FIRST TIME BOATEOWNER- And is it nice to be one! HELP

[Del from philly]

HEY GUYS

Just bought a pretty cool 14' jon boat. what makes it cool is the oriignal owner built it up, through a nice deck on it, seats, the whole bit.

But im a nervouse wreck cuz im out of my confort zone here, took it out for the first time yesterday. didnt get much fishing done but got used to the boat.

what do you guys think? paid just under 2gs for boat, trolling motor, and trailor......actually, dont tell me cuz boats are more expensive in philly than they are where most fo you guys live..

HEre are my questions:

(1) BATTERY LIFE

it takes two 12 volts, 1 for aux, and 1 for the motor. I bought one 24size for the aux, and one 27size for the motor.

About how long will this thing last, is it gonna run out so fast i need a charger right away?

(2) 35 LB THRUST IN THE RIVER?

do you guys think it would be safe to take this out on the river on a calm day or does it not have enough power. If i didnt ask this question, i would assume NO

Thanks,

[Del from philly]

.

[rondef]

I personally would not take a boat on a river unless it had a gasoline motor.  Good luck with the new boat though, it looks like you have a nice setup.

[Del from philly]

I personally would not take a boat on a river unless it had a gasoline motor. Good luck with the new boat though, it looks like you have a nice setup.[/quote

thanks, thats what i thought from the beginning, but then after driving past the calm waters of the schuykill, i thought id ask you guys and maybe i had a shot...

thanks a lot

what about that battery, is this something i always need to worry about, or will it last throughout the season most likely. i never run it full power

I do have volt meters, but they arent gonna get lower as the battery gets weaker, are they? i didnt think it worked like that.

[XcoM274]

Yes, you can test it with a volt meter. Full is about 13.5v and dead is 11.6 or so. I'm not sure I understand your question here. You need to charge your battery every time you go out. The battery will go through around 3-500 charge cycles.

[Wildbillb]

Sweet Looking Boat.  

[Wilson]

Thats a very nice set up...sorry but my opinion is for that price you probably should have gotten a motor with it. In Ontario, Canada there is lots of boats similar with like 1996 25 hp motors going for the same price.

[TopDog]

Your batteries will only last a day or so before they need charging if that is your only means of power. Get a dual 10 amp charger and plug it in every night when you are done fishing.

What other things do you have plugged into the aux battery? Do you even need the aux battery? A fishfinder will draw next to nothing.

[Team_Dougherty]

I would not take that on the DE river. There are plenty of place on The Schuylkill river where I take my electric only boat. Frankly it is the only kind of boat that will go there.

You can try the Linfield ramp, The mont clare ramp, hanover st ramp in pottstown and the tow path ramp in pottstown. There is also the hoy park ramp on the perky that is perfect for that boat.

As with any boat know the conditions of the river before you go. if the water is high and fast I do not even take my 40 HP out. In the normal summer flow you would not have a problem is any of the places I mentioned.

[surfer]

Yes you need a charger for immediately after the first time you use it.  Keep your batteries on a smart charger whenever not on the water.  Never run your batteries all the way down. Check the water level every few uses and if the top of the lead plate is exposed add DISTILED water only.  If your batteries sit uncharged for much more than a day it shortens their overall lifespan.  If the acid inside is lower than the top of the lead plate it sulfates the exposed lead thereby reducing charge capacity. If you run the battery all the way down, same thing.  Try to keep your batteries above 30% at the end of the day.

Since you have 2 batteries, and if they are both deep cycle you could (should in my opinion) hook them together in parallel.  This will maximize your time on the water.  It will act like one big battery.  You can run your trolling motor and electronics off of it.  If your electronics have a volt meter then you can monitor your battery usage on the water and know when to return to the ramp rather than waiting till you notice the slow down that comes with depleted batteries.