Got my boat back, but have a couple of questions

[Sandmannd]

So I went and picked up my boat last night. They did a great job on it and it looks like new on the back end. Had her out on the water for a couple of hours and when I took her out of the wanter not a drop came out when I pulled the plug. Nice to have it back.

Anyway, when I cruise around the water I'm now shooting a good rooster tail. Not all the time, but most of the time. What is causing this?

I'm missing a gasket on the gas cap and also a cover over one of my fuel vents. Stoped at a marine shop up in Wyoming that is an Alumacraft dealer and they said I would have to buy a whole asslembly for the gas cap for $50. What? For a 50 cent gasket I have to spend $50? Guy was a real jerk-bait too. So anyone know where I can get these parts?

My trolling motor (24v Minkota) stopped turning on me. Won't work with either co-pilot or the pedal. Also, it's been doing this for a while, if I jack the speed up to 9 or 10 it will run for a little while and then shut off. Any clue what to look for on this?

[polarsusd81]

Shane,

On the trolling motor issue, Mitch and I ran into an issue like that last week during FBL in his boat. It just shut off for about 10 minutes and then fired back up and worked fine. It was really weird though. I guess it was affraid of the paddle though cause as soon as I grabbed it to move us out from shore a bit she fired up.

[Sandmannd]

Shane,

On the trolling motor issue, Mitch and I ran into an issue like that last week during FBL in his boat. It just shut off for about 10 minutes and then fired back up and worked fine. It was really weird though. I guess it was affraid of the paddle though cause as soon as I grabbed it to move us out from shore a bit she fired up.

No that's funny Tom, I may have to try that.

[AceintheHole]

Glad to hear you got her back. Make sure you have the proper dock mate to help you unload this time HA HA

[Pat K]

My Minnkota was doing the same thing last August. There was about 25 yards of mono wrapped around the drive shaft behind the prop. The self reseting breaker would trip. Once I found the line on the shaft and cleaned it the problem went away.

[Sandmannd]

I checked for line a while ago Pat, I'll have to check again. That won't do anything for my steering problem though.

They did rebuild my prop, could that be the problem with the rooster coming off my boat? Did they maybe get the pitch wrong?

Chris, I kicked him in the head a few times so he should shape up. We'll have ta get catfishing one of these nights.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Hey Sandmannd, been thinking about you and wondering if you got her back. Glad to hear it.

That rooster tail issue is weird. Anything else different back there? I assume it didn't do this before the "short ramp" incident.

[Sandmannd]

It didn't do it before the accident. I called the body shop and they said they have seen this in a few Alumacrafts over the last couple of years. He said that I'll need to bring it up and they'll move the motor up an inch or two and that takes care of it. I guess sometimes when they rebuild the bottom something changes.

[PerchJerker]

Anyway, when I cruise around the water I'm now shooting a good rooster tail. Not all the time, but most of the time. What is causing this?

There are a couple things that could cause this.

The most common is that the motor is trimmed out too far, so really the blades are pointed up toward the sky instead of horizontally behind the boat just below the surface of the water. If this is the case you're losing some efficiency. Does anything happen with your rpms and speed when throwing the rooster tail? Does trimming the motor down slightly improve perfromance or keep the same performance?

Another possibility is the prop rebuild. Maybe the blades are bigger, and are breaking the surface of the water?

Another possibility is the motor mounting height, if it's too high on the transom it will throw a rooster tail. Same thing can happen on smaller boats/motors if the motor is too low, but that shouldn't be an issue with power trim.

About your trolling motor, do you have an in-line breaker or fuse between the trolling motor and the battery? If not, get one.

[Sandmannd]

It does it no matter where I trim the motor. It can be down almost all the way and still shoots the tail. I'll have to put a fuse in-line. Never had one before.