Way2slow

Now, I'm the same way one the trim, as soon as the hot foot goes down, the trim starts coming up. My boat comes out the hole strong and fast, doing it the way I do, the motor totally changes sound as it lays over, you can hear the cavitation holes in the prop working and it gains a bunch of rpm and it is gone. You can also adjust that trim sending unit so you can get the gauge to read a little closer to the center when the motor is squared with the hull. The two bolts that hold it in are slotted so if you loosen them, the sending unit pivots. It has almost a 1/2" of movement in it to adjust it. Just don't get too carried away with getting the arm out/up more so that when the motor is trimmed all the way down it don't break it off. One way to tell if you are too high on the plate, when you start off and get to full speed, then lift on the has just a little and see if the bow pops up more, and then drops back down when you got back WOT. A lot of props, unless they have been tuned for the boat will cause one to do this when you are to high on the jack plate.

I hope you are flipping just for the sake of discussion, because to flip it to do the sanding, that one would be tons of fun. The pad is the bottom most section of the hull, about 14" or so wide, depends on the boat, with a very slight V shape, and may even flatten out completely as it gets close to the rear. Using your upside down reference, you will see about a 1" to 2" straight side drop to the first riser. Then that riser will extend over and there would be another drop to the next riser. It is built this way so as the boat gains speed, each rise lift's a little more of the hull out of the water and reduces hull drag, so it can go even faster. Get it going fast enough and only a few inches of the very back of the pad is actually touching the water. That stepup you see in the back of most all high performance type boats is just for a built in offset. Works just like a titter totter, They get that part of the boat out of the water so the weight of the motor, batteries, fuel and all the other crap in/on the back of the boat creates a leverage point at the back of the hull there to lift the bow. Then you add the jack plate to set the motor a little further back, if needed so the weight of the motor is in just the right spot to help leverage the boat to the perfect point so you have just the right bow lift and the motor vertical to the water so the prop is applying a straight forward push. You see tons of boats running down the lake with the motor trimmed way out, well beyond vertical. That usually means they don't have enough setback and the motor is having to use power to lift the bow, or they are just flat over trimming the motor. A good way to check and see how yours it set, Level the hull, and then level the anti-cav plate so the motor is vertical, then mark you trim gauge where the pointer is at so you can tell how much extra trim you are trim you are using to get the hull up. With that 10" jack plate on my Javelin, I can't even get to vertical with my motor before it starts to slip. Just so you understand, the reason you want about a 320 grit finish, that lets the water start forming micro bubbles of air between the hull and water, so you are actually running on a pocket of air. Wax a hull and it's like running on a pool of glue. As for the hook and the lean, that's just the Stratos hull. They actually recalled a bunch of hulls on some of their 19SS and 20SS hulls because of that and a very unstable condition they developed. They tried a new design, go faster hull, on those and found out it was dangerous for the average boat owner to drive, so they swapped them out for their old style hull.

On the trailer, it's hard, but not impossible, Basically, it's taking a two foot flat, hard, smooth surface sanding board with 320 girt wet/dry and start wet sanding the last three to four feet of the pad and the the first riser on each side. You work in a V at about a 45 degree angle back. After an initial sanding that takes the shine off, check for shiny spots, then see if they are shallow enough they will smooth out or need to be scuffed and a thin layer f filler applied. You don't want to sand through the gel coat. A lot of Stratos hulls have a hook in the last six inches of the pad to help them get on plane quicker. I fill that in so the pad is flat. Now, if it was a Allison, you would ruin the hull if you filled in their hook. A lot of Stratos hulls have a large hook at the rear of the first riser, don't mess with that. If the boat is fast enough the pad is going to lift it off those anyway. The idea is to have all of that hull area smooth and flat with about a 320 grit finish. Some spray primer on that area and not sand the primer. That leaves the finish they want. While doing this, you also do the sides of the pad and sharpen the edge. I usually slide one back on the trailer and brace it up, to get the trailer out of the way, Needless to say, laying on your back and wet sanding, killing your arms, is enough to discourage most from tackling this. My 285 Pro gained seven mph, just from doing this to its hull, but it also had 300 hp pushing it.

To each his own, for $20 you can get the lever and it will probably last as long as the Teleflex, and a whole lot less trouble. JB weld does not work on plastic, They make one that does but never tried it. There are some special glues that will, but they cost almost as much as the handle.

I've had the Terrova 80US I-Pilot about three years, I used it with the foot control instead of the remote because who wants to stop fishing and fiddle with a remote every time you need to do something with the TM. When the foot pedal went out this summer, I finally took the Terrova off and put my MotorGuide back on I took of for the Terrova. Never was fond on the Terrova's foot pedal control, and hated the having to raise and deploy the thing going to shallow banks to get lures. While I've have been using my MG for a few months now, I have realized there were some features I liked about the Terrova over the MG, but the foot pedal and deploying it are not two of those features and those two alone are enough for me leave the Terrova off my boat.

