striperone

I have to agree with everyone here on this. Using a cooler for your livewell is not only cheap to buy and build, you can use it as a cooler if you want ;D It's simple to build, easy to carry and remove from your boat as well. I'm sure it's your best option. Scottie

Way2slow hit the nail on the head in regards to octane. I don't have to add a thing to that post. Fuel Stabilizer. I have owned a bass boats for over 25 years. I had never added stabilizer because I would always run my boat all season long including through the winter months and not once experienced a problem. BUT, one year I didn't take the boat out during the winter, come spring the motor wouldn't run (carburated merc bridgeport) $400.00 in repairs to the gummed up fuel system put me back on the water. Not to mention that my boat was at the repair shop for over a month in the spring. So needless to say I would recommend using the stabilizer.

I live in Maryland and have bought boats from Pa. in the past both new and used. Pa. can not do the department of motor vehicle or the department of natural recourses paper work for you in Maryland. You have to do it yourself. Meaning you personally have to go to the DMV and DNR to pay your taxes and transfer tags and titles etc. If you are buying the boat used, just make sure you have the original documents and that they are filled out correctly and completely, otherwise you will have to make another trip.

The Lowrance merger has been in the works for a long time and it's not been until recently that the law suites created by it have come to head. With a merger or the sale of a company, you cannot just abandon product warranties. Laws protect us from that. Of course if the company folds, that's a different story. Also just because you are a "dealer" of a product doesn't mean that you will get notice of a company's intentions to sell, close or merge. Sometimes you will be the last to know. fishin_fool, Call Lowrance directly. They will give you the PROPER information concerning the repair or replacement of your unit. Lowrance has the best warrantee and replacement agreements around.

There are a number of mods for the Ray motors. Just depends on how far and how fast you want to go. Adding speed will decrease runtime no matter what (unless you are lightning your raft). In other words leaving your partner at the ramp... Add an additional 6 or 12 volts to the battery pack. A sixty volt motor jumped up to 66 or 72 volts. Note: you can't do this with some of Ray's newer outboards, This would be the 48 volt models that use the Briggs and Sratton electric motor. They have had alot of problems with this particular motor and it certainly won't take the abuse of adding voltage. That's if you haven't had problems already? Add Voltage Add timing to the existing motor. Discard the existing electric motor and replace it with a larger one. Change the pitch of the prop.

T_Dot, Don't be fooled by the price of this motor. The 2400.00 is for the price of the powerhead only, and it's only rated at 24volts. At 24volts the motor will NOT produce any amount of speed that justifies it's cost. It would also be much cheaper to buy an edrive. You have to jump this motor up to 48 or 60 volts to get it to go. At this point you will have a very fast motor. Pumping this motor up to 60 volts will increase your amp draw as well. A whopping 130 amps! But it is FAST, and it will beat an unmodified Ray outboard motor (that draw 80amps). This motor, running at 60volts including the Yamaha lower unit cost $7000.00 (NOT including the 10-6volt batteries.)(that's another 800.00) 5200.00 for a Ray. read the last parts of this thread Click Here

Low_Budget_Hookers, The motor is very pricey. Their fastest motor cost around $7000.00 NOT including batteries. It also draws 130amps. It has some very unique features to it like a water cooled motor and controller. I have had the opportunity to ride in a boat powered by this motor and I can say first hand, "its fast" In comparing it to a RAY, there are advantages and disadvantages. A Ray draws 80amps, compared to 130 (both a full tilt boogie) A Ray cost 5300.00 compared to 7000.00. (neither include batteries, an additional 800.00) The reservoir motor includes a factory Yamaha trim and tilt, the Ray does not. The Ray motor produces 270 lbs of thrust. The Reservoir motor does not advertise it's thrust, but I can tell you it is FASTER. Neither of these motors are for everyone. But if you run electric motor only reservoirs, they are a MUST HAVE.

TD's the man! On an electric only boat, and if you can carry the weight (?) His setup is the best way to go... Every displacement hull, bass boats, jon boats etc. has a theoretical hull speed. In order to go faster then this theoretical speed you would need enough horsepower to be able to lift the boat up on plane. If you calculate this most boats equal about 5 to 6mph. Here in Maryland where there is mostly Electric Only lakes, this theoretical speed is exceeded by most that run the Electric outboards such as a Ray etc. We have displacement hulls that will run almost 10mph with fishing gear... Scottie Too Hottie

Tinkerr, Running a 9.9 just allows you to run a bigger prop. You said you have bought a new motor. What horsepower and who is it make by? Another thing you should consider is changing out those old solenoids for a pulse width speed controller. You will not only extend your run time but will have a full variable speed capabilities as well. No more jerky take offs or speed changes either. Standard lower horse powered outboards use either a 1.7:1 or 2.0:1 gear ratio. The newer Yamaha High torque motor uses 2.9:1. Remember that efficiently is gained dramatically by running a relatively big prop at lower speeds. As TD has pointed out you may have to change your "love joy connectors" to match any spline or diameter differences between the motor and the lower unit shaft. If you live in Maryland, Grainger has them. You can buy them individually or in pairs. It is also built on the Yamaha's lower unit. I have a Ray Electric Outboard after many years of building my own. This one has some good specs, but it's not yet proven in longevity or maintenance free as with the Ray's. Scottie Too Hottie

