1979 Starcraft 16’ SS Refresh

[Moserkr]

Hello everyone!
I have been following threads here for the past year since I picked up my first starcraft for $1500 off a friend. She’s a 1979 16’ SS with a 1983 75hp Johnson on the back. I also scored a 1978 75hp Johnson Stinger for free thats in great shape internally, just needs some love, and is a spare motor.
From what I know about her, this boat started off in an overgrown field, not running, after being a duck boat for a number of years. My friend bought it for $100, and then changed it from an original puke yellow leaky non-running pile, to what you see below in my pictures. He fixed 174 rivets properly, and another 30 or so improperly between him and I. She used to leak 10 gal/hr!!! Now its down to maybe 1 gallon a day. He added an 1800 gph bilge, stereo, got it running (just needed a battery), then replaced seals on the head/water jacket, added ugly mismatching green vinyl to go with the screaming green paint, as well as seats and a stereo. She also got kevlar coated on the bottom, along with new 3/4” wood floors which are sealed, and covered in a wild colored foam flooring.

So he did the bulk of the work bringing this old girl back to life. Fast forward to me having it, and now she is in my garage awaiting the winter project list. As you guys call it - a freshen up, not a restoration. I will use the boat to fish and take my family around the lakes exploring, thats about it. We want functional and safe with decent looks and modern conveniences - which it largely has already. So heres my to-do list, in order of whats most important so I think...

1- Replace wrong/broken rivets and seal with gluvit. My friend had the floors ripped up and didnt seal the inside. Also Im not sure if it has foam under the floor right now.
Links to where I can find these materials at a good price would help.

2- Gas tank. Current old steel one is patched with jb weld after i found it leaking.
Is it possible to put one under the floor away from the rear for better weight distribution? Anyone do that and have a link to which fuel tank they used?? Would like to keep it with around 18 gallons as she can drink hard.

3- Rear bench seat and bow seats. Im going to build these cheap myself and already have a plan in mind. Inspiration and ideas are welcome though. My xmas present from my wife and in-laws is high density foam.... you can see where their priorities lie vs mine in #1&2. Also will replace the ugly green vinyl to match the new seats.

4- Paint the boat white w/blue accents per my wife’s request - happy wife/life thing... thats fine cause this green isnt my style. Also replace foam flooring with something similar but the stuff that has a wood look to it. Love the soft feeling of the foam when im fishing barefoot.

5- Finally my last thing, quick disconnects for my down riggers. I got into salmon and trout fishing with this boat. May use it to chase ducks and geese, and maybe even deer and bear one day. Caught kokanee and trout this year so I can’t complain - shes a fishing boat.

Theres my list of ideas in order of importance to me. Id love to hear anyone’s suggestions, pictures for inspiration, and links to other builds that may help me. From what I’ve read you all are a close knit community of owners and Im happy to be a part of it.

I keep looking at $25-50,000 dollar boats, not including financing/interest, and think why would I do that?? Sure Id take a new motor on my boat but she runs and floats as she sits now. Just needs a little TLC to really shine and when both my motors fail, I will give her a new heart to keep on going.

Thanks in advance for any help I may get. Looking forward to my little refresh.

Cheers to you all!
-Scott

 

[Michigan Lakes]

Aside from the floor covering (atrocious) the current color scheme really doesn't look too bad! Can't blame you for wanting blue/white though.
Welcome!

 

[SHSU]

Howdy and welcome aboard. Here is my stab at trying to answer some of your questions.

1- Replace wrong/broken rivets and seal with gluvit. My friend had the floors ripped up and didnt seal the inside. Also Im not sure if it has foam under the floor right now.
Links to where I can find these materials at a good price would help.

The 30 that weren't properly set, can you elaborate? I am guessing you are talking about doing these with solid rivets and a dab of 5200.
For foam, a lot of guys get theirs from the orange big box store. You can get purple sheets 2 inches thick 4 x 8.

2- Gas tank. Current old steel one is patched with jb weld after i found it leaking.
Is it possible to put one under the floor away from the rear for better weight distribution? Anyone do that and have a link to which fuel tank they used?? Would like to keep it with around 18 gallons as she can drink hard.

