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I have a 14x48 starcraft V hull. I am not sure of the age of mine as well. It has been re-vin'd at some point. I have a 20HP Blue Band mercury on it and it does fine. Mine has a 2x6 or 2x8 across the top of the transom. The 20HP gets up on plane with 2 well and takes a bit with 3.

Just as you charge a 12 volt battery and the volts raise to 13ish, the unregulated charging of the older outboards is causing my battery to raise to 16volts while it is charging. I checked with an eletrical engineer friend of mine and he said if the specs for the fish finder are for 10 to...

I have a 1985 Mercury 50HP and it charges the battery when it runs. Unlike the newer motors it does not have a regulator. So it sends a charge to the battery even though the battery is fully charged. At full throttle the motor produces ~6amps of charging. The newer motors have a regulator that...

I got the email back from HumminBird. This is what they said. "Thank you for contacting Humminbird. We appreciate your interest in our products. The power input is 10.8 to 20VDC for the HELIX 5 SI GPS." So I assume the 16 volts should be fine and not damage the unit?

I contacted HumminBird via email. The automated response said they would get back to me in 2-3 days. I looked through the manual and the only over voltage information I could find is under troubleshooting. Problem: The control head loses power at high speeds Possible Cause: If the power...

My old fish finder Lowrance elite 4xhdi and my new one Hummingbird helix 5 both showed 16volts. I have not tried testing with a multimeter. I know the older mercury motors dont have a regulator to stop charging the battery when full. They just assumed the battery would regulate it. I am just...

Had a real nice 70 degree day and took out my boy and enjoyed the boat. Water temp was 50 degrees. No issues with blowing fuses. Going camping and fishing in a couple weeks. Will put it through the torture test then. I replaced the battery with a new group 24 lead acid battery. I am still...

Good luck. Excited to see the progress. I have the same boat but just a couple years older 1985 Bass Tracker TX-17. Keep us posted with pictures!

Sweet looking boat! I really like the rod storage in the floor.

It was 25 degrees here tonight, but I had to know. I went out and cut out the old fuse holder and put in the new Asdomo circuit breaker and re-mounted my forward controls. I mounted my forward controls on wood so it cant short out unless it does it internally. I am trying to fix the issue every...

Well I think I found it. I took it apart and where the control arm pivots there is a group of wires that feeds the controls in the arm. One of the wires was bare where it had pinched. I taped them all up and put it back together. I dont think the previous owner had the pivot screw tight enough...

I did some research and it sounds like the metal of the boat is always grounded by the engine being bolted to the boat. Then the internet said to not use it because of corrosion.

My circuit breaker arrives Thursday. I will do more testing to isolate the issue then. I did not know that boats have grounding issues.

Rich, you were right. I got the boat of storage to get it ready for the spring, and I was still blowing fuses. I went through 9 fuses isolating the issue to the forward controls. I found out the following. I isolated it to I was blowing fuses when I shifted from neutral to reverse. I took the...

When getting the new gas tank, might spend some more to get new fuel lines from the tank to the motor that are rated for ethanol just in case you find yourself using ethanol.

My 1985 BassTracker is a basicallly a 17x48 and has a 50HP 2cycle Mercury motor on it. The 50 flies with one or two people but has a rough time with 3-4 to get on plane. Max is 4 for the boat. I would go with the 25HP if your boat is rated for it.

On the mercury's the water pump kits have seals coming from shaft side that are easily replaceable. Another cheap insurance is to replace the o-rings on the fill screws. Hopefully it is not coming from the prop side. There are some Youtube videos on how to replace those seals but they seem...

Holy cow, I would have had a heart attack. Glad you are safe.

I would check the bulb after it runs and dies. If the bulb is weak again then you have a fuel issue going into the carbs.

I winterized the boat tonight and took the battery out. It was in a plastic case. It was an closed cell battery, not a lead acid battery. Everywhere I read said the rectifiers need to use the battery as overflow and should be a lead acid battery to handle the charging rate. Hopefully I did not...