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When I did mine I didn't know as much as I have learned here, I did coat the underside with thinned epoxy, and it's still solid 20 years later, however if I knew then what I know now, I would 'glassed it fully.

We are going to plan some trips to look around. The northeast is very tough, growing up in NYC in the 1960s it was so different than now, believe it or not, a middle-class person could afford a house, a car, a yearly vacation, and send their kids to college. Now the house I lived in (Brooklyn...

Not sure why the alignment would be OK if that's the case. I think if you change it with the drive installed, it might make things bind, another conundrum to figure out. I never had to do anything with the mounts on my boat so it's hard to say and the Ford mounts seem somewhat different than...

Thanks, our states to investigate are: North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee my brother was a high-level tech guy for Asurion in Nashville Tenn, and when he worked for them, he lived in Brentwood Tenn. Beautiful place. NY, will take the last nickel in your pocket, and then expect you to feel...

Yep I want the same thing, but have to get out of NYS to make it happen. The benefit besides all the others, is a longer boating season! Real estate prices here are unsustainable for young people, I made my son and daughter in law an excellent offer, if they want to leave. NYS is not the place...

Foam is also a safety issue, if you hit something it can keep the boat afloat longer, I think it's required in boats 20' and under. I put in the foam that was originally there when we did the deck in my '88 FW 20 years ago, the deck is still solid even now....

I would definitely glass the edges of the keyhole, because I guess the seal around the transom mount isn't totally perfect and I bet that's where transom start to rot, water seeps in, stays damp, wood not sealed, etc.

very nice work there, I'm sure it's going to better than when it was new.

You at least want to run it long enough to get the engine nice and hot, and check the oil for any sign of water in the oil. That, and carefully look over the power head with the cowling off for any signs of salt water leaks anywhere on the engine. I'd also want to pull the drain plug for the...

No offense intended, but I see this attitude all the time, "never in salt" as if salt water is the modern variant of the bubonic plauge or "I went to the coast to vacation, I can't flush till I get home will it be OK etc", there are 2 variations of salt water boaters: 1) trailer boaters whose...

Go back and look at my pic of the trailer you can see I used very long roller bars that I got from Load Rite on the rear crossmember with the lowest roller bar mounts. That really helped, those I think were 48” long, might work on your boat. You do have to be mindful of the clearance between the...

I’ve never seen roller bars like that but it looks like they could be lowered, as long as they can pivot enough. I was able to get lower roller bar mounts from Load Rite.

How “good” it is should be determined by how ”good” It works!

There are only a few car companies who actually make parts for older vehicles available.

The best ones are simple GM marine engines, Quadrajet/Holley/Edelbrock carbs, mechanical fuel pump if a pre-Vortec, and points distributor with mechanical/centrifugal advance. Why points? No electronic mystery boxes, NLA modules, short run parts, etc. Boats don't do enough hrs to have to replace...

You can probably find the pivot pin on ebay, here in the USA there is a company on ebay by the name of NLA Marine that sells a lot of freshwater used outdrive parts. Yes for sure grease the pin, with marine grease. Just another tip, I coat the threads of all bolts/fittings for the outdrive, with...

For boats stored in salt water during the season, this is a good resource: Boatzincs.com has some tech info on their site about using a reference electrode to make sure your drive has enough galvanic protection. This can actually be measured, in a marina, I would highly recommend this EVEN IN...

Wow so mine is on it's second lifetime already and then some, 25 years in salt water. if you maintain it in accordance with knowledge of saltwater use, they last a LOT longer than 10 years, I can see evidence of this at boat yards and marinas all over Long Island which is all salt water. What...

Glad to be of help to you, all of us backyard/driveway marine "mechanics" have been there done that, and learned a few tricks along the way. If it went on, as you describe, it's probably just fine. This job is all in the setup: level ground where you are working, gimble bearing centered with the...

It's really a 2 pronged problem I/O power systems are by nature high maintenance, it is possible to make it easier but the boat companies are cheapskates and the engine marinizers just go along with that: closed cooling, definitely makes winterizing easier, because you don't have to struggle...