Way2slow

Force motors came to be when they were made under the Chrysler brand name. A low technology low cost motor made to sell cheaper than the name brand motors of the time. Guess you could call them an American made motor, that could have easily been built by the Chinese. Brunswick bought them out when they were having troubles and rebranded them Force by Mercury (doing that, they made it look like you were getting Mercury quality, but was a long way from it) so they could have a bottom line, cheap motor to put on boats manufactures could install on cheap boats like the Bayliner's, and entry level boats like the BPS sells. They never did much to improve technology or quality so if you get one of the few good ones that come off the line, you're lucky, the bulk of them are problematic. They also have about the lowest performance and fuel economy of any motor on the market.

First, you have to consider what rpm you are turning at WOT and normal load with the 19". It you are at the manufactures max recommended, you might want to rethink that. A 17" prop is going to have over reving the engine at WOT so you will not be able to run full throttle but yes, it would help your hole shot. Now, if you are two or three hundred below recommended max, then going to a 17" would be a good idea, and if you really want to see a big improvement, get a Tempest and get rid of the aluminum junk. Even if you are at max with the 19", going to a 19" SS prop will make a very noticeable difference.

A friend of mine had a 17.5' Tracker with a 115 Merc and once it got to 42 mph, you couldn't ride in it, the sucker would jar your eyeballs loose. It was steadily beating the water about like taking your hand and slapping the water as fast as you could, but at 40, it rode fine. I've seen a number of aluminum boats that would start doing that because the water pressure on the hull starts it to flexing once they get to a certain speed. If a boat has a rocker in the hull, that will cause them porpoise. It's also very common for boats to porpoise when slowing down to come off plane.

Cavitation plate has nothing to do with porpoising. That's controlled by the setback and how much trim angle you have on the motor. If you have too much set back, mid speed porpoising can be a problem and it you have it trimmed out too much at it's going to porpoise

You don't need electronic locking but I would want a locking rear end. They come in many forms with many names. Air Lock, Detroit locker, positive traction, limited slip etc. but all serve the same basic purpose. To provide additional traction on slippery surfaces. With a standard differential, when trying to go forward, only the right rear pulls. If it starts spinning, the left rear does nothing as far as helping. With one of the locking rear ends, after the right rear make a turn of so more than the left rear, it engages the left rear so it pulls also. The main advantage of having one that is selectable like the electronic or Air Lock is there might be times when you don't want both rear tires spinning. If you are on a slanting surface, the rear end is going to slide sideways in the direction of the slant. If there's a big ditch there, that ain't a good situation. The ideal setup is 4WD with front and rear Air Lockers. I have not been without a 4WD vehicle since 1967 and it has never made any since to me to buy a truck that's not 4WD. However, being an old, south GA redneck a truck is just one of life's essentials.

Go here, read and adhere to their advice. Also, check out the second example of actual fraud emails. http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

Grab the Vaseline and bend over if you go for that deal. Variations of that same deal have been showing up for at least 10 years. No matter what you say or do to try and seeing the boat, there is always some excuse as to why that's not possible. I had one tell me one time that the boat was in Tucson Az. I replied back that was great, I have a brother that lives just outside Tucson, he could go by a check the boat out and make the deal on the spot then. Well, then it was in some special, secure warehouse and could not get access to it. On and On with excuses. If you can't deal face to face, where you can swap the cash for the goods, then you are only asking to be taken for a sucker. Also, it's dumber than dirt to buy any boat you can't inspect and take for a check out ride. When you buy one sight unseen or taking the person word for condition is when you usually get to buy the most expensive boat you will ever own. Of course well all know a bass fisherman would never tell a lie.

