New 255 FSH Owner with a Couple of ???s

[FSH 210 Sport]

Knowing that, I think you should definitely buy the 252, not the 255 FSH Sport E.

That's one of many things I hate about my FSH Sport E — not having infinitely adjustable thrust for slow-speed trolling with the engines at low idle. Sure, I can tweak engine speed (via the No Wake function) instead of bucket gate position to adjust my forward velocity — to a certain extent. But my AR210's non-E manual low-speed control was so much better!

And yes, I can manage my forward speed with my trolling motor. (With my Motorguide networked to my Simrad MFDs, I can actually set my trolling speed in 0.1 knot increments.) But I don't always want to pull out the trolling motor to plane a couple lures behind me, especially if I'm in a high-traffic area, and I need the ability to make a quick maneuver now and then.

Thanks for confirming positively how the shifting / thrust works on the E drive. You are the first to answer that question for me in terms that I use, infinitely adjustable thrust.

Nice job with the pfd storage between the horizontal rod holders!

How do you like the Victron chargers? Question, how long are the DC leads? I bought three of the 25 A chargers and the leads were advertised at 5’ long but in reality are only 39” long. I’ll be installing them in the near future to replace my MinnKota 10A three bank charger.

 

[Roger Vrooman]

Yes, there's plenty of room up there to mount a stowaway light like the one you picked out. In the photo below, the hole that you see at the top of the T-Top cavity is where my stock light used to be attached. (The stainless-steel brackets and white HDPE bulkhead in the photo are pieces that I installed to strengthen the T-Top for a radar that I mounted on top. After I took this photo, I also attached an N2K network spine and my Vesper Cortex VHF+AIS radio to that bulkhead.)

View attachment 184523

BTW, I replaced my stock light with a fold-down LED one that clears my radar antenna.





If you plan to use that closet for a toilet and other things, you'll probably want to put your trolling motor batteries into a covered box, and mount your chargers/switches/breakers out of the way. I chose a Century Plastics battery box, which fits perfectly on the battery shelf:

Century Plastics: Heavy Duty Battery Box - Holds (4) 6 Volt Golf Cart Batteries

Designed to contain four 6-volt golf cart batteries and their corrosive battery fluids Century Plastic battery boxes are an environmentally safe.

allbatterysalesandservice.com

I machined chocks for the box out of HDPE and routed a battery strap between the chocks and through slots I cut in the box, so that the batteries are held down tightly by a cross-member that I fashioned out of HDPE and stainless hold-downs. (My boat takes a lot of pounding from running through 2+ ft waves in the Gulf, so I didn't want my batteries jumping around.) There are three 100 Ah LiFePO4 batteries inside the box.

Meanwhile, the switches/breakers/chargers are mounted on HDPE bulkheads that I installed on the walls of the closet tub, underneath the deck and out of the way; and all of the wires have drip loops — because that closet is not dry.

View attachment 184524View attachment 184525View attachment 184526View attachment 184527

My solution for PFD storage was to install trunk-nets between the under-gunwale rod holders. When I'm hardcore fishing with lots of rods, it's usually just me and one or two others on the boat, and we're all wearing our PFDs. When I've got a lot of people on board and they're not wearing their PFDs, then I usually don't need the under-gunwale rod holders because we're just plain-ol' boating, not fishing. The nets are easy to remove, so provisioning between lots of rods and lots of PFDs takes mere seconds.

I ordered over a dozen different trunk-nets on Amazon and returned most of them. The ones I kept are sold by Trunknets Inc. They are by far the best quality, and the KIA Soul version is sized right for the application:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013C3XWRO

View attachment 184528View attachment 184529

I've done so many mods to my boat, I really should just write them up in their own threads. One of these days I'll get around to it.

