sneaker

I agree with Devin. You won't save any money, but you can have a lot of fun building and operating the boat you have built. I have built this boat primarily because i couldn't find a boat that had the features that were important to me. It had to be light enough for one man loading, launching and to be powered with a MK motor. It also provides hands fee operation with fwd/rev, stop /start, left/right and power all handled with 2 foot pedals. I only use a paddle for balance in fast water or to conserve battery power on long runs. I wanted lots of dry space for gear or another passenger and a means of moving the boat around at home or at launch without carrying it. It is easily transported with my Pickup. Been using it for a couple of years now, and usually have more fun than anyone on the water. Ended up building half dozen of these for my relatives and friends. My apologies if this image doesn't show up as I'm pretty flakey at inserting them. Send a PM and I can get one to you..

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A fish-finder draws less battery power than the smallest lamp on my boat, if it doesn't include a GPS. So from a power standpoint it doesn't matter where you connect it. However the FF is most likely to shut down when starting your motor if you connect to the cranking battery. On the other hand, I found the t/m to inject a lot of noise on the battery and caused the FF to provide meaningless fish symbols on the screen (turning off the T/M removed the fish). I carry a small (10 ampere hour ) battery that is just for fish-finders and radios. They do not connect to the engine ground, so are isolated from both engine and T/M noise. The above problems were eliminated and the FF is providing some usefull data.

Its nice to see you starting the kids early and instilling in them the love of the O/D and fishing. I started mine at 4 y/o and she is now a granny and still my favorite fishing partner. We are always among the last boats off the water each day we are out, and she cleans the fish. The Jon boat is a pretty stable craft for its size, even with 350 lbs aboard. It ought to be OK on quiet water that doesn't have a lot of traffic. It is probably the best you can do with a boat that can be car-topped. Just make sure the flotation is in place and the kids have their PFDs' on. I would go for a boat no smaller than 12 ft, preferable 14 ft.

I have been using a couple of MK40s for 4 years now and have not had a problem with either. They are used in salt water half of the time and flushed with fresh water when I get home. You might consider the Maxim model with the digital throttle. It will double (or more) your run time on a battery charge. I use the Endura, but have built a digital throttle for it, and am very happy with the motor.

Not a lot of info to go on. If you have power at the head and no results at the prop, the problem is probably in the lower unit. Digital motor controllers generate a lot of heat, and MK locates theirs in the motor housing. It can then be 'heat sinked' to the water. I would guess that MG does the same. If you managed to get the controller out, it is doubtful that it could be repaired, and replacement of the module would be required. It sounds like you will need to find a MG service outfit even if you do the work yourself. Locate a MG guy, get an estimate and then you have enough info to proceed. Good luck. :-/

Charging the batt from the cigarette lighter should work, but the engine must be running to to charge the battery. Most lighter sockets are fused at about 20 amps so at that rate of charge you would have to run the engine for 4-5 hours to get a nearly full charge. You will want to carry extra fuses along as you have no way to limit the charge rate and it can easily exceed 20 amps if the battery is completely discharged as your alternator can put out 60 amps or more. I am not aware of anyone that makes a current limiter for an application like this but a reasonably capable electronics guy could make one for you.

My fishing kayak is light (270 lbs loaded) and a candidate for a prop with greater pitch. The standard MK 2 blade prop has a 4 inch pitch with a large diameter to give optimum static thrust, great for moving a heavy load. However it doesn't handle well when in reverse, important to me, and I thought a 7-9 inch pitch might also offer more speed. I have tried a modified Nissan 3 blade prop (P/N 3F0641010M) and a 3 blade prop from a 9 hp O/B (for an extreme example). The Nissan is 7.4 D x 7.0 Pitch. It was almost identical to the bigger OEM prop in speed vs battery draw. When in reverse it was 25% faster and offered excellent handling. The 9 hp 3 blade prop with a pitch of 9 inches would not go slow enough and due to the limited power available from the motor was no faster than the Nissan. If you are moving a heavy load the OEM prop is hard to beat. If you have a canoe or kayak, there are better props available, but most require some machining to fit the MK shaft. Kipawa offers a 3 blade prop that fits some MK motors. I called them but could not find anyone that could give me the dia or pitch of their prop. I did not try them but they might be an option for you.

you might consider carrying a 6 volt battery and switching to it for slow work. It will cut your slowest speed in half, and that may be enough.

My yamaha has 2 plugs, one in the rear and a dip stick holder. Neither are in contact with the water jacket of the engine and they have no internal access to water. Check that the water tubing around the back of the motor is not leaking and that possibly you aren't getting some splash entering the cowling. Both of these locations are pretty level and will retain water that migrates in from elsewhere.

All of the battery meters i have seen are just voltmeters with an appropriate scale. If the VM in your fish finder is accurate, is should be as good as any other meter. The trick is to determine the voltage vs the state of discharge. The scale you have provided looks wrong to me, because the battery voltage at 100% discharged is 10.5 volts, and you show about 11.90. The voltage will vary a little with battery type (not brand). Flooded batteries according to the Trojan website measure 12.9 at 0% Depth of Discharge charge, 12.66 for 20% DOD. 12.38 for 40% DOD, 12.06 for 60% DOD and 11.7 for 80% DOD and 10.5 for 100% DOD. These are the voltages measured across the battery terminals with no current flowing to the load. As soon as you turn on the motor the voltage will drop significantly, and that is normal.

I am assuming you have a min-kota motor. The head is secured to the shaft with a single screw. If it is a 5/3 speed, there are 4 wires going from the head to the motor end of the shaft and you should be able to twist these 180 degrees without any problems. So all you need to do is remove the screw holding the head to the shaft, rotate the head 1/2 turn and re-install the screw. I think! :-/

Most oil pressure gauges are electric with a 'pressure sender' driving it from the motor. If your gauge goes to zero when the ignition is off, then the problem is probably in the sender. If is doesn't, then replace the gauge.

I use the same method as CFF suggests. It works well for trolling and dealing with the wind. However keep in mind that if you end up over the side while fishing alone, the boat will probably move away faster than you can swim. That is probably why they use the red button. :-/

I use a homebuilt electric powered kayak for fishing lakes and rivers. The anchor is at the stern as I usually fish downstream. It is secured in a jam cleat next to my seat. This makes anchoring a simple one handed event, altho it takes two hands to pull the 10 lb anchor up. I use a pretty heavy anchor for fishing on rivers. One problem I ran into was having the anchor become snagged on the bottom. In fast water all you can do is cut it loose. More importantly you don't want to secure the bitter end of the anchor line to the boat. If the anchor hangs in fast water the stern can be pulled under before you can get to the knife. Some boats will 'wander' on the anchor line in moving water. If the center of pressure (on the hull) is far enough forward (or toward the upstream end) they will oscillate back and forth to the point of overturning. A drift sock out the downstream end of the boat will eliminate this. but is one more thing to deal with. My boat has a 1 1/2 inch keel that eliminates the problem. A stern anchor on a powered boat runs the risk of getting the anchor line hung up in the prop. I have a simple line guide on bottom of the anchor pully assy that confines the line to the pulley, and reduces chances of fouling the prop. After several years of use I haven't had a problem with this. Some kayaks have a lateral line on the boat to which they just clip the anchor and the anchor is usually very light. It seems to work in still water but I don't think it would be suitable for moving water. It looks like one would have to pull the clip toward the cockpit to retrieve the anchor and a boat anchored from the middle is a good way to go for a swim. So I think your on the right track looking to anchor from a pulley on one end of the boat.