To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

[kkj]

To start my -58 10 hp Seahorse I have to apply a good pull. The engine has obviously compression. If it is necessary to give it 15 to 20 yanks every time, I have to start visit the gym. <br />But how is it possibly to start a Johnson V-50 without getting a heart attach. In the brochure from -58 the buyer could get this outboard without electric start. Could a normally built male manually start the big outboards from that time or did they have a someone from the Olympic wrestling team as a starter.

 

[JB]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

It is much more a matter of technique than strength, kkj.<br /><br />I am probably a bit slighter than "normally built" and have started many a V4 and even one V6.<br /><br />Successful technique employs the back and legs as well as arm and shoulder. Not very different than a successful left hook.

 

[kkj]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

Yes, yes, like a "successful left hook" <br />I should have known.....

 

[CATransplant]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

kkj,<br /><br />I have started a 1959 50hp V-4 with a rope. It was not a pleasant activity, as I remember. It can be done, however. My father though it would be good for his skinny 16-year-old son to learn the technique.<br /><br />It's somewhat easier to rope start my '58 35hp Big Twin, since it incorporates a compression release system. However, I do try to make sure I have a fully charged battery when I leave the dock.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

15-20 pulls on your 10hp is excessive. I don't consider my outboards fixed unless they start in 4 (cold and old gas, worst case anyway), and start warm in 1.<br /><br />If it doesn't start by the 5th pull, it's time to figure out what's wrong with it. More than once I've found this to be the fuel petcock as I'm sure others have.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

He may not have discovered the starting sweet spot for his 10 hp yet. Every manually-started gasoline engine I have ever owned had it's own peculiar starting drill when cold.<br /><br />My absolute favorite was my 1959 Velocette 500cc single motorcycle. If you did not take precisely the right series of steps to start it, you wouldn't go riding that day. If you followed the starting drill correctly, it started on the first kick every time.<br /><br />That's why, when someone asked to borrow it, I always said "Yes." Nobody but me and the guy I bought it from could start it successfully.<br /><br />Fortunately, most outboards aren't quite as finicky, but they can all have their own peculiarities.

 

[kkj]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

I haven't tried to start it yet. I have a little problem. However when this problem is fixed, I expect this motor to start immediately. Two-strokes always start if there are: <br />1. a decent spark, 2. Petrol fumes close to it.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

KKJ, It was fairly easy to pull start my '58 Johnson V-4 "Fat-Fifty". This motor has a recoil starter, and I would use both hands on the rope handle to give it a sharp snap of my hands directly back to my chest. It was all technique. I once tried to use a rope to pull start my Merc 1500 inline six. That was a horse of a different color. i could hardly even pull it over slowly.

 

[kkj]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

I just have this picture in my mind(is it from reality, is it from movies?) Someone is struggling with his (it's always a male) outboard, pulling and pulling the rope, but the motor is dead, the boat is slowly drifting away along the shore.......

 

[CATransplant]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

Oh, it's reality. It happens every day on a lake or ocean, probably hundreds of times. <br /><br />That's why sensible boaters have an alternative means of propulsion on board at all times. That could be a paddle, oars, an electric trolling motor, or another outboard.<br /><br />My current boat's too big for a paddle or oars, so I have both an electric trolling motor and a smaller outboard on hand. I have had to use both at one time or another.<br /><br />Earlier, when I had small boats, I've rowed back to the dock a few times. I've been towed, too, and have towed others.<br /><br />Anything with a piston engine will fail to run at some point. Maybe the plug fouled, or you ran out of fuel. On land, you can walk. On the water, you need another means of propulsion.

 

[kkj]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

"Anything with a piston engine will fail to run at some point"<br /><br />If we could get rid of that piston engine our problems would be over

 

[DJ]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

I remember, as a kid, starting a "fat fifty" 1958, with the rope and it "backfired/hiccupped". It almost threw me out of the boat.

 

[steelespike]

Re: To start a V-50 -58 manually and survive.

Not a fat 50 but I remember a friend of the family with a 16 ft Reveau race boat with a circa 46 big four doctored 50 hp.As I recall wind<br />the rope set spark set throttle set the compression release.Usually started by the second pull.compression release off, choke off<br /> stow the rope all as the boat lurched off at almost planing speed.What a thrill in the days when a fast boat might do 30 mph we would zoom along effortlessly at 50.I saw this boat run basically dead heat with a Reveau with a 100 hp Merc.