The world's most expensive boat.

Wife and I mixed up some gelcoat, we worked together to try and get the color right.  We did not.  It might be there with more white added back in though and that's just a matter of buying another thing of gelcoat.  Good enough for now and for sealing up some bare fiberglass

Then I needed something to help move my bigger boat, the Lonestar, around
So I started grinding and cutting on some bed frames.

Trip to the Hammer Store

Some bandsaw time.

And some fluxweld time
Got to pick up a length of 1.25" or so square tubing for the handle, but I should have a boat dolly soon enough.

Finally, it is raining and I have steering on the boat. I need to check underhood and make sure that it is arranged appropriately. I think I may have it one sheave off.
Front seat needs to be installed, rear seat needs tightened, need to get the controls installed again.
Outboard needs the carb rebuilt, I may or may not install electronic ignition in the outboard, I finally found the god damned starter so I need to wire that cause there's no way in berkeley that I'm going to rope over a 25HP motor, aaaaaand I think that's all I need to knock out. Then, provided the registration numbers ship soon (I got some neat ones that have this shadow'd look to them) I can get on the water.

Mr_Asa said:

I finally found the god damned starter so I need to wire that cause there's no way in berkeley that I'm going to rope over a 25HP motor

My dad's 30hp Johnson (basically the same motor as your Evinrude) wasn't that hard at all to pull start.  You do have to make sure the area is clear around you...one time I gave my sister's friend a black eye with my elbow, she was too close behind me when I pulled the rope.  

In reply to stuart in mn :

When I first started this hobby, about 5 years ago, I could have done it no problem.  Since then one of my shoulders that the military screwed up really went south and I doubt it would be happy with this plan of action.

The decals on the motor really set it off.  

BEAUTIFUL!!

You're getting close!

Rog

Tried to start the boat.  Met with failure upon failure upon failure.

YOU WILL START, BOAT!  I WILL NOT STOP!

Built a bench starter system.  Hooked it up to a battery and tested everything, for once my electrical wiring worked nicely.  So I hooked it up to the battery aaaaaand nothing.

Remove the battery, remove the inspection band and, welp.

I would think any decent rebuilt shop could rebuild that easy-peasy.

In reply to DWNSHFT :

There's a mom n pop style rebuild shop that somehow hasn't succumbed to a larger facillity near me.  I plan to swing by Monday after I do a little cleaning of everything and see what they can do.  Problem is that the parts for these haven't been made in years, so if it needs something I may be SOL and have to find a new one.  Would be an opportunity to upgrade to a 12V starter at least.

That looks like one of those combination starter/generator units, there was one on my dad's old garden tractor - when you turned the key it was a starter, after the engine was running it was a generator.  Unless there's a broken wire on the windings, bushes and bearings is usually all those things need to work again.  They seem to have a lot in common with an old Delco automotive generator; I'll bet the brushes from one of those would fit, or could be filed to fit.  A general cleanup of the rust and polishing the commutator may be all it needs.  The tail end uses a bushing that's probably a pretty universal part.  I can't tell if the front end close to the Bendix drive has a bearing or a bushing. but if it's a bearing there should be a part number on it that can be cross referenced to a modern part.  Hopefully your local shop will be able to sort it out.

Snagged a rough gem from eBay.  Cleaning and such will commence shortly.

 Doesn't appear to be passing water through the system so it looks like I'll have to take the lower unit off and maybe get another impeller.

But still, she lives!

I always liked the sound of those old two stroke motors.  Failed water pump impellers were a common problem.

Your evil laugh at the end of the video is pretty good, too.  

$7 to enter the park and use the boat ramp.

15 minutes on the water at minimal wake speed.

Two areas found that are leaking.

One 4-5 foot gator irritated at my interruption. 

Worth it.

Oh, also, I somehow wired the cable system so it steers backwards.

So, at the above the boat felt like it was running like crap so I set aside some time for a tuneup.  Pulled the recoil starter system, pulled the flywheel, changed both coils, both condensers, and both sets of points.  Also returned the runaway vacuum switch to working condition.  Get it buttoned up, prime the fuel system, the boat wouldn't run. 

Turns out the points weren't adjusted right and were constantly open.  You can adjust them through a hole in the top of the flywheel, so I tried it and got nowhere.  FInally pulled the flywheel and tried adjusting them.  Nothing.   Adjusted them two or three more times, pulling the flywheel each time.  Got frustrated and just installed a set of electronic points I had been saving.

Still wouldn't run right, the lower cylinder felt cold so I pulled the sparkplug wire and it ran the same.  The electronic points can sometimes require the polarity to be switched between ground and power, so once more I pulled the flywheel and swapped the wires.  Ran even worse, bottom cylinder still cold, no change when I pulled the plug wire.  

Thinking the worst, I do a compression check, both are in great condition (I keep getting reminded that whoever sold this motor for $100 was clueless.)  So I pull the flywheel one last time and swap the wires on the electronic points back and it runs as it did before.  Get frustrated and post on one of the old boat forums about it and get asked what kind of sparkplugs I installed in it.  Realize that I hadn't swapped them out so I change the plugs themselves.  Runs like a top.  Probably the only thing I needed to do.

Tell the wife to get everything ready as we're going to go out on the lake the next day.  We setup for a lake cruise and some bass fishing yesterday afternoon (92 degrees) and we get out there and offload the boat and tie it up.  Starts beautifully and idles smoothly while we get everything ready.  Put it in gear and pull away from the dock.  100 yards away and it sputters a couple of times and dies.

Try to get it running again, adjust everything I can, after floating aimlessly for 15 minutes or so until I figure that the retaining nuts for the idle screws seem overly loose, so they might be letting air past (see the hex heads close to the silencer? the high speed and low speed adjustment knobs go through them? those nuts.)  The way these old OMCs worked was that they used two fibrous washers under the retaining nut that the idle screw goes through, when the nut is tightened it provides a fairly nice seal.  Usually requires replacement every four or five seasons. 

I don't have any tools with me on the boat so I call it, get it running as well as I can and limp back to the dock.   Get the wife setup to fish on the end of the dock while I tinker, after almost killing myself in the sun, I call that and go up to the shade and collapse with three bottles of water.  Was a good time to call it, honestly.  As soon as we left the park the skies opened up.  Heavy enough rain that we would have had to bail the boat out if we were on the water.  Even driving home we ran into puddles that almost grabbed the wheel out of my hands.

So this morning I put the bucket under it again and get to tinkering.  Get the motor running great again.  Watch it for a while, try to tune it to run best, and it starts to sputter and cough on me.  Poke around more and find the fuel bulb is soft.  Look at the glass bowl attached to the carb and realize it is empty.  My brand new fuel pump is not working.

I'm starting to remember why I took so much time off of working on the old boats.