No DeGray Report Today, Dang It - - !

If not for bad luck, guess I wouldn't have any at all. Wife & I got up & headed for Lake DeGray around 7:30am even tho daybreak temp wuz 27* here. Picked up a few doz minnows before leaving town. Decided to launch at Lenox Marcus & got there around 9 or so. Put the boat in & parked the truck. Figured I'd better start the motor as it ain't been run since I changed out the 'Ethanol' last month. Hit the starter & - - - 'grunt'. Wouldn't even turn the engine over. Trim'n Tilt worked & pumps worked albeit slowly but just had no 'umph' :p . Wuz gonna 'jump' the crankin' battery from the trolling battery but got to thinkin it'd take quite a lot of runnin' for the little 3a circuit to bring the crankin' battery back up enough to depend on so we loaded 'er back up & came on back home :p . Multimeter showed 11.9vdc when we got home. This entire rig is just a year old (bought last Mar 15th) & the battery, a good Interstate brand, worked fine when I reinstalled it from storage last month?? Put 'er on the charger for about 3hrs & when I checked it the digital charger was flashing 'bad' & the percentage meter showed about 72%. I shut 'er down, disconnected then reconnected & 'hit' charge & within an hour or so it showed full charge at 12.77vdc. Gonna let it set overnight & check again in the mornin' after the surface charge has drained off. Battery should be good & all switches were off, depth finders disconnected, etc. Can't think of anything that might've caused such a quick drain. I wuz pretty careful last week when I installed the front dept finder, not to short any of the wiring. The 'live' wiring circuit I used, already in the bow had no bare spots tho I suppose I could have inadvertently touched something somewhere. Turning on the new depth finder momentarily just to check for power & using the tilt when I took off the transom saver should have used virtually no power?? If the battery still shows full charge in the morning, I'll have my son check the current 'draw' when each load circuit is engaged. Hopefully it's just an aberration & we'll be able to get back on the lake Friday (got a dental appt tomorrow :( ) & catch a few. Hope y'all keep on sackin' 'em up!

hope things are ok friday. good luck.

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Originally Posted by Nobody

If not for bad luck, guess I wouldn't have any at all. Wife & I got up & headed for Lake DeGray around 7:30am even tho daybreak temp wuz 27* here. Picked up a few doz minnows before leaving town. Decided to launch at Lenox Marcus & got there around 9 or so. Put the boat in & parked the truck. Figured I'd better start the motor as it ain't been run since I changed out the 'Ethanol' last month. Hit the starter & - - - 'grunt'. Wouldn't even turn the engine over. Trim'n Tilt worked & pumps worked albeit slowly but just had no 'umph' :p . Wuz gonna 'jump' the crankin' battery from the trolling battery but got to thinkin it'd take quite a lot of runnin' for the little 3a circuit to bring the crankin' battery back up enough to depend on so we loaded 'er back up & came on back home :p . Multimeter showed 11.9vdc when we got home. This entire rig is just a year old (bought last Mar 15th) & the battery, a good Interstate brand, worked fine when I reinstalled it from storage last month?? Put 'er on the charger for about 3hrs & when I checked it the digital charger was flashing 'bad' & the percentage meter showed about 72%. I shut 'er down, disconnected then reconnected & 'hit' charge & within an hour or so it showed full charge at 12.77vdc. Gonna let it set overnight & check again in the mornin' after the surface charge has drained off. Battery should be good & all switches were off, depth finders disconnected, etc. Can't think of anything that might've caused such a quick drain. I wuz pretty careful last week when I installed the front dept finder, not to short any of the wiring. The 'live' wiring circuit I used, already in the bow had no bare spots tho I suppose I could have inadvertently touched something somewhere. Turning on the new depth finder momentarily just to check for power & using the tilt when I took off the transom saver should have used virtually no power?? If the battery still shows full charge in the morning, I'll have my son check the current 'draw' when each load circuit is engaged. Hopefully it's just an aberration & we'll be able to get back on the lake Friday (got a dental appt tomorrow :( ) & catch a few. Hope y'all keep on sackin' 'em up!

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Doesn't sound like y'all had much good of a mornin'. Hopefully you will be runnin' and back at 'em before too long. Good luck with your battery woes...

Man, I feel your pain. If you read my story Rescue on the Ouachita, you know what I mean. lol

Hope for better trips, fer sur.

aj

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Originally Posted by Arkie John

Man, I feel your pain. If you read my story Rescue on the Ouachita, you know what I mean. lol

Hope for better trips, fer sur.

aj

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As I only been a member here since 2/26 I had to go check yer posts for the story. That wuz an adventure! Glad you were prepared & wuz able to make the best of it for your wife. My usual fishing partner is my wife (& best friend) of 49yrs (wellll, it'll be 49yrs come Jun 4th :D ) & she wuz with me yesterday. That's one major reason I didn't go ahead & 'jump' the chargin' battery, just didn't trust the trolling motor battery to stay up enough to start the motor again if we used it much. I've only had this boat in the water 3 times so ain't used to all its little quirks yet. Called Bradford Marine this morning & the battery is under warranty 'til Mar 15th so I'm gonna take it up there in the morning & let 'em swap it out (ain't no fun tryin' to get the batteries out of the little compartment on this boat :p ). After a full charge yesterday (12.7vdc) it only showed 12.22vdc this AM so I called 'em & the guy said bring it in.

Right now I sittin' here at the computer tryin' to forget the ache in my mouth. Went to the dentist this morning & had my final upper tooth pulled & a denture inserted :eek: after losing the other 'anchor' tooth for my partial a couple of weeks ago. Don't think I'm gonna like this at all but maybe it'll be better than drinkin' my meals :rolleyes: . Soon as the anesthetic wears off a little more & I can feel my upper lip I'm gonna take a couple of Tylenol & hopefully it'll feel better. Guess I won't get back on the water for at least a couple of days but I'm eagerly anticipatin' it ;)

Nobody, I was a prosthetic dental technician in my younger years. The upper will do you just fine because it is kept in place by suction. It's the lowers that give folks fits, because regular lowers are not anchored and just 'float.'

You'll be back on the water, all healed up before you know it. I'm goin' out tomorrow at daylight and hope to snag a couple before the wind starts howlin' too much. I have had my rig just since 20 November and I am like you...still learning the quirks of the new rig.

Keep in touch. I'm retired USA and the Corps of Engineers and lovin' every minute of it.

Blessings to you and yours,

aj

Sounds like you handled it well. That sort of thing really sets me off. Good luck next outing.