Way2slow

I have one, not sure it's the Micro or not but it's definetly not the larger one. Would not recommending mounting anything more than one of the standard to smaller size LCD's on it, like the Garman 240, Lowarance X-65, 75, 85, etc on one of the small ones. The reason for using one, many boats have a windshield over the console that does not allow mounting the depth finder/GPS on top of the console. Plus some of these units are just too dang big to mount on top of the console. The Ram mount allows you mount it over to the side and still be able to position it so it can be easily seen. UPDATE: I checked Cabela's, pretty sure this is the one I have http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0012291012724a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=Ram&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=Ram&noImage=0 so I guess mine would be the Micro.

Way2slow 20' Javelin, 225 Evinrude, lightning gear case, 10" jackplate, 26" tuned raker prop, fully loaded with two 220 pound men and livewell full. Glass smooth water, 70 - 71, small chop on water 72 - 73. heavy chop with small white caps on the water when a good wind's blowing so the hull can get free, about 76, all gps speeds. My average cruising speed is between 45 and 55, cost a whole lot less to feed all them ponies at that speed.

It's not real difficult. The soldering is just to ensure the connections are sealed from moisture and helps ensure a good connection. Properly crimped will work just fine as long as it's sealed properly afterwards with self sealing heat shrink or a good grade of tape. The mechanical bond is the critical part. Without a good mechanical bond, you may not get a good electical connection. With the current these motors pull, any resistance from a bad connection can generate some serious heat and loss of performance.

I'm partial to the Penzoil synthetic for everything but DFI motors. For those I stronly recommend using the manufactors recommended brand. Synthetics don't carbon a motor up as bad as fosil oils. A good maintenance program would be to winterize the boat and motor every fall when you get ready to park it for the winter. This also involves changing the LU oil, lubing, putting fuel stabalizer in the tank and purging the fuel system and carbs, making a good visual check and installing a new set of spark plugs, cleaning battery and terminals, checking/cleaning and packing trailer bearings, making sure all pumps and drains are purged with air so no water can freeze in them and keeping a good battery maintainer on the battery/batteries while sitting, or charinging the batteries every month and checking the water. Decarb the motor every 50 hours and run some type of carbon guard like SeaFoam or some other between the decarbs. Replace the water pump impeller every two - three years.

Like my pappy always said about advise "A wise man seldom needs it, a fool seldom uses it, so don't waste your time giving it", sorry I got involved. You asked for some "sound advice" and a number of members that appear to have many years combined experience gave theirs and you've only come back and ridiculed all those that didnt support what you've apparently already decided to do and praised the one that supports it. The bigger motors aren't all about horse power and speed, they're about torque and load handling abitlity. You're the one that's going to be using it, you're the one that's going to be making those payments for the next whole bunch of years so you're the one that's going to have to decide on the boat you want to buy. Enjoy.

There's a couple of ways you can go. If your's has factory installed eyelets just leave them alone, crimp and solder eyelets on both ends of your extender cables. Bolt the two cables together with short bolts, tape them well with a good tape like 3M 33+ and attach the other ends eyelets to the battery. If that don't sound the way you want go, get you a couple of copper crimp splices the size to match your cable, cut the eyelets off the end of the TM if it has them, crimp the splices and solder them to the TM cable and extender cable. Crimp and solder eyelets on the other end of your extenders. Put self sealing heat shrink over the splices and eyelet connections. You can also use tape but heat shrink makes a better, more professional looking job.

Didn't mean to sound so brutal, you asked an opinion, I just gave you mine. I've own bunches of bass boats over the years. Small boats with small motors, go together. Big boats with small motors are nothing but an investment in disappointment. Many years ago I bought a 15 ProCraft with a 55 hp motor (boat rated for an 80) because I thought that was all I could afford. Tried the boat out and thougth the 55 was just fine. Got on plane ok and ran about 33 mph. Then I got all my tackle, full tank of gas, and two people over 200 pounds, boat barely got on plane. A few months later I happen to come across a deal on a two year older 115 that I was able to sell my 55 for almost enough to buy the 115. Totally different boat and loved it then, pure junk till then. That was my one and only under powered boat. For the past 20 years, every boat since then has either been powered to the max or over powered (something you can't do in a lot of states). So, if you don't mind strugling to get your loaded boat on plan and riding down the lake like your in an overloaded barge, settle for the smaller motors. One note, if you have a rather large passenger, you may have to ask them to step to the front of the boat to get on plane. As I stated earlier, for my personal use, I would not have a single rig you listed. Been there, done that and seen too many others that have made the same mistake. The boat's take a horrible beating when you try to sell or trade them because with those small motors on the back, not many people want them. I would never recommend under powering a boat by more than 10 - 15%, and don't recommend under powering one at all. That's not for the speed, that's for the load handling ability.

