genEus

FishUSA seems to be a bit cheaper than Gander Mtn, where I got my first batch of supplies. There's also ColdWaterTackle which seems reasonable. But all of these places are pretty much +/- $1-$2 on dipsies or a Spin Doctor, and their shipping charges are about equal to what you'd pay locally in NYS tax. Dick's Sporting Goods has some limited options in this regard as well, plus you can get a $10/$50 coupon pretty much at any time, which will help offset the tax. Ebay doesn't seem to have any good deals either. The best deals are typically someone selling a ton of their trolling stuff all at once, when you have to shell out a few hundred bucks at once for stuff that you might never use... Pretty much cover it?

Gotta love Keuka! After a nerve-shattering week long motor troubleshooting sprint, and another week of waiting, finally decided to do the 2.5hr round trip to Penn Yan. The engine started on FIRST pull, something it’s never done before for me, and purred effortlessly for 3 hours. We picked up 5 lakers for the grill, totaling about 17lbs, in the first 2.5 hours, and then the bite went dead, but we got to enjoy the beautiful sunset on the lake. Fished the east Branchport arm down towards the bluff and back, hugging the shoreline in 100-125 FOW. 4 out of 5 came on dipsies on “3†setting, 200’-250’ out, with SD/fly combos of green and white permutations (still refuse to remember the names). The biggest one, however, came on a gold NK28 40’ down. Big loss of the night was a dipsy/sd/fly combo that snapped 5 feet from the boat. No idea why But just got to live with those things as “acceptable loss†and move on. It’s “just†money. Hmm - if I had a boat I could get into from the water, I'd totally make a dive for it! That's like a $30 dive! Hmm, more rationalization for getting a bigger boat

((As an aside - why?)) just the way it is Maybe because of this? (From Wikipedia) Maintenance on I/Os is more complicated than outboards in several ways. For example, oil changes can require complicated pumping mechanisms, and engine repairs are often far more complicated than outboards because of incredibly tight spaces in the engine compartment. In some boats the entire engine must be removed to perform otherwise trivial repairs whereas, with an outboard, all one must do is pop off the cover.

((As an aside - why?))

Gotcha. I think I'd have more fun outfitting my own boat myself though

You mean for fishing gear or what else?

Starting my search for a bigger boat - a search which might take a couple years, who knows. Periodically looking on Craigslist, I run across older boats in the $4k-$5k range, which are seemingly in very good shape, at least in the description. For example, these two: http://rochester.craigslist.org/boa/3177356485.html http://rochester.craigslist.org/boa/3176744182.html What's the catch? Is it possible to get a reliable boat that would be GOOD to fish the finger lakes, and OK to fish Ontario on calmer days for $5 grand or so? I am just starting my research, so I don't know if this is a stupid question; be gentle. Thanks!

Well I think I got it! Took it out for a long test drive and it worked flawlessly. WOT, idle, quick RPM changes up and down, no flooding, no sputtering, no stalling. Hopefully this helps someone in the future. To summarize, here are the things I did: - Cleaned carburetor, fuel filter, fuel pump - Replaced gas in tank with fresh gas; added Marine Sta-Bil; blew out all the lines - Replaced leaky aftermarket (Moeller) fuel hose connector with a Yamaha part <<-- big difference! When detached from the motor, fuel doesn't come out of hose when I press the bulb like it used to, fuel doesn't leak out at the connection to the motor and air doesn't get sucked in. (Got a fuel/water separator that will install ASAP as well). I could not have done this without you guys! I'll update after the next time I go out fishing, but looks promising!

