The '53 25hp johnson rides again...

[jbjennings]

Or should I say pushes again. The old thing ran pretty nice with not a lot of work. the biggest problem was hand machining a spacer for the transom bracket with a grinder, cutting torch, and gigantic steel washer. I wish I could find a brass one but they wanted 80 bucks at the machine shop to make me one and I couldn't make myself do it since I'm not going to run it more than 4 tanks of gas a year. As Steve said, it makes a lot of racket and quite a bit of vibration but seems to have 25 true horsepower. It's nice and speedy. I thought someone might be interested in seeing a pic of it running before I put some insulation in the cowl, a new pull cord and pull cord handle, and repaint/decal it. Then I'll post a new pic.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: The '53 25hp johnson rides again...

Way cool JB! Gotta love those goose-egg cowled Johnsons from the early 50's. You gonna redo the paint/decals? I finally got a new clutch dog in my 57 Big Twin and can't wait to get some time to take it to the lake for a test/speed run. I'm still looking for another Big Twin so I can have twin Big Twins on the back of the Texas Maid, or maybe a Johnson 35 Javelin. Hows the pup getting along? Can he handle the tiller yet?

 

[jbjennings]

Re: The '53 25hp johnson rides again...

Hey Tim,
Yes, I've been wanting one of those Johnson 25's for a while. I like the '51 model the best, and am considering using '51 decals on it, but don't know if I have the heart to redo it and then put the wrong decals on it.
I'm eager to see your boat when you get it like you want it. I think it will really be beautiful with two bigtwins.

Lately it's been really interesting at my place.
I got a brand new baby boy July 25th--we named him Coop. (Gary Cooper is my favorite actor) I wanted to make his middle name Heston after another of my heroes, you'll have to guess which one, but my wife wouldn't go for it. He's blonde headed like my dad so he's very pleased.

the pup is o.k. but not nearly as nice as the pup I'm training for a fellow who I sold a dog to years ago and it died recently. His dog shames mine. It's already sitting, staying, heeling, retrieving to hand and coming to heel, making water retrieves, etc. He's only about 12 weeks old. I'm still trying to nurture the retrieval instinct in mine.

But, all in all, things are going exceptionally well for me.
Let me know if you go to an aomci meet this spring in Texas. It'd be fun to meet up and see each others old motors.
Later,
Jason