1977-24' Sylvan Pontoon Repower

[phipps]

In June '09 we did a resto on our 1977 Sylvan pontoon. Here's a link to my resto thread, unfortunately the pics are gone:
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...pair/1977-24-sylvan-pontoon-resto-324164.html

Ever since then we've been wanting to put a larger engine on the pontoon but funds just didn't allow it. My goal was to find a mid 80's 50-55HP Evinrude or Johnson outboard. Finally this past week one popped up on craiglist right around the corner from me so we picked it up.

The old engine:




New engine:




Engine removed from transom. As you can see it's seen better days!




Transom removed:

 

[phipps]

Re: 1977-24' Sylvan Pontoon Repower

I intended to use marine plywood for the new transom but the expense was too great to get a piece shipped to me. I ended up picking up a piece of 3/4" araucoply from my local Menards. The araucoply is 7 ply and uses waterproof glue. I plan on painting it before putting it on to seal out the water.

Test fitting the first piece I cut:




Test fit before gluing:




Gluing the layers together:




I'm going to let it set up for a couple days then I'll paint it.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1977-24' Sylvan Pontoon Repower

If you put a couple coats of epoxy on the transom then paint it, it will be substantially better protected.

Looks like a nice 'new' to you Evinrude.

 

[phipps]

Re: 1977-24' Sylvan Pontoon Repower

If you put a couple coats of epoxy on the transom then paint it, it will be substantially better protected.
Looks like a nice 'new' to you Evinrude.

Wal Mart had an epoxy designed for garage floors. Would that work or do I need to look for something specific? I'm not real familiar with epoxies.

The engine is very nice. It fired up on the first crank. I can't wait to get it on the boat and try it out!

 

[phipps]

Re: 1977-24' Sylvan Pontoon Repower

New transom installed on the boat:




Motor mounted:




I lucked out and all the old controls and wiring hooked right up. I fired it up and she starts right up but doesn't want to stay running. Looks like a carb clean/tune up is next.

 

[phipps]

Re: 1977-24' Sylvan Pontoon Repower

Mixed up a gallon of fuel with a can of seafoam in it and ran it through the motor. It's running a lot better. Not quite 100% yet but getting close. Still looking at pulling the carbs and rebuilding them.

I picked up a tach on ebay and got it installed today as well.



Hoping to take it to the lake tomorrow and see what she'll do!

 

[captain_ron]

Re: 1977-24' Sylvan Pontoon Repower

Woo Hoo Water Test best of luck !

 

[phipps]

Re: 1977-24' Sylvan Pontoon Repower

Well, when we took out for a water test she didn't do so well. Had nothing at top end so we brought her back home.

I ended up rebuilding both carbs, replaced all the fuel line, checked compression (120 on both cylinders) and checked the spark (bright blue across about 1/2" on both cylinders.)

We took it out tonight to water test it and what a difference!!! It idled a lot better and wouldn't die when I put it into gear. It ran great at WOT, but I'm only getting 3500-3800RPM. I know that is a prop issue.

Overall I am very happy! We got about 17mph out of it tonight. Hopefully with some fine tuning on the prop I can get it up to about 20.