to find structure and underwater cover that has the potential to hold fish. You have to know or figure out what fish are holding on/around, what depth, and where (points, creek channels back of coves, steep drops etc). About the only time you can cosider them fish finders is when fishing strippers in deep water, schools of crappy in deep water or using it to locate shools of shad. The trick with the shad is find where and about what depth the shad are running, and then look for points or channel drops at that depth the shad are intersecting with. The bass will be normally be holding on/near the bottom at these locations. usually just next to some cover or just down in the drop from the edge of it. Seldom will they show up on your graph. Sometimes, you can find them suspended off the bottom over deeper water in what I call wolfe packs. If deep, jigging shade colored tube worms can produce some of the best fishing you could want when you find them, or if shallow enough to ge a crank bait down to them can produce some good fishing also.

What you describe doesn't sound like a problem to me. It's not uncommon for those motors to be rather cold natured. Normally you can bump the choke as it starts to die and it will catch up. The slight miss you feel could easily be where gas has puddled in the crankcase from the enitial start and wet fouling a plug until it cleans that gas out. Those old choked motors can actaullly be a real pain when cold, sounds like yours does fairly well.

Evaporation, and since the charger is maintaining a little more heat than a battery just sitting, it evaporates a little quicker The site that George Welcome posted is a good source of info. I've also posted several other very good sites but they seem to draw little interest. Read and understand that one and this one and you can be a battery gurru. http://www.marine-electronics.net/techarticle/battery_faq/b_faq.htm#6

Sulphating in a simple term. Battery acid (electrolite) is a solution of sulpuric acid, when the battery sits at a discharged state, the sulpher will crystilize on the plates in the battery. As this happens that area can no longer transfer electrons, reducing the amp hour capacity of the battery. This means that if you run 8 hours on a new 120 Ah battery, then 50% of the plate area is sulphated, you can only run 4 hours. Batteries loose water, unless you get an AGM or Gel. Part of proper battery maintenace is keeping it filled with distilled water, keeping it clean and dry and all cables connected cleaned and some type of Battery Saver on the terminals. You can't just throw them in the back, connect a charger to them and forget about them. Yes, you should leave the charger plugged in 24/7 when the boat is not in use. Your BPS charger does go into a float mode. This is a constant voltage of approx 13.2 volts the whole time the charger is on. It does not let the voltage drop and then turn back on at a set level. As for the charge causing damage to your batteries, the lack of maintaining proper water level killed them. Because a battery is maintained at a full charge state, they do tend to use more water than a battery that is not connected to and onboard charger, so you should check water levels once a month.

What!!! You mean my 20' Javelin with stock 225 Rude, loaded with two people, gas and gear is not really running the 78 mph the speedometer is showing? I'm shocked ;D

Check with some of the quick lube places and see it they will let you dump it in their tanks. If by chance you're military, you can probably dump it at the auto hobby shop's tanks. If it wasn't for winter being just around the corner you could use it up in your lawn mower. I do that all the time and just decarb the lawnmower after running it several tanks of it.

Other than the drive shaft, here's you a shopping list so you can feel for what the parts will cost. 375638 impeller 304754 gasket 304765 bushing 301877 oring 307563 seal 383829 bearing 309044 13" of seal 302493 oring 383757 gear case head assy, this is the only way to get the prop shaft seal from the dealer.

When a battery is maintained by the proper float voltage there is absolutely no chance for it to sulphate. I also don't care for charging a battery that has greater than 80% charge and to prevent sulphation, this would be necessary. If the battery is allowed to sit for any length of time at less than 80% charge it will sulphate very quickly. Some chargers require a full one volt drop before they turn back on, I just feel this leads to the chance of sulftation, The number one cause of marine battery failures. Keep in mind, I'm not a battery engineer, but think I'm a little smarter than the average bear when it comes to dealing with them and this is just my own view points.

http://www.brp.com/en-US/Products/Evinrude/Accessories/Product.htm?ProductID=ENGINETUNER&category=EngineCare

There is a can of of solution you get from the dealer you spray in the carburators, get at least two cans but I would use four. Warm the motor up real good on the hose, then using two cans at one time (one for port and one for starboard), with the motor at about 1,500 rpm start going up and down the carburators quickly spraying some in each carburator. Just enough the keep the motor running, then as the cans start getting low, spray enough in each to stall the motor, you may even have to back of the gas some to get it to stall.. Let the motor sit for about an hour, warm it up again and using the second two cans, do it again and let it sit over night. Then take it and a new set of plugs to the lake and run it hard for about 15 minutes. When you get back to the trailer put your new plugs in. I would also run about two ounces per gallon of SeaFoam for the first 30 - 40 gallons and one ounce per gallon after that. I buy it by the case and run it in every tank of gas I buy. You can find it for about $3 per can.