Is it possible, yes. I had a custom tank built for mine that I put up front. It only holds about 9 gallons and I carry two 2 gallon gas cans. I can do about 30 miles before I have to tap into the gas cans. Back to the tank itself, I was unable to find a tank that would fit under the floor in a SS16. You will need to have it custom built if you want one.

3- Rear bench seat and bow seats. Im going to build these cheap myself and already have a plan in mind. Inspiration and ideas are welcome though. My xmas present from my wife and in-laws is high density foam.... you can see where their priorities lie vs mine in #1&2. Also will replace the ugly green vinyl to match the new seats.

There should be a front seating area. Looks like your buddy just made a front deck and not the open bow seating that should be there. Don't know if the original aluminum wall/support is under what your buddy built.

Think that covers the questions I saw. I am sure I misses something and others will chime in. Either way, a good winter project.

SHSU

 

[Moserkr]

Aside from the floor covering (atrocious) the current color scheme really doesn't look too bad! Can't blame you for wanting blue/white though.
Welcome!

Thanks! Yes the color scheme now does catch a lot of attention from afar. But up close the 3 different shades of green and wild floors drive my wife and my ocd crazy lol. The vinyl really gets to me being a puke green color.

 

[Moserkr]

Howdy and welcome aboard. Here is my stab at trying to answer some of your questions.



The 30 that weren't properly set, can you elaborate? I am guessing you are talking about doing these with solid rivets and a dab of 5200.
For foam, a lot of guys get theirs from the orange big box store. You can get purple sheets 2 inches thick 4 x 8.


Is it possible, yes. I had a custom tank built for mine that I put up front. It only holds about 9 gallons and I carry two 2 gallon gas cans. I can do about 30 miles before I have to tap into the gas cans. Back to the tank itself, I was unable to find a tank that would fit under the floor in a SS16. You will need to have it custom built if you want one.


There should be a front seating area. Looks like your buddy just made a front deck and not the open bow seating that should be there. Don't know if the original aluminum wall/support is under what your buddy built.

Think that covers the questions I saw. I am sure I misses something and others will chime in. Either way, a good winter project.

SHSU

Thanks for the reply!

The wrong rivets that were put in are the closed end solid type and yes just sealed with some sealant. You were spot on. While it works for now, I know its not correct. I will check out the foam recommendation, thanks!

For the gas tank situation, I figured going under the floor may be difficult. Custom is out of my budget, so Im very curious about how you put yours up front. Where exactly did you put it? That question ties into the front seating area... my bow is a flat deck for fishing which Im not going to change except for adding cushions along the sides. It has a seat mount for bow fishing and im going to expand the opening for better storage access. Plenty of room for a gas tank up there... Under the new deck is all the original wood/aluminum so theres that. My plan was to remove the wood and open up underneath the deck/bow seats for even more storage. It looks like a few pieces of wood for support should be plenty.

Boat has two batteries as well. One for my fish finder, stereo, etc., and the other for starting the motor. So wherever I stick the gas tank, id like to balance the boats batteries as well. Right now one is under the driver’s console, and the starter battery is near the motor, both on the drivers side. Gives her a slight lean when Im fishing alone.

Appreciate the help so far. Getting me thinking and excited for the project! At least an above floor gas tank is much cheaper... may get my down-rigger mounts after all.

 

[Watermann]

Welcome aboard Moserkr,

I've seen some good things happen to old bad boats but oh man that boat you got there isn't one of them that color combo

Don't mess with leaky fuel tanks, just get rid of them. I'm sure that SHSU has eyed every prefab fuel tank out there last year looking for one that would fit under the deck of a 16'r but you never know what's come out since then. Moeller has a huge line of poly belly tanks.

 

[SHSU]

You can reference my thread for what I did. I notated the posts below with the relevant info.

https://forums.iboats.com/threads/1...ton-for-punishment-splashed-july-2019.687763/

For the gas tank situation, I figured going under the floor may be difficult. Custom is out of my budget, so Im very curious about how you put yours up front. Where exactly did you put it? That question ties into the front seating area... my bow is a flat deck for fishing which Im not going to change except for adding cushions along the sides. It has a seat mount for bow fishing and im going to expand the opening for better storage access. Plenty of room for a gas tank up there... Under the new deck is all the original wood/aluminum so theres that. My plan was to remove the wood and open up underneath the deck/bow seats for even more storage. It looks like a few pieces of wood for support should be plenty.

