Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

[lakelover]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Good news. It's amazing how some of these websites can seem like fly by night operations, but if you take the chance sometimes they have the best deals. A lot of them are probably old timers in the business without a lot of computer savvy.

1963--we're practically twins!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Good news. It's amazing how some of these websites can seem like fly by night operations, but if you take the chance sometimes they have the best deals. A lot of them are probably old timers in the business without a lot of computer savvy.

1963--we're practically twins!

And that is probably the case, older guy that had a website setup at one point...

how ever; I did some minor digging when I had 5min of free time at work, and I found some info by searching for his phone number...
several different sites list the same, and I found several ads on ebay...

maybe they all contract out to the same support/dist, or he has friends in the business...

it was a little odd though.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Well hopefully I will get to splash the Jet this weekend!

My wife has been hogging the camera, but I got a little done...

Installed black marine vinyl on the gunwales

It took a little bit of thought on how to attatch, but I finally got the bright idea to use a strip of aluminium and used that at the top under the inner rubrail channel to hold the top of the vinyl up, then used rivets to hold that to the sides.

Lower half I used a strip of angle aluminium to hold it on and to trim it up...

looks tons better, and it was an easy way to cover all of the holes the PO drilled for the fishing rod holders (I need to move them).

I also made a new board to mount the merc control onto, the one I slapped together was going to be to hard to wrap with vinyl, and it was a big ugly

I coated that and the rear bench with epoxy last night, will fit today after work hopefully.


I also ordered another set of control cables, my hope is to get dual controls setup so if needed I can use the kicker to get back to the dock/trailer if something goes wrong with the 65.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I didn't even get a shipping note, Gib. Just about the time I was going to call UPS knocked on the door with the belt. One good thing that site has is the parts diagrams/listings. It seems their prices for OEM parts are good. Hope you wrest the camera from the Admiral and get some splash pics.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I took a few pictures as I was setting up the new control pannel, I just need to upload them...

I also bought a battery last night, costco had two sizes of marine battery, small and jumbo, I bought the jumbo

Labled as starting/marine battery

it almost did not fit under the splashwell...

fishfinder powered on, engine cranks (gave it a quick test), and choke clicks

 

[InMotion]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I took a few pictures as I was setting up the new control pannel, I just need to upload them...

I also bought a battery last night, costco had two sizes of marine battery, small and jumbo, I bought the jumbo

Labled as starting/marine battery

it almost did not fit under the splashwell...

fishfinder powered on, engine cranks (gave it a quick test), and choke clicks

Glad to see you have got the camera back from "corporate"! Looking forward to seeing your progress shots. That must be a bigggg battery to not fit under the splashwell.... but it did so pheew!

IM

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Glad to see you have got the camera back from "corporate"! Looking forward to seeing your progress shots. That must be a bigggg battery to not fit under the splashwell.... but it did so pheew!

IM

lol

I bought a battery box and stuff, but it will not fit under there with the battery box.

Still shooting to splash this puppy tomorrow or sunday.

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Well...

I have a bunch of pictures I need to edit the size on and upload...



And I spashed the Jet yesterday!

I tossed a 50lb bag of play sand in the front of the boat for some front weight; when moving the boat out of the garage I noticed how light the front was...

I was a bit rear heavy, but not to bad.
but I also had about 8 gal of fuel in the rear of the boat...

Only issue I had was a primer bulb failure, so I ended up running my trolling motor fuel tank that had about 2gal of fuel in it, and it was all fuel left over from last season...

I only managed about an hour out on the lake, but it went great!

The dist on this engine does stick a little, so when hitting the throttle it has a slight delay until the dist advances.

It got up and out of the water quickly, and got going at a pretty good clip, but I was expecting faster.

The fishfinder would not get out of demo mode, so I never got to try it out

I did figure out what the issue was, the transducer plug was not mounted correctly in the quick detatch mount (my fault) tested it in the drive way and it's finally working correctly, and giving me more menu options

next weekend I'll get more time on the lake, but so far so good

pictures very soon...

 

[InMotion]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Good for you Gibbles!!!! Another 2012 splash! I bet that feels pretty durn good... a few things to tweak... but just another excuse to have a splash # 2!!!

Might have to wait a week... i'll tell you it was a bit shocking to go outside today at 5:00am... I had to put a toque on (wolly hat for everyone south of the border or who don't remember Bob and Doug McKenzie from the 80's!!). Enjoy the ride man!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Pictures!


First a shot of the new control pannel, and my first attempt at vinyl.

Carpet installed at the front

Pre splash

Splashed!

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Starcraft in the water

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Well I'll be darned! Tin really floats. Everything looks great, Gib. And sounds like you had a good shake down cruise. Some little probs but that's a good reason for another test drive. You might have to shoot some grease in the two nipples on the distributor.

All in all, it sounds like you had a great Sunday. Two thumbs up!!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

What a cool little boat. I am thinking the overpowered motor + the kicker is a little much on the stern of her though.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Great looking rig & well done vinyl controls mount!

Looks fantastic sitting at the end of that dock section!

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Thanks

And yeah, the kicker might be a bit much for her, but the though of running that quiet little fuel sipping motor while fishing makes me grin

Also; I have the engine trimmed all the way down, when at speed it really forces the front end down
Enough that I get a little bit of a roster tail from the 65... I will have to work on that...

Once I get the nova done, I may have to rethink the whole thing.

 

[InMotion]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

Looks great Gibbles... love the snow capped mountain back drop!! As far as weight in the back goes... you could always just put a lovely uhhhhhhh mermaid on the bow!

Enjoy... I bet it feels really good at this point to have it splashed and ready for the spring/summer season.

Jim

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I'm going to toss another 50lb bag of sand and see how it sits in the water, but once I get the 12gal fuel tank up front I think it will be ok.

Right now I also have the fuel in the back adding to the problem (about 48lbs).

And the weight of that massive battery also...

 

[InMotion]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I'm going to toss another 50lb bag of sand and see how it sits in the water, but once I get the 12gal fuel tank up front I think it will be ok.

Right now I also have the fuel in the back adding to the problem (about 48lbs).

And the weight of that massive battery also...

You should be much better off then as effectively you are not only eliminating 100+ lbs from the back, but adding 100+ the front. Just watch your trailer tongue weight... What do u tow with?

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

You should be much better off then as effectively you are not only eliminating 100+ lbs from the back, but adding 100+ the front. Just watch your trailer tongue weight... What do u tow with?

I tow with an S10 blazer (4.3l)

 

[Gibbles]

Re: Merc 65hp on a Jet Star? (now with pictures!)

I managed to sneak out to the lake again this weekend, all went well

With new fuel it ran much better and had lots more power

I brought the GPS with me to check top speed, it's about 35mph.


Fishfinder also works great, no issues

If I get the speed sensor it will show everything I need except for a tach

And there is an issue with the charging system with the 65, it does not charge the battery at all.

After I got home I went ahead and changed the timing belt, and attempted to hookup my timing light, I was able to check the idle timing, but the light went out pretty quick...
So knowing I needed to retard the timing I went at it by ear, seems to run better in the tank, and seems to have a smoother transition from ide to full power, but I will be able to verify at the lake next weekend.

Stator also looks nice and clean, so I'll look at the rectifier later down the road... not a big issue though

Well clean other than the rust on the pickups, I used some 600grit paper to clean them up.

I will work on it later, but the battery seem to have plenty of juice to keep me going all day long.