Way2slow

You posted for TM battery, are you running one, two, or three TM batteries for 12V, 24V or 36V? If you are running just one battery, most any voltage meter will work. If you are running more than one battery as for 24V or 36V TM, you need one of the panels that has a switch so you can select battery A or B, to check voltage on, or C if 36V. It's also advisable to have a switch, button, or something to disconnect the meter when not in use. As long as the meter is connected across it is drawing current, which will discharge the battery while the boat is not being used. As for battery voltage, no the voltage does not stay pretty much the same, however, on a cheap, funky meter it may look that way. Flooded cell, cranking batteries are generally at approx. 12.6VDC when fully charged and deep cycle TM batteries are around 12.8VDC when fully charged. However this can change based on the manufacture and type electrolyte they used. As a general rule of thumb, the battery will drop approx. 0.1VDC for each 10% of discharge. Understand, this is not exact but it gives you a general idea as to the state of charge of the battery, so if the deep cycle TM battery is 12.8VDC fully charged, it will be a fully discharged battery at 11.8VDC., which by the way, damages the battery to discharge it that far. You should NEVER discharge a battery below 80% discharge and for the longest life, don't discharge one below 50%. Also, when you first disconnect the battery from a charger or turn the charge off, the battery may be showing over 13VDC. This is a false surface charge, and the battery will drop to it's true charge voltage within a few minutes of use, or after it has sat for a day or two. No lead acid 12V battery has a fully charged voltage over 13VDC, at least not any you will ever deal with.

My daughter is Type 1 and has been for over 25 years but luckily has always had good insurance, but that looks like it's about to change. She's working for CVS pharmacy and they are making all kinds of manning cut backs and cutting hours on most employees so they will have a hard time maintaining enough hours to qualify as full time employees and insurance. Right now, she's picking up enough hours by working in other stores also, but not sure how long that will last. Her doctors says she really needs to go on disability, but as you know, that's a lot easier said than done.

How do people afford to live once old age starts breaking you body down, or contract some long term illness requiring special medications. I have never really given it a thought since I'm retired military and also have social security so other than a small co-pay on medications, medical cost are nothing for me. Things came to light a few weeks ago when my rheumatologist prescribed Humira for me and I went to their web site to educate myself on what I would be taking. First things I saw was this medication cost $5,400 a month. For me, it's only $24 a month but what happens someone doesn't have the insurance I have and have to pay as much as 25% co-pay. Not many people could ever afford something like that. Then I got to looking at the fine print on a lot of the medication ads on TV, and many of those are in the thousands of dollars. I was talking to my wife's sister who's husband recently died of cancer and she said his co-pay for the medications they had him on was up to $7,000 per month and it had wiped out their 401K and retirement funds and had to take out a large loan on their house that was paid off, so when she lost most of his retirement income, she was forced to declare bankruptcy. I guess they figure if you need anything more than an aspirin for an illness, you just suffer or die.

I've installed them a couple of times on previous boats but found I seldom paid any attention to them. They are useful when your motor does not seem to be performing up to speed and you want to make a quick check of the batteries. Since you are normally on the bow when running the TM, and the meters mounted on the bow, you can make a quick check without have to stop fishing. It also lets you see what they are doing under a load with the TM running. That's hard to do with a hand held voltmeter. If you have one that lets you select which battery you want to check, you can go through the batteries and make sure they are discharging evenly, which is a good indication of a battery going bad if they are not. I've had my current boat for 15 years and never installed one, even though I have two of them sitting in a box in the garage (I used to work on electric fork lifts and kept them in my spare parts). I'm just going to run my batteries until they start loosing power or have finished fishing. If they seem to be loosing power too soon, I'm going to use my DVM to trouble shoot the problem. After 50 years of doing this stuff, I kind of have an idea of when things are not right, and with a degree in electronics, I tend to trust a good DVM to trouble shoot any possible problems.

It doesn't have a trim switch on the side of the motor in the lower cover? If not, I would be adding me a switch so I didn't have to walk to the control handle every time I needed to raise and lower the motor putting the plug, etc in. Also one on the bow. Many times I need to tilt the motor up when fishing.

OK, what ever you think. Since I don't have a schematic and almost never mess with Yamaha's, however, I've never seen one that used the case as ground, it's to unreliable. To me, it sounds like you are about to replace a good trim motor. If it was mine, I would be making sure how it works and doing a little more voltage checking of the relay. On two wire motors, you can usually connect the two wires across a battery and it run one way, switch the terminal the other way and it runs the other way. Since Yamaha basically copied OMC's, I would think theirs would work that way also.