Post #498 has the CAD drawing my Admiral put together for me for the fuel tank. Post #513 has the first pictures I had of the unit prior to install. I added rubber to help prevent wearing over time and brackets to secure it to the stringers so it wont move. Post #523 shows where I dry fitted the fuel tank. Post #563 shows final placement.

That said, since you aren't looking to do full custom you do have options since you are leaving the front deck. I didn't have that option as Admiral and little Admiral still wanted a seat area when we are tubing at the lake. You can get a box style moeller fuel tank. With the extra height you have for the deck, you can find one of their smaller ones that should work with the added room. Just remember you can't use a red tank if it is permanent install under deck.

Boat has two batteries as well. One for my fish finder, stereo, etc., and the other for starting the motor. So wherever I stick the gas tank, id like to balance the boats batteries as well. Right now one is under the driver’s console, and the starter battery is near the motor, both on the drivers side. Gives her a slight lean when Im fishing alone.

I installed two house batteries up in front of the passenger and driver side. You can see the idea in post #650/#651. I also centered my starting battery in the back. You can get a general idea in the picture in post #663. I installed my kicker I carry on the port side to help with my lean. Don't have any issues, but I haven't really been out fishing by myself yet. Admiral/Little Admiral and friends are happy company on the trips we have been taking.

SHSU

 

[Moserkr]

Welcome aboard Moserkr,

I've seen some good things happen to old bad boats but oh man that boat you got there isn't one of them that color combo

Don't mess with leaky fuel tanks, just get rid of them. I'm sure that SHSU has eyed every prefab fuel tank out there last year looking for one that would fit under the deck of a 16'r but you never know what's come out since then. Moeller has a huge line of poly belly tanks.

Thanks for the welcome. I have read your resto’s as well as SHSU’s before so I appreciate you guys being here. Looks like I have some re-reading homework to do now though.

Haha yes will get rid of that leaky gas tank and color combo - she at least deserves that!! Honestly Im surprised the gas tank made it through the summer. With the front deck staying intact it will give me options up there that I had not considered before.

 

[Moserkr]

You can reference my thread for what I did. I notated the posts below with the relevant info.

https://forums.iboats.com/threads/1...ton-for-punishment-splashed-july-2019.687763/


Post #498 has the CAD drawing my Admiral put together for me for the fuel tank. Post #513 has the first pictures I had of the unit prior to install. I added rubber to help prevent wearing over time and brackets to secure it to the stringers so it wont move. Post #523 shows where I dry fitted the fuel tank. Post #563 shows final placement.

That said, since you aren't looking to do full custom you do have options since you are leaving the front deck. I didn't have that option as Admiral and little Admiral still wanted a seat area when we are tubing at the lake. You can get a box style moeller fuel tank. With the extra height you have for the deck, you can find one of their smaller ones that should work with the added room. Just remember you can't use a red tank if it is permanent install under deck.



I installed two house batteries up in front of the passenger and driver side. You can see the idea in post #650/#651. I also centered my starting battery in the back. You can get a general idea in the picture in post #663. I installed my kicker I carry on the port side to help with my lean. Don't have any issues, but I haven't really been out fishing by myself yet. Admiral/Little Admiral and friends are happy company on the trips we have been taking.

SHSU

Thanks SHSU. I will reference your post and appreciate the exact post notations! I have some homework cut out for me.

It looks like I will have a lot of options with the fuel tank now if its under the front deck so Im happy about that. A belly tank would be ideal but if its not drop in then I wont bother with custom. Wont be long and Ill have the front deck up to start measuring, just need to make the wife happy and get some xmas decorations out of storage...

I will definitely look into battery placement once the rivets/gluvit and fuel tank issues are complete. My friend is a bit of a backyard mechanic type and not very thorough, and even though he is an electrician, the boats wiring was a mess. I had to clean it up and finish installing some stuff. My tach is still non-functioning so thats a whole different story... boat needs some love.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Cant wait to start and then reap the rewards of splashing her for fishing next spring. My little mate will be 3 next year and loves boats/fishing so looking forward to not always going alone!

 

[Watermann]

Love it, the first mate with his shark shirt

 

[Moserkr]

Yep @Watermann hes a good first mate. Already knows his way around the boat too!

