A little history first. My grandfather bought this boat new in 1957, I inherited it about 1988 when he passed. Due to a recent change in my life I have decided to get her in the
water.
My Grand Pappy bought this boat new from Sears, Roebuck, at the Sears store on Ponce De Leon in the now posh Poncey Highlands. The original motor was a Johnson Sea Horse. Someone stole it and some other parts that made it useful: electrical connections, fuel connection, and steering cables.
He also purchased the Elgin trailer from Sears at the same time. At one time had built a wooden boat and sold it. He decided he liked the lower up keep of this boat...The company has gone out of business, they designed boats with the nostalgic look of the 40's and 50's planes, and employed the men and women that built those curved aluminum planes of that era...
The boat was built on Bishop street in Atlanta, near the waterworks off of Northside Drive. Not far from where Grand Pappy lived.
I have towed this boat around for 24 years, never putting it in the water or registering the trailer or the boat.
One time I filled it up with water to see if it would leak, no leaks, or so I thought.
The old metal pressurized tanks have rotted away.
I purchased a tow-able tube back in the mid 90's. It is still in the package. HA! thats putting the cart before the horse!
My Uncle who was keeping the boat for my Grand Pappy, since he moved into a elder condo facility in Sandy Springs, near Atlanta, was about to take it to the scrap yard when I happened to ask about it... because the motor had been stolen and they did not want to put any money into it and thought it was junk.
My father and his siblings learned to ski behind this boat, I learned, my sister learned,,, my father says he and his sister would slalom behind this boat and he is about my size 6?4? 200# (probably 175# back then), he claims his sister would get up on his shoulders while skiing behind this boat? I have a hard time seeing
that?
Just before I towed it away, Uncle Lynn told me ' "good luck" it will sink if you leave it in the water over night...' ugh..
About 10 years ago I decided I wanted a Johnson Golden Javelin motor (it is a 35 hp and the boat is rated at 30 hp) I did not know this until after the purchase... the internet was still fairly new and the fastest connection I could get was 56k at the time. I found a motor restored, and called a day late... then I found one not restored-no pictures, I felt I might not get another chance since these motors are rare and very sought after... I bought it sight unseen. There are some issues with it, but I do not know if they are from the shipping from NJ or the guys that reassembled it for me or what... I had a boat repair place put the motor
together and install some new parts... then I put it on the boat and it sat for 9.5 years or so. They said it was running fine when they assembled it, "everything is working as it should..."
About 9.5 years ago I rebuilt the trailer, I took the trailer apart and had it acid dipped. I rebuilt the axles and installed new bearings, all stainless steel hardware, new lights and wiring, new rollers, new runners with indoor outdoor carpet, new winch rope. I painted the trailer with Rustoleum hardhat stainless with a mist of hard hat gloss black. then moved to the 50 acre farm and became somewhat of an indentured servant for my now ex-gf and her properties. The boat/motor/trailer sat in a barn shed side for the entire time....... yea.. I know...
My main issues are:
steering, need some parts and I am contacting the salvage yards listed on the front page. Does it do any good to install a turn buckles in
the cable running down the side in the stern of the boat?
I have looked over many pictures on the web, some show a pulley and spring at the motor (front handle) others show the spring in the terminating corner of the boat (bolted through the transom) and just a pulley at the front handle of the motor... which is correct? and why do you need springs back there in the first place?
How do you connect the cable to the pulley on the steering wheel? there are 2 pulleys sharing a middle ridge and that has 3 holes in it, like the cable should be woven through those holes.. I think you need to attach it to the pulley some how,, if so how?
is there anyway to revitalize the Attwood steering wheel?
Fuel delivery: I plan to change from the pressure system to a mikuni fuel pump, but I cannot find a way to get the vacuum to the pump. After reading about 5 web pages on how I am still confused. Could I have a machine shop drill an intake and install a male vacuum nipple? or is there an easier simpler way to do it on this exact motor?
Electrical: start, this is pretty easy,,,
stopping the motor.. this one is confusing me since I am not familiar with the wiring/cut out switch and possible mercury bulb on the throttle rod..
I need a wiring diagram including the start switch and the wires on the motor, there are 2 wires going to the switch that end in the boat side electrical connector (and I do not have a harness from boat to motor) that neither get power in the start or run position. do they ground out when the key turns off, to turn off the motor?
What is the device on the bottom of the carb that has a wire going to it?
I have found a few frayed wires since I started this project and fixed them, but the one on the bulb near the throttle rod is too close to solder..
