Trap Jaw

Just want to find out if it has a motor well. If so I would say there shouldn't be a problem. I know my buddy has a 19' Starcraft Islander that the water line is no more then 3-4" below the top of the transom. If waves start coming "in" they just splash in the motor well and that's it. As far as the wind... Yeah, you're going to get blown around, it is after all a light weight aluminum. That's a double edged sword, you can get blown around on windy days, but with the lighter weight you can plane out easier and with that 150 should have a good top speed. My buddy has problems turning in good winds, but his only has a 115 and the top speed is just under 40mph.

One thing I would suggest is to take it for a ride before you buy, and make sure everything is alright.

Guys, just wanted to let everyone know that we sold our trailer.

The only problem I ever had with the Diawa's was the drags. I don't mean there's anything wrong with them they just seem to wear out. Take this advice with a grain of salt though. I just this year bought new Diawa's for the first time in like 25 years. So my experience with Diawa's is going back to the 80's, pre LC reels. The 27LC's that I got seem great. I've only used them twice so far, and not gotten a fish to boot, but they seem like quality reels. Time will tell. It's the same story with the Penn 209LC's. I got them toward the end of last season. I used them a couple of times and did get some fish. I like them. Others don't though. Their reason is the slower line retrieve. So it takes a few more cranks to get it in, my buddies want to bring fish in on plane though.

Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but I'll never own another Okuma... Especially the Magda's. Between my buddy and I we had 3 brand new reels blow up in one summer. I've also seen some others that have "issues". The older Magda Pro's were good reels, I have one that is going on 15 years. I just don't trust the new ones. For the little extra money I'll buy the Diawa or Penn.

BTW, the reels that blew up didn't do it while reeling in salmon, they did it with walleye.

You didn't say if it was going to be new or used... I know I have seen a few older 23-25' Sea Ray's. I don't know the model, but they are like the amberjacks. There was one just a week or two ago on the Erie CL.

I fish Lake Erie mostly and there is a new word that is thrown around all the time now, spotburning. I have to hand it to everyone that posts on here, you are all willing to help others and realize that the info you give will not "hurt" yourself. If no one else says it I will, THANK YOU!

It has gotten so bad here that a friend that I have taken fishing on my boat for the last 15 years is now giving me false info or none at all. He thinks I'll "catch his fish". Guess what, it's a public lake and a whole lot of it, you don't own it. Oh, as a side note. Guess who isn't getting an invite this weekend now that his boat is DOA.

I don't want to hijack the post, but was just interested what places charge for stringer and transom repair.

Guys, don't feel bad. It's not just the Lake O forcast that's always wrong. Something happened in the last 2-3 years. Each year they are further off. I think I could count on one hand the amount of times they've been right this year for Lake Erie.

Honestly, if I could CORRECTLY predict the lake forcast I'd post it on the internet and charge for the service. If I could do that I'd be living next to Bill Gates.

I wouldn't say they're bad, but not the best in the world. I have had good luck with the Auto Zone batteries. I add battery equilizer to each of the cells. The one in my old boat just gave out after 6 years. As a note, that boat used to eat batteries every other year.

I will agree with Springs on one thing. If you don't know how old the impeller is change it. It is a major P.I.T.A. but much simpler then the alternative.

If you clean out the overflow tube and there is still nothing coming out. Take a blow gun and shoot compressed air in it. More then once that has been the only problem I've had. Probably still just bugs, but a lot simpler then pulling the lower unit, installing a new impeller and then finding out there is still no water coming out the overflow.

I will disagree with Springs on one thing. I have never found NAPA to be a reliable source for parts for Mercs. Evinrude/Johnson parts are available through NAPA, and CHEEP to boot. Merc is like Apple Computers, they keep everything in house. As a result they know they've got you. So bend over and grab your ankles. They made one heck of a motor, they run like a raped ape and reliable, but if you need to service them it can be costly.

These are the two sites I used the most when I needed to find parts for my old '71 800. They are both good at having the parts that are still available.

http://outboardparts.com/

http://store.eastcoastmarineservice.com/

The only difference I could think of would be interfearing with your rods. A buddy can atest to that. He decided to mount his Big Jon mast behind the windshield(so he wouldn't have problems reaching the lines). Well he found out that when he makes turns he has to do them so slow because the board lines will get fouled with his rods. My two cents, I have enough crap in the fishing area, rods, downriggers, net, boxes, that if I can move anything out of the way I will.

I do apreciate all the help. This is the first I/O we've owned in 12 years. And you know how things vaporize from your memory when you don't need them.

Oh, and Boarder. It does have an oil cooler on it. I put the smily there for a reason. It's hooked up to the top of the oil filter. I kind of did that as toung in cheek.