" thanks" for the advice my conversation at the yamaha dealer 2 minutes ago... he: " that will be $25.49". I: "sheesh." he: " it's a boat, brother!" this connector really does look very different from the moeller... we'll see. also I talked to one of the yamaha mechanics and he said that if you gently press on the bulb, until it is firm, and then don't press anymore, the needle valve should hold the fuel in the carb. but he did say that if you squeeze the bulb after that, the fuel will raise the needle valve and start shooting out at the top of the carb... [ Post made via Android ]

somehow bypassing two 10 micron fuel filters? (the carb fuel intake also has a mesh) not to mention 3 cleanings with carb cleaner, compressed air, and a piece of wire in all the openings? gah. it's been a heck of a week trying to figure this out.

somehow, I was thinking just that. I was going to ignore the overflowing carb for now, and replace the female hose connector. the o ring is all torn up! I'm sure I can find it at gander mtn. the overflowing carb, however, has me concerned as well. it's hard for me to picture how any of the 3 components that a child could put together would have anything wrong with them to make the float stick, or the needle valve not close. I have taken it apart and put it back together 3 times now, and I just don't see it. [ Post made via Android ]

Skipper19 allready sent you down the path of your leaking male connection. Definately fix your leak Yeah I'm definitely replacing the fuel connectors or the o-ring(s) around them. Also, when I press on the bulb, fuel spews out of the connector even if it's not plugged into the motor. Is that bad?

A new discovery. I noticed that I can easily overprime the carb and fuel starts shooting out from the top when I do. I thought this would be normal, but from reading online I've learned that when the carb fills up and the float rises, the needle valve is supposed to shut off the fuel completely and you shouldn't be able to pump more fuel in the carb. However, mine seems to take it. The bulb feels pretty hard, but not so hard that I can't keep pressing it, and when I do, fuel spews out the top of the carb. Thoughts?

To the last couple posts: new spark plugs are NGK, just as the old ones were, and that's the recommended brand in the user manual. Which hose fittings? I am concerned with the male fuel connector on the motor itself. There's definitely a small leak between the female fuel line connector and the male connector on the motor itself. Whether that creates a problem or not I don't know... But the hose fittings on the fuel hose are Moeller and they're brand new as are the fuel lines, bulb, and the tank.

well, I followed everyone's advice, dumped the old gas, filled with fresh gas, added marine stabil, cleared all the fuel lines, and dumped the fuel filter. I do believe I saw water in the fuel filter. I didn't know what the water would look like, but there was clear separation there of 2 liquids. although, I can't say that I saw water in the main tank fuel, but perhaps it's because it got mixed as I was pouring it out into a bucket? anyways, it took about 10-15 pulls, but the motor started up, and ran just fine. it now still does that thing that I thought it stopped, if I rev it up and then quickly down, it stalls. but it restarts just fine after that. crossing my fingers and my toes. didn't have time to drop it in water today, but will post results when I do! seems quite promising. But I am not celebrating just yet. [ Post made via Android ]

I'm gonna try that tonight. It just amazes me that it would stop working *all of a sudden* like this if it's a fuel quality problem, but sure I will try. One thing I noticed is that the connection between the fuel tank hose and the connector on the motor is leaking. If I pump the bulb too hard, I start seeing fuel leaking out of the connection. Also, when I prime the bulb and the fuel is sucked into the filter/carb, I can hear air being sucked in through the connector. Could introduction of air in there cause a problem?? I can try to temporarily wrap duct tape around it... to prevent any air leakage. On the topic of the bulb - in mine there's no way to put it in wrong because of its shape. the lid won't close

Skipper- Yes, 4 stroke. I took out the bulb and the needle valve 3 times now, cleaned the seat, the valve, everything. To be honest, the internals of this motor are like brand new. So far I have not seen a single speck of dirt in anything that I had cleaned. The funny thing to me is really that I got the motor to work LIKE it was brand new, except now it doesn't. So, something I touched definitely hit the spot. I just have no idea what it was, bc none of this makes sense. I would go with the fuel delivery theory but the engine won't even start now. when I prime the bulb I can see fuel being sucked into the fuel filter, and then I can hear the fuel filling up the carb. at this point, when the motor actually did run, it would start and could idle for 5 minutes just on the fuel in the carb. but now it wont start no matter what... [ Post made via Android ]