Holy Crap Batman!!! Fantastic work and ideas!!! Appreciate the pics and URLs, very helpful!!! vr Rogman

 

[Roger Vrooman]

@Roger Vrooman — I just noticed that you're in Navarre. If you want to see my boat and compare notes, maybe we should set aside a morning to hang out? @HangOutdoors will be in town next week too... and I know he's only 1 step away from buying his own 255 FSH. (1 step = convincing his wife.) Perhaps we could do a jetboaters meetup on Santa Rosa Sound.

There's also a 255 FSH Sport E (same year and color as mine) on a backyard lift in Lafitte Cove, a number of houses down from Peg Leg Pete's. I'm wondering if that owner is here on this forum too.

Oh wait... speaking of Peg Leg Pete's... Roger, did you and your friend pull up behind my 255 in your 242X a couple weeks ago, and we talked about how Yamaha wouldn't be delivering your 255 until next year????

Sounds good!!! Was not at Peg Leg Pete's a couple of weeks ago, prolly been a few months (need to get back)!!! I sold my 242X in 2020, and owned a couple of tritoons in between the Yamahas!!! Wife has friends coming in from out of town on Saturday, but Sunday, Wx permitting, we are going to do some fishing in the Gulf... Haven't decided if we are going out the Pensacola or Destin passes yet, but would be cool to have a JB's meetup!!! vr Rogman

 

[Roger Vrooman]

Took about 1 to 1.5 inches off of the hose, adjusted the fitting, and the angle of attach looks much better than what I had before... Don't know why Yamaha did not put a clamp on the cooler side, but will pickup a SS clamp at Lowes later today and install it, before I put the cover back in place... May also put a thin bead of silicone around the fitting from inside the cooler to ensure that there is no leakage around the fitting... vr Rogman

 

[MilesPrower]

Thanks for confirming positively how the shifting / thrust works on the E drive. You are the first to answer that question for me in terms that I use, infinitely adjustable thrust.

Seriously, low-speed handling on my "E", without manually adjustable gates, is nowhere near as precise as what I experienced on my AR.

Nice job with the pfd storage between the horizontal rod holders!

How do you like the Victron chargers?

Thanks @FSH 210 Sport !

I love the Victron chargers. I've owned over a dozen NOCO chargers over the years (I have a collection of motorcycles and scooters across multiple locations), and two of my NOCO chargers failed and literally boiled batteries that they were charging. I measured the voltage coming off one of the NOCOs, and it was significantly over-voltage. After I switched to LiFePO4 batteries for many of my toys, I decided to go with Victron because of their stellar reputation.

The Victron Blue Smart range is great. I love having Bluetooth connectivity for checking on the charge cycle, and firmware updates are dead simple to apply. I have 15A chargers for the 100 Ah batteries on my boat, and 5A chargers for the two 10 Ah batteries on my kayak.

Question, how long are the DC leads? I bought three of the 25 A chargers and the leads were advertised at 5’ long but in reality are only 39” long.

I measured the 5A and 15A IP65 Blue Smart chargers I keep in my garage. They have 59'' charge leads from charger to quick-disconnect. Total length is 76'' to battery terminals. Did you buy the IP65 or IP67 chargers?

Victron does sell 2 m extension cables. If you decide to go that route, you might want to go into Advanced Settings in the Victron app to tweak all the voltage thresholds to compensate for the voltage loss across the extension cable. Victron has a very informative PDF on their website about cable lengths, voltage drops, etc.

 

[MilesPrower]

Took about 1 to 1.5 inches off of the hose, adjusted the fitting, and the angle of attach looks much better than what I had before...

Looking good!

Don't know why Yamaha did not put a clamp on the cooler side, but will pickup a SS clamp at Lowes later today and install it, before I put the cover back in place...

Because they're Yamaha, and post-pandemic, their TN factory relies on a bunch of unskilled labor to build their boats? My mid-pandemic boat had so many defects that I spent months making it seaworthy while it was parked in my driveway.

I've found many random fasteners, pieces of fiberglass, and even a dropped screwdriver below deck. Come to think of it, I pulled out a hose clamp from the bilge too.

I wouldn't be surprised if the tech day-laborer working on your boat dropped the hose clamp into the bilge and was too lazy to fish it out, and instead, just closed up that area.

