My new toy

I have been reading this forum, and keeping my eye on the classifieds. After much thought and a few delays I finally got my tin can. Shes a 1983 Bass attacker by Sea Nymph. She is 16'6 long and 48" bottom 70" beam. Its a great stable fishing platform. She is sitting on a 2004 shorelander with berring buddies and swing away tongue. The trailer is overkill for the boat, and there will be more on this later. Motors are 50 HP mariner gasser, 48lb motor guide up front, 65lb Minn Kota transom mount. Previous owner pulled up all the wood and relaced with marine grade aluminum plate (although didn't do a great job of it) She is ready for the lake today. There are some changes I have in mind, but recommendations are welcome. Sticking with the tinboats motto, here are some photos to proove that it exists.

















Now the issue I have with the trailer. The thing has surge brakes and have a small hill on my driveway. When backing up the driveway, the pressue on the tongue, is enough to engage the surge brakes, Is there any way to adjust the brakes so this doesn't happen? Here is a pic of the mechanisim.

Two ways to fix the brake problem. Many of those have a backup solenoid, that triggers off the reverse lights, and keeps the brakes from engaging. These should have a 5 pin connector on the trailer wiring harness. If so, and your truck has a 4 pin, you can either swap to the 5 pin, installing the reverse light wire, or when you go to back up, unplug the connector, and plug it in backwards, and your running lights will then power the solenoid.

Or, there should be a pin that you can slide in that holds the mechanism solid, bypassing the brakes altogether.

bassboy1 said:

Two ways to fix the brake problem. Many of those have a backup solenoid, that triggers off the reverse lights, and keeps the brakes from engaging. These should have a 5 pin connector on the trailer wiring harness. If so, and your truck has a 4 pin, you can either swap to the 5 pin, installing the reverse light wire, or when you go to back up, unplug the connector, and plug it in backwards, and your running lights will then power the solenoid.

Or, there should be a pin that you can slide in that holds the mechanism solid, bypassing the brakes altogether.

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Thanks for the info Bassboy, you're right on the money 5 pin connector. I assume with the running lights powering the solenoid, with the lights off, the solenoid doesn't engage?

The pin I'm not sure of. I havent noticed a place to do this. I will take a closer look tomorrow when it's light.

Congrats on the rig Scott

Congrats! Looks great! Personally I would fish it for a year before making any mods. Unless there is something that just stands out as needing to be changed right away. Looks like a great set up for fishing to me. Looks fairly comfortable too. You could beautify it but pretty don't catch fish. Looks like a great sturdy fishing boat to me.

dtwarrow said:

Congrats! Looks great! Personally I would fish it for a year before making any mods. Unless there is something that just stands out as needing to be changed right away. Looks like a great set up for fishing to me. Looks fairly comfortable too. You could beautify it but pretty don't catch fish. Looks like a great sturdy fishing boat to me.

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Thanks, it is very fishable as is. I have a couple of new graphs that I am installing. The front trolling motor needs to be reworked a little. I may bite the bullet and buy a gator mount or perhaps bite a bigger bullet and buy a minn Kota. Either way I need to mount it correctly as it is not right now.

Other than those little things, everything else may wait until winter.

Nice rig. I wish I had a swing away tongue on my trailer, then I wouldn't have had to take the boat off the trailer.

That surge break module should have a big arse spring in it that's adjustable for load if it doesn't have any electrics. They're pretty simple once you get into them.

Jamie

I need to rework my trolling motor power cables. Looking through my local hardware store I couldn't find a crimp style connector large enough for the 6 guage wire. What are you guys using. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Go to an electrical contractor supply store or NAPA auto parts store. I got mine from NAPA this time. Copper lugs. I use a propane torch and rosin core solder to fill the lug once the wire is crimped in. Put some dialectric grease on the lug and wire and heat shrink the exposed lug shank, Keeps the corrosion demon away.

Jamie

Scott,

That's a nice looking rig dude. I'm sure you'll have it up and running in no time.

On the power cables - Ranchero50 is suggesting a great way to do your cables.

Thanks for the info guys, on the battery side that would work excellently. However, the wires coming out of the motor (pedal) have been trimmed and cut so many times that all I have is a 1 foot section left. Would it be easier to find butt connectors and extend the current section, or start new from inside the trolling motor pedal?

If you can get the trolling motor pedal opened up, the best way to replace such wiring is to replace the whole section with fresh wire. I've done a lot of electrical repair in my past and most times, you can do the repair more easily and effectively going inside. Additionally, your repair will look better and be more rugged.

DaveInGA said:

If you can get the trolling motor pedal opened up, the best way to replace such wiring is to replace the whole section with fresh wire. I've done a lot of electrical repair in my past and most times, you can do the repair more easily and effectively going inside. Additionally, your repair will look better and be more rugged.

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Hey Dave.. I opened the TM pedal and it appeared to be more trouble than I was willing to deal with. (I would imagine a new TM is not too far into the future) I did find a company in Brunswick GA that would make me a new power cable that I could use. They do it right like mentioned above with tinned wire, shrink tubing and the such.

I'd go for the cable from the Brunswick company. What's inside the pedal that's making you feel you can't finish the repair in there? Can you post a pic?

DaveInGA said:

I'd go for the cable from the Brunswick company. What's inside the pedal that's making you feel you can't finish the repair in there? Can you post a pic?

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The way that the negative cable ran thru the pedal before finally connecting to a terminal that was almost impossible to get to with my big fat hands and fingers. I bought the power cable from the said company. They provided big heavy duty butt connectors that I used. I then shrink tubed the connector and taped it all up. Turned out pretty good.