MisterGuru

I had 17 leaking rivets in a otherwise very nice jon. I took a 5 lb sledge and a piece of 5/8" all thread to use for a punch and smacked the inside/smaller part of the rivet while my wife held a 10 lb barbell (you can use a second hammer, brick, etc) on the other side. I gave each one 2-3 medium size smacks from the hammer. I placed my boat on two sawhorses to make it easy to work on... not a DROP leaks now!

I ordered a 10" Michigan Wheel Vortex 4 blade. I will post the results when it comes in. The info has to help someone!

I have a tach now! OK, well I am traveling 19 mph today at 4300 rpm when at WOT. The info I gather says my 40 HP should run about 5200 rpm... so 900 rpm too little... I should go to a 9" prop ( I am at 13 now) right? Any input?

Thanks for the encouragement, but I had already fabricated a plywood box to mount the roots-type blower, and the butterfly scoop looks very cool on the outboard's hood. I can mount the tach in the center hole of that! The blower is just a 471, so a couple of coats of JB Weld on the seems of the plywood box xhould hold it. I will be getting 26-28 mph very soon! Yee haw!

Dang! Maybe the shop will return this stuff :-) I went ahead and got a tach for the blue montser. I hate having a vehicle without a tach... It was $70 for the tach... oh well, we will see what RPM I am turning. Thanks.

Update - I have a tach now and with a "normal" load I am running 19mph at 4300 RPM I have a 15 foot fiberglass deep semi-V hull with a LOT of plywood which equals a lot of weight. The hull was originally bare, but has about 3 sheets of 3/4" plywood for decks, 3-4 eight foot treated 2x6s, light carpeting, 12 gallon gas tank, 40# trolling motor, outboard/steering console, 40 lbs of tackle, etc... My 1977 40hp Mercury has a 13 degree aluminum prop and with me and my daughter it will run 20 mph on the GPS. Add my wife and my other daughter... 18mph, and last night I added a friend and his camera equipment (fireworks pics) - about another 350-400 lbs, and 13.5 mph was tops. I don't think I have any trouble with my "holeshot" but it makes sense to me to drop down in pitch to get RPMs up.... but the boat does seem to take off well, even very heavily loaded. So maybe I am confused and should go with more pitch... I do not have a tach... sorry for lack of info. Is there an obvious direction to go here?

Batteries can be contrary things. There are several brands of battery conditioners/refurbishers out there. I think you can get a Vectory 2/6/12 computerized charger/reconditioner off eBay for about $35 shipped. The reconditioning desulfates the battery... it is a 24 hour long process... after 2-3 passes the battery should be in near-new shape. Also, if you have a problem a nicer unit like the Vector will let you know showing a particular fault code indicating a bad cell, etc. I saw a bigger unit in Sams Club for around $60... also Vector. Good luck.

I guess I am not educated enough yet to know what I am seeing on my screen. I just watch for depth changes. What are screen items you would see that are of interest? What does a brush pile or baitfish look like? I see blurbs all the time, but I need a course in Fish Finding 101

for mounting: I took a 1.5" wide aluminum strap from the stock metals section at Lowes an bent it over double around a 1" socket... finished it off in a vise. I made it so the transducer was about 3/4" lower than the hull, ran the wires over the aluminum with nylon ties and put 4 screws on the transom where the pan heads made a "guide" for sliding it on and off after dropping it in the water. After docking, just slide it up and off and lay it in the back of the boat... watch that anchor - unless you want a smacked-up transducer! Just tweak it until you get a tight fit and it works great.