May also put a thin bead of silicone around the fitting from inside the cooler to ensure that there is no leakage around the fitting...

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the silicone... unless you put a cap/drain on the gunwale rod-holder in that closet. The rod-holder is angled perfectly so that it pours water into the trash can. And then when the trash can is full, it overflows into the rest of that closet.

I have these on all my gunwale rod-holders:

Amazon.com : White Water 53341NF-4PK Rod Holder Drain Cap, 2" ID (4 Pack) : Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com : White Water 53341NF-4PK Rod Holder Drain Cap, 2" ID (4 Pack) : Sports & Outdoors

smile.amazon.com

BTW, I removed the live-well drain holders from that bulkhead and replaced them with stainless wire shelves for my first-aid kit, flashlights, collapsible dog bowls, small towels, etc. (I keep the two live-well drains in their respective live wells.) To make room for the shelves, I removed and then re-installed two of the table-leg brackets in reverse orientation (using their original holes), so that the table-leg now snaps in just a couple of inches to the left of its original position.



Also, in my opinion, this closet is the best location for a 5 lb Halotron extinguisher for the engine fire-port. You can access the extinguisher quickly, without having to open a hatch adjacent to the engine compartment. (Halotron extinguishers only work when hatches are closed.) In addition, the closet door here is sized perfectly for a Simplehuman non-slip, stainless-steel paper towel holder:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YI653C/

 

[Jgonzalez114]

Thanks much!!!

1. My thoughts as well, Awesome!!!

2. Will try that, yesterday didn't want "more" water in the compartment, so didn't try... Looks like I have to remove a cover, behind the trash can/plano boxes to access the drain--looks like FUN, not!!!

3. Will do thanks much, remembering going through that thread about a month back!!!... I like the folding ones as well, but wanted the lowest/and cleanest profile I could get for the top... Hoping to make it a one hand operation versus needing two to unscrew, hold-up and re-tighten... ;-)

4. I ordered the T-Top storage, but it doesn't come with it stock... Wow, would've never guessed the battery charger cables would reach from the head compartment to the batteries on the port-side/stern... How in the world did you fish (no pun intended) the cables to the back???

5. I saw the icon for the throttles, but tried to tap it several times and it wouldn't engage... Will dig in the manual again, thanks much...

vr

Rogman

For the throttle sync, I learned quickly that it has to be in Neutral and then hit the button on the upper right corner of the Connext screen. The button will change and have one throttle in white for sync mode.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Seriously, low-speed handling on my "E", without manually adjustable gates, is nowhere near as precise as what I experienced on my AR.





Thanks @FSH 210 Sport !

I love the Victron chargers. I've owned over a dozen NOCO chargers over the years (I have a collection of motorcycles and scooters across multiple locations), and two of my NOCO chargers failed and literally boiled batteries that they were charging. I measured the voltage coming off one of the NOCOs, and it was significantly over-voltage. After I switched to LiFePO4 batteries for many of my toys, I decided to go with Victron because of their stellar reputation.

The Victron Blue Smart range is great. I love having Bluetooth connectivity for checking on the charge cycle, and firmware updates are dead simple to apply. I have 15A chargers for the 100 Ah batteries on my boat, and 5A chargers for the two 10 Ah batteries on my kayak.





I measured the 5A and 15A IP65 Blue Smart chargers I keep in my garage. They have 59'' charge leads from charger to quick-disconnect. Total length is 76'' to battery terminals. Did you buy the IP65 or IP67 chargers?

Victron does sell 2 m extension cables. If you decide to go that route, you might want to go into Advanced Settings in the Victron app to tweak all the voltage thresholds to compensate for the voltage loss across the extension cable. Victron has a very informative PDF on their website about cable lengths, voltage drops, etc.

I got the IP 67 chargers as they are either 10 or 25A chargers. I was told by victron corporate that I could not extend the dc leads, just the AC supply lead via an extension cord. I’m going to install sort of like you did down next the batteries. A bit of a pita but it will open up the shelf in the head compartment on the right side for tackle storage ..

thanks for the awesome reply!

