Well I may be up a creek without a motor. I purchased a boat with motor about 5 years ago, (Late 70's 17.5' Crestliner Muskie with 135 hp Evenrude motor). I got a good deal because the head gasket had blown and burned across a spot in the head from the compression chamber to the water jacket. Not being able to find a new head, I had that one welded and re-surfaced, bought new gaskets and ran the thing for about three years. Compression was suprisingly even, around 110 in all cylinders. Problems surfaced Recently, it would run for about 300 yards and then it would cut out and loose speed and power. It sounded good with the hose hooked to the intake in the yard and had plenty of rpm. But in the lake it would shut down after a very short sprint. After checking for fuel and ignition problems, I did a compression test and found the the number four cylinder was without compression(10 psi, the other three were 110). I pulled the head and found that the piston is fried (kinda just melted down with one spot exposing almost the full width of the compression ring) and the cylinder has some scoring. <br />Where can one find parts if any? It's the same cylinder that had the head problem originally, but the head looks perfect, any ideas as to why this happened or what could cause it? Is it worth my time? If not, anybody need a fairly good 17 foot tri hull to go with their motor or have motor that would like to find a good boat to push around?<br /><br />Question number two, Does it matter what horsepower motor one puts on a boat? Newer motors are built lighter and with higher horsepower. Is it feasable to put say a 150 hp or 200 hp, on a boat like this or is there more to it than horsepower? The tag on the boat specs 990 Lbs fuel and motor, is that the only criteria necessary in choosing the Power that one should put on a boat?<br /><br />Sorry for being soo wordy, but maybe it'll help someone else in there trouble-shooting soga someday.<br /><br />Thanks<br /><br />Ron