Is it a two wire or a three wire trim motor? If it's a two wire, I doubt it's the motor. If it's s three wire, possible motor but without voltage checks on the motor, you are guessing. A two wire motor works by the relays reversing the polarity to the motor. Connect a DVM across the two wires and you should have 12VDC when the trim button is pressed. The meter is just changing from - negative to + positive A three wire motor works with one wire being the common (battery negative) and one of the other two wires is the 12V up and the other wire is the 12V down. Connect the meters black lead to the common and the red lead to one of the other wires, do the up/down buttons and one of the should show 12VDC on the meter. Switch the red lead to the other wire and it should show 12VDC with the switch in the other direction.

What's the saying, "One in every three people you know seem to be a bit strange/crazy in some way", If you don't think so, you are the one.

I'm just the opposite, I would luv to get six hours sleep just one night. After about three hours in bed, my right hip, left knee, left shoulder and elbow are hurting so bad, I have to get up for an hour or two to move around, then hope I can go back to sleep. Then I have to sleep with my hands tucked flat under my pillow so the finger joints are not locked closed the next morning. They've started me on Humira ($5,400 per month prescripton) and I'm hoping that's the magical potion I need, but claim it can take up to three months to notice the difference. I've just been on it two weeks so got a while to go yet.

The way you know you died in your sleep, over the age of 40. When you wake up, you are not hurting.

How about getting back to the van and forgetting (not remembering) what went to it to get. I've had to go back to what I was working on to remember what it was I needed from the van. Still do that, I came in the house today, and forgot what I needed and had to go back out to what I was working on to remember. My favorite tool carrier was a 5 gallon bucket with a Bucket Boss, and a small set of hand trucks to carry it. I could load up with most anything I knew I would need and save a number of them trips back and forth and gave me something to sit one when doing brakes etc.

How about a stupid action, that I am the worlds worst at and getting even worse. Working on something, pick up a part or item and you need a tool or something special to install it. You go looking for the item you need and after a long frustrating search you find it. Go back to what you were working on and can't find the part, because you walked off with it in your and sat if down somewhere without thinking. Now you get to spend another frustrating 20 minutes looking for where you sat that part down. I have gotten so bad about doing that crap, it's not even funny. The other thing is what I call my magic act. Sit or stand in one spot, and not leave that spot, sit something down and it vanishes, not to be found anywhere. Common tool sizes like 1/2"x 9/16" wrenches, I keep several because when I use it and sit it down, it's usually easier to get another one than find the one I just had in my hand. If I could spend as much time actually working on something as I spend looking for things I need while working on it, I could get done in 1/4 of the time. The other is you put something in a good, logical place so it will be easily found. The next day, you need it, now all you have to do is figure where the heck that good, logical place was.

I feel a lot of what type, how old, how new etc. depends on the financial situation and how much you know about boat and the confidence of being able to do a lot of the maintenance yourself. If you are confident with your mechanical abilities, you can own older boats and motors and be happy. If you don't know a boxed end from an opened end, then those older boats/motors can be the most expensive things you can own. Of course, not everybody can afford to spend thousands of dollars on a new boat and have to make do with what they can afford. I got married in 1969, I had bought two new boats prior to getting married. Since getting married, I have probably owned well over 50 (buying, fixing and selling them), but I have never owned a new boat since. I have no problem buying any type of boat and in any condition. Matter of fact, usually only bought one that had a bad motor or needed a transom, or floor replaced or some other major work, because those I would buy for pennies on the dollar. There's nothing about one I can't fix so buying a nice looking boat with major problems, repairing and selling it was a good source of income for me. Like my 1999 Javelin R20 DC, it was three years old and easily valued at $17,000. I bought it at an auction in AZ for $4,500 because major parts of the motor were in the storage boxes. It cost me $700 to get it shipped from Arizona to GA and $1,200 to repair the motor, so for $6,400 I had a $17,000 dollar boat and still using it with no other major problems. How many people can buy a boat, use it for 17 years and it still be worth what they paid for it.