Yep, racer is Alan Stoker. Probably one of the best OMC guru's on the planet until he retired, sold out and moved to Florida. He's is my got to source for info and the one that has helped me learn what I know about building bad*** OMCs. OMC engineers even went to him on advices when they were investing money in outboard racing program. He is also the one that developed the cooling mod for the 3.0. As for egts, metal from the pistons usually starts going out the exhaust ports at 1,280 degrees. The e-tec use a special a coatings and other new materials and different technology so they can run around 1,400 degrees. Those hotter temps and leaner conditions is why they get better fuel economy and run so much cleaner. The more you get it up on the pad and get good bow lift, the faster you can go, and the more it's subject to chine walk. My Javelin R20 is running on about two square feet of hull surface when it's flying. You might want to see if you can find any info Paul Nichols, Nichols Marine might have. He is very good a tuning and blue printing hulls. I don't know if he still is but for years, he was the man behind the wheel and did the work on Bullets hull for all of Bullets records and test runs.

A model number off the motor is needed. http://www.evinrudeonlineparts.com/OemParts#%2fJohnson%2fREMOTE_CONTROLS_and_CABLES%2fREMOTE_CONTROL_-_SIDE_MOUNT_-_KEY_SWITCH%2f60921%2f59075 I looked up one for a 1980 model motor as a guess, since they used the same control head for a bunch of years and that's about what that one looked like it was, but here's one for a 1980. Not sure what year they started but they used the 0323770 thru 1985 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Evinrude-0323770-SLIDE-Neutral-lock-/201441701294?hash=item2ee6dc6dae&vxp=mtr In 1986 they went to part number 0332428 and used that one at least until 1990 and maybe later. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X0332428+slide.TRS0&_nkw=0332428+slide&_sacat=0 They both look very similar but PN changed for some reason. Later than 1990, call the dealer, they quit listing them with the motors after that, or take your model number of the motor to any dealer and they should be able to order you one. It's called the neutral lock slide.

Don't have to worry about me saving you some, 99.9% of what I catch goes back in the lake anyway. I've always said, for every pound of bass I eat, it probably cost me at least $2,000 a pound to eat it. Normally, I have to take tackle and stuff out of my live well where I use it for storage to turn the pumps on. Clarks Hill is a perfect example of a states stupidity. The lake has a 12" minimum size limit, and the state fisheries management asked that you please don't throw those little one back because the lake is over populated with them, so sometimes if the wife's fussing about fish, I will keep the dinks 12-13", but a friend of mine got fined $100 because he had one that he swore was 12" but the game warden said it was 11 7/8". They beg you to keep the small ones, but then fine you for one that 1/8" too short.

What size jack plate? I've never seen but one with a 6" jack plate (and I set that one up for a friend), because it seem most people go with at least an eight, and many go with a 10" or more However, a friend of mine that was a Stratos dealer, factory backed by OMC for most of his racing carrier, and owned Stoker boats always told me a 6" was all the setback a 201 needed with an OMC 225. I built his motor that started life off as a Venom 200 and pushed his boat 62 mph with no jack plate just him in it. When I finished with the motor, the setup and a 26" Raker tuned by Bob Lipton. When jetting it with me and him in it, I was 212 at the time and he was 225, it peaked at 81.6 mph gps and egt's bumping 1,250 degrees. Since it was a little cool that day, I went a little larger to give it a cushion and it was running 78.3 at 6,500 rpm and 1,205 degrees egts. On his, we ended up with the prop 2 1/2" below the pad. So, those old lead sleds with haul the mail with the right goodies on them.

You have it easy with a hydraulic jack plate, just play with trim and lift until if feels best and runs the fastest. If you are not familiar with setting one up, Ken Cook has some of the best info already written out so I would start there. http://www.kencook.net/Setupart.html

It should have nothing to do with the choke. You had it right to start with, it's the idle up for cold start. I don't know of one that activates the choke when raised. Since you can't advance the throttle, to do that you would have to put it in gear, and then you couldn't crank it because the neutral start switch would keep it from cranking, you lift that lever to advance the throttle. All the way up is sometimes too much rpm, but after a couple of times, you will learn the best position. As the motor warms a little and starts gaining rpm, start pushing the lever down until it's all the way down and the motor idles ok. As for your choke problem, if the solenoid is good, and you don't won't to trouble shoot the wiring, just put you a push button on the console and run a wire directly to the solenoid. Whole lot easier than what you are doing now.

