Cutler Boat Attempt

[SkunkedAgain]

Jeff you are supposed to be after the big eyes now not silly cats, and yes always something fix or make neeter on a boat.

I know, I just can't talk myself into getting there at the right time of day to be most effective plus I needed to figure out if the boat was going to run before I headed that far from home and took the chance of having to paddle home... Do you think they would still be there this late in the year?  I kind of thought I was too late already... If not I might try it next time I get out... Thanks for keeping after me.. Jeff

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I have a couple of friends who went to Lithium batteries for their boats (one in Michigan and one here in Utah). Both of the friends are back to using leaded batteries and learned an expensive lesson.  If the Lithium boat batteries aren't kept above freezing, they die.  If you look on a lot of mid-west fishing forums there is a lot a discussion about the Lithium batteries and how they just don't hold up in the cold, especially if you don't have a heated garage to store the boat in after your trip.  Personally, I use my boat year-round and in some really cold temps, some well below zero at Bear Lake.  I also store my boat in an unheated garage where I know it gets down well below freezing.  Both scenarios are killers for Lithium batteries.

I hope you're not completely correct on that or it will be an expensive lesson..  I put my charger on the batteries and they seem to have taken a charge, won't be sure until I take them out and see how long they last... I also found one other thing that resulted in my problems, my power supply cable from the front socket to my motor had been pulled out and when the cables got reattached they were switched, so it reversed polarity.  I thought it would have just changed direction of rotation, but turns out when I found this and corrected it the motor started working as it should... So I'm a little hopeful that I've fixed my problem, but I won't know until I spend a day on the pond.... But you are so right about the cold charging of the batteries, I won't do that again... My first winter with the lithium's I didn't have my in boat charger and it was easy to pull the batteries out and charge them in the house, so I did that and I never had any issues using the lithium's in the cold, they held up well all day and I thought I was good to go...  But I have found now that you never want to charge them when it's cold outside.. Hard lesson to learn, but I hope I didn't ruin them...  Still love the lithium for ease of use, they are so sweeet and light to work with if I was a summer only boater there would be no doubt I'd be using the lithiums, but being a cold season user I'll have to say this jury is still out... I'll try to post after the next trip that I use the trolling motor much and let you know what I've found out... Later Jeff

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As with all things...you gotta read the destructions.

Better yet, you need to do what they tell you... thought I knew better, that was a mistake... Hate to say, but I had read them and knew it was a risk, but thought I'd be okay it was only a few degrees below freezing...  I was wrong...  Isn't that what they said about challenger??? Later J