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SuperD
03-29-2009, 09:31 PM
I thought this might make for a good sticky thread. If we volunteer what our area of expertise is, we could have a good board resource for asking our members specific questions. I'll stop short of using the word "expert", but I'm pretty good at boat layout and rigging. I've done a significant amount of rigging and wiring on my boat as well as most of the routine maintenance such as plug, oil and lower unit fluid changes. Hopefully we'll find we have some great contacts within our own membership.

Kokanee Slow
03-30-2009, 12:15 AM
Sounds like a good idea to me. I don't have any experience maintaining an outboard and I just got one late last year.

Can you tell me when and how often to change the lower unit fluid? What kind of fluid do I get? What is the process/procedure?

Thanks, Steve

SuperD
03-30-2009, 12:30 AM
Kokanee Slow, this is my process for my Yamaha F150. Details may vary slightly for your year and motor. I change mine every 100 hours or every other year, whichever comes first. Initial change should be done between 20 - 40 hours.

Tools required:

Wide blade slotted screwdriver
Lube pump w/ Yamaha fitting
Drain pain
Marine Grade Gear Lube
Anti seize

Lube Fill Overflow
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/9085/150gl1fd9.jpg

Lube Drain Plug
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/6729/150gl2qc5.jpg

Attach pump to the bottom drain hole and fill until fluid exits the top fill hole. Put the top plug back in before removing the pump fitting from the bottom hole. This will keep all the fluid from running out.
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/338/150gl3bfr1.jpg

When draining the oil, remove both fill and drain plug for faster oil drain. Per the fill picture, whenever I do oil work I spread sawdust from my tablesaw under the area to catch any random spills. And there will be some spills!

SmokeOnTheWater
03-30-2009, 10:34 AM
Super D - I've got an electrical question for you. What is your take on this "Black Box" theory of controlling the electrical field around the boat and being dicipated through the downrigger cable and weight? Is it a hoax, gimmick or plain fact?

SuperD
03-30-2009, 10:48 AM
SOTW, I've seen it work first hand. I've got Cannons so I don't use one but for guys with Scottys, it certainly makes a difference.

Guys have reported that when the voltage is right, fish have head butted the wire.

DLM
03-30-2009, 10:51 AM
SuperD.
When servicing the lower unit, is it best to run the engine (prop turning) for a bit first to get the oil warmed up a bit or does it matter? I would think this would aid in draining.

SuperD
03-30-2009, 11:04 AM
A T8 holds approx. 13 oz. of gear lube and the 150 holds a quart. It would be my opinion that there isn't enough fluid to worry about running the motors if you are servicing on a warm day. *Remember both fill plug and drain plug must be removed when draining the fluid.

Fallriverguy
03-30-2009, 11:48 AM
I need one of those pumps. I hate the squeeze tubes that some gear oil comes in.

Bduck
03-30-2009, 12:45 PM
Super D - I've got an electrical question for you. What is your take on this "Black Box" theory of controlling the electrical field around the boat and being dicipated through the downrigger cable and weight? Is it a hoax, gimmick or plain fact? I have Walker downriggers and I don't have any control of the electrical field. What I found out is you need to make sure that all your electrical on board doesn't have any corroded ends,radios, sonars, GPS, battery terminals, etc. Make sure you have good grounds. Also, that white powder looking stuff on your zinc plates thats around your outdrive system needs to be cleaned off periodically. I've taken a multimeter with me and checked the voltage, found to be within specified limits. Right now I haven't been convinced that I need one, yet. I leaving my options open on this. But I have heard the same thing Super D is saying. Pro-Troll puts out the black box and they also show you how to check voltage field.

IssaquahBob
04-03-2009, 12:30 PM
SuperD, with regards to the Black Box, can you explain a bit more what you meant when you said "I've got Cannons so I don't use one but for guys with Scottys, it certainly makes a difference." I use a Canon Easy Troll and a Canon Sport Troll (both manual) on my 14' Lund. Does your reason for not needing a Black Box extend to these Canon models?

SuperD
04-03-2009, 01:04 PM
You'd probably need to check with Cannon about the manual units but my electrics have positive ion control which means the supposedly works that all out. My guess would be that the manuals might require the black box.

Neptune
04-03-2009, 01:19 PM
SOTW, I've seen it work first hand. I've got Cannons so I don't use one but for guys with Scottys, it certainly makes a difference.

Guys have reported that when the voltage is right, fish have head butted the wire.

My Scottys have plastic reels so no transfer from stray electrons are going to be transmitted through the cable, the cable is isolated....I have fish hit the wire all the time...it scares the crap outta ya!!!

SilverBullets
04-03-2009, 04:12 PM
My Scottys have plastic reels so no transfer from stray electrons are going to be transmitted through the cable, the cable is isolated....I have fish hit the wire all the time...it scares the crap outta ya!!!

My Scottys also have plastic reels, but as I understand it electrical currents from the minerals in the water react with the different metals on the boat that effect the charge on the wire. If the downrigger is insulated, natural electrolysis between the wire and the different metals will create a positive charge around the boat as long as the boat is set up correctly by checking with a voltmeter.