@SHSU Read through your entire resto thread, not just the notated pages that I will reference later. Holy cow! So glad I only have a handful of rivets to do, not a carton!!
Both you and WM did amazing jobs on your boats. Im not quite ready for that level of work, so I feel lucky my boat is starting off in decent shape. I did notice yesterday that my splash well is in very rough shape, so that will have to be addressed later. Will see if its salvageable or if it gets the shsu treatment.

My wife told me she needs xmas ideas for me, and I said lets just get a gas tank for the boat . Yesterday we got all the xmas stuff done, tree, lights, etc. Today is clean n organize day, which includes the garage where our boat sits for now. So maybe late today or tomorrow I can get the front deck off the bow and measure my options out. Leaning towards the bow shaped moeller tank on iboats. I hear theres a discount code too for forum members?? Where can i find that?

If I fill my bow with a gas tank, ill just have to get creative with storage under my splash well and future rear bench seat. So far my transom looks to be in great shape, so Im really really hoping I dont need to mess with it. If I do so be it, but its not on my list yet.

Hope y’all had a happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Moserkr]

Story time about the work done to the boat so far...

After I got the boat in the early spring of 2020, I quickly realized the trailer needed the most work to make it safe to get to the lake. Lights didnt work, bunks were rotten, boat sat crooked on it, tires were rotten, winch post was held on by 1 bolt, tongue?was 4’ too long, and it had no jack. So... it got new tires, bunks, hitch, lights, winch post (from father in law), jack, and I chopped 4’ off the front to make it manageable. It used to be a tilt trailer that someone welded together so its technically homebuilt and still not “registered”. My friend at least put a brand new axle under it so thats nice. Will worry about license plates this spring haha. DMV was a nightmare in 2020.


Trailer work




Boat from my friend joe - original to his resto.

As for the boat, as I stated earlier not much was done by me to it except for the motor... I cleaned up the wiring and patched the gas tank. The motor though needed help. I dropped the lower, replaced all the seals that were leaking, changed the lower gear oil, and replaced the lower intake screens. J75TLCTE btw... Checked the spark plugs and they were new from my friend. He also replaced all the water jacket seals and head gasket as it had water in the lower cylinder when he had it. So the motor has holes in the side where he drilled through to get to bolts that are hard to reach, and he broke the fins off around the prop - but our other friend who builds custom jet boats welded them back up pretty good. Oh yea bought a few more props too as the one i got with it was damaged and wrong for it. Spark plug threads were also stripped so I had fuel/oil mix leaking out of the #2/3 cylinders as well when running. In my attempt to fix it, I fu@$&”($;! up the head... But I got the free stinger just in case and swapped heads until I can fix the old one properly with qualified help- its out of my league.
Is this motor rough? Yes it is... But the stinger look cherry so she will get a full rebuild after my boat fix up. And the current 75 runs fine once she gets started, so im going by the aint broke/dont fix her right now. She will get a carb rebuild and also a working tach during my refresh but that will come last.


Motor work...


Stinger story... Was on craigslist looking for spare motors since I knew mine was rough. Figured if I could get one that matched Id have spare parts or a swap standing by. Stumbled upon a free 1967 glasspar 2 hours away with the stinger on back! Sent the lady a text and was there the next day - i know how free stuff works online, im fast. I show up and it has 2 flats, and the stinger is about to fall off the rotting transom. Its trashed but the motor and trailer are nice. I should have kept the trailer but the SS minnow would have sunk in the process. I had taken my trailer tires off and put my boat on blocks (redneck), and luckily they fit the other trailer. Ratchet strapped the stinger in place and dragged her home. In less than 36 hours I had the stinger on a stand in my garage and gave the boat/trailer away to a guy restoring a 1967 glasspar - he needed trim pieces and my donor boat had them all. It was a win win for everyone - except the guy who owned the glasspar/stinger originally - his wife gave me the boat cause he had too many projects and didnt work on it for three years.... it was an eyesore in their nice neighborhood and i dont know her family, but man thats rough if your wife gives away your projects. But hey, it all went to good homes where it will be given the attention it deserved.


