Going electric

I have a 15' Alumacraft jon boat with a B&S 5hp motor that I have used for the last 6 yrs. The motor has frustrated me lately by not starting so I have given up on it and decided to go with a trolling motor. I normally fish a small lake, Lee Creek Res. and occasionally Lake Fort Smith and Dardenelle at Shoal Bay. Speed is NOT an issue with me, I just want to be on the water. I have decided to go with a Minn Kota 40# thrust, 36" shaft trolling motor. I have a group 24 deep cycle battery to use to power the motor. Since I have not had a trolling motor on the boat I am unfamiliar with how much power will be consumed from the battery, i.e. how long can I stay on the water before I need to charge the battery. I assume that would depend on which speed and for how long at a particular speed. Again, I am not concerned with speed, I am trying to learn to troll so I expect that I would be at the slowest speed. I am thinking that I would place the battery behind or in front of the center bench thinking that would disdribute the weight more evenly.

Also, what charger would you recommend? I have a very old 10 amp one that still works but wonder if I need to get a new one.

Thanks guys.

The 40lb should push the boat just fine. I'm not sure how long the group 24 battery will last. The charger will be fine, but I take it that you are a casual fishermen and if I didn't run the boat that often I would put one of those 2 amp trickle chargers from Walmart on the battery and just leave it on charge. Be sure and check the water from time to time. This will help the battery to last longer. I ran a group 27 on a heavily loaded 1542 with a 55lb thrust and could crank bait all day at around 1.7 without the battery going dead. I used a cheap, sealed, marine trickle charger that came from Walmart and plugged it in immediately when I got off the water.

Good luck with this. Hope you catch lots of fish and welcome to crappie.com.

Welcome to CC and :hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid: hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid

Get you a 27 deep cycle battery. If the motor you get is just a straight 5 speed it is going to draw more amps than one with the built in maximizer. Your charger will be just fine.

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Originally Posted by chiknlips

I have a 15' Alumacraft jon boat with a B&S 5hp motor that I have used for the last 6 yrs. The motor has frustrated me lately by not starting so I have given up on it and decided to go with a trolling motor. I normally fish a small lake, Lee Creek Res. and occasionally Lake Fort Smith and Dardenelle at Shoal Bay. Speed is NOT an issue with me, I just want to be on the water. I have decided to go with a Minn Kota 40# thrust, 36" shaft trolling motor. I have a group 24 deep cycle battery to use to power the motor. Since I have not had a trolling motor on the boat I am unfamiliar with how much power will be consumed from the battery, i.e. how long can I stay on the water before I need to charge the battery. I assume that would depend on which speed and for how long at a particular speed. Again, I am not concerned with speed, I am trying to learn to troll so I expect that I would be at the slowest speed. I am thinking that I would place the battery behind or in front of the center bench thinking that would disdribute the weight more evenly.

Also, what charger would you recommend? I have a very old 10 amp one that still works but wonder if I need to get a new one.

Thanks guys.

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Welcome to the forum from Nashville!! If I may ask, what have you done to try to fix the starting problem with the 5hp motor? Do you still have it?? Maybe we could help you out with that and you could have it and the trolling motor.

:welcome

If you are going solely electric you might want to invest in a new "smart" charger. B&D makes one for around $35 in 10 amp. What it does is monitor the battery and tapers off the charge as it come up to full charge and then cuts off. It will monitor the charge and if the battery sits for a long time and loses some of it's charge it will cut on and bring it back up.
You can do this with your current one and the 2 amp trickle but you have to monitor the "old" charger to prevent it from overcharging and boiling the water out of the battery. For peace of mind and hands free charging I would suggest getting the new smart charger.
With a good deep cycle battery you can probably run several hours (6 to8) with no problems. Depends on how fast you are going, but at slow speed it will run a long time.

These crappie.com guys are good.

Welcome from Cleveland county home of meatgetter jigs and minner critters!!!!!!! !

If you only use a tm you will need a rudder of some kind to keep your boat straight !!!!!!! !

Those 40 to 50LB range TM's are powerful when put on smaller boats, plenty enough usually. Next, when it comes to a battery I recommend a big truck battery and you will rarely have to charge it....I'm running one on my bass boat now and it never goes dead. Welcome from the SW AR/SE OK area.

Me and the boys use an old truck battery also. Its an Exide. Have never run it down. Its just a 12' boat, but with 3 of us and all our junk its all there. But still get us around well.

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Originally Posted by Scrapper

Welcome to the forum from Nashville!! If I may ask, what have you done to try to fix the starting problem with the 5hp motor? Do you still have it?? Maybe we could help you out with that and you could have it and the trolling motor.