Is the only way to shut off the motor by pulling out the choke or is the bulb on the throttle a mercury kill bulb? could I wire in a manual kill switch or wire this
to my keyed start switch?
I pulled the following from another thread: The wire coming from under the flywheel (to points) should go to the center of the cut out switch (that's not the fuel pump). (referring to the round/square thing on the port side of the motor) There should be another black wire attached to one of the side nuts on the cut out switch. That goes on to the ground (small terminal) of the starter solenoid. There should be a third wire from the same side terminal on the cut out switch
going to the mercury switch on the throttle control.
and I thought I saw on a different thread that the small terminal on the starter solenoid (small one on the power output side) goes to ground, and the above seems to indicate this too.. I just want to double verify this. Because once you let the smoke out of the wires I don't think anyone has figured out how to get it back in...
Other questions and concerns or things I want to confirm:
fuel to gas ratio is 24:1 ? so that is 5.33 ounces of oil per gallon of fuel? 128:5.33 = 24:1 so that would be 26.65 ounces of oil for a 5 gal container.. so I
could probably use one qt per 5 gallon tank?
80 psi is the minimum pressure for each cylinder
I took her to Lake Hartwell near my house and backed the boat, still attached to the trailer into the water,, without the motor.. the boat lifted the trailer off the ramp with ease. Unfortunately even with that little weight there was a section of about 6" that leaked along the bottom edge of the transom near the drain... I think years of water and freezing temps.. some ice expanded the rivets and they just need to be punched a few good times to help re-seal them..
I plan on getting a bilge pump just in case and tightening up the rivets once I find the leaks,, then as a last resort buying/using Gluvit as per recommendations on this site.
I have downloaded and read the advice about starting a motor that has been sitting a while, but my motor was professionally put together with the intent of
using it almost immediately. I did not,, I plan on putting marvel mystery oil in the cylinders, and maybe cleaning the carb little.. hoping the inside and jets are not clogged with varnish.... is there anything else I need to do... remembering the lower end was serviced 10 years ago and never used... the spark plugs and wires look new, the fuel hoses look new,, the shop replaced the points and coils.. I think..I can check the receipt...
Any boat and motor specific advice or answers to my questions and concerns is very welcome.
This is going to look awesome behind my 78 Fj40 Land Cruiser or 72 Fj55 Land Cruiser...
water.
My Grand Pappy bought this boat new from Sears, Roebuck, at the Sears store on Ponce De Leon in the now posh Poncey Highlands. The original motor was a Johnson Sea Horse. Someone stole it and some other parts that made it useful: electrical connections, fuel connection, and steering cables.
He also purchased the Elgin trailer from Sears at the same time. At one time had built a wooden boat and sold it. He decided he liked the lower up keep of this boat...The company has gone out of business, they designed boats with the nostalgic look of the 40's and 50's planes, and employed the men and women that built those curved aluminum planes of that era...
The boat was built on Bishop street in Atlanta, near the waterworks off of Northside Drive. Not far from where Grand Pappy lived.
I have towed this boat around for 24 years, never putting it in the water or registering the trailer or the boat.
One time I filled it up with water to see if it would leak, no leaks, or so I thought.
The old metal pressurized tanks have rotted away.
I purchased a tow-able tube back in the mid 90's. It is still in the package. HA! thats putting the cart before the horse!
My Uncle who was keeping the boat for my Grand Pappy, since he moved into a elder condo facility in Sandy Springs, near Atlanta, was about to take it to the scrap yard when I happened to ask about it... because the motor had been stolen and they did not want to put any money into it and thought it was junk.
My father and his siblings learned to ski behind this boat, I learned, my sister learned,,, my father says he and his sister would slalom behind this boat and he is about my size 6?4? 200# (probably 175# back then), he claims his sister would get up on his shoulders while skiing behind this boat? I have a hard time seeing
that?
Just before I towed it away, Uncle Lynn told me ' "good luck" it will sink if you leave it in the water over night...' ugh..
About 10 years ago I decided I wanted a Johnson Golden Javelin motor (it is a 35 hp and the boat is rated at 30 hp) I did not know this until after the purchase... the internet was still fairly new and the fastest connection I could get was 56k at the time. I found a motor restored, and called a day late... then I found one not restored-no pictures, I felt I might not get another chance since these motors are rare and very sought after... I bought it sight unseen. There are some issues with it, but I do not know if they are from the shipping from NJ or the guys that reassembled it for me or what... I had a boat repair place put the motor
together and install some new parts... then I put it on the boat and it sat for 9.5 years or so. They said it was running fine when they assembled it, "everything is working as it should..."