 

[MilesPrower]

Sounds good!!! Was not at Peg Leg Pete's a couple of weeks ago, prolly been a few months (need to get back)!!! I sold my 242X in 2020, and owned a couple of tritoons in between the Yamahas!!! Wife has friends coming in from out of town on Saturday, but Sunday, Wx permitting, we are going to do some fishing in the Gulf... Haven't decided if we are going out the Pensacola or Destin passes yet, but would be cool to have a JB's meetup!!! vr Rogman

Seriously, a fellow boater in a green 242X (prolly a 2016, based on its vinyl graphics) pulled up behind me, and said he'd never seen a 255 FSH Sport E in real life, but had had one on order forever. There happened to be two 255 FSHs that day in spitting distance, so he won the jackpot!

My fam and I will surely be boating somewhere this weekend, whether it's in the Sound or the Gulf. If you and @HangOutdoors want to get together during the weekend or on a weekday next week, give me a holler. I'll send you DMs w/ my number.

 

[HangOutdoors]

@MilesPrower Sounds good. My Boat will be slipped at Adventure Marina for the week. Figured this is better than towing it around. Looked and didin' find a better alternative. Didn't want to dunk it at Navarre and drive circa 25 miles to Crab Island and into Destion. Also didn't want to get stuck in traffic towing it all the time.

Not sure what the family's plans are, of course they are the boss. If they plan on sleeping in late, I plan on fishing and going out in the early morning. I know we will be snorkeling at Navarre Underwater Sanctuary. Also looking for other places to snorkel. We will be at Crab Island as well. We will be there Sometime on Sunday and I will put the boat in the slip then. Taking two days to make the drive so the kids don't get too edgy. We are there for the week and Leaving on the 14th for home.

 

[MilesPrower]

I was told by victron corporate that I could not extend the dc leads [...]

Funny, because they sell the friggin' DC lead extension.

I suppose the DC extensions are probably fine for low-current chargers, but most likely, Victron doesn't want end-users to utilize any additional wire with 25A chargers, because the advanced charging parameters will need tweaking.

If you don't want to move things around, you could just use your own low-resistance wire to the batteries (like 6 AWG for 3% loss at 10 ft for 25 A, 12 V — or even size up to 4 AWG), then measure the voltage drop at the batteries while you're charging, and adjust the Blue Smart's voltage thresholds accordingly. I do a lot of battery/ESC tinkering with my radio-control stuff, and I use a Turnigy Watt Meter to measure the basics when it's more convenient than pulling out my Fluke meters/scopes:

Turnigy 180A Watt Meter and Power Analyzer

There is no better or easier way for you to measure your power system than by using a watt meter. This handy little device takes the guess work out of it by reliably and accurately measuring watts amps and volts.

hobbyking.com

But honestly, I'm all for going the simple route and putting the chargers next to their batteries. And yeah, all those warnings about lead-acid vapors damaging chargers — I figure the charger circuits are all fully epoxied, so the real damage will be corrosion to the connectors... and the connectors are already subject to some bit of saltwater exposure anyway. I could be totally wrong in this regard, but I haven't had any of my Victron, ProMariner, Guest, and Dual Pro marine chargers fail even when they've been mounted inside battery compartments.

 

[MilesPrower]

@MilesPrower Sounds good. My Boat will be slipped at Adventure Marina for the week. Figured this is better than towing it around. Looked and didin' find a better alternative. Didn't want to dunk it at Navarre and drive circa 25 miles to Crab Island and into Destion. Also didn't want to get stuck in traffic towing it all the time.

Not sure what the family's plans are, of course they are the boss. If they plan on sleeping in late, I plan on fishing and going out in the early morning. I know we will be snorkeling at Navarre Underwater Sanctuary. Also looking for other places to snorkel. We will be at Crab Island as well. We will be there Sometime on Sunday and I will put the boat in the slip then. Taking two days to make the drive so the kids don't get too edgy. We are there for the week and Leaving on the 14th for home.

