new to boating, new to the site; need advice

[ol_school]

hello everyone,

im new to this site but ive got a lot of useful information from it recently so i decided to join.

I bought my first boat at the begining of July. its a 1975 St Maurice Runabout and it came with a 1962 Johnson 40 HP super seahorse and a trailer in prettty good condition. I was told all the motor needed was a new flywheel but i took it to a shop and it turned out it needed a lot of other little parts and these guys told me its not worth it. Then they offered me $20 for it and said they had another 40 HP evinrude in the shop that they would give me for 500 bucks in running condition plus 2.5 hours labour (another $275). A day short of 4 weeks later,a fter they took their sweet time "waiting for parts" etc, it was finallyt done! Took it to a lake near by (Scugog for the ones familiar with the area) and i took it for a spin. The guy at the marina was impressed with how quickly it started. Caught a 7lb small mouth that evening. Best day. Long story short, the nextday took it 4 hours north and the carb started leaking fuel out the front. The same issue the guy at the shop had to get help with. Took it back that week and he fixed it that day (put new float and valve in from carb rebuild kit- something that i thought couldve and shouldve been done in the first place). All was good until i took it out the next weekend (this past weekend) and after 20 minutes the motor started reving and going no where when i throttled anything past half way. As if it was just coming out of gear and popping into neutral. Anyways i got a "new" prop off a johnson super sea horse probably early 60's and now the motor just doesnt run right.

I wonder if there is anything i can do to get this motor feelign like a 40 hp or is it just too old and this is how its going to run. ive been in a boat with a 25hp and it feels faster than mine. I kinda dont want to take it back to the same place. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

 

[phillnjack2]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

Hi ol school, welcome to the forum and to boating in general.

now are you using the original 40hp motor you got with the boat ? or did you buy another from the rip off merchant you
took your engine to in the first instance?

Nice hull shape boat by the way, and 40hp on that boat should be pretty quick. (30mph plus)

dont try comparing newer motors unless on the very same boat etc, and then you have to realise a later motor has
horsepower rated differently.

anyway, the engine you are running just needs a good tune up, and im sure many people on this forum will come in and
help you out.
many specialise with the older motors and are realy great with advice on this type of motor.
Dont be told its no good and not worth doing, ive come across a few old engines that perfom very nice.
so just put on here the model number of your engine and you could get good results and lots of knowledge from those who
realy know their stuff.


phill

 

[ol_school]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

O

Hi ol school, welcome to the forum and to boating in general.

now are you using the original 40hp motor you got with the boat ? or did you buy another from the rip off merchant you
took your engine to in the first instance?

Nice hull shape boat by the way, and 40hp on that boat should be pretty quick. (30mph plus)

dont try comparing newer motors unless on the very same boat etc, and then you have to realise a later motor has
horsepower rated differently.

anyway, the engine you are running just needs a good tune up, and im sure many people on this forum will come in and
help you out.
many specialise with the older motors and are realy great with advice on this type of motor.
Dont be told its no good and not worth doing, ive come across a few old engines that k very nice.
so just put on here the model number of your engine and you could get good results and lots of knowledge from those who
realy know their stuff.


phill

Hey thanks for the welcome Phill,

Now this motor is the new motor i purchased off the crooks. So looking at the brighter sidem i do have two 40 hp motors. Considering they didnt even replace the parts in the carb, im going to assume they did the minimum to get this boat running including skipping out on a tune up. It really feels like im going 10 mph.

This site is incredibly knowledgeable so i joined to get help make my first boat a good memory and not a regret!

Anyways its an evinrude 40 hp. The serial number is C74841 and the model is 40052A. Can someone please give me some tips and/or advice on getting this thing in top notch running condition.

Thanks in advance

Anton

 

[Daviet]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

By the model number it is a 1970.
There are a lot of those engines giving great service to their owners.
Make sure the water pump is working correctly, lower unit oil has no water in it, fresh gas mixed 50:1.
Once tuned up properly, the ignition system is usaully trouble free, except for routine maintaince.
Carb will probably have to be overhauled every once and awhile, not a mojor job.

