Northwest Fishing Reports

I bought a stratos from a dealer and was told that both the fish finders (front, back ) worked however only the front seems to work, also the radio, arirator and a few other things are not working. I tried to trace down a fuse of some sort however no luck, found a @@#!%$ amount of wires though, Question, Is there any one around spokane who has some experiance with checking this stuff out. I don't want to have to pay the repair shop rates but I'm will to pay someone if they wish to help me out. Thanks DAVE

Is this a brand new boat ??? That stuffs under warranty if it is, take it back.

no it's a used boat - bought at Tri State Marine in Nampa Idaho the assured me that the items worked - however they do not. no chance of taking it back there fir repair it would be a 400 mile trip.

dknodel wrote:no it's a used boat - bought at Tri State Marine in Nampa Idaho the assured me that the items worked - however they do not. no chance of taking it back there fir repair it would be a 400 mile trip.

Ouch, sounds like they "gotcha".

Tracing out electrical problems is the hardest of all things to do. You have only a few options, and one is the pull and tug method, and the other is finding someone with a toner that they can hook up you can then tone out the wires to find the problem.

Some ideas to try. Are the front and back fish finders the same? If they are, you can remove the non-working one and hook it to the power and transducer of the working model and make sure that the unit works. If it does, than you do indeed have a wire or fuse problem.

You can get a multimeter up town for a few bucks, put it on DC, set it for 50V, then test the leads on the switch panel to see if the other items are getting voltage.

If that much is not working, it sounds like you have a bad connection to your main buss panel. I can't believe that all of those fuses would be out at one time. The panel us usually located underneath the steering console.

As for experienced help, sorry, I am not even sure I trust the local Marine Dealers. When I just wired my boat up for 24V so I could use a larger front trolling motor, I looked for days for a 6 GA plug to handle the 6 GA wire. This is what MinnKota requires for their warranty on 24V systems, and this is the standard from the big boat manufactures. I was told, by every dealer in town, that I should just run 10 GA wire, they do it all the time, don't worry about the warranty, etc., etc., etc.

Sorry, I'd offer to help, but this fat old man still has more wiring to do to upgrade my boat, and I'm suffering from all the aches and pains from my own work.

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP GUYS I WILL TRY A FEW OF SUGGESTIONS. I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHAT I FIND OUT AGAIN THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!!! DAVE

Dave, get on the phone, put on your pissy voice, and be pissed. You might find the company willing to at least help a brother out.

If you really get desperate, shoot me a pm. I might be willing to have a look at it for quite a bit less than an $85/hr shop.

E

Cool I will call them in the morning, remind me some time and I will let you know the HORROR I wnt through with Tristate Marine, I will never buy from them again or send anyone there. I will let you know what I find out, THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!! - DAVE

well i called the boat dealer three times no call back they stated the boat was bought as is! i may need to take up a offer to have this checked out. dave

Shame the dealer won't stand behind their product. Id put some info out there in places like Craigslist not to shop there.

E

I plan to get the word out there!!!!