Do your homework on applying gel coat as a top coat outside a mold. Done right, it does pretty good, done wrong, and a couple of years down the road, you are probably not going to be happy. As mentioned, if you use the wax, don't use it until the very last coat. I've never used the wax, I sprayed PVA on the last coat to seal it. They also make a surface sealing agent that can be sprayed, but never tried it. I didn't use the wax because read too many complaints about the gel not curing when using it. Don't hesitate with the PVA, have it ready to go so as soon as you get the gel on, cover it with the PVA. Wait and it will start reacting with the air and won't cure. I also always sprayed mine on, but you still get some serious orange peel. Getting the application right will be hard this being your first time. Too much makes a thick coat that want's to crack and peel after a three or four years, been there, done that. Too thin of a coat and it will sand through or burn through easily. There is a method you can use to gauge how much you are applying and guidelines on how thick you should apply it, but been so long, I don't remember how. Fishing Rhino is a bit of a fiberglass guru so maybe he can help you out more that me. Like I said, it's been 10 years since I did my last one.

Make sure you leave it so they can go back to where they were. Top end performance is probably going to totally suck with that much weight forward. It's probably going to ride too bow heavy and be very hard to get the bow lift you need to good top end performance.

If you haven't bought glue yet, DAP Weldwood contact cement makes like a whole lot easier than carpet cement. No clamps needed, just apply to both surfaces with paint roller or brush, let it cure the required time and stick them together. If working a large piece or pieces that might require some positioning, lay wax paper between the surfaces, just be sure not to put any pressure on it. Once you get it in position, then start pulling the wax paper out and pressing the carpet down. If doing inside the rod lockers, you will appreciate the wax paper. Don't cut your corner too close around the lids or you will end up with bare corners showing.

I would not use WiSCO's in a fishing motor. The are a forged piston, expand more and require a couple thousandths more clearance, and when warming up, and require a much longer break in time. For a fishing motor, it's actually better to run cast pistons. The Wisco's are not larger, they just require a larger bore to allow for expansion. They can also be fairly noise when cold because of that extra clearance. I know you can get into the Ford vs Chevy type debate, but most all the most knowledgeable race engine builders around almost all recommend cast pistons for non high performance builds. Don't get too happy yet. Check with the machine shop and see if they will bore a cylinder only .010". Most won't because of the extra setup time and if there is any abnormal wear, .010" won't clear it, so they just go .020" intervals. Mic the .030" cylinder or have the machine shop check it and see if it needs bored. Unless that's the one that blew, it may be good and you can just take the other two to .030"

Don't put carpet in yet if you plan on recoating it. If you did like most and bought a heavier weight carpet to make it look better, you will have to shave the inside edges of all the compartment lids to be able to get them open. A set of cheap hair clippers will usually last long enough to do that job. Also, be careful how you lay the pieces out and cut them. Everything has to be cut on the same bias or it will make it looked two toned. Put a panel with the bias running one way next to a panel with a different bias, and you are not going to be happy. I've done several boats with US Composite's stuff. The first one I put on way too heavy and it started flaking and peeling within about three or four years. After the initial learning experience, the others seem to do fine. However, you couldn't pay me enough to do one now. Just not into that much work anymore. It pretty much doesn't matter how you apply gel coat, brush, roller, or spray, you are going to wear your arms to a nub sanding and buffing it because it's not going to smooth itself out after applying. The stuff is hard, making it hard to sand and don't think for a minute you are going to get it on smooth like an automotive clear coat. Do a little homework on surface prep for gel. It's been about 10 years since I've done one, but if I remember right, 220 grit was about as fine as you go, and it may not me that fine. As far as clear coats, AwlGrip is a very good one.

If the Edge has a low range for the 4WD, that would get you up the ramp ok. Definitely would not be my choice of tow vehicles for a 295 Pro. I think once you are committed to the vehicle, you will find it won't be long before you doing more than thinking about trading the 295 for a 17' aluminum. ' Almost anything is possible, Back in 1966, for two years I towed a 14' glass boat and 65hp Merc, with a 1962 Carman Ghia. The road was fairly level and the ramp was about five miles from the house but it was a fairly steep ramp. Burned out two clutches in those two years just getting it up the ramp. I that thing, it didn't take much more than an hour to change the clutch though. How ever, today my wife has a Toyota Highlander with the factory towing package. It's rated for over 5,000 pounds towing and no way under the sun would tow my 20' Javelin more than a short distance with it, I mean like maybe around the block. I keep a 4WD Silverado 2500HD just for towing that boat and a 93 4WD Toyota Pickup for my daily driver.

Didn't think about some people have plastic floaters. Definitely do not use MEK on any of the poly stuff. On Aluminum and fiberglass it works great, but can melt most poly materials.

