Garage sale Evinrude

[oldboat1]

That's so cool. While I know NOTHING about motors and most of what you said (just got my very first boat 1955 Wolverine 12' and motor 1977 Johnson 6hp) it was cool to read your story. You obviously know A LOT about these motors. I wouldn't even know the first thing to do if I saw a motor for $25 at a garage sale... Buy it, or leave it.... Thanks for sharing!

Wolverines are very collectable (and restorable). If you have the bug, maybe you can find a little '55 or '56 to run on it. (not that the '77 isn't a good motor.)

 

[jimwalt]

Wolverines are very collectable (and restorable). If you have the bug, maybe you can find a little '55 or '56 to run on it. (not that the '77 isn't a good motor.)

Wow, that's nice to know. The boat is in perfect condition, so nothing to restore. I absolutely love my 1977 Johnson 6hp. Starts FIRST pull EVERYTIME! We were just out in it fishing tonight. I think I'll probably keep this forever so that my 7 year old son will have a boat when he gets older.

 

[tjandrews]

Wow, that's nice to know. The boat is in perfect condition, so nothing to restore. I absolutely love my 1977 Johnson 6hp. Starts FIRST pull EVERYTIME! We were just out in it fishing tonight. I think I'll probably keep this forever so that my 7 year old son will have a boat when he gets older.

My mother bought my other boat in 1963. Still going strong, with a '56 15HP Johnson on the back...

 

[tjandrews]

No Title

Wow, that's nice to know. The boat is in perfect condition, so nothing to restore. I absolutely love my 1977 Johnson 6hp. Starts FIRST pull EVERYTIME! We were just out in it fishing tonight. I think I'll probably keep this forever so that my 7 year old son will have a boat when he gets older.

A photo of me in what used to be my mother's boat, with the '56 15HP on the back. It's a 14-foot "Corvair" by Traveler. The capacity plate is long gone, but 15 is right around the limit, as I recall. But notice the boat is over 50 years old, and still going strong. No reason why, with good care, that your son couldn't have your boat in 50 years, too.

 

[tjandrews]

Here's the motor on the boat on the St. Lawrence river. (Yes, I know it's still tied to the dock.) The boat is an old 13 foot Feathercraft. Motor works great. Starts on first pull, pushes the boat along at a good clip, at least as good as my '54 10HP Johnson does, and it's a LOT quieter. The folks in the neighboring camps appreciate that in the early morning hours.

Well, it didn't work so well for the whole week. Early Thursday morning it suddenly lost forward gear. My brother was out with it at the time, about a mile downriver from our camp. Fortunately, we have walkie-talkies, so he was able to contact me to tow him in with the other boat. Not the first time those walkie-talkies have saved one or the other of us, and it probably won't be the last.

Pulling the access panel off the leg, I see that the shift rod is not moving when the lever is moved. I can move the rod up into forward by hand, and shift it out with the lever, but it won't move up with the lever. That's gotta mean the rod has come loose from the bell crank under the powerhead. I don't remember how that goes, but the parts list I see online (not particularly clear) seems to indicate a nut screws onto the shaft. If so, removing the powerhead should be the hardest part of the fix.

We switched the motor for the spare 9.5 that we took along, and went on from there. Back home now, and back to work, so I won't have a chance to investigate further for a while.