Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start
The 68 18 HP came from another source than did the 25HP, I was assuming that the 25 was all original until I compared parts lists. Was there another motor family that someone could have swapped power heads or starters? The starter on the 25 looks like the one on my 9.5HP, but the power head is different. The 25 closely resembles the 30Hp on my other boat, but the 30HP is electric start only, no recoil at all. I don't have any other smaller OMC motors to compare to.
(the list of motors goes as follows: 1970? 6HP Johnson, 1969 Evinrude 9.5, 1973 Johnson 25HP, 1985 Evinrude 30HP, 1986 Evinrude 35HP, 1985, Johnson 70HP, 1976 135 Evinrude, and several various other brand motors). All are for boats the I have or are building. I have no history on the 25 HP it came to me via a yard sale. The 18 HP came on a boat that a buddy of mine bought and repowered with an electric start 15HP after he deemed the 18 too hard to pul start. I use the 18 as it is, I just don't like how hard it is to pull start. It will eventually break the rope or my hand.
After comparing parts lists, the 25 is somewhat of a mystery now too, that too is a great running motor which I have never really done anything too other than replace the impeller. I've only had the 18 HP for a month or so now. The 18 and the 25 are pretty close in power and performance, only the 25 is a long shaft. The 25 is one of the easiest to pull start motors I have had, it's on par with my 9.5 and several other smaller motors I have. The 18 has either had the compression increased just enough to make it hard to pull or there's a parts problem with the recoil.
The rewind unit on the 25 looks like it bolts in place of an electric starter? I was actually looking at the starter from a 30 HP as a possible swap? The side mount recoil set up on the 25 looks brand new, like it was just put on. I bought that motor about two months ago at a yard sale with some other motors. It's along shaft with the conversion type of mid section or and extension housing in the middle.
The tag reads 25R73, but very little on that motor is the same as on the earlier 18hp, I don't have the tag number handy for the 18hp here.
What other motors could have donated a side mount pull starter for the 25Hp? Everything looks bolt on and unmodified, nothing looks rigged or forced.
The place where I got the 25HP had 50 or so motors in all, I bought a dozen or more older motors, all were in good running condition. It was a deal where the price was too right to walk away. I had homes for most of them and have since traded away most of the real old ones for parts and stuff I needed.
The earliest was a 1956 8HP? and the latest was a 1973 50HP which was missing parts. There was also several huge boxes of misc older parts and controllers, and three complete boats in the deal. I kept two of the boats.
I am fairly new to the OMC motors, most of my boats in the past were inboard. I've worked on a few here and there but never did much with outboards till lately. I am getting a crash course here in OMC brands and parts lately with these little motors. This all started out with my simply trying to put together a smaller boat for inshore and back bay fishing, it's turned into a half dozen projects and a garage full of parts and motors and several parts boats out back. The neighbors must think I started a boat repair shop. If fuel hadn't skyrocketed, I wouldn't have ever bothered with these little boats and kept my 34' with twin inboards, but the $800 fill ups for a day out fishing just didn't cut it anymore, and besides, the smaller boats can get in tighter places inshore.