I also added the 6 fishing rod holders and 2 big jon manual down riggers to the starcraft, and a trolling plate to the motor. I took off the kicker mount since I dont want one. Funny, I found the boat from my friend by looking for the down riggers.... he said I have one you can have for free. Come down to go fishing and ill give it to you. After a day of not catching fish, we got the down rigger and I see the boat sitting there. I asked my friend Joe - is that boat for sale?? He said “my wife will sell it to you”. Knowing its his boat, I caught his drift - they had a baby due in a few months and were moving houses.

Sometimes what happens in life is just meant to be. Here I am now....

My first boat I sold to buy the starcraft.


My friend’s custom jet boat (#2) that him and a friend build for fun using flat bottom boats and repurposed jet ski motors. They are the ones that welded my current 75 Johnson’s lower. Amazing custom work - they should be on a forum but are not that I know of.
Story times over. On to cleaning and work, then hopefully the boat.

 

[classiccat]

Thank you for the photo dump @Moserkr !

I have to admit, the green made me a little nauseated at 1st but it's starting to grow on me.

Good call on getting that trailer made right!

 

[Moserkr]

Thanks @classiccat the trailer was a good start. Glad you liked the photo dump lol - everyones up to speed now, the rest will be new. Got rid of the name “sea-note” too as you can see in the old pics. It has 3 different shades of green and thats honestly the only thing that really bothers me, the green hull and floor color that matches is actually pretty awesome. The other issue though was my friends doing the custom jet boats (pics above) had been building one with the exact same bright green and had a hulk theme going. Joe and I are friends with those guy’s and Joe (po) ripped off the color scheme for his build.... add in that and my wife hates the green so its getting changed.

Got my shed, garage, and outside cleaned up. Even moved some stuff out of the boat so shes ready for the shop vac, clean out, and initial breakdown of the hull area. Realized I have a half tank of gas thats going to need to be removed so that will be fun haha. Im self employed so Im off to go to a meeting this evening, then maybe Ill get to dig into the boat tomorrow. Somehow Im trying to balance all this with a toddler, wife, business, and hunting season. Soon as bear season closes at the end of december though, this project will get my full attention. Until then I will be ordering parts and making plans. Being on this forum will help me stay focused at least and the light at the end of my planned tunnel is at least not very far.
Cheers!!

 

[SHSU]

Love the photos!!!

The green is starting to grow on me too. Your buddy really did a job matching everything, even down to the calipers and differential cover.

The Motor:
What pitch is the prop you have on her now? I think I had a 19 and dropped it to 15. Works well to handle pulling the tube at the lake and still fast enough for runs out of Galveston to the Jetty.

I would try and source a new Cylinder Head if possible or figure out a way to remove that sheared bolt. Not a place you want water being able to come through.... That said, my motor is a Frankenstein one as well. Has a power head from '77 and a chassis from'74. While I don't have the random drill throughs trying to access bolts, I do have some interesting fixes...

Either way this will be a fun one to follow.

SHSU

 

[Moserkr]

Glad you like em @SHSU haha. You have a good eye for the details I left out. My buddy matched up his axles of his XJ to the boat. He had a lot of projects....

In the pics the boat started out with a 19p 4 blade that was 14+” diameter, so im pretty sure it contacted the lower at some point and broke the fins which are now welded. I got a 15p with the stinger and bought a 17p hustler on c-list, both 13?” and 3 blade. The 15p did not work well at my altitude (4-5k’) and spun way too fast, did not get me out of the hole well. The 17p hustler is great, im out of the hole decent and i get to 30mph when its calm. I hear other people go faster with similar setups so im assuming my motor still has some issues i will discover later. That oversized 4 blade did pop me out of the hole really fast though but topped out at a smooth 20mph according to my fish finder gps.

Its funny you noticed the water jacket head cover with the broken bolt lodged in it since I didnt mention it in my previous story.
Part 2: lol When I was swapping the stinger head with good spark plugs threads to the 75 on my boat with bad spark plug threads, i obviously broke that bolt. We were supposed to go on vacation to the lake in a week so I patched it up and ran it with that bolt missing. Now, it sounds and looks worse than it is... lol. That bolt does not pass through into the cylinder head itself. If it leaks, it will be to other areas of the water jacket or out into the back of the outboard itself, outside the block. I put a new gasket on and sealed that hole with the broken bolt with blue gasket maker (father in law's suggestion). Ran it half the summer with no issues so Im going to say that it works... for now lol. I absolutely 100% agree with you that I need either a new head, or I can have the ruined spark plug hole welded shut and retap it completely. Even a sert is out of the question at this point... as is all that work im unqualified to do.