:welcome

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When the motor runs it runs fine. It will take spells of not starting or starts and will only run a few seconds. I have completely cleaned the carberator and it ran well after. Now it is doing the same thing, will start but only run for a few seconds. I would always start the engine prior to launching so the last time out I could not get it to run so I came home frustrated and mind made up about going electric. Since the motor is a Briggs & Stratton 5 hp I thought it would be like a lawnmower engine but the lawnmower mechanics around here will not work on it. To answer your question, I have cleaned the carberator thoroughly. Gas is getting through, sparkplug is firing, motor is only running for a few seconds at a time. And Yes, I still have it.

Have you changed the inline filter?? If its the engine I think it is an air cooled B&S vertical shaft, just like a lawnmower. Wish you were closer to Nashville, we would tackle it. Does it have a tank on it, or do you have a tank on board?? Have your run ethanol in it?? Check VERY close the fuel line. Even if they do not leak fuel they can leak air and cause a loss if vacuum and you won't get fuel. Had the same issue with a sthil chainsaw a few weeks back someone brought to me. Tried everything and had a pin hole in the fuel line. Would run a few secs and die. One last thing, does it have kill switch?? Like a lanyard?? Make sure its not shutting it off. You might temporarily bypass it to check. Normally only two wires.

May take a little time, but I bet we can work through it. If you get this way bring it by...you can PM me.

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Originally Posted by Scrapper

Have you changed the inline filter?? If its the engine I think it is an air cooled B&S vertical shaft, just like a lawnmower. Wish you were closer to Nashville, we would tackle it. Does it have a tank on it, or do you have a tank on board?? Have your run ethanol in it?? Check VERY close the fuel line. Even if they do not leak fuel they can leak air and cause a loss if vacuum and you won't get fuel. Had the same issue with a sthil chainsaw a few weeks back someone brought to me. Tried everything and had a pin hole in the fuel line. Would run a few secs and die. One last thing, does it have kill switch?? Like a lanyard?? Make sure its not shutting it off. You might temporarily bypass it to check. Normally only two wires.

May take a little time, but I bet we can work through it. If you get this way bring it by...you can PM me.

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Yes, it is an air cooled, vertical shaft just like a lawnmower. I have changed the fuel filter and the fuel lines. No, it does not have a fuel tank on the motor, it is one of those red portable tanks. It does have a kill switch and I have checked it by removing it and replacing it. The motor will run for a few seconds which makes me believe there is no problem with the kill switch. As far as the ethanol, I thought all gas had that which I was told by a mechanic that is the reason he stays employed. I have removed the motor from the boat but I can still check the things you mentioned. I would like to get it back to running and put it back on the boat. Thanks for the quick replies and suggestions. The local lawnmower mechanics will not touch it because it is an outboard motor and when I asked them to just get it running for me they refuse. I hate to keep working with it because I am by no means a mechanic and fear that I have just made things worse. Thanks again for the information.

Need to go fishing and forget about it.

I agree with Scrapper. Sounds like you are getting air from either your lines or there may be a hairline crack in your carburetor. Here is a list of places that sell ethanol-free gas in Arkansas. I never run ethanol in any of my small engines.
http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=AR

Okay, we may be on to something now. If you have a red tank, does it have a pump up bulb?? Is it by chance an atwood?? They are really bad about cracking...you may not see it but it will let air in. Also the bulbs are bad to get hard, and the check valves fail. Have you tried to replace the hose from the tank to the engine?? Have you tried to run it without the fuel cap on it?? If its more than a couple or few years old I would go ahead and replace the hose and bulb. I know they are pricey but you'll be better off with a mercury/mariner, brp, yamaha, etc hose and bulb. They are much better quality than the atwood from walmart.

Also, pour some seafoam in the tank. I don't believe in miracles in a bottle, but that stuff is about as close as it gets. If you have 5 gallons put half a bottle in it with full fuel. It won't hurt it and will do some good.

Seafoam very good. Air leak very likely...if you replace the air line do the whole line, bulb and all. I tried to just replace a bulb once and the clips they use to put them on the fuel line are a pain to deal with. I ended up wishing I'd bought the whole line and all and just ended up using hose clamps to attach the line and bulb. As for ethanol I know guys that fish a lot who use it and say it makes no difference but when it sets it will separate and that's when problems start. If it's an older Merc like mine you've most likely gotten Very, Very angry at it already given the time of year it is and those sorry old Mercs hated cold weather! However, they usually run good once you ever get them going. If all else fails say what I do...."I won't own a motor that won't start"!

also make sure your bowl on the carb is sealed good have you checked to see if it flooding out

I had a 40# minnkota on my flat bottom and I could fish for 3 days about 5 hours at a time and then I would charge it. Would have got another day outta it but just didn't want to chance it