New Boat owner ?... with pictures

Hi all! Bought my first boat, a 1978 Thunderbolt 21' mini day cruiser 351 inboard out board with a 233 mercruiser. After rebuilding the carb and putting new gas in, she seems to be running fairly well on the water with the acceptation of it running hot if I stayed on 3/4 throttle for over 5 mins. And 2, she seems to shift hard, and clunk when going from neutral to gear. The over heating im guessing change the impeller?

My other question is what is some standard servicing I should do on a boat this old that hasn't ran in a couple years?

And Last, This boat has a Vacuum gauge? what is this gauge supposed to be telling me? I've never seen that before

All in all, pretty happy with my purchase of boat and trailer for $1600

Re: New Boat owner ?... with pictures

You need to drain the lower unit and put in a new water pump and impeller kit. I would also do a basic tune up on the points, plugs, and plug wires. Where is the vacuum gauge located? It's unusual to see one permanently mounted, but I supposeanything is possible.