by Bruce Middleton, December 12, 2005
Boat maintenance is all-important for a carefree day of fishing…
The largest single investment a bass fisherman makes is in his bass boat. A big bass boat is especially designed to let you set or stand well above the water line with an unobstructed range of casting motions. The front of the boat is also the heart of the boat with its seat, electronics’, trolling motor and foot controls. Bass boats are inherently stable both running at high speed and setting still. Standing on the very edge of the boat it doesn’t show any sign tilting, sinking, or instability at all.
Of course, a big bass boat is everybody’s dream boat. But there are so many places that a big boat like this can’t go, like lakes that have a no motor policy or a lake that has no formal ramp to load or unload a big boat. Smaller boats have the advantage of being able to easily remove the main motor or load and unload from rough ramps. Canoes again, are light and portable enough to go places even a small boat on a trailer can’t go. Personal swim tubes can go places like beaver ponds and back water slough even a small boat can’t get into. And if you ask those big bass boat owners if that is the only boat they own, odds are they will tell you no. They have a smaller boat or canoe or something else they use to get into those backwaters where that big boat won’t go. You have to be versatile when bass fishing and like lures and baits, not just one boat doesn’t cover all situations.
While boat and trailer maintenance have nothing to do with fishing, if your boat don’t work, or the trailers got a flat, you ain’t goin fishin. If the rope breaks on the winch as your loading the boat because its that rotten, you could be in real trouble trying to get home safely and still have the boat on the trailer when you arrive. If you don’t put a little oil on your drain plug every once in a while to keep it in good shape, you may find your taking on more water than you thought one day, because it cracked, dried out and fell out. If your life jackets are falling apart and the game warden calls you on it, it could cost some money or maybe your life. A dead battery means no trolling motor action. Old line on your reels will loose that big one you thought you would never hook. Look, spend a little time, common sense and a few bucks to keep up you equipment, all your equipment, in good working order. It pays for itself in unseen, problemless, carefree fishing year after year. Spend a little now or a whole lot later. A lot of people use the saying ‘ boat is short for bring out an other thousand’. Well it doesn’t have to be that way if you spend a few bucks here and there and don’t wait until something really big does wrong that does end up costing you big money.
When it comes to holding the back of the boat down on the trailer securely a ratchet tie down is better than a poly-vinyl bungee cord. They actually tighten and hold the boat to the trailer rather than just keep it from sliding around. The cost is only a few cents more and the sense of security and peace of mind is worth every penny. For a really small boat they may be just ok but ratchet tie downs are so inexpensive that it makes no sense not to use them. They are literally the same price as a pair of heavy-duty vinyl bungee cords, and they will last much longer making them a better value.
Always lock your motor in the upright position when traveling and put a bar of wood or other semi hard material to hold the motor in place. Don’t just rely on the stops on the motor alone. Don’t let the motor hang down when traveling, as it can drag on speed bumps and other obstacles. New props are very expensive as well as replacing a lower unit. Also, before leaving the boat launch, lower the main motor and empty any water in the lower unit before raising it up to lock it in the travel position. This water, will over time do damage to the motors lower unit if not emptied. Also, if you take your boat out into saltwater, drive to a freshwater lake, back down the ramp and run the engine for a minute or two to wash out any saltwater that is the lower unit and the water pumping system. This will ensure your motor doesn’t suffer from saltwater corrosion later on in its life.
The next best thing to a boat shed for protecting your boat is a plastic reinforced boat cover to protect your boat from the sun and elements when not in use. If you use a very large tarp to cover the entire boat, to include any form fitting top cover that comes with the boat. Ensure that the tarp does not touch the boat. You will want air to circulate under the tarp to prevent mold, mildew and moisture from building up in or on the boat. Its also wise to make the tarp into a kind of tent so the water that does fall on it runs off and doesn’t accumulate into a big puddle in the middle of the tarp and presses on the boat. It is also a good idea to cover the tires, as the sun will degrade the tires in just a few years. Also check the tire pressure regularly. Use Sta-bil™ or other gasoline preservatives if you do not empty the gas out of your gas tanks. Gasoline has a shelf life of only a few months before it begins to break down into various forms of lacquers, which will clog your carburetor and cost you a lot of money to fix.
An automatic charging system to keep the batteries in top condition is also a must. Winter storage of a boat and trailer is also a time for maintenance. Grease the trailer bearings; check the winch and all the ropes on the trailer and boat. Take care of any minor problems you have put off and take care of your fishing tackle. Now is an excellent time to buy new line and re-spool all your reels. Repair and replace any damaged skirts on spinner or buzz baits that have taken a beating over this years fishing. Clean the boat carpet good and glue down that one spot that came loose in the front or corners and wax the boat well. Just do all the little things that need to be done to keep your boat, trailer and tackle in tip top shape. When you go fishing next time there will be no surprises, just a great boat, and good gear ready to go.
Gasoline savers used when storing a motor for extended periods of time are required. Sta-bil™ and other brand can be used or you can completely empty the tank and run the engine until all the gas is gone. If left in the engine and tank, gasoline has a shelf life of less than six months. After that it breaks down into various forms of liqueurs and other chemicals, which clog the carburetor and must be torn apart and cleaner before they will run right. The choice is up to you, a gas preserver or no gas at all. But never leave untreated the gas in the motor or tank.