About 9.5 years ago I rebuilt the trailer, I took the trailer apart and had it acid dipped. I rebuilt the axles and installed new bearings, all stainless steel hardware, new lights and wiring, new rollers, new runners with indoor outdoor carpet, new winch rope. I painted the trailer with Rustoleum hardhat stainless with a mist of hard hat gloss black. then moved to the 50 acre farm and became somewhat of an indentured servant for my now ex-gf and her properties. The boat/motor/trailer sat in a barn shed side for the entire time....... yea.. I know...
My main issues are:
steering, need some parts and I am contacting the salvage yards listed on the front page. Does it do any good to install a turn buckles in
the cable running down the side in the stern of the boat?
I have looked over many pictures on the web, some show a pulley and spring at the motor (front handle) others show the spring in the terminating corner of the boat (bolted through the transom) and just a pulley at the front handle of the motor... which is correct? and why do you need springs back there in the first place?
How do you connect the cable to the pulley on the steering wheel? there are 2 pulleys sharing a middle ridge and that has 3 holes in it, like the cable should be woven through those holes.. I think you need to attach it to the pulley some how,, if so how?
is there anyway to revitalize the Attwood steering wheel?
Fuel delivery: I plan to change from the pressure system to a mikuni fuel pump, but I cannot find a way to get the vacuum to the pump. After reading about 5 web pages on how I am still confused. Could I have a machine shop drill an intake and install a male vacuum nipple? or is there an easier simpler way to do it on this exact motor?
Electrical: start, this is pretty easy,,,
stopping the motor.. this one is confusing me since I am not familiar with the wiring/cut out switch and possible mercury bulb on the throttle rod..
I need a wiring diagram including the start switch and the wires on the motor, there are 2 wires going to the switch that end in the boat side electrical connector (and I do not have a harness from boat to motor) that neither get power in the start or run position. do they ground out when the key turns off, to turn off the motor?
What is the device on the bottom of the carb that has a wire going to it?
I have found a few frayed wires since I started this project and fixed them, but the one on the bulb near the throttle rod is too close to solder..
Is the only way to shut off the motor by pulling out the choke or is the bulb on the throttle a mercury kill bulb? could I wire in a manual kill switch or wire this
to my keyed start switch?
I pulled the following from another thread: The wire coming from under the flywheel (to points) should go to the center of the cut out switch (that's not the fuel pump). (referring to the round/square thing on the port side of the motor) There should be another black wire attached to one of the side nuts on the cut out switch. That goes on to the ground (small terminal) of the starter solenoid. There should be a third wire from the same side terminal on the cut out switch
going to the mercury switch on the throttle control.
and I thought I saw on a different thread that the small terminal on the starter solenoid (small one on the power output side) goes to ground, and the above seems to indicate this too.. I just want to double verify this. Because once you let the smoke out of the wires I don't think anyone has figured out how to get it back in...
Other questions and concerns or things I want to confirm:
fuel to gas ratio is 24:1 ? so that is 5.33 ounces of oil per gallon of fuel? 128:5.33 = 24:1 so that would be 26.65 ounces of oil for a 5 gal container.. so I
could probably use one qt per 5 gallon tank?
80 psi is the minimum pressure for each cylinder
I took her to Lake Hartwell near my house and backed the boat, still attached to the trailer into the water,, without the motor.. the boat lifted the trailer off the ramp with ease. Unfortunately even with that little weight there was a section of about 6" that leaked along the bottom edge of the transom near the drain... I think years of water and freezing temps.. some ice expanded the rivets and they just need to be punched a few good times to help re-seal them..
I plan on getting a bilge pump just in case and tightening up the rivets once I find the leaks,, then as a last resort buying/using Gluvit as per recommendations on this site.
I have downloaded and read the advice about starting a motor that has been sitting a while, but my motor was professionally put together with the intent of
using it almost immediately. I did not,, I plan on putting marvel mystery oil in the cylinders, and maybe cleaning the carb little.. hoping the inside and jets are not clogged with varnish.... is there anything else I need to do... remembering the lower end was serviced 10 years ago and never used... the spark plugs and wires look new, the fuel hoses look new,, the shop replaced the points and coils.. I think..I can check the receipt...
Any boat and motor specific advice or answers to my questions and concerns is very welcome.
This is going to look awesome behind my 78 Fj40 Land Cruiser or 72 Fj55 Land Cruiser...
