HPBB

Holy crap!!! $200 why can't I find something like that. :'( I paid twice that for my first boat and it was a 12 footer with a 6hp on it. Good job. I saw a boat just like that with a 120hp on it last year and they wanted $2500

Sell it, and buy a 25hp I don't think there is much you can do. I know you can upgrade a 9.9 to a 15. but upgrading a 15? I have a 1989 2 stroke 15 merc (with 9.9 stickers) not an up graded 9.9, it was a 15 to start with. I did three things that help out a lot to get some more speed out of the boat, but nothing gave it more HP. This is on a 14' 10" Starcraft V hull. 15 HP short shaft tiller Merc. 6 gal gas tank, 1 battery, and bow TM. The speed I was getting was 9-10 mph now after all this I get 14-15mph. I know 5mph doesn't sound like much, but at those small speeds and hp its was 50% more speed for my boat. 1. put a set of dole finns on it. The boat would not get the bow down and could not plane. with the dolefinns it planes right out fast. 2. I put a mini jacker on it (small jack plate) this added about 1-2mph 3. The biggest thing was I move weight around in the boat. This is trail and error. You have to try stuff in different places and see what it does. Ex. the battery for the TM sits in the bow. Now I couldn't get the bow down to start with. when I installed the dolefinns the bow came down; However it was digging now, so I moved the battery to the back of the boat. This help greatly. Also I don't have a livewell, so I use a cooler as a live well, that can can be put in the boat and taken out. Depending on if I am by myself of have a buddy in the boat. the live well will sit in different spots

Lard_Bass: never even heard of Green Lick till you said it. Had to look on a map to find it, so no never fished it. Yes, Donegal has a good population of bass. Been fish for bass up there 25 years. the lake was great in the early 90's and kinda fell off for a while. Still caught bass, but most were small under 10 inches. This year the sizes are coming back. was up there in late may and had a few 30+ fish days (really 4-5 hour trips) most fish over 14. was up there this past Sunday & fishing was hard. caught 4 fast on buzz baits then nothing the rest of the day. water is looking weird. lake just had an algee bloom and those storms last week must have sent some sewage into the lake. It smelled bad. Donegal is an electric motor lake. its not that big, but its one of the biggest electric only lake around here. I think High point is the only one bigger than it. Its easy to shore fish and wade fish. If you using a boat on a trailer, launch out of the second launch (closer to the dam) its deeper. If its a car topper the first is OK and very few people use it. I think I am going down to the Yough Dam this weekend. not sure yet. If my buddy want to we are going. Since we have to take his boat. Mine is down with a blown motor. that is why I have been fishing the small TM only lake a lot lately.

Thanks Chris, just sorry I couldn't help you with some of the questions. now alll I have to do is get a new powerhead( and the $$ to buy it) and I am running again.

as long as you can get it to clean water and it flushes out, it should be ok. But, If the dirt does not flush out and it drys in the motor you could be in for some problems. This just happen to my brother last month. He has a 125 Hp merc and ran into some mud. being that he is new to owning a boat, he never got the boat in clean water to flush it out. Next time he took the boat out. He noticed that no water was coming from that jet on the side of the motor. he didn't run it, just put it back on the trailer. Good thing. the mud had been thick and when it dried it made the impeller not work able, could have overheated and burned the motor up. I know if I suck mud up in my Suzuki, I get to clean water and watch it to make sure clean water is coming out of it. But if you fish shallow you can't miss the mud. just make sure you flush the motor.

maybe, the gears just need to move a little and the motor running gave it what it needed

I have one on my boat, got it from BPS. Very easy to mount up and easy to use. It also comes in hand when its raining really bad to.

hate to say it, but sounds like a ground problem check to make sure the ground is hooked up on the trailer also on your truck. I have compleatly replaced a wirering set out on a trailer just to find out the ground wire broke on the truck

I take my boat twice a year to Canada. 10 hour one way. and many 2+ hours trips just make sure the bearings are good/ I repack every year. I also take an extra set of bearings and a hub with me. also make sure your tires are inflated to proper pressure. make sure you have a spare. I carry two on long trips. I also carry extra wire, light bulbs, and elactric tape incase I have to fix the lights

on most its just new carbs( or just jets) and new exhaust tube it depends on what make of motor

just buy 9.9 stickers. that is what I did. bought them from the dealer I bought the motor from

cabelas's sells a vinyl floor covering. My starcraft came with it from the factory. 20 years old and no rips and not worn out, still lookd good. Its great when it gets dirty just hose it off. I like the carpet better, but the vinyl is very user frendly. and the vinyl really hold up well This is from cabela's Marine Standard Floor Vinyl Easy to clean, this heavyweight scuff-resistant flooring has been treated to resist staining and mildew. Size: 73" wide, per 3 ft. running. Colors: Silver Sand, Silver Gray. Item: IH 010921 $21.99

all you are doing is wasting time, money, and gas. Oldtimers thought that running the gas out of a motor would stop it from getting gummed up from sitting. gas will still sit in the carbs, even after the motor"runs " out of gas. so it will still get gummed up. If your boat is sitting for long periods of time. put a fuel stabalizer in the gas. If you use it every week or every 2-3 weeks the gas will be fine in it. Like I said your just wasting time, gas, and money running it out of gas

Haven't really be out much, been really busy. Have fished a few club tournaments. in the past few weeks, Edinboro was really good, Ohio river by Neville Island was hard fishing, but not out much. I think I'll fish this sat if I can. Not sure where though. Was fishing Donegal in late may and early June Alot, really catching a lot up there. ussially fish the Yough Dam alot this time of year, but haveing motor problems in my big boat, and taking a 9.9hp boat down there on the weekends isn't much fun. Like I said I am going to try to get out sat afternoon/eve not sure where one of these. Donegal Yough River out of Boston Keystone Power Dam Crooked Creek Laurel hill I'll let you know how I do.

