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?

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

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.

Great community around these boats.

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…

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

Can't wait to hit the lake again

Looking for the best boat that I can fish in and also take the family to the sand bar. I’m looking to trailer the boat so 25-27 footer. Any ideas?

Was doing my 100 hour service on my boat this weekend. Noticed a buzzing after the key is turned off. I isolated the noise to the electronic throttle control valve by pulling the fuse. The noise goes away when the fuse is pulled. Is it normal for the etv to run after the key is off. The motor runs great and no running issues are present.

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?

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.

Any chance of getting just the motor side of the hydraulic tilt not a whole used assembly?

Any ideas? Bogging down and stalling, sometimes doesn’t want to start after stalling, won’t plane out. Replaced the throttle position sensor and now this is what it’s doing. Checked the voltage on the sensor and everything looked perfect. Strong smell of fuel.

As the title says there’s an outboard leak. I can’t tell if it’s premix or if it’s gear lube. (I’m new to working on outboards)

UPDATE:
After taste test can confirm it’s not gear oil. Which leaves premix. So I’m going to get rid of the reservoir and premix in the gas tank instead of chasing the leak. (Still going to check all the seals that everyone suggested)

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.

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?

Hi everyone I have Larson Cabrio 254. The second time taking it out this season it started making this weird noise and couldn’t get the boat up to speed. I’ve heard it’s the engine but I don’t think that’s right because in neutral it won’t make that noise. I got the props fixed and the noise is still there i’m not sure exactly what else it could be. Any help is very appreciated I’ll attach a video of the noise

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some help identifying the correct replacement part for my Johnson outboard motor throttle lock. Currently, the locking piece is missing, so I’m having to use duct tape to hold the throttle position, which is very uncomfortable.

My motor is a 1996 Johnson 15HP (J15REDS / J15RSD).

I found this web page that sells replacements, but I don't know which part I need to buy to get the problem fixed.

https://www.crowleymarine.com/johnson/oem-parts/outboard/1996/j15reds/steering-shift-handle?ref=23

Could you please lend me a hand? Thanks!!

Ive been looking to upgrade our hewescraft 2012 pacific cruiser 260 to brand new hewes pacific explorer. There is a dealership with a fully loaded "show" model and it does look like all the features are quite impressive.

It comes with twin Yamaha 250s, Yamaha helm master "dual helm", a seakeeper 1 and zipwake trim tabs.

I plan to do my offshore fishing off the pacific coast of northern British Columbia and anchor out with the family.

Its a pricey unit and ive been mentally debating on the pros and cons of the seakeeper. Such as battery consumption and weight. And how this performs with zipwake tabs. Also this unit comes with a port side side hatch door. There was a recent incident on the BC coast involving a kingfisher that sunk due to a suspected faulty side door.

I guess im looking for people's experiences with hewes and these systems, things I should consider. Im leaning more towards this unit.

Id be happy if anyone had information or up to discuss any of this that can help me come to some decisions!