Makes sense. And yes, same here — the fam is the boss!

 

[HangOutdoors]

Makes sense. And yes, same here — the fam is the boss!

I will dm you my contact info.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Funny, because they sell the friggin' DC lead extension.

I suppose the DC extensions are probably fine for low-current chargers, but most likely, Victron doesn't want end-users to utilize any additional wire with 25A chargers, because the advanced charging parameters will need tweaking.

If you don't want to move things around, you could just use your own low-resistance wire to the batteries (like 6 AWG for 3% loss at 10 ft for 25 A, 12 V — or even size up to 4 AWG), then measure the voltage drop at the batteries while you're charging, and adjust the Blue Smart's voltage thresholds accordingly. I do a lot of battery/ESC tinkering with my radio-control stuff, and I use a Turnigy Watt Meter to measure the basics when it's more convenient than pulling out my Fluke meters/scopes:

Turnigy 180A Watt Meter and Power Analyzer

There is no better or easier way for you to measure your power system than by using a watt meter. This handy little device takes the guess work out of it by reliably and accurately measuring watts amps and volts.

hobbyking.com

But honestly, I'm all for going the simple route and putting the chargers next to their batteries. And yeah, all those warnings about lead-acid vapors damaging chargers — I figure the charger circuits are all fully epoxied, so the real damage will be corrosion to the connectors... and the connectors are already subject to some bit of saltwater exposure anyway. I could be totally wrong in this regard, but I haven't had any of my Victron, ProMariner, Guest, and Dual Pro marine chargers fail even when they've been mounted inside battery compartments.

Thanks for the informative post! I asked both Victron corporate in Norway? about extending the dc cables as well as Battle Born where I bought them from, and both said do not extend the dc cables. The dc cables do not have fuse links in them either, which the instructions say they do.. so obviously a design change without looping in the communications group.

That is just one of the positives of having LiFePO batteries.. no acid. I bought the chargers from BB batteries, the csr I talked with told me to call him back at his extension when it came time to put them in service and he would walk me through the set up in the menu. I figure I will set each one up individually on the bench then install all three and they will be ready to go. I‘ll be happy with chargers that will charge those batteries up from an 80% discharge in 4-6 hours…

 

[JASmith]

Knowing that, I think you should definitely buy the 252, not the 255 FSH Sport E.

That's one of many things I hate about my FSH Sport E — not having infinitely adjustable thrust for slow-speed trolling with the engines at low idle. Sure, I can tweak engine speed (via the No Wake function) instead of bucket gate position to adjust my forward velocity — to a certain extent. But my AR210's non-E manual low-speed control was so much better!

And yes, I can manage my forward speed with my trolling motor. (With my Motorguide networked to my Simrad MFDs, I can actually set my trolling speed in 0.1 knot increments.) But I don't always want to pull out the trolling motor to plane a couple lures behind me, especially if I'm in a high-traffic area, and I need the ability to make a quick maneuver now and then.

Would Ride Steady or Perfect Pass solve that issue with the E models perhaps?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Would Ride Steady or Perfect Pass solve that issue with the E models perhaps?

I do not believe so…. It is a function of reverse gate / bucket position and not engine speed…

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Funny, because they sell the friggin' DC lead extension.

I suppose the DC extensions are probably fine for low-current chargers, but most likely, Victron doesn't want end-users to utilize any additional wire with 25A chargers, because the advanced charging parameters will need tweaking.