All right guys, you're my last hope before I go to the dealer... Here's a bit of background... Going to try to give a lot of info up front. I bought this motor a couple months ago. It's a 2006. I put it on the water and ran it about once a week on a 16 boat, trolling with it for about 3-4 hours every time on idle. I'd go WOT for maybe 5 minutes and then drop down to idle and troll. The only issue I have ever experienced was if I dropped the RPMs very abruptly, the engine would sputter and die, but when restarted it would keep running. In idle it was also never totally "smooth" as it turns out but I didn't know any better, it seemed fine to me. Last week I took it out on the lake, it started up fine, idled for a few minutes, then as I started taking off, it died, and wouldn't start back up. Here is the progression since then: PART I I took out and cleaned out the carb (as best as I knew how, I may have certainly missed something, who knows), using a strand of wire to go through the nozzles. The body looked clean, with no deposits. I cleaned up the spark plug contacts - they were sooty. I cleaned the fuel filter, I cleaned the fuel pump. I put it all back together and the motor started purring like a kitten. Started up and stayed running (in my driveway in a trash can with water). No hiccups, nothing. I took it for a short test ride on the canal and it worked better than it did when I bought it. It started right up and stayed running. I warmed it up, then put it into gear and at idle went for about a half a mile. It was smooth as silk, like never before. I was celebrating my victory. Then I opened up the throttle some, then some more, then went to WOT. Went on WOT for about 30 seconds, before it started slowing down, then choking up, then it died. After that, all the original symptoms came back. Wouldn't start up; with the choke started up, revved up high, then sputtered and died. PART II Last night, I replaced the plugs, cleaned out the carb again, blew through the fuel pump again. Then got to thinking that it can't be the fuel delivery system bc I primed the bulb and heard the carb fill up. At that point, it should have started, regardless of the fuel pump or filter even being in place. So, at this point I'm down to the carburetor being bad (I inspected the float for cracks or whatever, and couldn't see anything, but as I said above, there might be things I missed otherwise), or the electrical. Need your guys' help! Does anyone have any suggestions?? Thank you!

Holy crap you guys are scaring me. Have been watching noaa reports like a hawk, was going to take my open 16' Alumacraft to Sandy at the break of dawn tomorrow, first time on lake O. NOAA is promising SE winds and waves under 1ft. Reading all these posts makes me think I should just go to Keuka and avoid the headaches and potential drowning! grr [ Post made via Android ]

I got 2 12V "cigarette lighter" jacks in the Minn Kota Power Center I got... And I bought the more expensive.. MHS125 radio. Hope to never need it. Given that I fish a few hours once a week or once every two weeks, and the chances of me getting out in Ontario have to do with good weather coinciding with those times when I'm available, which will make it even more rare that I get out there, I think a good quality handheld like this should give me good peace of mind; and I'll get a stationary radio when I get a "real" boat that I'll take out farther and more often on the big lake. Thanks for everyone chiming in!

IMHO this has got to be one of the coolest posts ever.

What's the reason to run different sizes for different applications? I have 3 Okuma Convectors 45, and one Magda Pro 30DX. I spooled them all identically, 300yds of 30lb big game as a backer, plus 300yds of 30lb braid. And I'm certainly no pro, but I followed this board's advice and bought the Convectors. I have nothing to compare with but I haven't had any equipment malfunctions yet. (Knock on wood). (FWIW, they're $69.99 on Amazon with free shipping.)

I'm running out of places to mount stuff! I don't think my little Alumacraft was meant for big water. Time to buy a bigger boat? heh. I assume then I can still pick up the NOAA weather channels right, even with a handheld one, yes?

Can someone knowledgeable explain to me why I should spend $120 on radio A instead of $69 on radio B? I have a small boat that I don't plan to take out further than a couple miles off the shore of Lake Ontario. If I don't *need* the more expensive unit I'd rather spend the money on tackle, etc. Thank you. A) Uniden MHS125 Marine Handheld Radio http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003O2 ... 1_1&sr=8-1 B) Uniden Atlantis 250BK 16-Channel VHF Waterproof Two-Way Marine Radio http://www.amazon.com/Uniden-Atlantis-1 ... roduct_top

http://www.ballantynerv.com/