New to forum with a couple question.

[ptemomo]

Good day everyone!

Im new here and i just bought my first boat. Its a older tri-haul with a 75 hp Stinger. I thought it would be a good starter boat. Thing is a know next to nothing about boats.

So i have a couple questions.

There is a lever on the side of the engine that has run and tilt written on it. What is it for?

There it is:

[/IMG]

Second question. There is a fish finder and a bilge pump but cant figure out to turn either on. I checked the wiring and it seems fine. Any other thing i should check?

Lastly, any advice for a first time boat owner? Any stupid common mistake i should try to avoid?

Thanks everyone,

Fred

 

[jl_rotary]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Fred,
I am in the same boat as you, just bought my first boat and dont know much of anything. I believe that tilt is for transporting the boat and run is for when you put it in the water. As far as tips on the electronics I cant offer any advice. Make sure you put the plug in before you go in the water
James

 

[cpubud]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

the bilge pump may be wired fully automatic with a float switch. the fish finder should have a power switch on it.

 

[mr 88]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Sometimes the metal on fuses need to be cleaned or just taken out and re-inserted.They may get enough corrision resisantce to not work after sitting for a long time. A simple test light works wonders on boats.There should be a common ground behind the dash.Clip end of test light to that,then touch where accesories hook up to various switches to see if they are getting juice,if not then back track.If the switch is getting juice then check for juice at pump,depth finder etc.Most auto bilge pumps have a 3 way switch so it can be overidden[turned on],turned off or left in the auto mode. Start at switch or fuse panel and go from there.

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

The lever is your tilt/lowering device. One position lets the motor down, the other will lock it in the "up" position.

 

[fisherguy123]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

yes ....I think the lever in run is when the motor is in the water and down; and tilt is when you tip it up to retrieve but it may not be secure for traileriing ...my 82 merc has a lever type thing that flips over to trailer the motor and locks it up in place. I`ve never seen an orange motor or even a "stinger" as you call it ....can you post a picture of the whole boat and motor ...sounds interesting.
As for the pump and Fish -finder.....does the battery have enough amps in it?
good luck on your new purchase....I bought a 1969 chrysler tri-hull and an 82 merc and both units together work great...I`m very happy with it ...the boat pounds a bit in whitecaps but I try to be a fair-day sailor. One advantage of the tri-hull is the incredible stability and even the wife likes to go in it over the tin -can aluminum I had....or maybe that isn`t such a good thing ...lol

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Welcome aboard, congrats on the new rig

That is a Johnson Stinger 75hp which was basically a special edition OMC outboard. Good motors, great idea to buy the factory repair manual so you can do basic maint on it to keep it running.

They did not come with power trim and tilt until '78 so you have the lever to manually tilt it up as mentioned^^

Good luck with it!

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

I have a 1975 evinrude hustler which is very similar.
I use a 'transom saver' when towing. I don't trust that tilt lock, however the PO towed it around all the time with just the tilt lock.

 

[ptemomo]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Wow, thanks for all the answers. Great first impression on the forum. So if i understand well. I just flip it to tilt when travelling? It just didnt seem to make much difference.

Also, i haven't seen a fuse box when i was following the wiring. Where should it be located? Could the battery be the problem? The PO said the fish finder worked fine last year but he just put a new battery before selling. What amperage battery should i be running for all the accessories to work?


As requested:

 

[Ky Baja Blast]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Flip to tilt and lift the motor up to transport.

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Sharp looking tri hull!!!
With the lever in the "tilt" position, you should be able to lift the motor all the way up....and it will lock in and stay in the up position.

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Also, regarding the fuse panel.
My old tri-hull doesn't have one. I don't think many of them did. Just inline fuses. Did you find any of those?

 

[rlb9844]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

I have a '78 Glastron and I do not have a fuse box. The bilge pump should be on a toggle switch or have an automatic float switch at the lowest point of the bilge. What size battery really depends on what all accessories you will be running. I would think an 800A deep cycle/starting battery should run the basics (fish finder, trolling motor, lights, radio). As far as new owner/operator advice, get your boat ready (everything loaded in the boat, plug in, straps off) before getting in the hole (backing down the ramp).

 

[royal0014]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Ok, no one has mentioned this to the OP yet.....

Put the lever in 'lock' in the water. If it's unlocked and you gas it in reverse, quess where the motor is going.....




<<)))(((>>

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Ok, no one has mentioned this to the OP yet.....

Put the lever in 'lock' in the water. If it's unlocked and you gas it in reverse, quess where the motor is going.....

<<)))(((>>

Not necessarily.
First, I don't think that lever is not for keeping the motor up (if I recall from my old ones) but it locks the motor when it is down, as was said. To lift the motor up you put in on tilt, raise it, and drop a different lever to hold it up. I could be wrong though.

When running in shallow water, though, you do not want it locked on run; you want the motor to be able to move up if you hit something. You just have to be aware that if you gun the motor in reverse it will lift up, too. In my circmstances, I run with it on tilt, because you shouldn't reverse so hard that you lift the motor in the first place.

Some of us believe that transom savers are completely unnecessary, and can be harmful, and that the built-in tilt lock lever is strong enough, since there has never been a reported case of failure that we know of.

 

[Xandre]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

I have found that keeping the motor unlocked while cruising gives me a little more power and speed than it does when locked.

2 cents.

 

[sw33ttooth]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

on my tri-hull the fuse block was mounted upside down back by the motor, guessing your battery is by the transom right side it would have been above it and towards the center a little bit. as for your fish finder if the wires come out of the back they may be rusty/corroded.

Some of us believe that transom savers are completely unnecessary, and can be harmful, and that the built-in tilt lock lever is strong enough, since there has never been a reported case of failure that we know of.

if you can use a transom saver then do so, on mine the trailer was short so i couldnt use it, travel lock held it even down bumpy dirt roads with 1 foot rutts.

as for locking it down might be a good idea if you back up a lot without power trim/tilt even the slowest of rpm and it will start popping up a little bit, and the higher the rpm's go the higher it goes.

 

[southkogs]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

I don't think I saw anyone mention in the thread to make sure there is an accessory line hooked to the battery to run the finder and the bilge pump. I missed that one time ... ooops.

Also, on your OB you might check if the motor has a shallow water setting on the manual tilt. Some of them, when the lever was set to tilt would allow you to set the motor about 1/2 way up for shallow water. I wouldn't trailer the motor that way or run with much power that way. Don't know if yours has it for sure, but it kinda' looked like the motor was set like that in the photo.

Nice boat - have a good time!

 

[ptemomo]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Thanks for all the help. I figured the problem, it was pretty simple. The guy just put both the neg/pos wire on the pos of battery when he changed it. And he forgot the ground the bilge pump. It was just a matter of following all the wires. Had the boat on the lake for the first time today. What a blast. And a 75 hp on that small of a boat make it go pretty quick! I'm hooked now....

 

[Ciera2450]

Re: New to forum with a couple question.

Have a great time with your new boat!
Get your wallet ready.........