I'm not calling it quits on my inflatable yet

[alanfox55]

This boat was owned by a former employer of mine.He bought it in like new condition in the 90's,put it in the back of his property and never used it. I found it back there about a year ago and asked him about it...couldn't believe what he told me. He said he never sold it because someday he might want to use it...what the! He also said that if he decided to part with it he wanted me to have it so would sell it to me cheap.Well I got the keys from him,got me some fresh premix gas,grabbed my battery and proceeded to go have a closer look. This boat and motor had sat in the hot Texas sun for nearly twenty years with no cover on it but to my surprise everything I checked still worked! So now it's time to see if the motor will start and run.Well before I do that I need to lift the motor up a little to see if the tilt and trim work. I put new grease in the tilt tube,pressed the button and up she went,pressed the down button and down she went...amazing! While hooking up the gas I'm thinking no way is this going to start,and if it does it's not going to keep running and if it does run it's not going to be pushing any water out because the impeller will be shot and I shouldn't be starting it without checking the impeller but I was short of time and couldn't help myself. If it ran I would not let it run for very long in hopes that the impeller doesn't come apart I reasoned.

I still don't know what make this boat is because the side boards are covering it up,I'll have to wait until he finds the bill of sale before I know that. But the motor is a 93 70 hp Johnson three cyl thought by many to be the best motor OMC ever made. So now I get some gas in her lift up the high idle,push in the key to enrich and turn it over.More surprises it starts right up,keeps on running and is pushing water out but not a great deal so I let it run a little then take it of high idle and it idles perfect so I shut it down...wow I'm impressed.

So fast forward to a few days ago and I'm moving from Houston to San Antonio where I use to live.I decided to give Rick a call,the guy who owns the boat,let him know I was heading his way,chat a little and inquire about the boat.To my surprise he wants to sell me the boat and like he had told me he was going to sell it cheap and even let me make payments if I wanted to! So now boys and girls what he did was sell me a
22 year old boat and motor that saw almost no use for the grand sum of........$1200.00! It looks to me like it's just going to take some elbow grease to get it looking good again. I just ordered a water pump kit and today and I went and put a tarp on it...better late than never I gues

 

[Exit]

Congrats man! That's a freaking jackpot if I ever saw one. You planning to enjoy it or sell it? I'd love to have me a boat like that. I just have no place for it and don't want to pay storage fees.

 

[alanfox55]

Thanks yeah it's been exciting.I'm very glad that the work that needs to be done are things that I'm able to do so I won't have to be spending a lot of money hiring others to do it for me.Right now I plan on keeping them both and having twice the fun.

 

[alanfox55]

Here's the motor in action.

 

[alanfox55]

And another

 

[alanfox55]

Yesterday I checked out the bimini top...no way could that be any good.Surprise again there was not a thing wrong with it...no holes or even any sun fading...can't believe it. I'll post a picture asap.

 

[Guest]

nice boat. Looks like you caught my bug. I would mount that 30 off your inflatable on the side as a backup and rid the inflatable.
oops. looks like you did that.

 

[alanfox55]

I will consider that but no I didn't do anything with my 30 hp Mercury I still have it and my inflatable together and plan on using them.My cousin just moved back to the area and we use to do a lot of scuba diving together which we are planning on doing again so my inflatable will be perfect for that.

 

[Sea Rider]

Here's the motor in action.

Congrats Alan, excellent cheap purchase with trailer included. There's a water splash outward to port side starting 0.18 on video, check. Engine probably needs a slight + height optimization, have a mate check what's going on at back transom. How about achieved max wot revs on your new combo ? are they inside wot range for that 70 HP ?

Happy Boating

 

[Exit]

Hey guys, those vids are of his motor in action on other boats... examples.. not his actual boat.

 

[Sea Rider]

Yep, great difference between : Here's the motor in action to here's my motor in action...LOL

Happy Boating

 

[alanfox55]

No Title

I've been working very hard on cleaning up my new boat lately. It's been hard work getting the finish clean after sitting in the Texas sun and weather uncovered for 20 years. It has cleaned up nicely but now the harder work starts. It needs the oxidized finish cleaned then polished then waxed but I think when it's done it will be looking very close to like new again. I did that to the motor and was very surprised I was able to improve the finish as much as I was able to...it has a shine to it now! One other amazing item on this boat is it's bimini top. Again in the sun and weather for 20 years and it is really in very good shape with no holes tears or anything. It had some mold,mildew and stains but they are coming out nicely. Check out these before and after pics.

As for my inflatable I have no other plans except to keep both boats and use them both. I don't have a lot of experience boating but it just seems to me that both are better at certain things than the other. For example I will be much better served by my inflatable when it's time to go swimming with the dog. I should have no problem getting him back in the inflatable,not so with the other boat.

https://youtu.be/KJUMMAJ6KGU