MrGiggles

Got to run this sweet girl today. 57 model, nice shape. Just needed some fresh gas. Water pump even worked. Wish I had a boat to put it on.

From what I have read UHD has more to do with side/down imaging sonar than Livescope. Screen resolution is the same between Plus and UHD units, the only difference is compatibility with the latest and greatest transducers, and as you said, there is only one Livescope unit, can't imagine it would make much, if any difference as far as that goes. My next graph will have Livescope capability, so maybe if it comes down in price a little in the next few years it will be attainable. That 93SV for 599.99 is tempting, don't know if I'll be able to hold onto that stimulus check for long.

It costs more than I paid for my boat. Gonna be a while before I (and others I'm sure) can afford it.

There is a rubber gasket but it appears to be higher up, between what Suzuki calls the engine holder and drive shaft housing. Am I correct in that it should not be bubbling out of the prop at idle, but instead venting through the smaller port just below the powerhead?

Got another one for you Wrench. Been running this motor and it's been pretty trouble free. It's terribly cranky and aggravating at low speed though, carb adjustments help but have not made a huge difference. Once you get past 1/4 throttle it will run like a champ. Today it finally clicked that it has always bubbled exhaust out of the prop while idling and not out of the port further up the leg below the powerhead, like every motor I've ever seen did. I suspect mud daubers have it plugged. I've tried running a wire up through there, but the passage is pretty small and too curved to get very far. Any suggestions?

That Crescent set is pretty good. It's a decent jack of all trades set. The wrenches are too short and fat for me, but they work. Check out Tekton. Great stuff. Harbor Freight is good and bad. Most of the Pittsburg Pro tools are pretty good. I really like the new Icon stuff, but it's pretty spendy. I've been upgrading my Pittsburg stuff to Icon as they break, they'll let you exchange if you pay the difference. Home Depot, Lowes, Pittsburg, and Craftsman are all pretty equal IMO. They're all imported, usually from Taiwan, although China is becoming more common. What bugs me the worst about most entry-level sets is that they skip sizes. If you do any work on domestic vehicles, 15 and 18mm are essential and often skipped. Tekton is good in that regard, their sets don't skip. I agree with Wrench, you'll get a lot better tools by buying them separately, without all the useless filler.

I will not wear tennis shoes in the woods. Fescue seeds, burrs, and other and crap will get inside through the tongue and stick to your socks.. Drives me nuts. Same with sawdust. I wear Wellington style pull-on leather work boots (basically cowboy boots without the pointy toes and tall heels) 90% of the time. They're waterproof, and with your pant legs over them nothing can get inside. I also do a lot of torching/welding and they are mostly fire/spark proof. For the most part they are not bad in the summer, good socks, really, really help in that regard. I'm not a fan of laces either, that's another good thing about Wellingtons.

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.