 

[ol_school]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

By the model number it is a 1970.
There are a lot of those engines giving great service to their owners.
Make sure the water pump is working correctly, lower unit oil has no water in it, fresh gas mixed 50:1.
Once tuned up properly, the ignition system is usaully trouble free, except for routine maintaince.
Carb will probably have to be overhauled every once and awhile, not a mojor job.

Now im really new to working on small engines let alone boat motors. How would i make sure the water pump is working correctly? Also how do i ensure thereis no water in the lower unit? Also i was jjust trying to find a thread on tuning; how would i do that?

Also i read a lot about a manual, where could i get one of those?

 

[Daviet]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

Keep an eye on the exhaust port on the back of the exhaust housing, there should be a good stream of water coming out.
There is a drain screw (#25) on the bottom of the lower unit, take that screw out and see if any water comes out. You also want to look out for a milky colored oil, that means it has a small amount of water in it and you should chenge the oil. To change the oil, remove the lower screw and a little further up the housing is another screw, they are actually the same size so you can intermix them and be OK. Remove both screws and let the lower unit drain. Replace the seal washers on both screws and fill the lower unit from the BOTTOM screw until it comes out of the top screw, Install the top screw first, it will form sort of a vacume in the gearcase and prevent you from loosing oil when you install the bottom screw. DO NOT TOUCH THE PHILLIPS SCREW #30.
:: iShopMarine.com ::
Take a look here.
http://forums.iboats.com/johnson-evinrude-outboards/changing-lower-unit-oil-305141.html#post2049494
For tuning your engine, read this, it will ansewer a lot of questions.
http://forums.iboats.com/engine-fre...-change-coils-set-points-old-omcs-294072.html
For a manual, get a factory manual, check E-bay or google Ken Cook,m he has factory reprints. Make sure and get theproper manual for your engine, use the model number to get the correct manual.

 

[ol_school]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

Keep an eye on the exhaust port on the back of the exhaust housing, there should be a good stream of water coming out.
There is a drain screw (#25) on the bottom of the lower unit, take that screw out and see if any water comes out. You also want to look out for a milky colored oil, that means it has a small amount of water in it and you should chenge the oil. To change the oil, remove the lower screw and a little further up the housing is another screw, they are actually the same size so you can intermix them and be OK. Remove both screws and let the lower unit drain. Replace the seal washers on both screws and fill the lower unit from the BOTTOM screw until it comes out of the top screw, Install the top screw first, it will form sort of a vacume in the gearcase and prevent you from loosing oil when you install the bottom screw. DO NOT TOUCH THE PHILLIPS SCREW #30.
:: iShopMarine.com ::
Take a look here.
http://forums.iboats.com/johnson-evinrude-outboards/changing-lower-unit-oil-305141.html#post2049494
For tuning your engine, read this, it will ansewer a lot of questions.
http://forums.iboats.com/engine-fre...-change-coils-set-points-old-omcs-294072.html
For a manual, get a factory manual, check E-bay or google Ken Cook,m he has factory reprints. Make sure and get theproper manual for your engine, use the model number to get the correct manual.

Thanks u so much for all that information! And thanks for your time. I will start reading and getting this engine up to par
Thanks again! Really appreciate it

 

[Daviet]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

You're welcome.
If you have other questions or have a problem you can't figure out, come back and ask. There are a lot of people here with a vast amount of experience are will be happy to help you out.

 

[Mgoul346]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

Im in the same boat i have a 1976 johnson 70 hp that will not run. I replaced a couple of bad fuel lines a few days ago and then it was running. Now it turns over sounds like if wants to start then dies. I had a friend look at the spark plugs and he noticed alot of fuel on the plugs theres also a fuel leak coming from the exhaust. Please help want to g

 

[TraskRiver]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

Mgoul,

To get the proper help for you issue you need to start your own thread per forum rules and not use this one. That will get you the help you need fastest. Good luck

 

[ol_school]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

ok so i went back to the guys at the boat shop where i purchased my motor. I showed them a video i took of it running and they said it sounded like the throttle needs adjusting doesnt sound liek its running fully judging by how the motor sounded running at "full speed". He also agreed to come in my boat and tune the carb and do other "maual" adjustments to get it running properly. They also said the pitch of the propeller im using needs to be higher like a 13 or something. what is the pitch of the prop exactly?

