Went out for a little Sunday scouting session yesterday at one of the WMA's in Avoyelles Parish to see what is up for the season. So me, my buddy, and my dog took off yesterday morning and arrived at the launch around 8 o'clock. We got the boat in the water and started cruising the area to get ourselves familiar with the surroundings. I had never been to this particular WMA before and so everything was very new to me. We rode for about an hour before I ran the ole' Pro-Drive up about 15ft onto the bank. I though I saw a cut going back to another slough, but that was not the case . We jumped out and pushed my 1648 back into the "water" no problem but when I went to crank the motor all I got was "click, click, click". I checked connections and problem shot for the next 30 min before deciding that it was simply a dead battery. Now I know you are all probably thinking "what an Idiot!!", but I charged the battery just as always the night before and cranked the motor at least 3 times before I left and it never acted weak. Now I had me, my buddy, my dog, and my rig stranded in the swamp with no cell phone reception!! After contemplating my next move I decided we had no choice but to start walking. Now I dont know exactly how far we were from the launch but I do know that we had been riding for at least 30 min (on and off) in the same direction(away from the launch ) at a constant 20-25 mph. We walked for 5hrs though heavy vegitation, dragging the boat until we finally made it back to the ramp. The water was low so it never got past waist deep, but the vegitation and mud made it very VERY hard to stay on a stady pace. Thank the good lord that we are still young dumb and full of cum because I can promise you it was not a sunny walk in the park. When I got home last night I trashed the battery and bought me a brand new gel cell............ lessoned learned!!

Glad yall made it out alive! I dont wanna have to hear or one of our MMT members gone b/c of a simple dead battery!

yea well now that I look back on it there were several "red flags" I should have paid closer attention to. one being that there was noone else at the launch when we put in, the other being that my backup trolling motor battery was at the house. I normally keep it in storage for these types of instances but never thought in my wildest dreams that my battery would just all of a sudden die on me like that.

Are you positive it was the battery and not the charging system?

I pulled my boat up on the bank this weekend and left the key on for some reason . Walked around in the woods a little bit and came back to a dead battery.

Luckly i had a single cylinder engine with pull start and made it back to the camp .

might seem like being a little too cautious, but i have a device called a 'spot' that i bought for when i go backpacking. it can send a message via satellite if youre in trouble, with your gps coordinates. i always have it wit me if i know i wont have cell reception. which is kinda everywhere cuz i have sprint www.findmespot.com

good idea.. ive only had my MM for 3 or 4 months so this whole " going where others cant" thing is new to me. haha Its whole new game when you can drive your boat to the ends of the earth

Thats the bad thing about up here in NLA is mudmotors havent really caught on yet. If you get stuck or broke down WAY back there then all your friends with outboards can do is wait.

yeah thats the truth, i broke down last year in spanish lake out back of alligator bayou, i waited six hours before i could finally get in touch wit someone wit another mm to come get where i was

I had the same thing happen to me the solenoid went out and finally some how it worked and started and we made it back

At the current moment I'm running an outboard, with a Go-Devil purchase in my near future (found a 1648 2006 model with 10 hours on it for 2500!) , but I've ALWAYS got 2 batteries in the boat! ALWAYS!

from what i have seen mm are alot more up keep then the outboards we have im sure new these things are great but as they age they start to get more and more a pain

I had the exact same thing happen to me with my 32 when I took it out THE FIRST TIME. Turns out the solenoid was bad. I did the exact same thing....walk...a long long ways in some thick thick veg. BUT, I got home alright and lived to fight another day.

It's usually bad wiring that causes issues. That can also cause them to fail though. Bad connection can cause a voltage drop which will increase the amperage draw and burn the solenoid out.

If its working, its fine. If it starts clicking and chit (and wiring is good), replace it! Only thing that usually damages the starter is being completely submerged, or bad wiring...Electronics are electronics though, sometimes they will fail for no apparent reason.

im near baton rouge and would love to go riding.

I always carry a lawn tractor battery as back up. Cheap and light weight.

yea I ran the lake after about a week of straight rain in early june and it was a blast! lots of bananna spiders but nothing a nice sized stick cant handle haha. but yea id imagine its boooonnneeee dry now with the lack of rain weve been getting.