Tinkerr, somehow I missed your post? Changing up to a larger prop should prove to be faster in your circumstance. Your best bet would be to run a 9.9 lower unit. They can be hard to find around here especially at a reasonable cost. You need to remember that a the best Electric powered outboards run a big prop turned at relatively lower rpms. (lower then the gas motor you are discarding) This will give you the best speed while still maintaining a reasonable amp draw / runtime. In just about all situations, the faster you go the more you will pay. This is true for not only the money spent, but in your runtimes as well. So keep that in mind when your making changes. Are you running solenoids to control the motors speed or a PWM (pulse width modulation) controller? If you can find one (?) the new 9.9 Yamaha High torque lower unit would serve you perfectly. It's now the electric motor builders lower unit of choice. It's gearing and prop is much better suited for this application, and it's not available with either a merc or johnson.

Hotfoots have their pro's and con's. For safety normally yes. If you were to come out of the boat the throttle would drop back down to idle. But the boat would still be in gear and idling around with no one on board. If you were wearing your safety leash when you were thrown from the boat the motor would have shut off completely so there isn't any advantage here unless you don't wear the leash anyway. In rough water you can sometimes have a hard time maintaining a consistent speed as when your bouncing around so is your foot, so is your throttle. It is also less tiring to use the shifter for speed control vs a hotfoot for long runs down the lake or river. You will still have your "gear shifter" when running a hotfoot. Your throttle cable will be removed from it (and from the boat motor) and discarded. You will need a longer throttle cable for the new installation, because it will now need to be longer to reach the hotfoot pedal. Operation of it is similar to your car. Your shifter to go forward and reverse, your hotfoot for the gas. Remember you still don't have brakes! Installation is fairly simple if your the least bit mechanically inclined. A word of warning! Be extremely careful about running the screws through the hotfoot down into the floor. If your screws are too long the WILL go down through your HULL as well as the floor. Personally, I like the hotfoot, but it isn't for everyone...

Evidently it was a drug runners boat that was confiscated on the english channel. Supposedly it is Extremely fast...and I would have no doubts about it. It looks like something Yamaha would put together as a sales ploy. But then Merc would come out and say it only takes half those motors to go that fast if you were running our motors...

Well....it will but it won't, it's a displacement thing. Don't use the spray insulation that is used for your house to fill holes and the such. This type of foam is known as open cell and it will wick and hold water. If it gets wet it will add weight to your boat, never dry out and cause fungus growth. What you are looking for is "closed cell foam". Be warned it is more expensive and as far as I know it only comes in a two part "pourable" version, (not sprayed out of a can).

I don't think anyone could have summed it up better than Way2slow has... No need to ask anything else just read his last post...

Watch yourself when purchacing boat insurance as the terms they use can be deceiving and you don't want to end up owing money on a boat loan that is a total loss!!!!! I can't remember all the terms of use. But I do know you should always go with "agreed value" If it's agreed value is say 40,000. You would get 40,000 in the unfortunate incident that your boat was deemed a total loss, this would be regardless of actual value. Replacement value DOES NOT mean you will get a new boat or money to pay for the new boat. It will either be based on blue book or regional value. You could in theroy (especially with todays extended boat loan terms) end up owing money for a boat you no longer have. Just make sure you are covered. Ask questions and make sure your getting what you think! It's too late to find out when you need it!

bckpack, What you have in mind is a good idea. Buy an aluminum bass boat with a either no, or a trashed outboard motor and discard it. Other then the weight of the boat, and perhaps some supper shallow water restrictions, there is not really any disadvantages in buying a bass boat vs a jon boat, that is if your going to trailer the boat anyway. If your going to use electric only, then save your money for the biggest, baddest electric motor and batteries that you can afford. You will tire quickly of a slow boat. Others here have suggested to buy a small gas outboard later if and when you figured you needed it. This makes sense and gives you all of the options you are looking for. An electric outboard option for you would be to look into a Ray Electric outboard motor. These motors are very expensive when compared to a gasoline outboard, (5000.00+) but if it's what you want or have to use, you will find no better. Believe it or not, they have more "pounds of thrust" then a 9.9 gas engine. Let us know what you buy...

