BassnChris

Thanks Tom. Gotcha......I was working on the shifting issue with it in the lowered position. I was working on the jack plate and left it up.

We were planning on pulling the lower unit and reinstalling. We have had very unseasonably warm weather up until a week ago. Then old man winter showed up. Today would have been a good day to do it but too much already planned. We'll get it and I'll post back. What do you mean the jackplate looks high? I had lifted it a few inches and just left it there until I got back to working on the lower unit.

When you are ready, If you want to go fast in areas where there maybe obstacles try this. Take note of the lake level. Drive many times through the areas you want to go fast using your Electronics to show you track/trails. After you get through with the track and trails you will have a clear path you can use when the lake level is the same or higher when you plotted the track/trail. This will not help you with floating debris or trees that are floating at the surface. I had a friend give some trails that showed me some 'safe' routes at Toldedo Bend. That being said......I do not go very fast at all in those areas myself.

That is what concerned me.

This is correct. One year, we had 2 unofficial road trips - One to Toledo Bend and the other to Kentucky Lake. And yeah....Toledo Bend has gators...at least one that I can swear to. He looked much bigger in person than he looks in the pic. Either way....I think if there are small ones there must be bigger ones too. I got there early and went out fishing.......just plugging along the bank and I come up to a grass mat....That is when I saw it. No more than a rod length away. He was just laying there motionless. That Skeered the bagibbes out of me. After that, I horsed almost every fish on the boat thinking there might be a gator coming 'fer my fish about the time I was lipping him. Lot's of people hopped on board......then they just drop off. Unfortunately, life happens and you have to change plans. I would be up to road trip...providing there were no calendar conflicts.

5 yrs might be about right. You can get the tire date code from the inside of the tire and find the decrypto online to confirm 'birthday' of the tire. That is what I did when I bought my last boat. The owner said they were new. When I checked the date code I found they were 2 yrs old. They may have been sitting on a tire shop rack for a year or more and then they put them on his trailer, I was on a BassResource Road Trip to Toledo Bend some years ago and had a blowout on a stretch of highway that seemed like an elevated roadway with no shoulders. No place to safely stop for what seemed like miles at the time. I put on my spare and then stopped at the next town and had all 4 and the replaced. A big surprise to my budget. But I was blessed that it happened on weekday early enough for me to find a tire shop open.

I betcha you won't be taking it tomorrow ? Who would've thunked it? Unseasonably Warm and sometimes hot weather in OK all the way up to a few days past Christmas and then here comes the winter.

I replaced the shift cable but that did not resolve. There are no tight bends. I agree that it does not seem like it would cause the difficult shifting back into neutral. Control box works with little resistance when disconnected from shift cable. (hot foot - so no cable throttle cable connected. shift cable disconnected from the engine - is easy to engage manually. I reached out to previous owner and he verified he experienced no difficulty in shifting. Replacing water pump is the only variable. Struggled a little getting lower unit reinstalled. I would think that the only shifting issue I would have is it only shifted into either fwd or rev and neutral. When weather cooperates I was going to drop the lower unit and reinstall - since that will not cost me anything but time. Is there anything I should check on the remote control box to make sure it is not bad ? The cable makes a sweeping 90 degree turn at the back of the boat . Then through the rigging sleeve and into the motor. Do any turns appear too tight to you?

Does anyone know if after pulling lower unit to replace water pump on a 99 Mercury Optimax 225 - could there be anything misaligned that would make it hard shift into neutral from Forward or Reverse ? I don't know if it was like this before I replaced the water pump or not. I have replaced the shift cable. I have disconnected the shift cable at the control box and the control box lever shifts into fwd position and back into neutral smoothly as would be expected. The same for Rev. I have shifted by hand at the engine with no resistance either. When everything is connected back it is hard to get back into neutral from both fwd and rev. I am going to test the shift switch solenoid on the engine tomorrow - weather permitting. But I was wondering if I could have misaligned something when I reassembled after water pump replacement. I hate take the lower unit back out if I don't need to. Thanks

I'll buy another Transducer and try that area again. Maybe with clay 'cup' mentioned by Way2Slow.

I placed Transducer all over bilge area with sand bags on it. Then flooded bilge enough water to cover transducer.

I have done that half a dozen times. I never had any problems with my other boats. I was hoping to find someone with a boat like mine that could tell me if their's worked and where it is placed.

Any on have a 1999 Triton TR-21 that can tell me where to epoxy a Lowrance PDRT-WBL Transducer so that it will work close to at least 60 mph? I have tried 3 times but it always stop working at about 35 mph. Thank you

I bought a metal carport to park my boat under.......protects from hail that can fall from the skies here in Oklahoma. I also have a heavy custom cover on the boat to keep dust/dirt off of it and help keep critters from moving in. My custom cover cost $1200.