Personally, I would not consider anything but rebuilding it if you are able. Too many rip offs out there in remanufactured power heads and not many people I would trust to rebuild one. I guess I've been doing this stuff too long and have seem too much of what people get, when they think they are getting something else. Yes, it does have blind holes and most automotive machine shops are not set up to bore blind holes, and some that can do it want to charge stupid prices. The only difference in boring heads is the standard boring head has straight cutting bits so they won't cut all the way to the bottom of the sleeve since the bottom is closed off with just a rod slot in it. To bore an outboard block, they have to use offset cutters or have a boring head that does not have that big bolt head or nut on the bottom. Also, automotive shops know nothing about chamfering the edges of the ports unless they do and know how to do two stroke blocks. If not chamfered, that sharp edge left from boring will hang and break the rings. It's also a very common practice for repair shops or rebuilders to only bore one hole and stick an over size piston in just that one. This is not a problem if they know what brand and/or weight match the pistons. Most quality brands keep their piston weights the same so you can do that. However, I have seen some with some ridiculous differences in weight and they wonder why their engine vibrated. If the cylinder can be honed to no more than .002" over it's no problem, start getting more than that and you will probably start hearing a skit tick. I have seen people take them as much as .004" over but as I mentioned, they will usually tick until they warm up. Use a cylinder hone, and not on of those three finger glaze busters or ball hones if you are going to try honing it. Before honing, use muriatic acid and cotton swabs on the long wood sticks to get the aluminum off the cylinder walls before honing. Some times, once you get all the aluminum off, they actually look much better than you thought. One other thought, make sure it's not a Nikasil sleeve. I'm not that smart on black motors but I do know some of them run the nikasil sleeves, and that may only be in their racing engines. I have seen people bore the plating off and just run standard pistons and rings because it's expensive to get one plated. One other thing, if, after cleaning it up, it does not have deep scratches, the ball hone is your best bet for just doing a cleanup on it. They will chamfer the ports to a degree also.

Any of those above. I've never tried WD40 to get the adhesive off, I've always used MEK since I always have some around and seldom have WD40.

Looks like it has been clear coated sometime between being built and now. The OEM gel coat normally does not do that. It just burns away and turns cloudy until it's down to the color coat Whether it was clear gel or clear epoxy, doesn't matter, both can do what you are seeing now. As for repair it by shooting another clear coat, that's probably not a viable repair, it looks like it's already down to the metal flake. When you sand metal flake, it turns into a lot of silver specks. It's basically aluminum foil with a color coat on it so when you sand it, all you see it the silver when the color is sanded off. So, what you end up with is the base color with a whole bunch of silver specks in it. You may be able to order a matching color coat gel and clear gel and reshoot the whole thing, but normally, that's not something your average boat owner is capable of. For the gel coat to cure, it has to be cut off from any air getting to it, which is no problem when the shoot it in the mold. To apply it outside of the mold, you have to order the clear coat with the wax in it. The wax floats to the surface and seals it from the air. No matter how you apply it, to get that glassy shine, you still have a ton of elbow grease to put in sanding and buffing it. It simply does not apply smooth enough without sanding. The easier application is AWLGRIP epoxies, but they are not easy on the pocket. They are about the only ones that stand a chance at staying on, but even with those, if you get a chip, it can want to keep growing. The next alternative is automotive type paints, and they are guaranteed to start chipping and flacking. Gel coat is hard to get anything to bond to it. If you are going to keep it, gel coat it or AWLGRIP it and hope it holds. If you are going to sell it, paint it, because you know it's going to chip off but will look good for the next owner. Next option, use it as it is and put all that money and work you will have in it into fishing and enjoy what you have. This is the source I use for most of my products http://www.uscomposites.com/polyesters.html I forgot to mention you can also spray a sealer like PVA to get it to seal if you don't use the wax.

First time someone tries to load a boat where there's a good current and a steep ramp, they will wish they had those.

To weigh it, most places that sell feed and grain have drive on scales. Park the boat on it with loaded just like it would be if going fishing, and pull the vehicle off the scales. A lot of the larger truck stops have drive on scales also, Usually only about $5 - $10 to get one weighed. No vehicle should be loaded anywhere close to it's max towing capacity unless you just plan on making short trips and driving slow. Not only is it extremely hard on the drive line, the brakes and tires on one are way too small to safely stop it with that much of a load. Having the experience of towing boats and cars for over 55 years, and being a master mechanic, I personally would use a vehicle that weighs at least close to 5,000 pounds and towing capacity of over 6,000 pounds to tow a boat that size. If not, and you tow it very much and very far, you will regret it.