One suggestion. When its hot do not put your recirculete pumps on auto timer. let them run constant when fish are in the live well. I fish Lake Erie a lot and fish dying is a big issue up the. Those SM come from deep cool water. Live wells get hot. I use the Ice trick, but as soon as a fish is put in the live well. I put my recirculete pumps on manual and let them run. Since doing this I haven't lost any fish.

If you going to network them together get Humminbirds "Interlink" this way both unit will show the same wave points and see either from either unit. this way you can mark thing when runnig and they will be saved on both units sow you can see them when up in the bow. also the other way around. They also has extra temp sensor unputs so if you want you can add live well temps. I just got one, I have a Matrix 87c & 787c 787c on the TM & matrix 87c on the tramsom. You just pug everything into the interlink and away you go. very easy Now, you can have them share a GPS reciever with out the interlink, but if you save a wave piont on one it will not show on the other. And the units share no infomation. In this set up they are not "networked" they just share a GPS reciever

There is alot that goes into flipping the axil to make it work right, be safe and strong enough. Its not just flipping it and bolting it up. I used to be into lowered trucks and flipping an axil is common, but there is alot of re enginnering that goes into it. Frame clearence is an issue. On truck you have to C notch the frame. I know the frame look far away from the axil, but when you hit a bump how much does it move, You don't want to be bottoming out. I have 2 boats. one trailer ( small boat) has the springs ontop of the axil like yours. The bigger boat has the axil upove the springs and it does sit alot lower. I would stop by a trailer shop and see what they think. You might need to get a new pair of spring that can handle the flipped axil, or a set tha sits lower

Don't know anything about the shop you took it to, but maybe talk to another shop and see if they can get the parts. a few years after I got my boat ( about 1998)I had mine at a shop. they said that the parts they need where hard to get and had to wait till the came over from Japan ( have a suzuki) had it for 6 months, lost a whole boating/fishing season. Got really p#$sed off. call another shop and asked if they could fix it quiker. told them what was wrong and they said they had that part in stock. infact they has several of those parts and said they are very common and easy to get. Picked up my boat from the first shop and took it to the other one. They had it fixed and running the next day. just food for thought.

Cool boat, that little thing should move good with a 20hp

the 787c2i has an internal GPS antenna the 787c2 uses a puck looking GPS antenna The i stands for internal. The internals save space, but the puck antenna you mount on the boat is supposed to be stronger. I have a Martix 87c & a 787c and love both of them. The matrix 87c is just a year older than the 787c, 99.99% the same unit

there was a post concerend about resale time. since you are by a hp limited lake resale will not be a problem, as long as people use boats on it and it hp limited to 25hp, that is what people will be looking for. Now in areas where there are no hp limits then yes resale might be problem. I know around here ther are several 20hp limit lakes 5 or 6 of them and boats with a 25-30hp ( with 20hp stickers) are going fast and sell for top $$ since alot of people want them.

500 should work very well. I run 500 on my twin 18 gal and they work great. You don't want to go to big, because you might over run your overflow. push more water in that can drain out.

It up to you. I run 2 strokes, but 4 strokes are nice. 2 strokes are faster, lighter, cheeper, and easy to maintain ( if your area does not mandate 4 strokes I would go with a 2 stroke) 4 strokes are heavier, and slower, and need some maintance ( oil changes), but are quiet and use less gas. check out this we site they have some nice small motors and change all the time. There is a newer short shaft tiller 25hp 4 stroke yamy for $2500 http://www.smalloutboards.com/

I would stay with the 12inchers. when I got my 14 footer it came with 8 inche wheels ( 12 was and option) after 2 years I moved up to the 12inch and was the right thing to do. The 8's are ok, but tire wear was a big issue. And the boat and motor was close to max weight with 8inch, add TM's a few batteries, gas and gear and I was just at or over max trailer weight with 8 inch tires, remember that is total weight boat, motor and trailer, alot of guys forget to add the weight of their trailer in. Now, with 12 inch wheels, My trailer to does sit high, the thing I had to learn was to back in farther. I have noticed something at launches, people don't back in far enough. I see many guys back in and get out and push the boat off the trailer. Just back in farther, if there is another ramp try it, might be steeper

my father in law has a 175TX with a 25 merc 2 stroke and it will run low 20's with 2(bigger guys) in it. with a full live well it will still plane out( with dole finns), but down on speed (15mph). Boat runs very well for a 25hp.