Tilt state while fishing....

[jbuote]

I'm wondering what the consensus might be... (if one can be had.. )

Turns out my description below is longer than I thought.. Trying to give backstory to it..
The ;TLDR of it is:
When you go out in local lakes (fresh water) for some fishing, and you get to the spot you're going to fish.. Do you trim your engine up out of the water?

Read on if you want the backstory.. lol...

I'm asking because I ran into an issue today while out fishing with the Admiral..
We got to the lake for our second outing in our new to us boat with a J115TLEOR on it..
Engine ran fine as usual.. We get to the first spot.. Drop trolling motor, raise outboard.. It can get quite shallow so I tend to raise the outboard as a precaution so I don't it anything with it..

We fish for a bit, raise trolling, lower engine, and cruise to next spot.. Repeat dropping trolling, raise engine..
We fish and do all that again on the the next spot.. etc...

Several hours later, and the last spot of the day... Drop trolling, raise engine... Fish...
We go to leave back to the ramp, and tilt isn't working... Wont' run off the switch on dash (remote doesn't have built in trim switch, so it's on the dash..) nor will it work by using the up/down buttons on the engine..
Wouldn't even attempt to go up or down.. No clicks, no humming of motor trying, no nothing...

At this point, I'm thinking I blew a fuse, but couldn't get the cowling off.. It tilts up pretty high and wasn't room to get to the front latch..
Engine battery is fine... Fish Finder works, bilge pump works, but trim doesn't. Same battery.. Didn't even try to start it obviously, since lower unit is tilted out of the water at this point..

Had I left it tilted down, I could have tried to start it (unless main inline fuse kills power to TNT and starter) and maybe used it.. But it was stuck tilted up.. Wasn't even going to try... LOL

So, our new to us trolling motor (On it's new dedicated battery, not main engine battery) got a workout and was great!! It trolled us about 30 minutes at max speed (for a 50# 12V) all the way back to the ramp..

Now I know I won't be trimming/tilting up so far I can't get the cowling off anymore... I've never had TNT before this engine..
Makes me wonder also if a limit switch is missing and/or not functioning properly/adjusted properly... Hmmm...

I'm going to go through and double check things... I'll make sure connections are shiny clean and could eat off of them....
Make sure switches are good etc... Did that before, but will check again..
If it's a fuse as I suspect, I'll try to pin down what made it blow a fuse in the first place..

Sorry for the whole novella here, and not asking repair advice.. (yet.. haha!) Just giving backstory to the real question which really is...
Do you trim your engine up or not when you're fishing?

This is a new area for me, so I'm looking to learn from you folks as to best practice here.. If what I was doing wasn't good..
Thanks for reading!!

 

[Redfred1]

In answer to your question tilt is down after launch; and up before before the boat leaves the water. Where we launch is at a County Park that feeds into a Bay via a canal.
I'm thinking the T/T motor runs directly off the battery and should be fused at the battery. Could be wrong; (but I'll find out on mine tomorrow morning). My Evinrude 100 didn't have a switch back on it; I installed one.

 

[dingbat]

I have no reason to raise the motor except when trailering.

Tilt and trim trim motors can and do go bad

 

[JimS123]

I always leave it in the down running position. I also always fish in deep water. If i were to drift in shallow water i would trim it up. If I were using a trolling motor (electric) the main would be down and centered.

 

[jbuote]

Well alrighty then... lol
Seems the consensus is to leave it down while on the water.. Only raise it if I KNOW I'm going to be shallow..

I was raising it as a precaution... Avg depth at the fishing spots is about 7 (no real reason to raise it there)'... Some of the cove areas get to around 3-4', with rocks and stumps though (might need raising, but maybe not depending on underwater structure.).. We do use the trolling motor all the time while fishing, and yes.. It's 12V electric... .

Redfred1 : I think you're right, and that would be the fuse I think may have blown.. I could hear the clicking of the primer when I activated it, so I think I could have started the engine... But being out of the water, I wasn't about to do that...
I think since the trim and starting circuits are different (I believe) something in the tilt circuit blew.. .

dingbat : Thanks! Yeah, I figured the motors can go bad... Maybe the fact I finally have an engine that has tilt, I may have over-used it.. We'll see when I get a chance to dive into it and see what really happened to it..
It's one of those prepare for the worst, hope for the best type things until I can get out there with the time to diagnose properly and find the issue..

JimS123 : Leaving it down and centered while using electric trolling motor makes some sense actually... Could provide stability and keep the stern from drifting "as much" due to wind.. There are no rivers or inlets etc.. So not much for currents on this lake (Reservoir really) save for the wakes of other boats pushing us when they speed on by... LOL

Well thanks for the insight!!
Once I get to the bottom of it, I'll get the tilt fixed and then I think I'll leave it down from now on, unless I find the conditions actually warrant raising it.
And then, I'll only raise it enough to clear anything, then put it back down...

Here's to hoping it's something as simple as a fuse... We'll see... haha!!
Thanks again guys!!
:

 

[Redfred1]

I checked mine this morning; it is fused at the battery. Others might be different.

 

[jbuote]

Thanks Redfred1

 

[Redfred1]

No problem!

 

[jbuote]

Hey folks!

Figured I'd close this out with a link to the "Repair" thread..
https://forums.iboats.com/forum/eng...ile-on-the-lake-record-of-diagnosis-and-fixes
It's more of a documentation for others that may experience this, but figured it'd be worth recording for anyone else that may experience it as well as a chance for others to chime in should I miss something..

Once again, thank you for your insight in this topic..
I do appreciate the advice here and will heed it..

Joe

 

[R DAVIS]

The motor has a pressure release screw which you can use to relieve T&T pressure and lower the motor manually.

My motor has an aftermarket T&T unit (CMC). It also has a pressure relief valve (a puny 1/4 in. hex head screw), but it has corroded to the point it's impossible to turn. I've been told it's the nature of the beast and a shortcoming on that unit. That makes it useless for its intended purpose in case the T&T unit eventually fails.

I boat in very shallow saltwater most of the time, but whenever I can, I leave my motor trimmed down to where the prop is submerged to the point where I can at least idle back to the dock in an emergency.