Thats why I always say be leary of a motor that has fresh LU oil when check it out. They change it so you don't see that. Yes, that is water in the LU, and that's why you always drain the LU before winter to check for that. If left in, it would have rusted everything and probably cracked the housing. Your's happens to be a very easy LU to work on but there is a good chance you will need a new drive shaft. You can take the LU off and pressure check it in a bucket of water, or you can just go ahead, take it apart and reseal it. Get you one of those Clymer manuals and it should show you how to get it off and apart. That rubber spaggetti seal going around the case halfs can be bought at the dealer for a few bucks. You will also want to get the O-ring and propshaft seal. After you take the water pump off, you can slide the drive haft out (after you have it appart). This is where you are probably going to get unlucky. Right below the water pin hole you will probably see the drive shaft is worn for about 1 inch pretty bad. there is a seal right below the water pump and just below that seal there is a caged bearing. This bearing is probably rusted up and no longer lets the needles turn. You can/should replace it if you are carefull knocking it out. Some of the older LU had brass bushings there but I think you will find a bearing in yours. You will also need to order that brass bushing the shift rod goes through and the O-ring under it. You have to remove that bushing to replace the O-ring and about the only way to get it out is to drill it out, (carefully). Usually after being in theire for 30+ years, they don't come out on their own. One note, You might find a machine shop with can weld your drive shaft up and turn it back down at somewhat of a reasonable price. Should mention, most likely the water is coming in around the driveshaft seal under the water pump. If/when you take it apart, and that bearing is bad and the shaft is groved, that's probably the main source of leak. the O-ring for the shift rods are another common source of leaks. That's usually what leaks first, then the water rust the driveshaft bearing. Causing it to eat the drive shaft so is wobbles and lets that seal leak.

First things first. The very first thing you want to do is check the compression and make sure the butterflies in the carbs are fully open at WOT. The Chrysler is a very low torque motor compared to others to start with, add low compression and she will never come out of the hole. Now, if you have good compression and the carbs are fully opening, read Fish Chris's post again, naa, make that a couple more times. As to the charging guestion. A magnito is for ignition, does nothing for charging. There should be a Stator under the flywheel, magnets in the flywheel and a rectifier for the charging system.

Gee thanks folks, ya'll make it sound like I'm suppose to know something about this junk. Boy, have I got ya'll fooled. Anyway, here's my two cents worth. First, I would not run Gel batteries, they have the lowest amp hour capacity of any battery you can buy and cost much more. Amp hour capacity (or reserve minutes if Ah is not stated) is what determines how long the battery will run under a given load. Second, most onboard chargers are going to tell you to use the same type batteries on each bank. Meaning if you run Gel TM batteries you will need a Gel cranking and not sure they even make one. The next solution would be to have an onboard just for the Gel TM batteries and another just for the cranking battery. You are also going to run into this same problem if you run AGM batteries. Usually when you set the charge for Gel or AGM it sets the whole charge and not just the banks you want to use for that purpose. There is a big difference in the way a charger charges those batteries over the way it charges flooded lead cell batteries. When you charge a flooded cell battery with a charge set up for them, the voltages may go over 15 volts and the current is controlled, not the voltage. That voltage would destroy a Gel or AGM in a short time. They are never to be charged at a voltage greater than 14.4 - 14.6 volts. 14.6 is an equalize voltage and a lot of batteries don't recommend you equalize their AGM's. When you set the change the program in the charger for Gel and AGM, you change it to a controlled voltage charge so it does not let the voltage get over 14.4 volts. Then you have the float voltage that changes. AGM batteries use a float voltage of 13.6 volts, Gel and Flooded cell batteries use a float voltage of approx 13.2 volts. So, you see, when you start trying to mix batteries on one charger, you create all kinds of problems. As for Brand names, get what you think is best. I personnaly buy only ProMariner built onboard (they build your BPS and Cabela's brands) chargers. Their three stage, on demand charging system will out charge any competitors with a similar rating, bar none. A three bank, 6 amp per bank, becomes a 9 amp per bank to the TM batteries as soon as the cranking battery is charged, which is usually pretty quick. Their's also goes into a float mode, many others cut off and cut back on at a preset level as the battery discharges, something I don't care for at all.