 

[phillnjack2]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

lets say for arguments sake your engine was revving 5,000rpm and doing 10mph with a 10 inch pitch prop.
if your engine was also able to keep the same revs with a 15 inch prop it would in theory be half again as fast !!!!
the prop pitch is how many inches it would travel forward if it were turned in something like cheese as a medium.
for every revolution of the prop it would travel 13 inches forward if the prop was 13 pitch.
but with boats its in water so a bit of slip occurs.
lets use a 12 pitch for simplicity.
engine revs maybe 5,000 but the gearbox will have a ratio of say 2-1, this means the prop is actualy turning at 2500 rpm
so now we have 2500 rpms, that now means we have 2500 x 12 inches to give us a theoretical maximum speed.
so we are actualy getting 2500 feet per minute or 833 yards per minute, we do a bit of math and that turns into 30.1 mph
but dont forget it will never reach this speed due to slippage factors.
also if it did reach this speedwith you in the boat,it would be slower when 4 people are in the boat and would make the engine lug
so you would then have to use a smaller pitch to keep the revs up !!!!!!!!! yes it all a bit complex when your new to this.
But the propeller is your main gear on the boat, each size gives a different sort of ratio.
you have to experiment a bit to find the right one for your average use of the boat.
finding someone with a very similar size boat and same typeo f engine can be usefull in seeing what size they use and
what performance they get.
each boat & engine and set up is a bit different, but youl soon get the hang of it all.

just get that engine running good and then see about what else you can do with it.
get the crooks to swap a prop over for free, they sold you the engine so they can do a swap for free !!!!!!!!


phill

 

[ol_school]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

Hello all.
Hope everyone is enjoying their rainy Saturday afternoon (depending where you're from).

Just thought id update my situation while i was here browsing the threads looking for my next step but maybe some of you can help.

Long story short (because the whole situation depresses me).

I took the boat out again and had to row back about 2 kilometers with a buddy. Wasnt fun. I took it straight back to the guys i got the motor from and they got it running nice again. Turns out the valve on the carb came loose and i guess that made it stop working.
Later that week i managed to get one of the guys there to take the bout out on the water and do a "load test" to see how it wouldnt plain out because of the apparent lack of power. He agreed it ran like crap for lack of a better word.

They came to the conclusion that the guy that did the new floor before i bought the boat did it over top the old one and chances are the foam and stringers are all rotted under the old floor thus making the boat sit a lot lower in the water . (The drain holes in the back of the transom sit about half an inch above the water so water gets in there easily and drains out as the boat sways with the waves). Now to solve the problem of lack of power, one would just throw a bigger motor on but the boat already sits so low because of the alleged "extra 600 lbs AT LEAST of extra weight) sitting in the floor, a bigger motor would just sink the boat.

Now i come to y'all for advice on what to do and if this is a logical diagnosis of my boating woes. Should i pay for the 16 foot aluminum starcraft they are trying to sell me with a trolling motor and 65hp late 70's early 80's mercury on it? (I was told it runs fantastic...)

OR ( i know this has been asked many times) should i just rip that floor out of the boat i have already and i guess restore it?

any feedback will be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Anton

 

[57 7.5]

Re: new to boating, new to the site; need advice

First thing is I wouldn't buy anything from those guys. Second if you like the boat you have and are willing to put the time and money in it, then I would go for it. I bought a 1985 Astroglass with a 79 75 hp Chrysler and I've had my problems with the motor and slowly getting them fixed and I'm sure i'll end up next winter pulling it apart and replacing the stringers and foam cause I really like the boat. So good luck with which way you go. Happy boating!