Im not entirely sure where all your batteries are located, but if you have them in front of the driver seat, they need to be moved behind the driver seat if at all possible. I was assuming you had 3 behind the driver seat and 2 in the front of the boat somewhere.
Any large amount of weight behind you needs to go elsewhere.
Have a lot of lead weights? remove them or put them behind you.
Have 2 batteries up front? remove them or put them behind you.
No, all the batteries are in the rear compartment.Originally Posted by Beaudin
This boat had 2 fuel tanks, one right in front of the other. The rear tank almost touches the transom. The front tank starts where the rear stops, and goes almost to the rear livewell which is located between the seats. So all the batteries are behind the drivers seat.
If you watch the first video I posted at about 7min in, it shows the battery compartment.
(video here: )
ahh... i was under the assumption they were in the front. Either way, do your runs this evening, if you get some improvement, disconnect the trolling motor batteries and toss them out for a run or two and see how much it helps.
EDIT*
Just watched your video again. I see where the batteries are now. Definitely take all that tackle out for your runs. Literally any weight forward needs to go unless that prop gives you everything you are looking for..(gotta have baits to fish right?)
5 batteries are heavy... but they aren't forward so, its going to affect you, just not as much as it could if they were forward. Honestly, dropping the motor and that prop should give you a pretty significant change.
If your slip doesn't change much, try removing forward weight until you do get some front end lift. Without lift, you aren't going to see forward progress. A shoreline drive by would be awesome if you can manage it. Or, place some tape on your boat and back up with the camera to show us exactly where the splash is when you are WoT and full trim. Before it seemed like it was at or in front of driver seat.
Last edited by Beaudin; 08-25-2021 at 04:08 PM.
Ok, so we have change! A 10% drop in slip!
I'm going to guess most of that came from the prop.
The roostertail was slightly higher than the motor so in this video I had dropped it another 1/2".
In the boat looking back there is only about a 2' roostertail. Before that drop it was about 12" over the motor cover.
With it where it's at, I saw a flicker of 57mph, vs with it up 1/2" it was a solid 57 creeping towards 58mph.
That was also at 5500rpm.
Calculator says that we are down to 18% slip!
And, running with my 200lb buddy we ran 55mph.
Next will be weight reduction. I ran out of daylight yesterday to pull a battery, charger, tackle, spare prop, etc.
With the additional load down low, I do need to fix/tune the low end jetting as it doesn't transition very well from low to mid(2500ish rpm) but that's a screwdriver and some time with the cover off.
The video isn't perfect. I dont think as much boat is out of the water as needed for best speed, but I can say it runs higher now than it did, and at 57 it felt "lighter" than it ever has. If that makes sense.
Oh... and the roostertail is higher getting up to speed than it is AT speed.
Also.. as a side note. This lake is quite low right now. This prop lifts nicely, I was able to roll into it, keeping the nose down the best I could and get up on pad in 2' of water!
My 184 only has 1 fuel tank, same as your stern one. I've removed it three times in 32 years.
I have two 31-series deep cycle lead acid batteries / battery boxes on port side. I could not use both battery box LIDs, due to not enough room, so I bent two ~1/4-inch insulated wires in U-shape, and placed on top side of battery extending down into battery box. Then I cut a piece of plexiglass to cover battery while fitting inside the battery box. I can check fluid level of both of these batteries. (upgraded from two 27 series deep cycle batteries / battery boxes about 8 years ago).
Starboard side has Pro Guide 24M800 starting battery and oil tank.
3-bank charger is on board in front of gas tank. I can easily remove board with charger mounted.
*****
There should be plenty of room to put 31 series batteries to left and right of gas tank. Plus you could check battery fluid level easier (than in front of gas tank).
Did you remove the oil tank in boat? I didn't see it in your video.
I drive 65 miles to get to the lake; so I can't check things out easily (RPM/speed; plus have original 1985 tach). 105 Heat Index today.
Champion 184
Mercury 175 EFI
That set up is about dialed in for the load you're carrying.
Nice Catch! You are correct, no oil tank. I run Premix in this motor.
When I pulled it down for the rebuild the plastic gear on the crankshaft was damaged badly and couldn't have been actually working. Instead of repairing it, I premix 50:1 with Amsoil. Much more reliable!
I like that idea of moving the charger in under there, and keeping my batteries off to each side would work for my configuration.
I was thinking today that I may drop down to a 24V system for the Trolling motor (garmin can do 36 or 24) and keep my 31 System battery, but reduce down to a Group 26 Starting Battery. That G26 batteries only purpose would be to start the motor, and it would be totally isolated from everything else. A group 26 battery would drop the weight by half, as that starting battery is only 28lbs. So I would keep the reliability of 2 batteries, but reduce the weight. This is easy to do, since I completely rewired the boat and separated the systems at that time. That G26 is what is used in PT Cruisers, and vehicles like that, so it has more than enough cranking power for the outboard.
In theory that should pull about 90lbs out of the back of the boat. If I pull the battery tray I built out, that should pull another 10-15lbs out as well. And, with having that area open, I can install a prop box for my spare prop, so it's properly secured back there.
Looks like you are on a roll. Report back with weight drop findings.
Made it to the lake yesterday.