If you don't want to move things around, you could just use your own low-resistance wire to the batteries (like 6 AWG for 3% loss at 10 ft for 25 A, 12 V — or even size up to 4 AWG), then measure the voltage drop at the batteries while you're charging, and adjust the Blue Smart's voltage thresholds accordingly. I do a lot of battery/ESC tinkering with my radio-control stuff, and I use a Turnigy Watt Meter to measure the basics when it's more convenient than pulling out my Fluke meters/scopes:

Turnigy 180A Watt Meter and Power Analyzer

There is no better or easier way for you to measure your power system than by using a watt meter. This handy little device takes the guess work out of it by reliably and accurately measuring watts amps and volts.

hobbyking.com

But honestly, I'm all for going the simple route and putting the chargers next to their batteries. And yeah, all those warnings about lead-acid vapors damaging chargers — I figure the charger circuits are all fully epoxied, so the real damage will be corrosion to the connectors... and the connectors are already subject to some bit of saltwater exposure anyway. I could be totally wrong in this regard, but I haven't had any of my Victron, ProMariner, Guest, and Dual Pro marine chargers fail even when they've been mounted inside battery compartments.

Just went and checked their web site again… the only chargers that have extensions available are the IP65 chargers… the good news is that both the 65 & 67 chargers are ignition protected…

After re reading your post it sounds like these chargers are highly configurable… I may have to look into the addition of a large conductor and adjusting the charge voltage… but, I like the idea of mounting them in those spaces that are basically unused but will still have plenty of air flow.

Question: Can you gain access to the charger via blue tooth with just the batteries hooked up, or do they need 120VAC ?

 

[MilesPrower]

Question: Can you gain access to the charger via blue tooth with just the batteries hooked up, or do they need 120VAC ?

On my IP65 chargers, only when plugged into AC.

Does the Victron BMV range run directly off the batteries?

 

[MilesPrower]

Pasting this message here (from a DM with Roger) so that I can refer back to it when I finally get off my 50RRY 455 and make my own modification threads. Meanwhile, someone else here might find this info helpful.

@MilesPrower Where do you drill and install your Fell MOB+ unit?

I replaced the totally useless 1/8'' audio input with the MOB+.

Some important points to consider:

You want the MOB+ in your field of view as well as hearing, because it lights up and makes sounds in various ways to alert you. For example, if you give a transponder to your children or attach one to your dog's collar, you'll want to know if they fall overboard. (Individual transponders can be set up to stop the engine or just set off the alarm.)

There's an antenna sticking out the back of the MOB+, so you'll need clearance for that.

When you take your boat in for service, you can detach the wire harness and replace it with a terminator "plug" that bypasses the MOB+. Therefore, the service tech won't be confused by the transponder... or worse, lose the transponder. With this in mind, it's best to mount the MOB+ where you can easily access its backside (from inside the helm closet) to pull the wire harness and attach the bypass terminator.

FELL Marine recommends powering the MOB+ off your house battery, not your start battery. They also recommend putting a switch or relay on the power lead to the MOB+, so that when you're anchored or beached somewhere, and you're running your stereo on the house battery, you can cut power to the MOB+ to prevent running down your transponder battery as you walk in/out of the safety zone.

That little red pushbutton cuts the power to the MOB+. I purchased a bunch of them and used them for various projects on my kayak and boat. They're definitely water/rinse-proof:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B083QMF2J1

Speaking of rinsing, when you are rinsing your motors, make absolutely sure that you place your transponder next to the MOB+... because if you happen to walk out of the safety zone, you'll trigger the cutoff — very bad for the motors. Doh! Don't ask me how I know. I wear my transponder around my neck with the floating lanyard. When I get back to my dock, I loop the lanyard around my T-Top vertical so that the transponder stays put while I rinse the motors.

On our twin-engine boats, you do not need the multi-engine harness for the MOB+. Our ECOS wiring is exactly like a single-engine setup, so just purchase the MOB+ Basepack and your choice of transponder holder (watchband or lanyard). Do not purchase the multi-engine harness.

 

[MilesPrower]

And yes, I know my boat is dirty as sin. But it's more of a "fishing boat" than a "family boat." (I have another family boat on order.)

I keep my boat on a lift above the water, so during the high-humidity summers, it takes on a "patina" of mildew, and I refuse to use soap or degreaser when I rinse the boat, because I have a ton of wildlife (my wife calls them my "pets") at my dock.