Trim Issues, Electrical Problems and Guages

[Fat Basser]

I finally picked up my 209 in NC and my son and I drove down to Lake Guntersville for a few days of fishing. Unfortunately the weather sucked and so did the fishing, but it sure beat work. I had a few electrical issues with the boat (it sat in storage for the last year and a half.

1) I am intermittently losing my trim power. It happens when I am trimmed out or all the down...not all the time, though. Once I come down off plane and put it in neutral...play with the buttons or handle control, the trim power comes back on. It also happened a few times when I was trimmed completely down. I hit the pedal, go to trim up and nothing ( floor buttons or handle). It's really weird.

2) Now the problem that almost caused me to make in my pants . We launch the boat in the AM. It's overcast, cold, the wind is howling at about 30-35 mph and there are 3 footers in the main channel. The 209 seems to really love running in the big stuff and we are cruising...no problem. I get about a mile from the launch and all of a sudden I lose all power. I check to see if my kill switch activated but it didn't. I turn the key and nothing. the waves are starting to break over the boat. I dig in my coat to get my cell phone and realized that I left it in the car. My son gets on the trolling motor and for the next hour we troll to shore...what a fiasco. The prop was out of the water more than in. Anyway, we make it to a boat dock/house in a protected cove. For some reason my son hits the battery switch up on the bow and we get power back ( I am running a 36 volt MK 101 so I don't think the switch is even activated. We head back out to see if we can make it back to the ramp and at about the same spot we lose power again.
We make it back to the same boat dock and just sit there contemplating why I ever bought a bass boat. I get under the dash and don't see any loose wires at the ignition, but I crimp everything down tight. I get power back and we head back to get the cell phone. Luckily the problem didn't surface again, but we were pretty lucky.

Any Ideas on the trim problem?

Is it cost prohibitive to rewire the boat or should I just pull apart all the connectors, clean them and re-connect?

Electrical problem aside, this is one sweet ride

Lastly, I want to replace some of the gauges. Can I use the same wiring from the old gauges or is this a big problem to replace them? Any suggestions on brand?

Thanks

[Fat Basser]

Oh Yea...Fishing report. 2 from the boat and 7 from the boat dock

[cowtrimmer]

I would start checking the - ground system.

[Fat Basser]

Stupid question....where do you start?

[1FastGambler]

Trim issue sounds like a relay, they are fairly cheap to replace.

You said you lost power...if you lost power to everything connected to the starting battery, then most likely the battery is the root of your evil. Possibly a loose plate inside the battery caused by the rough water.

[Fat Basser]

Is the relay the box behind the shifter. I pulled out the side panel that has the switches/breakers for the live wells and pumps and there looks like a black box hanging behind there. It was so cold and windy at home today that I couldn't really get in there and look. Any idea if this is where the relay is located?

Thanks

[Fat Basser]

So a loose plate can cause the power to intermittantly shut down. How does this happen...just curious. This would be an easy fix if this is the problem.

[Fat Basser]

The batteries are not secured so I am sure they were rocking and rolling. I should get some battery tie downs and I will change out the cranking battery. The other 3 TM batteries are new, but the cranking is probably 3-4 yrs old. Is there any way to tell/test if a plate is bad?

[1FastGambler]

It is very possible for the battery to cause your problem. The only thing that you mentioned that would say otherwise is the trolling motor switch being involved, but my thought is that it was a coincedence, but I would still check all of the connections, including the ground as previously mentioned. Just in case there is more than one issue.

[06GAMBLER]

loose connection at the battery

[Fat Basser]

OK...I found something..not sure if it has anything to do with the problem. On the side of the motor with the trim button, there is a cover that has a 20 amp fuse on it. I pulled the fuse and it was blown. I'm not sure what this fuse powers, but at least it's a start. I am disconnecting all of the wire plugs, cleaning, spraying with electrical conductor spray and then reconnecting. I am starting at the motor and will work my way up. Hopefully this will correct the problem.

[Fat Basser]

Found problem...I think. I pulled the top cover over and found that the alternator belt was shredded. That caused the fuse to blow (I'm assuming) and would be the cause of the power going out and trim working intermittently. I just replaced the belt and fuse and we will see what happens. I am still pulling aprt every connector and cleaning all of the leads. I won't know until mid week if this fixes the problem...having a little work done on the prop and hopefully this was the problem. According to the merc shop where I picked up the belt, the problems I was encountering could definitely be caused by the broken belt.

Any ideas on what I can use to get all of the rubber dust off the inside from the belt shredding?




Modified by Fat Basser at 5:58 AM 4/2/2006

[horseshoer]

you might also check the plug on the engine wiring harness. those have known to go bad and affect almost all or sometimes only part of your electrical system.