When I read your thread I saw there was a whole different one for your motor so I will check that out one day. The 70 and 75 are very similar. I have limited mechanical skills which cost me one head. I can still get that bolt out and keep the one good head alive (I broke the bolt remover off in it too lol). Keeping an eye out for another donor motor is now par for the course.

I know two things about boats - something will break, and it wont be cheap to fix it. That being said I bought my old boat for $2000, sold it for $2500 3 years later, and got a new, bigger one for $1500 + a free motor. After my little upgrades and a summer of fun, Im about even. Pretty sure im in a boating twilight zone.... will snap out of it tomorrow when i remove the bow deck haha.

 

[classiccat]

@Moserkr I've had good luck with the save-a-thread inserts for spark plug threads. My method with pics is here: Link.

1. Remove head.
2. retap hole with save-a-thread tap tool (uses existing threads to simultaneously upsize the hole and retap...pretty slick)
3. clean threads of insert & newly tapped head.
4. put some antiseize on a spark plug and thread the insert onto the plug...knurled end would go against the spark plug washer.
5. put red loctite on the outer insert threads
6. screw the plug / insert into head and torque above the spark plug torque spec. So normally plugs get torqued to 18 ftlb. I torque the insert to 25 ftlb. It helps to have the head temporarily installed on the engine so that it doesn't spin.
7. allow the red loctite to cure for 24hrs.
8. After 24hrs has elapsed, remove the spark plug; it should come right out and the insert should stay in place.
9. Remove head and verify that the inside is flush with the inner head dome.
10. If good, use the staking tool to sink the insert's "spikes" into head aluminum.
11. going forward, use your torque wrench when installing plugs.

 

[Moserkr]

@classiccat unfortunately my repair trying that already failed at step 2 and the hole is now void of threads, as well as closer to 17-18mm (normally 16mm i believe). It would need an oversize sert if anything as the standard fits with room to spare. Admittedly I mangled the heck out of it. So the current head on the boat is off the stinger and its working good for now. I dont know if I can save the original head because of what I did plus the #2 cylinder plug threads need repair as well (following your steps above). #3 cylinder is the one I mangled. #1 is ok but not great. Motor on the boat has scoring in the cylinders from po when gaskets failed and water got into the #2&3 cylinders as well. The stinger’s cylinders look brand new, actually the whole stinger motor looks brand new, hardly used. Just sat in the NV desert for a while.

Plan for the motors would be to fix the mangled original head or replace it, then swap it back onto the motor on the boat. Once I have the stinger’s head free again, repair that broken bolt and restore the stinger. I already have 90% of the gaskets to do that, just need another throttle control. Or if the 75 on the boat dies, cannibalize it and resurrect the stinger.

When I look at time vs money though, I may also just consider a new or used 4-stroke yamaha or something if Im sitting dead in the water one day. Will cross that bridge when I get there. Also depends on if I stay in CA (want to leave) and run the boat in the ocean going after cod and rockfish. Really not trying to think about the motors at this point lol, unless a new head or someone qualified to repair the old head comes around.

 

[SHSU]

Glad you like em @SHSU haha. You have a good eye for the details I left out. My buddy matched up his axles of his XJ to the boat. He had a lot of projects.....

lol, I will admit at the beginning of the project I was so wired to make everything match and show room finished. After a year, it was more of match and less show room finish. Add another year (2 years now), it was get it done right and don't worry about the cosmetics as much. Now I am glad I didn't worry about the cosmetics as much in the end, since we do a lot of anchor fishing in the Gulf things get scratched up easy with pulling and setting anchors. I will say I am very happy with the Nautolex Vinyl on the gunwales. They have held up well and don't see them being any issue over time either.

In the pics the boat started out with a 19p 4 blade that was 14+” diameter, so im pretty sure it contacted the lower at some point and broke the fins which are now welded. I got a 15p with the stinger and bought a 17p hustler on c-list, both 13?” and 3 blade. The 15p did not work well at my altitude (4-5k’) and spun way too fast, did not get me out of the hole well. The 17p hustler is great, im out of the hole decent and i get to 30mph when its calm. I hear other people go faster with similar setups so im assuming my motor still has some issues i will discover later. That oversized 4 blade did pop me out of the hole really fast though but topped out at a smooth 20mph according to my fish finder gps.

