Upgrade Weekend

[bountyhunter]

My bass boat will be getting some upgrades this weekend. Installing a jack plate and hydraulic steering on the old girl to give her a little more life. If anyone has any advice or experiences doing these kind of upgrades themselves I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks
Derek

[Milkjug]

Sweet deal!

[bountyhunter]

Sweet deal!

You will have to go bass fishing with me one of these days.

[Ibtsoom]

My boat came with it - I'm not equipped to do those kind of upgrades. Mine would be sitting in the shop next to yours if it didn't have them already. I can promise you'll be pleased!

[bountyhunter]

My boat came with it - I'm not equipped to do those kind of upgrades. Mine would be sitting in the shop next to yours if it didn't have them already. I can promise you'll be pleased!

Thanks!!! I'm one of those do-it-yourself kind of guys so I've never been afraid of taking on any job. Now in the past I've biten off more than I can chew, but I'll have my son and son-in-law giving me a hand. Between the three of us I've got my fingers crossed we can handle the job.....

[S-troop]

Installing the steering isn't hard but it helps to have 2 people when it comes to bleeding the system. When I installed mine, it took about 2 hours. I had someone else do the jack plate since I didn't have anything to lift the Merc. Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone

[bountyhunter]

Installing the steering isn't hard but it helps to have 2 people when it comes to bleeding the system. When I installed mine, it took about 2 hours. I had someone else do the jack plate since I didn't have anything to lift the Merc. Good luck.

Got my son and son-in-law coming over in the morning for needed young muscle. We will left the motor with our tractor's frontend loader so not problem there.

I actually got started this evening and got a lot done. Got the old steering system removed and all the control cables/wiring removed from the engine. Also got the new lines, pump and steer wheel installed. Might get finished in time tomorrow to take her out for a ride and some fishing.

[bountyhunter]

Well the upgrades took a little longer than we had expected but that is how it always goes. No major issues just small ones kept popping up but we got them all taken care of without problems. Did finish in time to take to Dickinson Bayou for a test run. Only got about 2 extra MPH but boy does she handle nicely, I can run wide open up Dicks without having to let off which is way cool. Here are some pics of the work in progress and finished job.

[Curmudgeon]

Cool Derek! Way to go!


Curmudgeon only pawn in game of life.

[bountyhunter]

Thanks, but we (I) made an error in mounting the motor to the jack plate yesterday. I wouldn't have made a difference if we had not been installing the Hydraulic Steering. Needed to mount the motor higher on the jack plate to give the steering cylinder more room. Right now I can't tilt the motor up all the way. That is the bad news, the good news is I found a newer, rebuilt Evinrude 112spl that I am looking at trade-in my Johnson 88spl. Will know later today, if the deal works they will mount the new motor so we don't have to worry about it. This should give the speed increase I was looking for and more....

[Milkjug]

Nice Derek, good to see some DIY work with the ol tractor.

Would love to join you for some bassin one of these days, thanks for the invite. How's Josh been? Havent seen yall in forever.

[bountyhunter]

Josh is a daddy now and is really getting into fishing bass tourneys with me. That is the good news the bad news is my motor is now torn down in the shop. Started losing power so I checked her out and found one of the cylinders had almost no compression. So I'm currently rebuilding the powerhead. Will let you know when she is back up and we will get together for some bayou bassin.