Never had any dealings with those Formed hull trakers, so don't know how they perform and can't comment on them. I will say a Stratos 285XL with a 90 HP anything will be a 100% guaranteed disappointment. I think it was a mistake when they dropped to HP rating on that hull from 175 HP to 150. Don't get me wrong, that 285 is probably the best fishing platform on the water in 18' boats. Storage and fishing room makes it seem much larger than it is, but once you get it loaded, you couldn't give it to me with a 90 HP motor if I had to use it. Now, step that 285 up to a 150 OPTI and you'll have a fine ride or at least the 135 but not a 90. Also don't care for the 12V 40 TM, needs a 24V 56 - 60. In that size boat of either one, I much prefer a single console over the dual. Let the passenger ride in the wind. Now, based on what you offered to chose from, I would lean toward the Tracker, simply because the 135 on it should give you reasonable performance after you get it loaded, where the Stratos won't. With a 175 HP rating, I would still try hard to upgrade it to a 150. Those new formed hull have only recently been on the market so I would do some serious homework on them before dropping that much money on the table. Get the motor you want now, upgrading in the future will not be a viable option in the future, you will loose way too much money.

Have it checked out by a professional, unless you're a very good outboard and boat mechanic. Motor needs a compression check, lower unit checked and test run on the lake to see how it sounds and performs. Being an aluminum boat, the only area concern for rot is in the transome, but the rest of the boat needs to be ckeck for leaks and damage. Since very few follow that recommendation and buy that-pig-in-a-poke any way, at least take it to the lake for a long test ride. If it has starting problems, running problems, or any issue's, demand the owner have them taken care of before you buy the boat and not just knock a few bucks off for you to have them repaired, you will loose out every time, getting one repaired is expensive. Make sure all the pumps and lights work, and steering is not stiff and needing steering cable. Another area of concern would be the size motor. Tracker is great for under powering their boats so they can advertise a cheap price. 40 HP motors on a 17' boat makes pure dogs when it comes to loading it and having a couple of people in it

Boils down to how much you are willing to leave on side of the road if you have to leave it to go get assistance, and how much you're willing to pay to get if going if very far from home. As a minimum a spare tire, a way to jack it up and tools to change the tire. If you tow long distances I would strongly recommend a complete spare spindle, hub with bearings and cover. Too many times a bearing goes out, and ruins the hub and spindle, forcing you to leave it to go for help or call a towing service roll back (rather expensive). Then you can be stuck leaving it there for a couple of days while a shop is ordering the spindle, hub and parts. With the spare parts on hand, anybody with a portable welder can make the repairs right there on side of the road or most any shop. A convenient way to carry these parts is make a spare tire support that fastens to the frame, and a couple of small muffler clamps to hold the spindle with the hub and all mounted on the spindle and the spare tire mounted on the hub.

Stick steering is very common for boats that don't have a console, won't take no time to get used to it, just don't go making hair pin turns at full throttle until you get very used to it. You will probably find the two control levers are one is the shifter, the other is the throttle. Yes you can convert it to a single lever but I wouldn't go through the expense. Depending on just how old it is, the model number on the data plate should have the year in it, unless it was before they started doing that. If it's throught the hub exhaust, it's at least a late 70's. As for the age of the steering system, probably installed when boat was new, and it's still used today, I'm just getting ready to install stick steering on one of mine, really works good in rivers, puts you up front where you can see much better. The 67# TM will still come down to a crawl. The boat sounds like one someone used on rivers with a fairly swift current because it's the perfect setup for that.

