Champion 193 elite problems

[champion193frost]

Hi, i was wanting to ask all of you that have bought used boats some questions. First off,, my live well system is not working, cant pump in or out water,, only if i open the drain the system ca get water in,,and can will not ariate. i think i have to pull gas tank out to even get to it? is 1999 193 champ.. second, my 3 bank battery charger is not keeping my crank en battery charged, and shows only one cell charging, should I get new one, or just keep charging it manually.? also, my trolling motor brackets are giving me fits, keep getting lose and already had too replace, any suggestions?? should I get a dealer to drill holes and bolt it down? or bad idea.. other than that ,, everything works, the 200 evnrude ficth runs great.. but seems as if the wiring is hanging low under the dash, not really visible unless you really look down there,, seems as its been tampered with at some time not sure if thats normal or not? and also the trolling motor is tied in directly, cant unplug when i charge... i dunno? anyways just some small irritating problems thanks for reading, sorry for sloppy handwriting

[Lea]

Hang on Frosty. And Welcome!!! Knowledgeable folks will be along. BTW, I do not unplug TM when charging batteries....

Your charger might be defective...or cranking battery old?

[Royjulius]

I've experienced some of this with my past boats. First, if your troller is a 2 wire system, meaning that there is a short wire connecting pos to neg between the batteries, you will not need to unplug when you charge. That only applied to the old 4 wire method where you have 2 wires going to each battery cuz when the troller's plugged in, and the chargers on, the troller plug becomes a short and it burns up. 2nd, my troller came loose last summer and I replaced the sleeves in the holes and it worked well. I forgot what those sleeves are called, but someone else will know. Take one to the store and they'll know. The livewell problems could be anything. If your wiring is messed with, could be that the connectors just got loosened from the switch. Keep the drain system closed when on the water, mine lets in water too. Wrecks my hole shot. All sounds like minor stuff to fix on a great boat. You may have a bad battery on the bank that won't light up. Put one of your known good batteries on that bank and see if it comes on. If it doesn't, you may have a charger problem. My money's on the battery.


Modified by Royjulius at 6:47 AM 1/9/2009


Modified by Royjulius at 6:57 AM 1/9/2009


Modified by Royjulius at 7:57 AM 1/9/2009

[champion193frost]

well, all battery's are all new deep cycle marines. All hold a charge,and i plugged charger in, and actually touched positive with neg wiring on the cranking side, no sparks or nothing, so i think it is charger on that side, thanks for the help.. also.. you said leave live well closed when on water? you mean,, don't use it to let water in? or at all? also by doing that it mess up something in your boat, can you be more specific on damage and how it did it by leaving the system open?? i have had to keep it open to let water in so i can put fish in live well(no problems yet) . i ran manual pump to it to ariate water during tournament so i can keep my fish for a little while till after. worked great , but if its going to mess something up, i really need to get it fixed,, we got to the live-well pumps external wiring part, and i think we tested the power with meter and we are getting power to pumps, so i am like 99% the pumps are out, but i will double check. If i take to a dealer what might be the estimate cost to get those fixed,i think they have to pull out gas tank. maybe uner 200 dollars?? if iam lucky,, i should do it my self with some friends, but i don't want to mess anything up.

Also,, do you know anybody that has Trolling motor directly tied in,, that there is no plug in?? my wiring is hidden coming from below the deck? looks professional because i do not see how anybody could run the wiring because there no way of getting in ,, even from rod lockers or compartments? maybe champion made it that way ,, not sure

[Lea]

I think it was meant to leave livewell closed only if you don't want water in there. Let us know how it all works when you replace your charger and pumps. As for the trolling motor...many boat have "hard-wired" motors rather than using plugs. There is a way to access the wiring in case you wanted to change trollers. You may have a decorative plate on the bow slope or you can remove the plate with the switches to reach in there. No need if troller is working satisfactorily.

By "wrecks my hole shot", Roy meant it takes longer to get on plane with the extra weight of water in the wells. Nothing gets broken. Hole shot means the time it takes from idle speed to full up on plane...

In my 99 187, I don't think the gas tank had to be removed to get at pumps, but not sure about your model...