I think one of my Scotty's may be developing a problem. On occasion yesterday, when it hit the stop, the lever did not go all the way to stop, but began to freespool cable. I had to quickly hit the lever to stop the ball or it was going all the way to the floor.

Is this a maintenance issue anyone is familiar with?

I am e-mailing scotty

Uh-oh found this on their website

Downrigger weight immediately drops back down after the auto stop trips.
Please contact your nearest repair depot or Scotty at 1-800-214-0141 for help.

Scotty has lifetime warranty I took mine in for repairs and they fixed the brakes and tuned them up for a big fat cost of $0. Mine did what your saying about a yr ago. I tightened the screws inside and that fixed it for awhile ..........then I took it to the pros. (Auburn sports has a drop off) Good luck

Let me know what you find. I am having the same issue, although it is not on my side of the boat so it is not an emergency. . ..

3R now has Scotty repair as well. . .

Sportco in Fife Tom Polloc repairs them

What screws? Shall I open her up and have a look?

It is my side of the boat so this is a very serious issue.

Wait a minute, it's my boat. Both sides are mine

John's in everett is also a repair place.

Most likely a friction material issue. Probably wet brakes, possibly worn ones. As mentioned, it's a warranty issue so have 'em take care of it if you have the time. Maybe try to keep a spare set onboard nextime (you'd have to pay for the set but they're really inexpensive) and learn to replace them yourself and adjust there rigger. It's pretty painless, and will save you the downtime, especially during your fishing freetime. Nothing more annoying than having your DRs out for warranty during a killer salmon bite or during the free time to take advantage of it. Seems to happen often to those that get water up under the lid of the electrics where it will eventually dampens the friction pads. If you travel to salmon fish with DRs, (ie wp/nb/lp/cq,) it's nice to have a spare set of friction pads just incase. It takes less than half an hour to swap them and re-adjust the downrigger.

Myles at Outdoor Emporium in Seattle is also factory authourized for Scotty warranty repair, and does excellent work with a quick turnaround.

I had a simular problem. Open up the top and you will see 2 nuts. Tighten the nut on the bottom which is the brake and see if that helps.

Found the manual.
Sent an e-mail with high importance flag.
Will post reply ...

Here is a link to the diagram
http://www.scotty.com/scotty-support/documents/1100_2001.pdf

Looks relatively simple.
What do you think?
Cam Pad?

It was interesting reading the manual. Recommends no lubricants on cable. Guess I will quit hosing it down with WD-40. I sure like the new can with the attached straw.

Like to use the WD on my flasher.

Thanks much Jaydee and LL
Will check out both options.

Myles also does the riggers for Three Rivers and he is very good.

I had my buddy out on the boat last year for Coho, he decided the Scotty downrigger need a good hosing down with WD40, that included the friction pads. The rest of the trip was a little tricky, had to lower the ball with the hand crank and then hook a loop of rope over it as a stop. It did get better by the end of the day and the next trip it was about back to normal.

Maybe that is it with mine as well. I give mine (the cable) a good shot of WD after a couple of days in the salt. Have done it before, this is the first time it has acted up. .

Back to the top -
This problem mysteriously disappeared last year. I didn't do anything. Of course it just as mysteriously started again. I went back and read thru this thread and decided to just try and tighten up the two easily accesible nuts on the top. Seemed to do the trick!

On a side note, I hung up a ball off of something at AppleTree Point this afternoon. Whatever it was, it was heavy. Scotty couldn't pull it up. I was going to handline it up, but the cable was rubbing against the side of the boat and like I said it was heavy. I cut the cable. Better to loose your balls than your boat I suppose. First one I have lost on the SeaKitten.

Pretty common problem with scotty's that get alot of use...dealt with it all morning and still put a king in the box...

So I need to bring my own Scotty Wed?? Since the issue will be on my side of the boat. Maybe I'll just stack on your side.

Johns will fix that for free and for me as long as it took to shop a bit as if I needed to.

That was last year Sled . . . they seem to be working fine this year. . .. still on for Wed I take it??? Prob be running plugs if we do any good with them on Tuesday. . . .

I just took mine to Lori @ Outdoor emporium. She did a good job and turned them around quickly.