1985 f/s model with dual consoles, bench seat, seats in front of consoles, purchased 1989
Max 64 GPS at 5600 rpm 9/9/21 (1985 tach); calm wind; 84 air temp
1997 Merc 175 EFI (bought new; low hours; regular maintenance at Mercury dealer)
1997 Tempest A45 25P, CMC 5.5 manual, prop to pad = 3.78-inch
2 31-series tm batteries (lead acid)
1 24M80 battery
1 oil tank
mk 3-bank charger
mg 3500 12/24 tm
~ 14-gal fuel (dash gauge - 5/8 tank)
64gps/5600/1.87:1/25P = 9.72708% prop slip calculator (if 1985 tach was correct)
other things in boat: spare prop, tools, NOCO starter, anchor, rods, Plano boxes, etc.
****************
I would not drive in 2 FOW.
Last edited by tj; 09-11-2021 at 07:43 AM.
Champion 184
Mercury 175 EFI
Now go fishing and enjoy your ride.
Pat Goff
Two degrees from center
of nowhere.
Smithwick TX.
Thank you!
I'm going to pull 2 batteries when I get a chance and try again.
it's been a crazy couple of weeks around home with school starting and some other fun mechanical projects (Deere 318 tractor that decided it wants to consume 1 quart of oil per hour of run time) that are keeping me away from the boat.
I did get out to fish on the spur of the moment, and did see 57.8mph that day. Although that's kind of unrealistic, as it was quite low on fuel (8ish gallons) and I never let it get that low for a tourney, and really I top off before a tourney just to be safe. BUT... as a test, I know that weight is now making a difference, where it didn't before.
I think the setup is pretty good, but I may need to drop the motor slightly when I pull out the 2 batteries, but I'll try it first and go from there. I'm also going to try emptying the boat of all tackle, just to see. And... I swear it's going to cross a scale! LOL I went to bring it by there and they were working on it so it wasn't in service.
I am starting to question if it actually does have some water logging. I found that the drain through by the motor for the backsplash has pulled away from the gelcoat on the front side. So, there is a way for water to have gotten in there. This is the first time I've seen it, so I'm not sure how long it's been that way. I used a rubber hammer and tapped on the transom and didn't hear anything different, so I don't have any rot that I know of yet, but if water did get in there, I need to get it dried out and sealed up. I'll pick up a new drain for it and seal it up this week.
I believe I've seen guys use heat lamps to dry the transom out?
Yes on heat lamps. You have to remove everything from transom. Pat and others will be along with info. Good luck!
Ok. Good to know!
Thanks!
I just turned off the 3 heat lamps I had on my transom for 3 weeks. Transom is now bone dry. Pulled everything out gas tank and all fittings and u bolts. had 2 lamps on the inside facing the transom. One on the outside. Surface temps of the inside skin of the transom was between 140-200. I did drill a bunch of 5/16 holes on the inside of it to help dry it out and it worked very well. I however have more water damage to the transom and stringers than lamps can fix but it is dry now.
Ouch! I'm sorry to hear about the damage!
I'll get the stuff together to do mine in the next month or so, then when the tourney season is over I'll strip it down and put the lamps on it. Hopefully mine dries without any damage. I just installed 2 transducer boards and drilled the holes for them and everything was dry. I'm hoping that this is a new issue that just happened and I can just run the lamps to dry things out, install a new drain and properly seal all the holes.
In the off season I'll also go through and seal all the former holes permanently. Last off season I pulled all the screws out and resealed them with silicone. This year I'll talk to someone who does glass work and fix it right.
For my two 31-series battery boxes on port side. EXIDE 31MDCST, 62 lbs each, 13 L x 6.81 W x 9.88 H.
I had to get the rear battery/box in there first, then move battery/box toward stern, and the LID will not fit in the small space. So I cut some heavy duty extension cord into TWO maybe 15-inch pieces, bent them in a U-shape, placed over battery and down on either side of the battery, then put a piece of plexiglass on top, and then use the battery tie-down strap.
Then have to squeeze front battery box a little to get it into position, then have to angle-slide front battery into it's battery box. For the front battery box lid, I had to cut off a portion of it's two plastic overhang deals, where cables exit; due to the two battery boxes are right next to each other, and front lid would not sit flush on top of box, and there is not enough room to spread both battery boxes out any.
Both batteries have the Fill ports toward the front, and I can see fluid level in both batteries, and add distilled water if necessary.
Also my 1985 184 only had a removable thin piece of carpeted plywood in front of the gas tank. I added piece of marine plywood to original plywood for extra support for my mk 3-bank charger. I can slide the whole structure with charger out if necessary (with gas tank present).
Last edited by tj; 09-14-2021 at 02:26 PM.
Champion 184
Mercury 175 EFI
Thanks! That's a pretty easy set-up. When I moved the batteries to where the front fuel tank would have been I used the strap style.
I'll probably just re-use those but move the batteries to the location like you did, and the charger will move up to where the batteries were.
Then on the other side I'll divide the electrical system and have a dedicated starting battery, and another G31 to run the rest of the boat systems.
I also found this device that hooks between what will be the starting battery and the system battery. It won't allow the boat system to pull from the starting battery, but when the starting battery is fully charged, the charging system will then be able to charge the system battery.
https://www.amazon.com/WirthCo-20092...713432&sr=8-14
Hope your 2 transom transducers aren't affecting prop slip. http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=1146470
[I have one small Lowrance HST-WSBL 83/200 kHz transducer attached to jack plate, which is out of the water on plane; and 1 Lowrance transducer in bilge]
Champion 184
Mercury 175 EFI
I moved them up and farther away from the motor and it made no change... regardless they are moved now.
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