Fallriverguy
04-03-2009, 04:40 PM
Good ol galvanic action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

Kokonuts
04-03-2009, 06:41 PM
Ive just installed a Cannon Mag 10 DR on the boat but havnt used it yet! It has the positive ion control but I am going to use my Scotty Manual for the second rod.
I am planning on changing the wire on it to the braided line. Will this help???

Thanks, Kokonuts.....thumbsup

SuperD
04-03-2009, 09:26 PM
Depends. The braid will negate the repelling due to bad voltage but will also eliminate the attracting characteristics of good voltage. Essentially, it will be neutral. The advantage of black boxes is the ability to dial up the voltage that attracts.

SilverBullets
04-03-2009, 10:30 PM
While jigging, has any one ever lowered their downrigger and adjusted the black box to attract kokanee under the boat?
The reason I ask is in the Pro Troll book "Black Box Techniques" it says the box improves results not only when trolling, it is also effective when mooching, jigging, and still fishing when hooked up and lowered into the fishing zone.

SilverBullets
04-10-2009, 12:05 AM
Another electrical question here...
Installing a 12V accessary plug & socket (to be able to plug in a 1mil c/p floodlight or cellphone). The run will be about 8' (from battery to plug and back). Will probably use #12 wire but don't know what size "inline" fuse to use. Any ideas? Thanks in advance...SB

Full_Monte
04-10-2009, 12:51 AM
Another electrical question here...
Installing a 12V accessary plug & socket (to be able to plug in a 1mil c/p floodlight or cellphone). The run will be about 8' (from battery to plug and back). Will probably use #12 wire but don't know what size "inline" fuse to use. Any ideas? Thanks in advance...SB

SB--
Your cell phone will not draw much current. The floodlight will draw a lot of current, so size it for the floodlight. Do you know how much current it draws?
You need to know, so you can size your wire and your fuse. Assuming your current draw is less than 20 amps, #12 wire should be good for 25 amps, so you would put in a 20 amp fuse. This protects your wire from burning up before the fuse blows. Remember, though, ideally you need to size your fuse for the appliance being used.

SuperD
04-10-2009, 10:29 AM
I hate inline fuses. Put in a fuse block per my picture above and wiring, trouble shooting and fuse replacement is much, much easier. At 20A as F_M suggested, you won't save anything plugged into the socket, just the wire. If you want to have accessory protection, start with a 5A or a 10A and see if the spot light blows it.

Full_Monte
04-10-2009, 10:56 AM
I hate inline fuses. Put in a fuse block per my picture above and wiring, trouble shooting and fuse replacement is much, much easier. At 20A as F_M suggested, you won't save anything plugged into the socket, just the wire. If you want to have accessory protection, start with a 5A or a 10A and see if the spot light blows it.

That's an OK approach for most small appliances. The problem is that your fuse block has a current-carrying capacity as well, and if you exceed it, you will cook your fuse block. Let me give you an example. I just installed two Scotty electric downriggers. Each is on a 20 amp fuse, per the instruction sheet. If I raise them both simultaneously, I could be drawing as much as 40 amps. When I was looking for a fuse block at the boat store the other day, half of them were rated at 20 amps TOTAL for all fuses. I therefore hooked the downrigger wires directly to the battery with inline fuses, bypassing my fuse block. I put the inline fuses under the cover of my battery, with only the wires protruding. Not elegant, but safer than an electrical fire next to my gas tank....;(

SuperD
04-10-2009, 11:23 AM
Siting your example, I have 4 Cannon electric downriggers, each requires a 30A circuit. I run them through the fuse block in the link below and never have a problem. The only time our downriggers pull the kind of amps to blow a fuse is when we hang a ball and if I hang all 4 balls, I won't be trying to retrieve them all at the same time. What would you say is the max amp rating of these fuse blocks?

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/81191/377%20710/0/fuse%20block/Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/0/0?N=377%20710&Ne=0&Ntt=fuse%20block&Ntk=Primary%20Search&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Nao=0&Ns=0&keyword=fuse%20block&isLTokenURL=true&storeNum=5002&subdeptNum=9&classNum=295

Full_Monte
04-10-2009, 03:09 PM
The fuse blocks in your link are rated at 100 amps. This is very high compared to the ones I saw at the boat shop. Without getting too technical, any fuse block that doesn't have a main fuse/breaker is called a sub-panel. If it has a main breaker, it is a main panel. Think of your house panel. It has a MAIN breaker that protects your panel from pulling too much current. It may also have a breaker that feeds a sub-panel....which is rated at lower current than the main breaker. The point is that each panel has a capacity that should be protected against over-current, just as each fuse in the panel protects a downrigger, lights, radio, pumps, etc. Let's say that your panel is rated at 100 amps. You could have 10 fuses/breakers that each guard a 15 amp circuit. If all the circuits were turned on at once, you could trip the main 100 amp breaker because you are drawing up to 150 amps. But in real life, we don't use all the circuits at the same time very often, so we don't trip the main. But we wouldn't want to run more than 100 amps through the panel at any time because it isn't designed to take it...that's why we use a main breaker. That's also why we need to size the wire going into the panel from the battery for the maximum current we might draw. If your fuse block doesn't have a main fuse, you should put an in-line fuse between the battery + terminal and the fuse block to be on the safe side.