If it's a late 60's - early 70's (has the little bullet shape foot and does not have through the prop exhaust) 25 Evinrude, most likely it does not have a charging system. The good part is the motor is easily pull started if in good running order so if you do only run one battery and run it down, you can still crank the motor to get back to the ramp. It does not need a battery to run, just make sure you keep a pull rope with you, normally there's a pouch inside the cover for one. There is also a manual choke to choke the motor if needed, might want to check out the pull start just to make sure you want to use that as a backup, make sure it does pull start easily. I would use the electric start first, let it run some then try it, they can sometimes be a pain to cold start with a pull rope but after they've been run one time that day, the crank pretty easily. Even the later models with through the prop exhaust and a charging system can still be pull started easily. Evinrudes and Johnson's do not need a battery to crank and run. Now, that 67 pound thrust TM, is that a 12V only motor or a 12/24, most that size I've seen are 12/24 so you will need two batteries for it. Trying to run a 12/24 on just 12 is only going to give you about 10 pounds of thrust on the highest setting. If it is 12/24 you're going to need to run a series/parallel hookup to the front of the boat to be able to use both 12/24 functions on the motor.

I would like to discourage you from using a battery that has been sitting around for a cranking battery. That can be the most expensive battery you could possilbly put in your boat. A weak battery can and will burn out the charging system on the Outboard. The reg/rec can acutally go up in flames, it can also burn out the stator, about $500 worth of damage if it gets both. Bad batteries are probably the cause of 95% of all charging system failures. Even though it's cranking the boat just fine, it still can be bad. Unless you know how to check the specific gravity and it charges to at least 1.260 and preferably 1.275 evenly on all cells and 12.6 - 12.8 VDC after sitting 24 hours after charging, I wouldn't run it.

The Off, Run, Charge switch is there so you can charge both batteries at the same time with a 12 volt charger, by plugging it in where the TM is plugged in and the switch is in the charge position. I've never used that function with any boats I've ever had with that function. To effectively charge the TM batteries from there you would need a 15 - 20 amp 12V charger. Your standard 10 - 12 amp charger would not charge the batteries over night if the batteries were run down very much from a days fishing. They also have a tendency to burn out from corrosion. The batteries have separate cables going to the front for the Charge switch that places them in parallel when charging and series when in the run position. This is also done to support the 12/24V motors so you can use both the 12 and 24 setting on the TM. If your charging the batteries by directly connecting to the batteries, just leave the switch in the run position. Only run the TM off the TM batteries, run all accessories of the cranking battery. The cranking battery is charged when motor is running. If you run the TM batteries down, you also loose all accessories. Also, some TM's (the mosfet type, like the digitals and maxximizers) can burn out your electronics if they are connected to the TM batteries. This is why you want to run a big dual purpose battery for a cranking battery, just straight cranking batteries don't like being constantly discharged.

The bearings need to be packed with grease, not just rub a coat on the outside. You can buy a cheap bearing packer for about $20 or you can do them in the palm of your hand. Using the palm, put a couple of large tablespoon fulls of grease in you palm, stick your finger through the bearing hole from the small end of the bearing. Now start pressing the large end into the grease pressing it down against the palm, taking small bites of grease each time until the grease starts to come out the small end. Keep turning the bearing on your finger until you have gone all the way around it with grease coming out the small end. Once you get the hang of it, only take a few minutes.

Which style xducer, the transome mount with TM adapter or the puck. The puck is easy, since the cable comes out of the top, you just position so the cable comes out toward the shaft, tape the cable to the shaft with Scotch 33 tape and a tie wrap over that, do several of those up the shaft. For the Transome mount with TM adapter, route the cable back under the clamp so it fits snug against the motor next to the adapter. Just make sure it in a position that won't let the TM mount crush it when the motor is in the stored position. I shave part of the side off the adapter so the cable fits up next to it better and the doube a small piece to tie wrap and place it under the clamp on the other side of the cable so the clamp doesn't cursh the cable or cut into it. Then I tape it down to the shaft just like I do the puck. I have the Transome mount with adapter on one boat, but it's at the lake so can't take you a pic.

I use them on mine and like them but I also have eyebolts under my inner bunks to hook the ends in after disconnecting them from the boat. Mine didn't always want to fully retract so using the eyebolts keeps them from hanging, since I don't always fasten my boat down. It's only a couple of miles to the ramp so the only time I fasten it down is when I'm going elsewhere.

