Fishing the flats by the St. Marks Lighthouse
 

Went out fishing yesterday evening, was cool we were the only boat out and caught some nice trout. See pictures below. The only problem was when I got back the trim motor didnt work, neither control the one on the motor or on the console dash worked. So I assume its either a bad motor or bad connection.

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7062/2...099afbdc_c.jpg13393958_10208363809705757_299664315161106332_n by TomParisOBC, on Flickr

https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7418/2...93e86910_c.jpg13417698_10208363810145768_846554566140026632_n by TomParisOBC, on Flickr

Sometimes a storm wakes up the fish. I would probably be out in the ocean now, if it were not for the off shore moving storms around here.
It could also be a relay on the engine.

Considering the relay is like 15 dollars and the trim motor is over 100.00, I think I will replace the relay first!

Good chance it's the relay. Whenever that happens out on the water, try tapping the relay to wake it up!

I was thinking, 100 dollars for a trim motor? Then I remembered no, you didn't have a Yamaha.

I will try the relay first, and that price is off Amazon not from local Evinrude dealer.

Trying to remember, I think there are two relays on those OMCs? If it's not going either up or down might be the $100 item. :( If it's going just up and not down you can switch the relays to isolate the problem.

Unplug your tilt limit switch and see if it works.

its not doing anything when I push the button on the console or on the motor. It was working before we went out, and we returned to the ramp to load the boat nothing.

I was going to replace the relay since its less than 20 bucks, I will report back after changing that if that doesnt work.

I went into Parkway Marine today and bought the relay, the owner asked me what motor did I have and when I told him he said we dont work on those motors anymore, you outta throw it away.

Actually I would love to get a new e-tec, and based on his pricing seems rigged and installed for 9k isnt too bad. Of course I dont have 9k right now but anyway, Im going to keep running it until I cant fix it etc.

Hoping this relay fixes my trim motor issue. We shall see!

ETEC Pricing
 

Tom- sounds like a good price. Three years ago exactly I paid 12k for a rigged ETEC 150 HO, a demo with about 4 hours from the year before. Standard Gage's, not the ICON. Dealer remarked a couple of times I had squeezed him pretty good. I removed the old Merc so I could recaulk the top of the transom and deliver a clean boat to him.

Etec pricing you can see at this link

http://www.parkwaymarine.info/repower-specials.html

The owner of that marina is a fool to tell you to throw out a motor that he hasn't inspected regardless of the reputation of the series. With the age and non-failure of your particular motor taken into consideration, all you need to do is keep the warning, fuel/oil and cooling systems in a properly maintained state. ANY reputable omc tech knows that and if I'm not mistaken, can still guarantee the parts and any failure caused by those PROPERLY installed parts for 1 year through brp.

So, he's giving you 3500 trade in on your throw away motor. That's not too bad.

edit
I was looking at the price of a 150 at 12500. I actually don't know what hp you were talking about.

No I was thinking the 90 or at most the 115 unless I put a bracket on and did what Denny did.

If no modifications and just slapped it on, then 90 or 115 based on the weight of the motor. The 90 is 320 lbs and the 115 is 390 lbs so anymore weight and you got to compensate for it.

BTW I bought one Relay before looking at my motor, and when I got home saw there are 3 or 4 relays lol, but when I looked at it I noticed one was not secure, I secured it and the trim motor back in operation. So I ll just save the one I bought for future, but for now nothing needed and back in operation! It should have been a clue when he said how many do you need, I was like one. Now realizing there are 3 or 4 on the motor would make sense to ask the quantity question.

E-Tec Preformance
 

Tommy, I run both the 90 and 115 E-TEC. On your 20' hull with a couple of fisherman and a Bimini top I think with the 20" 2 to 1 gear motors you would see -
90 E-Tec - 3800 RPMs = 21 mph, 5600 RPMs = 32 mph with 13-3/4" X 13" wheel (4.5 miles per gallon average) Very flat torque curve
115 E-Tec - 4150 RPMs = 25 mph, 5600 RPMs = 38 mph with 13-3/4" X 15" wheel (3.5 miles per gallon average) Pipie, likes 4,150 much more than 3,900

All manufacturers 90's and 115's are very reliable - E-Tec, Merc, Yamie, Zukie, Honda, etc. and are much closer to the engine weight these boats were originally designed for. Most everybody wants more "juice". Tiny, Fr Frank, Otterhound and I are in the minority here on that subject. With the 90, I ran 55 miles on Saturday with three divers, 7 steel tanks, fish cooler, food cooler and assorted dive crap to shoot the hell out of Snookerd and Conner's hogfish off of Sarasota. I put 11 gallons in the boat to top it off on Sunday afternoon.

Glad to hear you're back in business. It pays to learn these things about your equipment. I remember back when I had a 200 Johnson on my boat that was about 8 years old, around the turn of the century. Nice flat day out bottom fishing when a thunderstorm started crackling. No problem, we pulled anchor and I had the intention of running around the edge of it and be on the other side. As I ran, I noticed that the storm was expanding faster than I was running. I pushed it to wot and the overheat alarm sounded and the engine went to idle speed. So there we are idling with lightning hitting all around, including one that hit about 100 feet away. The horn had stopped almost immediately after we slowed, but I didn't want to do something that might leave us dead in the water, so we got out of the storm eventually at trolling speed. I found out later that I needed to shut the motor off to reset it and could then get up to speed. Got home and told my wife, we're getting a new motor.

Bump draft was it a FICHT?

I think it was a 94 Oceanrunner.

Just in case someone else ever owns a FICHT, I replaced the trim motor, the relays and then read someone where that the Power Distribution Box goes bad but instead of buying a new one you can crack open the black box and resoder the trim power sodder points on the circuit board which I have successfully completed with a friend. So I saved 600 on a part from Evinrude with a soder gun!

Back up and running and going fishing in the morning!

Here was one of the three fish I caught after 6 hours of fishing, Im not complaining though, enjoyed the time on the water on my Seacraft!

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7577/2...31df93a3_c.jpg20160708_124741 by TomParisOBC, on Flickr


https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7317/2...5a1c067e_c.jpg20160708_113018 by TomParisOBC, on Flickr

Redfish Fishing hole = )