First, do you have a DVM? Do the tail lights on the vehicle still work? What kind of vehicle? Most of the newer vehicles have separate turn signal/brake and tail lights so they have to use a diode interface/adapter to make them work on the trailer lights. It's possible you could have blown a diode in the adapter. I rented an auto dolly from U-Haul that had a shorted wire and when they hooked it up, it blew my fuse. They fixed the short, I replaced the fuse but didn't have tail lights on the auto dolly after that. Finally diagnosed it to the adapter being bad, and they gave me a price for a replacement. I politely told him I didn't care what it cost, they were paying for it and installing it. After some heated debate and my call to their to their corporate office, they replaced it and everything worked fine. I've never been able to see electrons in a wire and test lights can lie to you since they don't show the actual voltage, I believe in using a voltmeter. If it's tail lights you are chasing, it should be the brown wire. Also remember, it take two wires to make a circuit, if the brown wire has voltage all the way back then check the bulbs bulb sockets and ground. The sockets in boat trailers have a tendency to rust and cause problems also.

I do just the opposite with the fuel tank. The old metal tanks used to sweat but never seen that to be a problem with the plastic ones and I don't want deal with the bad gas next spring so I pump all the gas out of mine by taking the hose loose from the primer bulb and connecting an electric fuel pump, and put the gas in one of my vehicles. If the motor us stored under some kind of shelter, I wouldn't worry about fogging it. I run mine every couple of months so I don't have to worry about the carbs and fuel lines having old gas. I do this with a gallon jug with a little gas and SeaFoam, I take the hose loose from the tank side of the primer bulb, put a short piece of hose on it and stick it in the jug I just sit in the splash well. I've done this for at least the last 30 years and have never had a carburetor issue. I run all my gas motors every month or two, pressure washer, chain saws, weed eaters, mowers etc. If you don't want to go through the trouble of running it, pull the plugs out of the carbs and drain those, then use compressed air (low pressure) and purge the whole fuel system buy taking the primer bulb loose and blowing though it. After a good purge, put the plugs back in the carbs. If you don't, it doesn't take long before you learn why this junk we have for gas is cursed so much. Also blow out all the hoses to your live wells, just be sure the drain valve is open. Some people just pour antifreeze in them but I just blow them out. The water pressure gauge was mention, but you will probably want to blow the speedometer hose out also. I would leave the hoses off both until the next time you use them so the gauges will drain. Just don't forget or you might get peed when you use it.

Sounds more like a trigger module, or power pack to me. Keep the stuff with you so next time you will have it and if it does it, check it again, see if the same plug it still dry. When you replaced the plug wires, what kind did you use? The graphite automobile wires usually don't work. You need the high performance, wire wound type wires if using automobile wires. Don't forget the dielectric grease on everything.

Did you check the fluid, many times an attempted repair is not a fix. Things happen, he could have cut a seal, the rod could have a ding that was over looked, left something loose and it still have a leak that let the fluid out again. Not sure if that motor has a coupler in the pump or not, but those that do, sometimes they can brake. Motor spins, but won't turn the pump.

It's definitely not fine. A prop shop can repair it, or buy a new one, but don't run that one until it's repaired or replaced. The out of balance condition it will cause can damage your LU or actually cause the prop shaft to break.

First thing you need to do is determine which cylinder it is. The next time you are using it, drive it a couple of minutes while it's skipping. Then while still holding it at WOT, turn the ignition switch off (they call this a plug dump). If it comes and goes, be sure to do this while it's skipping. Remove the spark plugs and see which one is wet and darker than the others. That one will be the cylinder causing your problem. (be sure to take tools to do this). Also trimming the motor all the way up makes it a lot easier to do from inside the boat on the lake. It's wise to take a spare spark plug and an extra of each tool also. It's very easy for one to end up in the bottom of the lake. You can head back to the ramp at WOT, shut if off and use the TM to dock and load it on the trailer and do it on dry land. Once you have identified the bad cylinder, it makes it a lot easier to chase that rabbit. Now is where my problem comes in, I know very little about your motor. If it has individual coils, switch the one for the bad cylinder with another, and see if the problem move to the other cylinder by doing the plug dump again. If it moves, you probably have a bad coil, if it doesn't, then you have other problems. It always pays to do a compression check. Should be around 100psi with not more than 5% variance on a warm motor. If this is a carbureted motor, and a carb for each cylinder, switch two of the carbs the same as you did the coils and try it. Again, if the problem moves, it's the carb. Before doing this, have some sort of manual or directions on how to do a synchronization on them, that is a must. That's also something you might want to check before doing them. If it's off, that can cause problems. From there, make sure all connections a clean and dry, I would even get me a tube of Permatex Dielectric grease (most auto parts stores have it) and put some of every connector, including plug wires. CRC makes it in a spray can. Put in on, and then plug and unplug them a couple of times to clean the terminals. I put this stuff on all electrical connectors, even in my automobiles. Can't count how many times a problem disappeared after doing it. From this point, you are pretty much down to a bad switch box (power pack), trigger module, or stator, and since I don't know the Mercury system, I can't tell you how to troubleshoot those except for swapping them out. I would guess the switch box, but that's an expensive guess if wrong. That's about the most help I can give you with a black motor.

