MrGiggles

If I was going to do it, I'd extend the tongue as much as needed to get the transom within 4-6" of the rear trailer cross member. Will be easier on your bunks that way, and it will balance better on the trailer, with the weight being closer to the axle. The bunks need to be long enough to go on past the transom a little bit too, the floor does not have much rigidity. Make sure you use closed end pop rivets for anything below the water line. Regular ones leak like crazy, ask me how I know. You guys are making me want to build a jet jon.

I've always heard that rear tines are the Cadillac of tillers. Don't beat you up as bad. Can't go wrong with a Honda either. You don't see any Chinese Briggs copies, just sayin'.

I forget what sort of kill mechanism those have. Might be made into the throttle linkage, try moving the throttle lever to wide open. And yeah, you got it right with the spark plug.

Nope. Killswitch on, remove the spark plug and place it against the cylinder head (plug has to be touching metal). Pull the rope and see if it is sparking.

There's only one way to get good at it. Anytime you get a non-running engine, there's some basic troubleshooting that should be done first. It needs spark, fuel, and compression to run. First thing, shot of starting fluid. If it fires, lack of fuel. No fire? Check spark. No spark? Problem found. Good spark? Check compression and timing. You're probably on the right track by cleaning out the varnished gas, but if that engine does have points, there's a pretty good chance they will need a good polish before it'll make spark.

Just read your post again. If it will not fire on starting fluid then the carb is not the current problem. Did you check for spark?

I hate those carbs. They are a basic bowl type with a diaphragm pump on the side. There's 3 or 4 screws that hold the carb to the tank. The "bowl" is made inside of the fuel tank and is next to impossible to clean, you have a hole about the size of a dime to work through. The carb will have two straws on the bottom, one goes into the tank, the other goes down into the bowl, both with screens on the bottom. That looks old enough that it may have points under the flywheel that will need attention. Have fun. I'd toss that Breaks & Scatters in the scrap pile and bolt a Predator on there before spending too much time on it. Tillers are usually worth it, as long as the running gear is in good shape.

Yeah, I've fixed worse. I'd lay a piece of angle along the break for reinforcement. From what I've seen, the problem is not as much from rust as it is from metal fatigue around the weld. If it gets to be a recurring problem, a new deck assembly is probably $700 or so. Not cheap but mowers aren't either, and all the other wear parts add up fast.

So will I, with the boat in tow. Doing my part to socially distance.

For 4lb mono my go-tos are Vicious and Crappie Maxx. They're cheap as can be and about as good as anything IMO. I seldom use mono anymore though. The Crappie Maxx especially impressed me, for what it costs.

I don't remember it being any dirtier than by the dam.

I'm with you there. Haven't spent more than it's worth yet, but it's not far away. Slamming it seems to work well enough. I think a lot of the problem is dried up grease in the control box, needs some lube. I had it out a couple more times. It runs well on plane and idles okay. Still kind of cranky at low speeds though, and starts hard the first time. I'm still running premix with the oil injection, that may be part of it. I'm still figuring out the quirks of this motor, too. I think they all have a unique startup sequence. I went down to a 15P and gained 1mph in the top and a lot more holeshot. Can't trim up much without porpoising. May move the motor up a hole or two and see if that does anything.

Found a few for dinner. Slow was the name of the game. Free fall to the bottom, pull it up a crank at a time working through the brush, pause for a while. All of them whacked it on the pause. Water is cold, fish are deep. It's a little dirty but still fairly clear from Hawker up to the dam. As for walleye, tried for a little while, everyone else was too. Think I'd rather fish for them in the summer when nobody else is.

You're gonna need a bigger trailer, or at least some longer bunks. The bunks should always extend a couple inches past the transom on a tin boat, if not, the transom skin will eventually crack along the bottom, and it can pound a pretty wicked hook in the hull.

Took it out again last night. Ran much better this time, still have some tweaking to do on the low speed jets. It still grinds a little when you engage reverse. Almost feels like the detent is too strong, or the control box is dry and binding. It practically falls into forward gear, but it takes a good bit of force to push the linkage into reverse by hand, with the cable disconnected. I've played with the linkage adjustment but it hasn't helped. If I really slam the linkage back by hand, it will engage normally without grinding, but not with the control. Any thoughts there Wrench? Forward works just fine.

Main lake from Hartley to the dam, remarkably clear, 42-43*. Found a few crappie deep on brush but that was it. Tried for walleyes for a little while with no luck, seems like half the county was too. Lot of boats for a week day.

Yep. Any time I catch a cat, they slime up the line like crazy. I guess they roll like an alligator.

I guess. Suzuki just calls it a pilot jet, it goes in the carb from the top, into the same passage that holds the low speed needle. I found it laying in the lower cowl. Not sure when it made it's escape, but it seems to be running better now. Won't know for sure if I fixed anything until I can put it in the water.

Thanks Wrench. Update, pulled the top carb off and found that the idle jet is missing. That's a problem. 99% sure I didn't remove it, had to have been gone from the get go. The other two are there. These are the plugs, left is top.

Sea trials today. Didn't have any trouble shifting, still grinds a little in reverse, but I think a linkage adjustment will solve that. I think the pilot jets are still plugged. The pilot screws don't seem to do much of anything, it will idle and run wide open, but the off-idle transition is awful. Sometimes when you try to take off, it will putt-putt along for quite a while before it eventually catches and takes off. I'm also way over propped, that is not helping things. I do not have the air box on either, not sure how finicky these are about running without them.

1 part BLO, 1 part Spar Urethane, 1 part mineral spirits. There are variations to the recipe, but that's the gist of it.

I'd skip marine ply for the deck. It's good for transoms and structural parts, it has more plies with less voids, but is made out of the same stuff as exterior sheathing. I'd use ACX or BCX ply, coated with old timers formula. Epoxy works really well too, but is spendy. As long as you have enough support underneath, 5/8 would be more than strong enough for the floor, and would save you some weight.

Well that's that. Seems to be shifting and doing what it should, with no parts left over. Soon as my prop seals show up it'll be ready to try out.

There is hope. Had a machine shop weld up that housing and build up those worn dog's. Only problem, they fixed the wrong side of the clutch dog. Probably better off that way though, once both are done it should be better than new.

Was $99.99. I suspect it was a mistake, and I'd be surprised if BPS honors it. Lowes does that from time to time and they seldom actually sell you the item.