Hotfoots are not a major deal to install if you have some mechanical smarts and the right length cable. The main thing you have to watch out for is, where the thing is located, theres not much room between the floor and the hull and it's very easy to end up with a drill bit sticking out the bottom of your hull. Four screws mount it to the floor, run the cable back to the motor (this can prove to be a chore), disconnect the cable connected and connect the hotfoot cable, and then adjust the stop on the hotfoot and the cable so the butterflys are sticking straight out when pressed at the way down and fully close when fully off the pedal, The stop, stops it about the same time the throttle linkage stop touches the block so it does not jam the crap out of the linkage at WOT. You still should check it again, what you got ain't just right. #1 is the top on the starboard side, #3 is the center and #5 is the bottom. 2, 4, and 6 are the port side. As I said, 1 - 4 should be about the same with 5 & 6 being a little less. That's with the motor hitting the same number of times on each cylinder. It will probably pay you to do a good decarb on the motor and run a shock treament of SeaFoam for the first 30 - 40 gallons of gas. For some reason, most people want to buy the big, high dollar motors, and then don't want to spend the few bucks decarbing them every 50 hours.

That would have been my choice. One thing on your compression readings. When you get time, warm it up about five minutes on a hose and check them again. Which cylinder was showing the 113? The reason for asking, numbers 1,2,3, &4 should have been very close to the same, numbers 5 and 6 (the bottom on each side) should have been lower. The bottom two chambers in the cylinder heads on those motor are about eight CC larger than the top four so you should have gotten a lower reading on both. When checking the compression, make sure carb butterflies are open (gas pressed), only take out one plug at the time or it will kick the bendix out evertime it hits on the one with the guage in it and it has a good strong battery to spin it. It should also hit on the guage the same number of times checking every cylinder. One other thing, if you use a remote starter button clipped to the starter solenoid, you can do it without the switch turn on. keeps the igntion system from having to fire into an open circuit when the plug wire is off or having to have a plug in the wire and grounding the base. NO HOTFOOT installed!!!!. I would install that before my first trip to the lake. Trying to drive that boat at WOT without a hotfoot is really asking for trouble. Those things are a must have safety device in a boat that will run as fast as that one and used under tournament conditions. As for the TM, a lots of guys would fight you for it. those that have them love them.

Those units are built by ProMariner and only charge by plugging them into an AC outlet. You can upgrade to the ProMariner ProTourney line and they will charge from the outboard as well. Now, with that said, I run the ProMariner, ProTourney 300's, my motor has a 35 amp charging system and have seldom seen any increase in TM battery percent of charge when running the big motor. They will not charge TM batteries until they have recharged the cranking battery. About the only time you will see them charging the TM batteries from the outboard is when making long runs. I you fish like I do a lot, kinda like playing hop-scotch on the water with short runs to a bunch of different holes, you will see no benifit on having a charger that charges from the outboard. Also, if you outboard only has a small charging system like the 15 amp many have, it would be a total waste of money. Those small charging systems will not even keep a cranking battery fully charged, much less has some extra to charge TM batteries.

Yes, most definetly. The only way you're going to get it properly set up is with a jackplate. If you can afford it, get the hydraulic. You will never regret it. You will get better hole shot, more top speed and a better driving boat.

As for weight on the rear tires, how many pickups do you see pulling boats. That van is gong to have a lot more weight on the back tires than any pickup made. As for the tow weight of your boat, I would guess in the neighborhood of 2,500 - 2,700 lbs. As already stated, just put it in 3, don't try to make manual shifts. Don't try to use 1 when pulling the ramp. It's going to start off in 1 anyway. Manually selecting 1 will not make it pull any harder or make it any stronger.

You have more than enough vehicle to tow that boat. I would recommend not towing in overdrive. On fairly level highways OD might be OK if you keep it under 70 but if you want to play it safe with your transmission, just make it a habbit not to tow in overdrive. As for DROP, that is determined by your trailer. You want the hitch so the trailer is towed fairly level