The comments were actually hilarious, I appreciate yall. I took the boat out of the water and had two mechanics check it out who don’t think it’s too low. Is it possible that it just appeared low because of the engine stalls causing water to collect under motor and because of the low speed the water was bubbling?

I definitely have a misfire so they’re gonna replace fuel filter and fuel line.

I took a picture and it appears cavitation plate is in the correct spot, should I still lift it a few inches?

The original video is the one where I got flamed (but won’t let me post it again) second picture is where the engine is out and appears to be at right height.

Been running lead acid forever and finally decided to switch.

honestly i was mostly doing it because i got tired of dragging those heavy batteries around lol.

litime battery showed up packed really well. install only took a few mins and everything worked right away.

took the boat out this weekend and it ran my trolling motor all day no problem. voltage stayed pretty solid the whole time too. wasnt really expecting much difference but i could definitely tell.

biggest thing for me is honestly just the weight. getting it in and out of the trailer is sooo much easier now

only had it for a little while so cant really speak on long term reliability yet but so far im happy with it.

anybody else switch from lead acid recently? hows it holding up after a year or two?

Great community around these boats.

Rebuilt the fuel pump on my 89 Yamaha 8hp, got a little too excited to get it back together. Lucky I found a used OEM carburetor on eBay for a good price. How much torque would you recommend for a carburetor?

I recently posted for general mooring advice and have decided to go with mooring whips. Thank you all for your advice! Now I'm interested in optimal mooring line configurations for when we're at the boat/property on weekends and not around during the week. The lake is usually calm but on rare occasions sees 2+ ft chop in 30 kt winds. The boat is an 18 ft (2400 lbs) outboard, dock only 16 ft long.

With the new mooring whips, I want to keep docking simple since we'll have many different drivers with varying levels of experience. I want to use the fewest additional lines while the boat is in frequent use on weekends and fair weather. When we're away for a week or two at a time I would use more lines.

Do I need to use any lines with whips (aside from the whip lines themselves) during fair weather? We get distant wakes, no current, no tide of course.

When the boat is unattended for a week or two, what line configuration would you suggest? Bow, stern and two springs? Use the centre boat cleat? Any issues having two lines at a single cleat? I've got two ideas shown, in blue and in green. I'm not sure if the springs would work on such a sharp angle.

If they threw a couple wind turbines on there it would reduce generator use I’d wager

Hey guys.

I bought this boat last year, and it worked fine but i got my hands on a better motor that i was going to install. I saw the transom was slightly cracked under the old engine, but now that i pulled it off along with the rubber liner the previous owner had put under it all of this came to light.

What are my options and how do i go about repairing it? I’ve tried to find guides online but come up with nothing so far.

The new engine is a long shaft so I will take it to a metal working shop to have a taller mounting plate put over the transom, will that be enough to stabilize it?

So I have a small 14' rowboat - no engine, just oars - on a large-ish lake which I use for exercise and fishing. There's no wharf or any facilities, just a grassy shore and a tree which I tie my boat to over the summer so it rests in the shallow and muddy water 4-5 foot off.

I have no idea if my approach to mooring in these conditions is "normal" but I found it works for me! Suggestions for improvement or other strategies I should try? Let me hear it!

What I came up with to ensure the boat isn't stolen, doesn't get caught by wind and is easy for me to take out and moor alone is this:
1. Get a small umbrella-style anchor with 6ft chain and a ring on the end of the chain.
2. Padlock a 15ft chain to the bow - this will be secured to a tree on the shore when I moor.
3. Attach an 80ft rope to the stern of the boat, thread it through the ring on the end of the anchor chain, and make a loop at the end of the rope.

When I'm returning from an excursion, boat full of fish or cloudberries, I keep the rope coiled (I'm lying - it's just in a heap) in the stern along with the anchor while I'm rowing in, leaving the end of the rope permanently fixed to the stern of the boat.

As I approach the shore and my mooring tree I first stash my gear in the bow so it's ready for disembarkment, then put the loop on the end of the long rope on my oarlock to keep it safe, and when I'm about 40-50 feet from the shore I throw the anchor out.
Rowing hard, I try to aim for my landing spot until the boat hits the shore and (hopefully) doesn't glide right out again.

Pulling the oars in and taking the end of the rope in my hand I scramble ashore, throw the rope on the ground and remove my stash from the boat.

Then, when I'm standing on the shore next to my regular mooring tree, I take the loose end of the 15ft chain secured to the bow and padlock it to the tree - this serves both to prevent theft and to tighten the anchor rope.

