Put in at Aunts Creek on Tuesday 9/15

[Steve McBasser]

My buddy Andy and I have been working on an old '72 Johnson 65hp for the last several months. His brother found it for $35 in an estate sale or something and the guy said it had locked up 40 years ago. We tore into it an found that the bottom piston had seized to the cylinder wall and the rod had windowed the block. We ordered a used short block on Ebay and swapped all the externals off of the old one and mounted it on the midsection. After several hours of tweaking and tuning we took it to Aunts Creek and actually got it to run down the lake several times. We made about 20 casts and caught one fish apiece. He caught a nice brownie and I caught a little chunky Kentucky. Talked to a couple of guys at the ramp and they said they had killed 'em all day on square bills but they were all dinks......(click on the video link to watch it run)

Andy's_65_running.mp4

[Quillback]

Nice old boat - looks like it's still in great shape.

[Bill Babler]

They made that rig in I think at least 6 colors and color coded the engine.  They made it from 71 thru 76.  It was just about the best looking rig on the water at that time.  I'm going way back now to tell you, most of them came with either the Johnson crooked shaft troll, or if you really wanted to spend the big bucks you could get a Silvertroll.

Nice looking rig, thanks so much for showing it to us. 

I never had one but wanted one everyday I passed the dealership.  There was a dealer on the 76 strip in Branson that had every color setting out.  It was up across from the old walmart, when I was in college.  AH  40 yrs. ago.

 

[Sore Thumbs]

Nice job guys.

[Steve McBasser]

There is a really great story behind that old boat. Andy bought it about 15 years ago. He had it for just a short time when he and his 2 brothers took it up to Stockton Lake. You know how fierce Stockton can get sometimes. It had a 115hp Johnson on it at the time and it ran very well. Anyway, long story short, while coming across the big water with the wind howling and the waves rolling, they broke the boat in half over a big wave and barely made it to shore before it sank. Somehow they got it back on the trailer and found about a 36" crack all the way through the to the bilge straight across the bottom of the boat. When he bought it, he had no way of knowing it was completely water logged and all the wood supports were gone. He spent about 3 or 4 months digging every ounce of rotted wood out of it and completely glassed in new stringers, and wood supports. I would guarantee that its better now than it was when it was brand new. He took the rub rail off and all 10,000 screws and rivets and separated the top cap half from the hull. Sanded everything down to bare fiberglass and rebonded it all back together with that super thick fiber glass mat. It was a work of art when he got done with it. He added about a hundred and fifty pounds to it in wood, fiber glass mat and resin but it is a real beast now. I wouldn't be afraid to take it anywhere.........and now we have a running motor on it again..

[vernon]

Remember watching Jimmy Houston fish out of one of those on his TV show back in the early 70's!  Think his was orange and white?  I think Virgil Ward had a Terry and Bill Dance had a Hydra Sport.  McFast was/is a really cool name too.