How long the battery last is strictly based on how you run the motor and the capacity of the battery. In other words, the battery only has given number amp hours (how many amps it can deliver at how long of a time) and the faster you run the trolling motor the more amps it's going to be drawing. A typical, good quality, group 27 Deep Cycle battery is going to have 115 - 120 amp hours based on a 20 hour rating, which means for all practical purposes it's going to be much less because you are going way more amps than the 5-6 amps they use to get that 20 hour rating, and the more amps you pull at once, the more inefficient a battery is and that rating goes way down. For instance, if you ran that MK-55 on max trying to go a long way, that group 27 battery would probably last about 1 1/2 hours. Now, if you kept it off max and just eased around casting, it would probably last all day. When shopping for a battery, look at the reserve minutes on the batteries label. That is telling you how long that battery will deliver 25 amps before being totally discharged. 25 amps is going to be about 1/2 speed on that MK-55. If you go to MKs web site, they used to have a chart hid somewhere on it that gives the amp draw of their different motors at different settings. Then it's just doing the math. Understand one thing, the reserve minutes are what they are. People will say get those Optima's etc, but look at their reserve minutes compared to a good flooded cell battery (one that has caps on it). There is no lead acid battery going to give the reserve minutes a flooded cell battery is going to give, and if you are wanting to run all day, you want every reserve minute you can get.

For ponds, I never use a gas motor. Most public ones don't allow them, most private ones don't want them in their water. For small lakes I use both, but as mentioned, if just going with one, for starters it would be an electric. If you are going to be bass fishing, you will need the electric to move around easily while casting, gas just don't work for that.

Don't be surprised when they hand you the bill and it's over $500, maybe even well over. I think the going price just to do the carbs is between three and four hundred now. Not knowing when the water pump was last replaced, that's something else you need to consider but now, you are looking at closer to 1K than 500 by the time they get through with everything.

First, the fuel pump leaking is probably not what's causing your problem but you definitely need to replace it anyway. If for no other reason, you are running around with a possible grenade if fuel is leaking inside that cover when it's on. It does not take much fumes to build up when you stop to fish for the thing to blow ski high the next time you start it to move again. There are a couple different ways you can go about replacing the pump. You can pay the big bucks for the oil injection pump so you don't have to worry about premixing oil/gas in the tank. You can buy a fuel only pump that replaces the oil injection pump and save a little, if they are still available. You can install one of these http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CRT-P4070/ for less than $100 and never have to pump the primer again (actually you do away with it) and makes it a whole lot easier to start. If going this route, be sure to install a relay to run the pump, it draws a little more than you really want to run off the key switch if connected directly. Forgot to mention, if going this route, get the two 1/4mpt x 3/8" barb fittings for it if that's not what comes in the box. It probably has 1/4" barbs. As for your problem. Sounds more like the carbs need some serious attention and a proper linkage synchronization done. That would be my starting point. Also, check closely for air leaks around the intake system. The reason it idles high when you first start it, there is a cold start feature built in that increases the timing for about the first five seconds after starting.

Seen a lot of Checkmate's but never knew they ever made a bass boat. If it's like most normal Checkmates, it should be pretty quick being a 16' boat with a 90 on it. The only difference between the 88SPL and the 90 was the 88 didn't have the VRO, so they called it an 88 just to help keep it form being compared to the 90. Wouldn't be surprised if it didn't bump 50 with a light load and the right prop.

As other have mentioned, most likely a trim switch got water in it but as for any help beyond that, my crystal ball wouldn't work, "my motor" is too broad of a term for it.

Sounds more like a brake caliper sticking on the truck than something with the trailer to me. Since the trailer does not have brakes, there is almost no way that trailer could put enough drag on that truck to cause the problem he was having. A tight/sticking brake caliper on the truck could do it in a heartbeat though.. Before spending a bunch of useless money on the trailer, give it another chance. If/when it does it again, pull over and try to do something to feel the brake rotors on the truck. I'll bet money at least one of them will draw a blister on your finger when you touch it. Throw something in the truck to lay on and you can feel the rotors from the back side if the wheels won't let you touch them from the front. If you happen to have a laser temp gauge, check them with that.

Snakehead Whisperer, apparently yours is not a bow mount or your batteries are in the bow or it's an open boat. With a bow mount motor and the batteries in the back, that's a whole bunch of cable to have to get pulled out and put back in on you typical decked bass boat. Not a job I would want to do on my Javelin they way I have it tie-wrapped in. I personally would not want to be using a small, outdated system if he has the older style with the 12/24 system and the RUN/CHARGE switch. The lions share of those are 30 amp systems and are way to small and inefficient for the larger TM's used today.