If you have a small boat make sure you have a pair of tall rubber boots to load and unload the boat with, without getting wet. Larger boats have guides on their trailers to keep the boat in line with the trailer as you power up on it. Small boat trailer seldom do but it an easy job to weld or have someone else weld the guide bars on for you. This will make one person loading so much easier. Large boats usually use the motor to power all the way up the trailer to the winch rope. Smaller boats don’t have the power to do this and if they did there is no way to tell if the boat is on the trailer straight. So you end up pulling the boat on the trailer by hand, ensuring that everything is straight and true before pulling out of the water. Adding side rails to a trailer is a fairly straightforward procedure that doesn’t take a lot of time. But in most cases it does take a welder. You can bolt on the sidebars but believe, me, this will add a tremendous amount of time to the project. Welding is much faster and easier. Once the sidebars are in place, two per side with one in front and one in the back, a bumper board is bolted between them that has been carpeted so it won’t scratch the boat. The sidebars should stick up about 1/3 to ½ of the way up the side of the boat. With these sidebars in place, even a small boat can be loaded by driving right up on the trailer, hooking the winch hook, and driving up the ramp, where you finish readying the boat for the road.
Onboard battery charging systems found on larger bass boats makes life a lot easier. They top off the trolling battery(s) and the main boat battery that starts the boat and run the gauges all without over charging them. Most big boats come with an alternator on the main boat motor to handle the charger and 99% of the time it does a great job of it. But for storage and those times when you don’t run the big motor long enough to completely recharge the trolling motor batteries the battery charging system will handle the charging for you. A battery charging system is a key piece of equipment and works well on smaller boats too. They are well worth the investment especially if you store you boat during the winter.
Care and maintenance of your deep cycle trolling battery on a large boat is all but effortless. They have built in alternators and battery chargers. But in a small boat where you have a small hand start outboard, or none at all, you’ll have a separate battery for the trolling motor and the depth finder. As a rule of thumb, for every 8 hours of time you spend on the water using the battery you will have to charge it, on low power (2 amps) for 4 hour. Under charging the battery does not hurt the battery as much as over charging it but it is still not good for the battery in the long run. But how do you know for sure if the battery is fully charged or if it needs to charge a little more. Is it charged already and your now over charging it? An inexpensive battery charge checker costs about $12 and is worth every penny. It will give you and exact level of charge on the battery so you don’t over charge it and it will tell you if you need to charge some more. This is money well spent and I highly recommend that you get one. Besides it can be used on more than just the trolling motor battery, it works an all 12-volt batteries.
Annual maintenance is also a must do. Checking the water level in the cells, cleaning the posts of crud and junk and lubricating the post will extent the life of the battery. For long term storage, like haul out for winter, never leave the battery in a small boat. Take it out and store it on a wooden shelf. NEVER store a battery on a concrete floor. This is the surest way to kill a battery is a very short time. A good deep cycle battery cost $80 to $120 a piece. That’s expensive in my book and it pays to take good care of them.
When charging your trolling battery(s) its important to remember to charge them on the lowest setting on the charger which is usually around 2 amps. Yes you can quickly charge a battery at 10 amps and it will take about 5 minutes for the indicator to read fully charged. The only problem with that is, it takes about ten minutes to discharge the battery to the level it was at before you put it on the charger in the first place. And if you do this quickie charge enough you will ruin the battery in about 3 to5 charges. The only, and I repeat, the only way to recharge a deep cycle battery is the way it’s discharged. Slowly! A 2-amp charge will take 4 hours or so but that’s not a lot of time, really. Now if you have quickie charged the battery a few times you may be able to save it by a long slow 2 amp recharge, then discharge (run the motor until the battery is well down) then recharge the battery again on 2 amps. You may have to do this four or five times to get the battery back to full capacity. If you have to do it more than this, you will have lost a great deal of capacity and the battery will never be the same again. Don’t throw it away; just be aware that instead of 4 hours use you may be limited to only 3 hours use at high speed. Take care of your battery(s). Now a car battery or a boat motor starting battery is a totally different type of battery all together. It likes to be charged and recharged quickly and at high amperages. That is because it delivers a high amperage charge to the motor to get it going and receives a high amperage charge to recharge it form an alternator. It is not a deep cycle battery that slowly discharges to an electric motor and needed to be slowly recharged. See the difference.
You will drastically reduce the life of your trolling motor battery by not charging it as soon as you return from a fishing trip. Letting a battery set at 45% charge for a long time will reduce the total charge of the battery will take in the long run. Likewise its better to use the battery until it is almost fully discharged in one long days fishing and then recharge than it is to discharge it just a little many times and recharge it each time. By doing this you will ensure that the full range of the deep cycle battery will be held and usable by the battery. Batteries have a memory. By drawing it down and recharging it immediately back to full you extend the life of the battery and the range of hours it will work. Boats with chargers built in need not worry. But after long periods of storage, recharging the batteries before heading out would seem prudent.
Check your lights every time you hook up the trailer and during storage times, recaulk the lights so they stay waterproof. It is a good idea too to unplug the lights when loading and unloading the boat.
Enjoy!
