1958 Texas Maid Osprey 14' Aluminum Runabout

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

My first Project/Restoration, and a pretty low budget one at that.

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

This is my boat, a 1958 Texas Maid Osprey, and it resides in Texas (ha, ah very funny), when I got it (for 340$) it was in mediocre condition as you can see. The wiring was all done through the 1960 Johnson 40 HP which was hydro locked (was not sold with the boat), so I had to rip out and redo the entire wiring system



Not too bad but I also had to redo the bow light, because as you can see the yellow has faded out of the green to make blue, which is illegal by the way. (found that out the hard way)



As I said, when I got it it had no engine so looking around I found a nice 1993 Mercury 40 HP 4 Cylinder 2 Stroke. (Only 40 hours on the motor and 280$)



Sadly the motor turned out to be more than I thought it would be, I had to put 120+ hours into the motor to transfer it (drilling holes in 1/4 inch stainless steel with a power drill and titanium bits like an idiot). Once it was on though I got a key made (didn't come with one) I sprayed it with PLENTY of starter fluid, hooked her up to some earmuffs, and...after being "winterized" for 12 YEARS...she started on the 3rd or 4th crank. ran for maybe 30 seconds before I realized the tell tale was still dry. Killed it and inspected. 8 inches of "foreign material" that I don't want to go into the specifics of. Cleaned that out and ran it again tell tale squirted water like it was fresh out of the factory. Did a water pump rebuild anyway. (only 2 of 6 fins when I got to it)

After all of that I till wasn't happy with it so I ordered 2 full carb rebuild kits a new fuel tank and fuel line with bulb. Also rebuilt the fuel pump while I was at it. I thought it ran great before but now it ran superbly. Took her out, and the problems began:

Hard to start in water
Dies in 5 mins under load
Never ran at full RPM's

After a thorough look through realized that the prop is a pitch of 16 and a diameter of 10". that is the problem getting a new one today and will get back to you guys.


PS:

Can i post youtube links here? I'm new and don't want to get in trouble.

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

So as I stated earlier I ran it and it didn't shoot water out of the tell tale, so I blew the water jacket gasket.



Took off the water jacket cover and had a look inside to see this:



First modern boat motor so I was not expecting this. cleaned them up to this quality and replaced the gasket.

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

Finally took it out and got a great shot of it in the water and it on the trailer:

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Since all four of your posts are here in this thread I think a :welcome: to iboats '58TMO! is in order.

Good looking project you got there. How did you decide the prop was the problem?

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Oh and yes you can post YouTubes here just be sure they are family friendly to avoid the wrath of the mods.

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

The fact that 1/3 of it was missing when I bought it was a start and also the fact that it was the wrong hub for that motor was the second reason.

Video of it running on the lake: (Loud)

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

Video of it running on shore with ear muffs (Also Loud):

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

Ordered a 10" by 14 pitch prop and received a 14" by 10 pitch prop, return and wait more days...

 

[Woodonglass]

FYI they are called Motor Flusher Muffs. Ear Muffs are what Humans wear!!! :lol:

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

Been busy with boat work, played with the fuel-air mix on the carbs and it now preforms excellently at high RPM's (1500-5500). Still rough at low RPM's, but I can live with that. When on plane she nearly hydrofoils at 40 MPH.

Steering in nice but could be tightened up a bit, otherwise I just have to fix the timing it is at 11 degrees at 1200 (Should be around 10 degrees) and at 33 degrees at 550 RPM's (Should be at 30 degrees). That and I have to get it to idle better and not kickback when attempting to start.

Also have to reupholster the seats seeing as the one I was sitting if disintegrated while I was in it.

Also have ambitions to repaint it green and white (trailer too) to match my 72' C10 Pickup.

Acceleration is scary 700 to 5500 RPM's in 4 seconds and 0 to 40 MPH in maybe 10 seconds.

 

[ssdale]

Keep after it. Get it to match that good ol truck! get some more pics of it as you progress!
Dale

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

Will do but I have to pause for the weekend, entering my truck in a car show and have to detail the entire truck by hand. But the second that is over, back to the boat to try and get that timing fixed (really tired of using starter fluid to start the motor, the kickback stops it from starting every time without fluid.).

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

I'm back, been working on the boat, the seats all rotted! Yay! So I have been ripping them apart (figuratively and literally) and now I am reupholstering them. After I have seats again I will begin work on the hardest part, the electronics. The wiring was wired through the previous motor which was a Johnson, mine is a Mercury, so I have to, again, literally, rip it out and redo it (recurring thing with this boat). Also! I have modified the entire back seat, the motor's wiring harness and fuel system interfere with getting things in and out of the engine compartment. To fix this the back of the back seat slides up on rollers to allow easy access. Also the bottom of the back seat hinges towards the bow to allow access to what was a cooler (changing to a tool/fluid compartment). Will get pictures up later, keep forgetting to take photos mid-build, just taking before and after pictures at the moment.

 

[58'TexasMaidOsprey]

I have been debating taking my boat down to Galveston for a few weeks, what anodes would I need seeing as I have a riveted aluminum hull, steel transom bracket, steel prop shaft, aluminum prop, brass prop nut, etc.