Yes, you can do away with the connector, but there will be times when you whished you hadn't. However, it you are using the three prong, round electric plug that says it's only rated for 30 amps on it, that's junk and I would have done away with that a long time ago. First, are you still running one of the 12/24 TM's? Those are the only TM's you need a three prong plug for. If not an you are running a just a 24V TM, You should give serious consideration to doing some re-wiring of your boats TM system. When those systems were designed, they didn't have the size TM's we are using today. 30 amps was one of the biggest bow mounted TM's used back then. Here's the problem that 12/24, three prong systems creates. They install a Run/Charge switch that places the batteries in parallel so the batteries can be charged by one charger plugged into that three prong plug. To do this, they two positive and two negative cables from the front to the batteries. When the switch is un the run position and you are running in 24 volts, both of those cables are placed in series, so you have almost 100 feet of cable being used for the current to go through from the battery to the TM. Even if they used 6ga cable, that long of a run is only good for about 30 amps (which as I said, was about all they had at the time), and if they used 8ga wire, it's only good for about 20 amps without causing significant voltage drops. Also, if you look at that pile of wiring on the back of that plug, you will see they used short pieces of 10ga wire to connect things. With that small, 30 plug and receptacle, that extremely long length of wire required and the funky wiring they use to connect to that receptacle, it all adds up to a huge amount of loss in performance in any of the new, larger TMs you put on the bow. The very first thing I do with any boat that has that system is to eliminate it. I start by getting a 24V or 36V variable speed TM. Then, If it has 6ga wire, I get some #4 copper lugs with 3/8" eyelets and put both red cables into one lug on both ends, crimp and solder them. This will give you the approximately the equivalence of one 4ga cable. If the OEM wire is smaller than 6ga, I remove and replace it with 4ga. I mount me a 60 amp breaker near the batteries and connect it in line with the positive cable with a short piece of 4ga cable with copper lugs crimped and soldered on it going to the batteries. Make sure the jumper between the batteries is at least 6ga cable. On the TM end, you may be a little short but that's not a problem. I only use Anderson connectors or one made like them and get two SB-50s with 6ga terminals, a couple of feet of 6ga cable and a couple #6 copper lugs to crimp and solder on. Use short 3/8" bolts and bolt the #6 and #4 lugs together and tape them. Solder the SB-50 terminals on the cables and the TMs cable. If you screw the SB-50 on the boat down to secure it, put a spacer, like a SS washer under it to make it easier to plug/unplug. This will give you a very efficient wiring system that will handle any of the new TM's you might ever want to put on it.

Just a little info if you don't know. Advance, Autozone, etc sell them and might have one that will match yours. One brand they have only sells for about $12 - $14 on average. If they have one to match in both weights, try one, if you don't like it, exchange it. They are called gas springs, but those place probably will call them hood supports. All you have to do is find a one that has a parts person that can look up something without the "vehicle make, model, size engine etc.

I will make the lids pop up faster and harder to close. Depending on how hard the 20LB ones were when new, it might make them a little stiffer than you care for.

As long as a battery is never allowed to sit more than approx. 24 hours at less than approx. 80% charge, it doesn't matter how you maintain it. 24 hours and 80% charge are the magic numbers for the plates to start to sulfate. The more they sulfate, the more capacity you loose. Let one sit for 30 days in a discharged state and you can trash it. Keeping them on a maintainer is to keep the human error (forgetting to check/charge periodically) out of the picture. Some maintainers like Battery Minder's and chargers that have a maintainer cycle also have a high frequency signal that helps break up and remove mild sulfation, but after it gets bad, the only way to remove it is beyond something for the average consumer. Battery manufactures also use different type of alloys for making the plates. The better brands use an alloy that has a very low self discharge rate. The bargain brands use a cheaper alloy that self discharges rather quickly. This is why some batteries can be dead after sitting a few months and others only be down a few percent. How they are constructed and how you maintain one helps determine how many cycles you get out of it before having to buy another. A cheap battery properly maintained, will out last a high end battery poorly maintained.