I can get 30 mph with both my 19 and 15 prop, as you indicated, hull shot is better on the 15P. With how old the engine is I want to error on side of caution so tend to only push to mid to high 4k RPM. The 15P is easier on the motor. So we cruise out around 25-28 mph on our runs to the jetty.

Its funny you noticed the water jacket head cover with the broken bolt lodged in it since I didnt mention it in my previous story.
Part 2: lol When I was swapping the stinger head with good spark plugs threads to the 75 on my boat with bad spark plug threads, i obviously broke that bolt. We were supposed to go on vacation to the lake in a week so I patched it up and ran it with that bolt missing. Now, it sounds and looks worse than it is... lol. That bolt does not pass through into the cylinder head itself. If it leaks, it will be to other areas of the water jacket or out into the back of the outboard itself, outside the block. I put a new gasket on and sealed that hole with the broken bolt with blue gasket maker (father in law's suggestion). Ran it half the summer with no issues so Im going to say that it works... for now lol. I absolutely 100% agree with you that I need either a new head, or I can have the ruined spark plug hole welded shut and retap it completely. Even a sert is out of the question at this point... as is all that work im unqualified to do.

When I read your thread I saw there was a whole different one for your motor so I will check that out one day. The 70 and 75 are very similar. I have limited mechanical skills which cost me one head. I can still get that bolt out and keep the one good head alive (I broke the bolt remover off in it too lol). Keeping an eye out for another donor motor is now par for the course.

Yep, very familiar with my 70... lol Also, I had no experience with a motor other then how to do my own oil change. Otherwise YouTube and this forum provided the extra help I needed to figure it out. A lot of hours spent researching and figuring things out.

The 70 vs 75 is a carburetor change, otherwise everything else is the same. As for the water jacket, you are correct that it is exterior and the issue is could cause a leak to your spark plug. Main concern is to not cause a short that ruins your Stator or Power pack.

When I look at time vs money though, I may also just consider a new or used 4-stroke yamaha or something if Im sitting dead in the water one day. Will cross that bridge when I get there. Also depends on if I stay in CA (want to leave) and run the boat in the ocean going after cod and rockfish. Really not trying to think about the motors at this point lol, unless a new head or someone qualified to repair the old head comes around.

I was seriously looking at upgrading to a new Evinrude (before they shutdown....), but in the end couldn't justify the upfront cost. Plus, I like the fact I can work on this motor myself. Its like a car, they are getting so computerized a normal handyman can't work on them anymore.

SHSU

 

[Moserkr]

@SHSU Im definitely at the point already where Im not sweating cosmetics much. Good from afar yet far from good is alright by me. Its a 31 year old boat! I intended to treat her as such, just as I treat my truck like a truck (even though its new haha). Just added a dent yesterday lol.

Good to know Im in the ballpark for mph with my motor/prop. I wish I had a working tach so right now I run her by how it sounds and feels. Will say I go WOT pretty much constantly, and even pulled my friend’s kid on a tube with it. I was able to scare and toss her 16 year old athletic daughter who thought she was invincible haha.

Having the plugged water jacket leak onto a spark plug and ruin my electronics never crossed my mind *doh*. Thanks... I guess I will be addressing that problem sooner than later then.

I had met a guy last summer who told me I could get a used 60ish hp used for around $3k. If both my current motors ran, I could get more than that off them out here and go new-used. Ill try to get my winter boat projects done so I can focus on the motors after that.

Did not get to the bow yesterday since my dryer threw a code saying my vents were blocked. Wife said “yea that code popped up 6 months ago and I ignored it” . Vent wasnt up to code and had all sorts of issues, long story short theres a proper new 4” hole in my wall 4’ from the dryer instead of 20’, and its now permanently fixed.

Going to get to the bow after lunch here soon, and start having fun! Also been contemplating the rear SW and bench seat I was planning. I really really like the starweld flex 17 rear flip seat that turns into a casting deck... anyone ever done that to theirs or do I need to be the first??