Way2slow has the best suggestion for you. If you can find a used or re-built lower unit you will most likely be better off. Replacing the rear seal isn't usually an issue if you take your time and with some patients. However anything past that is better off left to a pro. First off the internal guts normally take specialized tools to remove and install certain parts. There are also shims and in some units crush washers that have to be set with perfect tolerances or you will burn it up in a hurry. Another option is just to buy a new motor

Just look for a "deep cycle" battery, not a starting or "dual purpose" battery. You don't want a battery that list cold cranking amps, (cca) this would be either a starting or dual purpose battery. A deep cycle battery won't list cca on there labels. Stay with a brand name battery and buy the most amper hours (ah) or reserve capacity (rc) you can afford or house on your vessel. Normally this is a group 31 battery size. Don't bother with a gel type batteries, just stick with your typical lead acid types. Another option you have if you want long life is to use 6 volt golf cart batteries. These batteries LOVE to be drained at higher amp draws and will outlast most 12 volts.

Testing your batteries can be done in a few different ways. The simplest and cheapest way is to measure the specific gravity using a hydrometer, another option is measuring the batteries voltage. To measure the specific gravity buy a temperature compensating hydrometer that you can buy just about anywhere, or you can measure the voltage using a good DC voltmeter. You could run out and buy a good load tester if you need to test sealed batteries, but that's a little more pricey. To test your battery you have to first make sure the battery has been fully charged. The surface charge should be removed before you test it. in other words if you just finished charging your battery, you should wait at least a few hours before testing otherwise you will get a false reading. You could also do a load test on your batteries. A load test will remove amps from a battery just as running a trolling motor or outboard starter would. If you take readings using a hydrometer, the difference shouldn't vary more than .05 between cells. A sealed AGM or Gel batteries voltage should be a bit higher around 12.8volt to 12.9volt range. If you have voltage readings around the 10.5volt range on a charged battery most likely you have a shorted cell. Sulfation of a battery starts when the specific gravity falls below 1.225 or the voltage measures less than 12.4 on a 12v Battery, or 6.2 on 6 volt batteries. Sulfation will harden the battery plates reducing and eventually destroying the ability of the battery to store and or generate either volts and amps. This is why it is important to recharge your batteries as soon as possible after use. If you have maintenance free wet cell batteries, your only way to test are using a voltmeter or a load test. Of course there is one other method and is used by many. Charge them and if you run out of juice in the first hour out, there no good. >

There are a many variables in getting the fish to appear as an arc on your sonar unit. One is the angle of your transducer, it must be parallel to the surface of the water. The reason a sonar displays the fish as "arcs" is it is entering a "cone shaped" area as your transducer is sending pulses to the bottom. This takes longer for the signal to return to the transducer placing a mark on your screen. As the fish moves further to the center of this cone shape it now takes a shorter amount of time for the pulse to return to your sonar placing another mark on your screen, as the fish keeps moving out of the cone shape it now once again takes longer for the pulse to return to the transducer placing another mark on your screen. It's kind of like a pendulum. So as the fish moves into the cone it appears to be deeper, as the fish continues it appears shallower, as the fish continues it once again appears deeper, thus the "arc". fish entering the cone>n <fish leaving the cone

c17Lat, If your going to fish mainly in the Potomac river, then by all means buy a gas outboard, maxing the rated hull hp rating. Short of fishing in Mattawoman creek, you would be run over out there. Electric only bodies of waters are different from place to place depending on what electric only lakes or reservoirs you are interested in fishing, you would have to confirm it to be sure. Triadelphia, Rocky Gorge and Little Seneca reservoirs here in Maryland are all "Electric Motors Only" but you don't have to do anything special to your gas engine to use your boat there as long as you don't fire up the gas engine. You don't have to remove your prop or gas tanks for instance. If your interested in a fast electric outboard, your best choice is the Ray Electric Outboard. If your interested in purchasing one (?) Let me know. I still have one in stock. 60 volt long shaft.

From what I'm hearing they (lowrance) have been having major issue's with the temp guage/sending units using the backbone setup's? So much so that they can't get the temps to read on the graph... You may look further into it before you invest. I don't have that setup personally, it is just what I have heard.

I don't care what your deep cycle requirements are, the optima batteries are a result of ADVERTISING. Nothing but Bulk Advertising! There has been ton's of threads here and elsewhere with people wanting to buy them for there deep cycle trolling motor applications. DONT bother, and look elsewhere for a battery. Why do so many look for them? Advertising of course. Minnkota Batteries ARE manufactured by TROJAN and have been for quite some time now. Trojan is not the best. Just the best known. They gained there reputation serving the golf cart industry. Just so you know, it wasn't because they were the best but because they could produce the amount necessary to fill there needs. A few golf cart manufacturers have since gone to Exide. Trojans are good batteries don't get me wrong, I have owned too many to count. The 225's are also big and heavy. If your looking for a deep cycle battery, just make sure you buy a brand name with as many amper hours as you can afford or house. Buy a bargain brand battery and you'll be replacing it making the cost double of what you originally paid. For now or until technology or manufacturing process's change, your typical lead acid battery is still the way to go...

Dizzy I think you had better check your numbers as there is NO WAY you are going 9mph in a full tourny loaded 17ft tracker boat with just 130lbs of thrust. NOT going to happen... Ray Electric motors will be hard pressed to reach those speeds. You would be lucky to go 5 to 6 mph at best with all things being perfect.