The maintenance charge voltage for most deep cycle, flooded cell batteries is 13.17VDC. For AGM batteries I think it's about 13.4VDC. Anything more that this is harmful to the battery, it makes flooded cell batteries loose water quickly while stored also. Trickle chargers are not battery maintainers. Their output voltage is usually too high and will damage the battery. Also, flooded cell batteries need to be charge at a high enough rate to make the electrolyte form bubbles to keep them from stratifying. That's why you should use a charger that's approx. 10% of the batteries rated capacity. Trickle chargers are designed for small batteries, not deep cycle trolling batteries

Actually, depending on how much effort they put into the design, the top deck can created very little drag. Allison claims you can wear a baseball cap with the bill turned toward the front while running down the lake. I've only been I a couple of Allison's and don't wear ball caps so I can't speak first hand to that.

If you are wanting to recoat your boat, I would recommend you look into using Awlgrip marine epoxy instead. There are a whole list of reasons you don't want to use gel coat.

Personally, I wouldn't tow much more than a small aluminum boat with that vehicle To help you decipher you tow chart, the very first thing you need to understand, the weight inside the vehicle affects tow weight. That's why they state it's with two people, driver and one passenger. Load it down with a bunch of stuff to go camping and the weight of all that extra stuff takes away from the weight of what you can tow. That max tow weight is also with the trailer towing package. Without the towing package the max tow weight is 2,000 pounds. The trailer towing package, besides the obvious hitch on the back, also adds an additional, external cooler to the transmission. Something that is very necessary to help prevent overheating the transmission (which is VERY easy to do), Most vehicles also upgrade the wiring to the rear lights to a larger gauge wire and use a heavy duty flasher when it's a factory installed towing package. The reason for a difference in with and without trailer brakes, it's because the braking capabilities of the vehicle. The manufacture is telling you the vehicle can pull up 2,800 pounds of additional weight down the road, but it can only safely stop with 1,650 pounds of additional weight. If you add trailer brakes, the trailer brakes will increase it's stopping capabilities from 1,650 to 2,800 pounds. Now, the little caveat about the boat towing capacity is an additional 1,000 pounds. If towing a boat, you can crank the motor up, put it in gear, rev it up and let the prop help push you down the road. JUST KIDDING!, Actually they are figure on towing something like a U-Haul box trailer. That front, flat surface creates a huge amount of drag when hauling down the road at 55 mph. A boat is much more aero dynamic and creates much less drag, therefor, they say you can add an additional 1,000 pounds to you tow weight if it's a boat. So, since not many small boat trailer are going to have trailer brakes and you do not have a towing package that installed the additional, external cooler on the transmission, they are saying you can tow a boat that weighs 2,650 pounds (don't ask me why boats 1000 pounds don't affect the brakes, I was not the Korean engineer that made that made that chart) with an average size driver and passenger in the vehicle. Check what they consider an average size person, that's usually around 165 pounds. If I was towing anything with it, I would have an external cooler installed. http://www.amazon.com/Hayden-Automotive-402-Ultra-Cool-Transmission/dp/B000C39C86/ref=sr_1_6?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1457354646&sr=1-6&keywords=cooler+transmission

I was under the impression it was a four blade. If it still messes up 5" down, that prop needs to go to the shop. I would also try finding a 22" Raker you can try. It's possible you might end up spinning it a little over 6,000 at WOT, but I think the rev limiter on that ignition module is around 6,500. I know the factory recommended max is 6,000 rpm but not going to hurt that motor if you spin it a little over the 6,000 and it will greatly help your hole shot.

One word of caution, when you read what someone else is doing, don't take that as gospel it's what you need to do. "IF" everything is identical, prop, year make and model of boat, engine etc, that could be a good starting point, but if they are use a Raker and you are using a Renegade, things are not the same. Now, with that age of boat, and you having a four blade, it could very well be a Shooter prop, and you CAN NOT run those has high as the three or four blade, high rake props. If it's a four blade Shooter, which has more of a Mickey Mouse ear shaped blade, you might want to drop it down to about 5" and try it. Matter of fact, no matter what prop you have, drop it down to about 5" and try it. It's it still spins up "like you pushed the clutch in" then the prop is bad/wrong for the boat. Also, not knocking your weight but for the size you say you are, and then add another person of average size you probably should be running no more than a 22" pitch prop. Since you say that motor was recently rebuilt, I would do a compression test on it also. Make sure all six cylinders are within 5%. Low compression will kill hole shot.