Are you talking about the black flange pieces or the brass fitting on the hose. The black flange piece is a Bulk Head strain relief, like these http://www.westmarine.com/buy/t-h-marine--bulkhead-hydraulic-hose-strain-relief-kits--P015921091 The brass fittings look like flat faced hydraulic fittings and the hose itself looks like Synflex. However, one end will have to come off the hose to install the Bulkhead strain relief. If you have the spare length, most any hydraulic shop can cut one fitting off, slide the strain relief on and crimp a new fitting on. Probably cost you about $10 per hose to have that done. To have new hoses made with the strain reliefs will be expensive. The hose will probably run $10 or more per foot, and four new fittings will cost you about $5 each and then they charge a few dollars each to crimp them on. Also, make sure they are the size diameter that fits your hose

It has been almost three weeks since he posted, so he must have found one or decided he didn't need any advice.

Sounds like you might have a couple of problems. First it sounds like the shift cable needs to be adjusted so the shifter is half way between forward and reverse and sitting in the neutral detent. The next thing is the neutral start switch inside the control box needs to be adjusted or replaced. As for the trim, that also is probably a switch that needs to be replaced.

For the percentage they will wind up getting, especially if it goes into litigation, your bones are gonna get picked also. Not a bash, just plain old fact. Like the preacher, the Pope and the Lawyer that St. Peter meet at the pearly gates and was showing them where they would be living. The preacher was a very small modest place. The Pope's was much larger but still modest, the lawyers was like a mansion. The preacher and Pope asked why?. St. Peter says "we get preachers all the time, but seldom get a Pope, and we've never had a Lawyer". For what you describe in a boat, Craig's list should have them popping up on a regular basis, or just keep an eye open for one that is very obvious it's pretty much left to die a slow death and go to the door and ask about it. I have picked them up over the years for very little money or just by offering to get the out of their yard, even asked about one and they asked me how much I would charge them to haul it off. A lot of times the only thing stopping you from getting them is the lack of proper paper work required by the state. I would take those, also, just for the trailer and motor and cut the hull up with a chain saw and put it in dumpsters until gone. Just wear a Tyvek suit and have every square inch of you skin covered if you do that and blow off good before you come out of it.

First off, if it is the ECU, they are repairable at a much cheaper cost, you don't have to pay that ridiculous price. Here's a link to just one of many that repair them the prices vary between them. http://www.simonmotorsports.com/ I'm not that much on Mercs/Mariners, but one thing I would do that often gets over looked and I have seen cause problems a number of times in the anti-siphon check valve at the fuel tank. If it has not been removed, you might want to try removing it and see how it does. There is a 3/8 barbed fitting at the fuel tank the fuel line to the engine is connected to. Take that fitting out and see if there is a check ball inside. If there is, get a regular barbed fitting and replace it the check balled one with a standard fitting. This fitting is a coast guard requirement so that if the engine catches fire and going up in a blaze of glory, when the fuel line burns off in the motor, it's to keep the burning fuel from being pulled back into the tank, but has caused many problems with sticking and not letting the fuel to the engine. Check it with a standard barb, if that fixes the problem, they you can either leave the standard one, or buy another anti-siphon one. I take mine out and throw them in the trash. The real Merc/Mariner gurus are on Scream and Fly if you want to try there. http://www.screamandfly.com/forumdisplay.php?20-Technical-Discussion, but there may be someone on here with experience on your motor/problem.

There are a number of members on here very knowledgeable of how select the right prop, but a little more info than provided is needed. I would have a hard time seeing something like a Stratos 295 under powered with a 150, turning a 24" Raker.

He probably thinks we're a bunch of dumb**** because we can't tell him what prop his buddies 150 Johnson should run, and probably fed up and posted it another sight looking for the answer.

I guess I will clarify! The motor is on a boat, it does not run down the lake by itself. The size and design of the boat is what determines the size and type prop for a given motor. Unless, someone has a mighty fine crystal ball, it's impossible to answer your question without a lot more info. GOOD LUCK. I'm done.