Got interested and took a look. This is the guy we bought ours from. He doesn't have any 8's listed but has almost every other size, including 6 and 9.9. Might want to give them a call.

http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1602n4th/

I'll second the Yamaha. We have an F8 on our 22' Chris Craft. Pushes it great, top speed is about 6mph. Had my buddy mention last time out that my motor was quieter then his Honda. Too boot, he has the exact same model boat. So I can't imagine that trolling is any different. Easiest starting motor I have ever seen. It sat all winter and it took 2 pulls to start.

Keep your eyes open on eBay. We got ours last spring on clearance from a dealer in MO. To our door it was about $1800 brand new in the box.

Just wanted to give an update.

I changed the oil and went to Valvoline VR1 racing 20w50. I just couldn't bring myself to grab those bottles of SAE 60. So the lake was too rough and couldn't get it out to run under load, so we ran it with the muffs. The cold oil pres. was better at around 60psi. After 45 minutes varying between idle and 1500 rpm the oil pres. was holding at 40psi. Quite an improvement to what we had the last time I ran it. Hopefully this has solved everything.

Just wanted to chime in Mick and Bill. This motor does have an oil cooler installed. Otherwise I have no idea what that can is with two radiator hoses and two hoses going to the oil filter.

Thanks Mick. You described exactly what happened. Now I don't feel so bad. Other then I have to change the oil again. Well, on the bright side, the engine is getting a good flushing.

Thanks for all the input. I'll post after I get it changed again and what happens.

Not sure of the hours on the motor, no hour meter. I'd venture a guess and say, ALOT! Guessing it's still the original motor, so pushing 30 years old.

As for the oil, it was brand new, just changed it before running out that night. Grand total of maybe 45 minutes on that oil change.

OK, so I need to change the oil, again This will make change #3.

What I really want to know is what kind of oil pressure do these 3.7's put out at idle warm. If this thing is remotely whoop'd I want to know and swap it out.

As I've already posted on here, we have a "new" boat with the 3.7L Mercruiser. Took it out on a shakedown and everything seemed OK. Went fishing for a few hours close to the launch and everything was fine. Last Friday we ended up about 8 miles from the launch and after running in I went to troll into the chanel and noticed that the oil presure was only about 10psi. I wipped around because I didn't want to have the motor seize up in the chanel. I rev'd up the motor a few hundred rpms and it came back up around 25-30psi. As soon as I backed it down to idle it went right back to 10psi. In talking to a few people they said not to worry, but they are all basing their oppinion on car motors, which don't need to run at idle for hours on end. As a note, the oil presure is around 40-50psi when cold at idle.

So the question for all the 3.7 owners, is this the normal operating presure?

Also, what viscosity oil are you running. I thought I was OK with 10w40, but in researching I saw as high as 20w50 and even SAE 60 recommended.

I'm starting to get concerned that an engine swap is in our future.

You could get bunk slicks. It might let you stay a bit more out of the water.

Unless you guys all have fish finders that have a comma in the price I don't see the problem. I have never had a finder that would acurately show fish over 5mph. The faster you go the more clutter. Just the nature of the beast.

Turn the fish ID off. I have never been able to stand that feature. But then again I learned how to fish with a Lowrance X-16 paper graph. I take all the settings, as far as the computer processing goes, to zero. I want to see exactly what is down there. Don't eliminate returns.

Ha, that's if you can get them. I just canceled an order that I placed last week. I found out it was going to take 2 months for them to ship me a new transducer. I got lucky and used one off a unit for my little boat. I'll sell that unit and go buy something else. I won't make the mistake of buying Eagle/Lowrance again.

So, I just purchased a used Sub Troll off a guy on the classifieds. WOHO, I finally made that giant leap into the 80's.

It came with most of what I need, unit, probe, rigger cable and wiring. The one thing it didn't come with was an owners manual. No big deal right... Wrong. I would have to buy a manual for $8. I was thinking I'll save the 8 bucks and just ask you guys what am I missing. I know I don't have the antenna, but other then that everything seems to be there. I've got the power cables and a good size RCA cable. Is there anything else I'm missing?

I have an EZ Loader trailer that will be for sale. We got it with our new boat, but it can't be registered in PA(long story). Drop me a PM if you might be interested.

I saw those conversion kits listed on the internet. Trust me, the minute that charging system gives me one iota of a problem it's getting switched over.

We found out about all the issues after we bought it. In looking at what things might cost to fix/replace I came up with a different approach. If the motor ever takes a dump I'll switch it out for a new 4.3L V6. I just hope it never comes to that.

Even doing it that way it's still cheeper then having to buy a new outboard.