Finally I push the boat out and start pulling on the rope, which by now goes way out through the loop in the end of the anchor chain and back to the stern of the boat, pulling the boat nicely out until the chain is taut after which I tie the end of the rope to the tree. Voila!

Here she is all moored and looking like she misses me already:

We see a lot of first-time boat buyers automatically lean toward new, thinking it'll mean fewer surprises, a warranty, and less maintenance, but that's not always the case. On the other hand, plenty of experienced boaters will always buy used, saying that you can get more boat for your money and let someone else take the biggest depreciation hit.

Usually it really depends on your budget, how long you plan to keep the boat, and how comfortable you are with maintenance and the used market. Looking back, what made you choose new or used for your first boat? Would you make the same decision again, or do something differently, why? Pros and cons?

It's a 1982 SeaMax II, made in Finland, with a Perkins 1.408 49hp. Length is 7.2m (about 24'). Needs a lot of interior work, but is fully functional and I could just take it out to sea if I wanted to. Waiting for a friend to come back home from his trip so I have someone experienced with me to teach me how to operate this thing. Probably overpaid, but eh, wanted a cheap boat and this was local.

The trailer is super sketchy and isn't road legal. It's only for getting the boat into the water and back up, so I'll only use it twice a year. Should be fine for that use case.

Never owned anything but an inflatable dinghy, so I'm completely new to anything like this.

We heard some clicking when backing the boat after filling her up with gas before we head out tomorrow. My dad sent me this and says we shouldn’t go because he’s worried we will break down on the highway.

How close to disarray are we? He claims we can’t tighten the nuts up but i haven’t tried myself (i’m not home currently). If I need to replace them and cut them with an angle grinder the boats gonna have to be in the water right?

Might as well take to lake and let one person fix it while the other is out or leave the boat docked?

WWYD?
Thanks guys!

edit: thanks yall, bought pb blaster and bigger breaker bar and im getting it done in no time. love the old man but anxiety has frozen him in his older years

Im having problems with my Johnson 60VRO.

The main problem is that it dies when I put in gear. I am able to drive it if I put it in gear and and give it full gas and then let of, I’m able do drive maybe minimum 3 knots. It works great at WOT doing 33 knots.

There is also some issues with idle but I think this is caused by a low transom.

If you know anything about these motors and/or this issue please go in and read more about the situation.

Highly appreciate all heals I can get!

it is 5ks 2-t 5CMH yamaha outboard from 2000.

I changed impeller already but engine still randomly stops water flow and steams out from cooling indication hole...then all of the sudden starts to pour out water like nothing hapened. I suspect on faulty thermostat. From google my engine should have thermostat but im not sure where to look for it. i Suspect it is behind this cylinder cooling cover i attached picture on but to open that i need to remove all the electronic and also fuel tank . So before i dig in i would love for someone to confirm that there infact is a thermostat in there. Unfortunately i cant find any videos on internet to guide me trough.

With a broker the seller eats the commission, so as a buyer you're not paying it directly, but it's obviously priced in somewhere and it means the seller has a floor they need to clear, probably limits how far they'll actually come down. In exchange you get a real purchase agreement, escrow, help with survey/sea trial logistics, someone tracking down paperwork so it doesn't stall out.

Private sale, no commission, in theory more room to negotiate, but you're on your own for deposit protection, title/lien check, transfer docs. Get that wrong and it's expensive. You do get more direct access to the actual owner though, for better or worse on the history side.

whats been your experience with broker vs private for comparable boats... did the commission change what you actually paid, or did it wash out once you counted your own time/risk on the private side? What' your over all recommendation?

Hi guys, new to the group and really looking forward to all the helpful info!

I am installing a 700W amp and am working with an existing electronics area that is 20 feet (as the path goes) from the batteries. It looks like I have the option of running 4-gauge amp power all that distance or mounting the amp 1/2 way in another location with 6-gauge and running 10 additional feet of speaker wiring to the existing electronics.

Which option would you guys pick?

For the salt water guys, have any of you found a knife that lasts in the salt. I currently recycle old fillet knives to keep on my CC for cutting bait or whatever, but they rust quickly and need sharpening often enough that I consider it maintenance item. Anybody found something a little more stout that doesn’t require as much attention? Bonus points if it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg

Has anyone ever had this issue with their fish finder? Mine is brand new used it for about a month and now this is all I get when I turn it on…

Can anyone here tell me what this is and why it isn’t straight? Just behind the prop on a 2026 Suzuki 90. It’s on a flats boat, so the motor is on a jack plate and I had a gps/finder installed yesterday (I don’t remember if this little fin was cocked to one side before).