If you have the extra cash, buy the new one, then when you have another $50 bucks extra send that one off for a rebuild/rehub. This will give you a spare because if you're like me, when I'm running my small boats/motors, it's because I'm going into so pretty rough water, (shallow, stumps, logs, all kinds of underwater mines) having a spare has come in handy more than once for me. Also, if your rpms are a little high or low, you can go down or up a pitch, letting your motor perform better.

Let's see, what gets me on the water??? 20' w/225 Evinrude 18.5' w/150 Evinrude 16.9' w/115 merc 15' aluminum w/50 hp Johnson 1436 jon with 25 merc or 9.9 Johnson or TM 1232 jon with 4 hp merc or TM 17' canoe I think that just about covers most of what I have, unless you want to throw in six other motors I have. 2 - 200 Johnson's, 1 - 28 SPL Johnson, 2 - 25 hp Johnson, 1 - 25 hp Evinrude, plus several various size TM's

Don't run the bow mount in automatic, that's what's causing the screwey depths in shallow water. The unit starts picking up harmonic echoes, making it think the waters getting deeper so it start increasing gain and that only generates more harmonics so it keeps going deeper. Use the manual mode to set the unit up and it will work much better all the way around. I absolutely never run mine in auto, they suck when run that way. As fir the console mount, make sure all the pins and recepticals on the connector and the LCD are clean and making good connection. Make sure none have backed out of the connector and they are all in at the same dept.

First, does your truck have the trailer light adapter installed required to connect trailer lights. If not, you will need to go to your local discount auto parts store and buy the adapter made for it. With the proper adapter you usually only have to unplug a connecter near the rear tail lights and then plug those two ends into the adapter. The trucks lights wire totally different than your boat trailer and the adapter is required to make the brakes and turn signals work on the trailer. If you have the proper adapter installed, and these are old existing lights, go to wally world or some place, spend the $35 for kit with two new submersable lights with the complete wiring kit and replace everything. The lights could be corroded and not making connection, the bulbs could be not making connection, the wiring could be bad, so to save a bunch of heart burn, it's much easier and not that much just to replace it.

You don't need to take the motor in for repair, just take the prop off and take it in. If you have a prop shop near, you can just take it to the prop shop and let them press the old one out and new one in, provided the prop in good shape and doesn't need blade work. May even do it while you wait. You will usually get much quicker service doing this yourself because most prop shops only pickup/deliver at the dealer once a week so if you just miss their pickup, you can be down as much as two weeks waiting. I think a new aluminum prop for that motor is only about $150. Also, check/change your lower unit lube to make sure it's not low of have water in it. It's very common for line/weeds etc to wrap around the prop shaft and take out the seal. This lets the lube get into the prop and caused the hub to spin. If this happens, it will need to go to the shop for a new seal.

Spun the hub in the prop.

If you install one, I think they look much better if you plan ahead just a little before cutting the hole. Measure your hole, cut the carpet with a razor knife, use a good scraper to remove that piece so as not to damage it, marking it so you will know what edge was to the front, then go around the edge of opening and loosen it inward outward about 3/4" - 1" (enough to get the rim of the recess in), cut the corners inward about the same amount. Drop and fasten the recess in and then glue the carpet back down over the rim to hide it and the screws. Looks much better than the rim and screws exposed on top of the carpet. Also BEWARE most of the time it also requires cutting part of front storage box out and will require running a drain hose so that it doesn,t drain into a storage box. If you save the piece of carpet you remove, you can remove the recess if you don't like it, cut you a piece of aluminum approx 1/8" thick the size of the recess flanges, screw it down over the hole with recessed screws and glue that piece saved piece back over it. If the carpet is fairly new, you should have not problems, if the carpet has aged much, it's going to come apart trying to do this.

Even the older motors that used to recommend heavy mixes of oil can run a 50:1 ratio in TC-W3 oil. Reason being, in the early days of two strokes they didn't have oils they have now. Back in those 25:1 ratios those heavy mixes were needed because it was common to use 30W non detergent motor oil, the new oils have much greater lubricating properties than what was available back then.