yowoodchuck

wow, this engine looks sweet. I will touch base with my neighbor with the "Johnson" 70 4 stroke that is not running.

Up here in the north Missouri woods, we prefer the term "Sky Chiggers"

now you are making me hungry!

Thanks for the info, but the tow would be brutal. If it were my boat, maybe...but if it were my boat, the problem would have never happened. Why do so many people have such an aversion to basic maintenance? Then again, why am I so fat?

At this point, I'll be lucky to get my gas money and seafoam money back. I have to admit that I got a boat with a four stroke on it that runs great and has been very little trouble--but is is run often, with only nonethanol gas, and overwintered in the shop only after being run to a stop with the gas line disconnected, freshwater only, and a Yamaha. OH, and who is Cody?

I was hoping wrench would be chopping at the bit to take it on as a job! I have enough jobs on my plate...pool pump rebuild, on demand water heater repair in our house and then there's the 97 year old mom....all I really want to do is float fish for smallies on spring fed rivers! I certainly appreciate gotmuddy and his exploded diagram and advice...looks like a 3 day job, if no factory parts are needed. As time moves forward, I'll bet that staying with 2-stroke engines overall would have caused less pollution if all weird parts replacement, driving, frustration and quicker end of life were factored in. I used to think wrench was such a curmudgeon, now I am agreeing with him. Perhaps I should ignore all calls from the owner of the beast. Thanks again

My other neighbor on our N. Missouri lake has a 21 ft pontoon boat on a lift. A year ago, he ran the boat two weekends...put it on the lift and did not come back for 8 months. The boat was up on the lift all winter. He has never been careful regarding gas, just throws 10% ethanol 87 octane in the huge tank. He came back in June, started the motor, did not run it, and shut it down. two months later, the battery was dead, recharged and then the motor will barely start and immediately stalls out when put in gear. I went over, hooked up auxiliary gas tank with good gas and a bit of seafoam...it started and I ran it for 2 hours...could not get it past 3500 rpms. I went back today, hoping to get lucky...it would cough, almost catch the die. I no nothing about these weird engines...I'm thinking-- Put a known good battery in, change any easy fuel filters, replace plugs, pump out a quart of fuel from the tank and let it sit overnight to see how much water shows up... Am I on the right track? What about power packs and the electrical side of this? I have a hard time doing anything as the stern has only about a 3 inch walkway to stand on. Any ideas appreciated.

Just to update this saga. We took the boat off the water to a dealer who sold mercs and claimed they could get parts and rebuild the carb and put new seals in the lower unit...and check back with them in a week or so. 10 weeks later...no carb rebuild kit available, no seals for lower unit available...the motor was only 12 years old. Total SOL on the POS! Then my friend who's wife loves fishing (be careful what you wish for)--demanded he get that boat back on the water ASAP. I found a Yamaha dealer about 2.5 hours away with a new 50...but by then they bought a 2023 Merc 50 that the dealer had and put it on the boat--all the control cables and throttle were already Merc, so it went on pretty quick. They then sold him a 17 pitch stainless prop...full throttle on the 21 foot pontoon boat now puts the engine at 4800 RPMs...so that prop will become the emergency spare ...I think aluminium prop of about 11 might be right. Makes me think I better get all basic parts that I can now and vacuum-bag them up and put them on the shelf in the beer fridge, so that in 5 years I can fix my outboard.

No problem at all, except now I'll have to deal with Mr, Fishinwrench.

Wrench, thanks for the offer, but I'll wait to see what Ranger 520 comes up with first. I really don't want to put any more money than needed in this rehab. I won't be making a dime, it is for a friend's boat. Ranger 520, let me know what you find. Thanks

I have 4---5.70-8 tires on 5 hole rims. They are free to any member. The rubber is great to good on them, they are different ages. Let me know, they need a home. soon

And then there's the time on the 11 point when we caught and kept-cleaned and ate a 22 1/2 inch pickerel and a 24 3/4 inch pickerel. Shortly after finishing up our delicious "pike" dinner and a few beers...I looked up to find that we had likely enjoyed two fish that mostly likely would have both been new state record pickerel on hook and line. Honestly, I'm not sure which was eaten first, I hope we got the order right.

Years ago, we fished an old railroad lake somewhere in North Missouri. The MDC fisheries biologist told us if we wanted yellow perch, this was the place to go. Well, having fished many a yellow perch run off the pier at Grand Haven MI as a kid, I got very excited. We loaded up the boat and trailered up to the lake early the next morning. We put in and tossed a few casts with 2 inch power grubs on 1/16th once jigs. Within 10 minutes, I boated and boxed up a 13.5" yeller perch. Woohooo! We fished and fished and fished maybe 4 more hours and did catch a few nice largemouth. The 5 min. warning was sounded, and on the "last cast", my friend caught an 11" yellow perch. We went back several times that year and never caught another, haven't been back since. Maybe the water just got too warm since the railroad days, or the bass really enjoyed baby yellow perch, or both.

I'm trying to clear out stuff in the "shop" area, so I might actually have room to "work" on projects. I have a decent Motorguide 12v bowmount with footpedal that all works--but do not have a mount for it. Does anybody have a mount they would sell for reasonable money--(I can't see throwing 220 at it for a new one)? Or does anyone want to buy this without the mount? It is 43lb thrust. Thanks

Just to update--we pulled the boat out of the water, all hoses and connections were sound. The fuel pump was good. Leakage was coming from carb overflow into tube that runs down into the mid cowling. Tried to remove carb and quickly decided it was beyond my paygrade (free). A new carb was indeed unavailable. I did try to blow air up the overflow line as a hail mary which failed. We put the boat back on the water and it still runs great, but I still can smell that bit of gas. In the spring we will tow the boat to a shop that assures me they can get the carb out and clean it up...they had a bunch of mercs on boats there so I believe they know what they are doing. (But then again, do people with a bunch of mercs know what they are doing?)