My first boat

Just bought my first boat. It's a 1991 Alumacraft 16' with Mariner 25 2-stroke. Took it on the river today and had some fun. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions. Current plan it to fish the summer and do some resto over the winter.

Only had two issues. One is that my turn signals blink fast and are weak. I ran all new wire, to fix a rats nest of wires on the trailer but issue not fixed.
The other is that my battery went dead, so I couldn't use my trolling motor. I would have thought that the motor would charge the battery, but don't see any electrical connection from the engine.

Trailer lights can be a pain. I pretty much always replace whatever lights come on the (used) boats with new LEDs. That, however, is expensive.

90% of the troubles on trailer lights that I have had came from bad grounds.

Double check all of the mounting bolts and where the ground wires go to the frame. Then check the front end and be sure that the wire off of your connector is properly grounded to the frame.

Or, just run new white wires from your lights to the front end and ground them there. That solved a lot of problems, before I go the LED kick.

richg99

p.s. One one occasion, I was doing my checking without attaching the trailer ball. I just had the wires strung out. Nothing would work properly until I hung the trailer on the hitch ball.

If there's no connection to the motor, then its pretty clear that it won't charge your battery. Also, I don't know how many outboards have been made historically that have an alternator, but I would assume yours doesn't.

You can find battery chargers for relatively cheap at menards, walmart, or really any place. I like to use the ones that charge at a lower amperage and have an automatic shut off for when battery is full, that way I don't worry about ruining the expensive batteries.

I've got the battery on a charger now. If it's no good next time, I'll purchase a new one.

Be sure to check the fluids in the battery. I bought a new one at Walmart that had to be filled.

Thanks. It's a 2006 Walmart battery, so it may be worn out.

On my cars, when the battery gets three years old, I replace it. Now a days, they don't last any longer than that. richg99

richg99 said:

On my cars, when the battery gets three years old, I replace it. Now a days, they don't last any longer than that. richg99

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I've gotten 6 years out of my last couple of car batteries.

Well, it might be that I live in Hot, Hot, Hot Houston. The a/c runs most of the year. Also, I'd rather replace it early, than get stuck on the road.

richg99 said:

Well, it might be that I live in Hot, Hot, Hot Houston. The a/c runs most of the year. Also, I'd rather replace it early, than get stuck on the road.

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Been there once. Too hot for me!

It's not the heat, it is the humidity. That's why I am in TN now.

fish the summer and do some resto over the winter

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is an excellent idea. Get a small note pad and take notes as you learn about your rig
while fishing, boating and having a good time.

That is what I'm doing as well! Find out how you like to fish and modify it to fit your fishing style and needs!

pymybob said:

That is what I'm doing as well! Find out how you like to fish and modify it to fit your fishing style and needs!

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It's so tempting to start tinkering.