Boating season is upon us

[Donald]

Did you pull the lower unit and replace the impeller? I think it's good to pull off the lower unit yearly even if you don't replace anything.

One thing about keeping the boat in salt water is that the fish don't require an attractive paint job on the outdrive. Just some antifouling paint will do.

I have had both and the engine drive raw water pump seems like a better design than the way Mercruiser does it with an Alpha One. However if the prop were to hit a rock and bust up some gears the Mercruiser Alpha One is easier and cheaper to repair.

 

[LouC]

I always pull the drive at the end of each season & install new impeller every 2-3 seasons. On the Cobra it is very easy it is under a plastic cover on the upper gear housing. 15 min job.

 

[FastLane]

I'm going start mine up this weekend. Still lots of ice in Manitoba. Debating on buying a new fish finder/gps. I've always bought Humminbird but may try something else this time.

Lund SV-16 Mercury 30hp 4 stroke.

 

[Warlord]

I'm going start mine up this weekend. Still lots of ice in Manitoba. Debating on buying a new fish finder/gps. I've always bought Humminbird but may try something else this time.

Lund SV-16 Mercury 30hp 4 stroke.

I run a helix 9 but a lot of guys I know switched to Garmin and seem very happy.

 

[thunderfog]

I'm going start mine up this weekend. Still lots of ice in Manitoba. Debating on buying a new fish finder/gps. I've always bought Humminbird but may try something else this time.

Lund SV-16 Mercury 30hp 4 stroke.

I really like my Garmin 93SV fwiw

 

[Donald]

I finally started the engine today. It started like it was just run a few days ago rather than last fall. Gotta love EFI.

My normal procedure if I have not used the boat and something might be wrong is to make a quick touch of the battery cable before I put it on the stud and tighten the nut.

I got a slight spark. Hard to notice. Battery switch off. But Chaparral has said the CO detectors, bilge pump and the VP electronic anode (electronic powered protection against galvanic corrosion) are all powered with battery switch off.

No water in bilge and CO detectors disconnected for now. So that leaves the VP electronic anode (I forget the real name).

Guess I need to bring down a DVM that can measure DC amps and see how big the draw is.

But it bothers me. With my boat on rack storage there is no easy way to keep the batteries charged unless I have it put it on a work rack for several hours and connect battery chargers.

 

[AuthorEditor]

But it bothers me. With my boat on rack storage there is no easy way to keep the batteries charged unless I have it put it on a work rack for several hours and connect battery chargers.

Get a small solar panel. Even a portable one that can be removed when you use the boat works great. I have had solar panels on boats for more than 30 years and have never had a flat battery after storage. Unless there is no light at all on the rack. Be sure to hook them up with proper fusing in case something goes wrong.

 

[Donald]

Get a small solar panel. Even a portable one that can be removed when you use the boat works great. I have had solar panels on boats for more than 30 years and have never had a flat battery after storage. Unless there is no light at all on the rack. Be sure to hook them up with proper fusing in case something goes wrong.

It's on a rack in a huge enclosed storage building. No sunlight.

 

[mk378]

Move the wires for that stuff to be after the switch. It almost has to be connected right to the back of the battery switch, since that's the only place where unswitched power is available.

 

[Donald]

Move the wires for that stuff to be after the switch. It almost has to be connected right to the back of the battery switch, since that's the only place where unswitched power is available.

I need to find out the draw and what it is. You always want bilge pump to run regardless of battery switch.

 

[wings&wheels]

Our Chaparral, which the prior owner kept on a lift, had the bilge pump wired after the battery switch. I learned that after a very rainy week wither her tied to the dock..

I would bet the electric anode is the main draw, the CO detector should be minimal and the bilge pump is either nothing at all or a little if it is the electronic sensor ones. I would wire everything through the switch, assuming that if you sleep on the boat, the master switch is left on.

I researched bilge pumps when I needed to replace one. I was surprised to learn that some models sense water by spinning up every few mins and measure the draw....I thought that would be a measurable draw especially for a lesser used boat,

 

[Donald]

One of my DVM's has clamp-on DC but only at 2000 amps or 200 amps. I would like it if it had a 20 amp scale.

I have several DVMs. However at present, only two have presented themselves for my use.

 

[wpod]

Boats are lots of fun. I owned boats from 1972 until 2004, I am boated out .

 

[Donald]

Boats are lots of fun. I owned boats from 1972 until 2004, I am boated out .

I have had many boats from about 12 yr old on. So 58 years of boating and still getting into the engine bay doing work.