1973 thompson and 1973 evinrude 85 hp Were these sold as a stock item?

[robbingrover]

Hello,
Im new to iboats and i just bought a boat motor and trailer that are all same year and wondering if these were a bundle type ppackage. like on the showroom floor. I will keep a online journal of what happens on this journey. I have owned a couple boats before so stayed away from learned mistakes such as having to rebuild all transom and stringers. I know this boat now was always kept out of the elements and not allowed to fill with rain water which is why last boat was rotted. There is some work to do such as put new windshield on since a roof to the barn fell on it and need new bow lights so stay tuned and feel free to give any advice. I look forward to talking aboat our common interest of boating!!!

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: 1973 thompson and 1973 evinrude 85 hp Were these sold as a stock item?

Motors are normally set up by the original boat dealer and why the years often match and in your case the dealer used evenrude on the boats they sold.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1973 thompson and 1973 evinrude 85 hp Were these sold as a stock item?

When you pick the boat up next week, start a resto thread over here

Welcome to iboats, and the iboats dry dock

Best of luck w/ your project....

 

[Texasmark]

Re: 1973 thompson and 1973 evinrude 85 hp Were these sold as a stock item?

Hasn't been that many years that dealers started offering packages. Seems that a "time and motion" specialist realized that you could rig the boat a lot cheaper and easier at the factory where the boat is being built, rather than having the dealer do it. So the industry decided to do it.

Years ago you had an Evinrude or Johnson or Merc dealer and he also sold boats and trailers. I do remember one very large dealer in Dallas that sold Johnnys and Mercs. Most of the time there was one engine mfgr and one trailer mfgr and several boat brands on the lot. Down here the brands were OMC and Merc mostly with trailers being Dilly or Silverline. All kinds of boats sat on those trailers and were powered by those engines.

If you didn't have a problem with the engine brand, and sometimes you could specify between a couple of sources, I liked the idea of the factory rigging. They took a lot of the "set up" guess work out of the equation.

Mark