The best way to bring a boat back to life

[ihc1470]

First post. So this was my parents boat, believe it is a 1975 year model Apollo tri-hull. It was last licensed in 1992. It has been stored in a garage since. I want to see this boat back on the water. The main engine has 51 hours on it according to the hour meter. It is a MerCruiser 120 with a #3954793. The stern drive # is 3990794. There are no signs of freeze damage and Dad was always pretty good about draining the water. However I am sure he did not plan on it sitting this many years and it was not prepared for long term storage. I have the carburetor apart at the moment cleaning it. Does it need to be repainted black when done? If so what type of paint. I would think the fuel pump should be replaced having sit this long. I have not determined yet how the fuel tank comes out. It sits in the left rear corner of the boat. I do not see any straps holding it into place so not sure how it is secured. There is about 3 inches of old fuel in the tank. It is not as bad as some tanks I have seen but I would like to remove the tank to clean it.

The stern drive has been stored in the up position and from what I can gather here that is hard on the bellows. So I plan on pulling the drive and replacing what ever rubber parts I find there along with the water pump impeller. Would it be possible while the drive is off to run the engine? Can I connect water somehow to the cooling system? I am thinking it might be nice to know that the engine runs before putting a lot of parts into the stern drive. It is a hour drive to the nearest location that I could put the boat into water. I do see the straps hanging on the wall that he used to wrap around the stern drive to pump water into the engine.

Since I plan on going through the drive unit will I do any damage to it cranking the engine over testing compression? I have heard stories of burning out the water pump impeller in a few seconds, that I plan on replacing so no big deal there.I have turned the engine by hand just enough to know that it is not stuck. I will pull the spark plugs and get some oil in the cylinders before I do much more. Plan to also drain the engine oil and replace before cranking the engine. After this many years of sitting I usually find the distributor weights are gummy from old stiff grease. While I have it out I will see if I can run the oil pump and prime the oil system.

I am ASE certified mechanic. I have brought several other projects back to life over the years. This is the first marine application though. A few more questions that are marine specific. Is the fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump anything special or is it just fuel line like used in the automotive trade? Anything special I should be looking for while I start this project? In no particular order here are the plans. Clean fuel system, replacing any rubber parts. Replace the fuel pump to prevent a failure in the near future. Change engine oil and filter. Change the alternator and water pump belt. Replace the battery. Go through the stern drive replacing rubber parts and changing out the oil. That is providing I do not see something that would suggest the engine is junk. At this point externally I do not find anything suggesting that. A compression test and or cylinder leakage test should give me a little better idea of engine internal health. Is there a suggestion on how to turn the engine by hand? Without pulling the front motor mount I can not see how you can get to the crank pulley nut. Tried turning at the alternator but to much slippage to move the engine much. I see that mount needs to come off to replace the belt so maybe I will just go that route first. For those who have been here before, should I plan on alignment of the engine afterwards or will it come back into the correct spot if I do not change any sittings of that mount?

Thanks for any help or advice in advance. I probably will not be able to get to some of this before winter as I farm and this is coming up on the busy time of my year. Harvest and then turn around and reseed the land. If I find a few free moments here and there I would like to be working on the easier things on this project. If all goes well I am hoping to take Dad out on the water in the spring of 2016. I just got his motor home running after a 19 year sleep. I don't fish much any more but this might bring back a few memories when we were both much younger and once in awhile would slip over to the near by lake to spend a day on the water.

 

[johnzonh]

Sounds like you got a good handle on things. Doing something similar on mine after several years of a stored boat and a few prior owners. There are some really great guys on this forum that can chime in. From my experience I would say do everything in manageable pieces. I resurrected my engine first after doing the impeller and wire brushing electrics to shiny connections to get the engine turned and compression tested. I knew I would get a good year out of the out drive so I saved the transom job for this year. Gimbal bearing. Bellows. Shift cable. Get rid of rust and calcium etc.

Last thing for now is the fun stuff that people can see.

As for the carb. Will it really matter? Up to you! You can direct connect the water inlet and take the drive off so you don't burn the impeller

Oh before forget. Spend some time on the boat restoration forum. Just when you think there isn't rot below your feet or in the transom......

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... If ya go up to Don'S Adults Only section at the top of this forum, you'll find a winterization thread, 'n a summerization thread,....

'tween the 2 of 'em, ya oughta get a real solid grasp of the service points in our I/Os,...

 

[gm280]

Being an SAE certified mechanic will certainly help identifying things that just don't look right. Other then that, the usual boating things that one would normal do yearly should be a great place to start... Make certain that the floor and stringers and for sure the transom are solid as a rock and no soft spots at all. If you do find any rotted wood structure, you have to fix those things before boating. It is a huge safety issue and safety has to be number one... Keep posting and even post pictures of your efforts for us to see and help you along... We love pictures. JMHO!

 

[ihc1470]

Well I got the carb back together this afternoon. No corrosion so the rebuild should be a success story. I did a rattle can O/H to top it off, not sure that will help anything but guess it looks original again. Took another look at the fuel tank, it would appear to be about half full of fuel but I can see the bottom of the tank and see no signs of goo or other nasty's so think I lucked out there and can leave the tank in the hull. It has plywood sides built around it that are stapled together and that looks to have been fiberglass to the hull. I see no signs of tank straps to hold the tank in place. I pulled the pickup tube and it still flows fuel and the check valve still works both good signs that the fuel has not broken down to badly. Just have to determine the best way to safely remove the old fuel at this point. I will try for some pictures before long. At this point the shed needs cleaned out before the boat can come out. I know everyone finds it hard to believe that things got tossed in front of a boat after 20 plus years of sitting. Thanks for the reply's. Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads on here.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Any rubber fuel hose has to be marine rated which is type A1 fuel hose I believe. It has a longer burn time than regular hose before failure.

 

[ihc1470]

Eric thank you for the information on the fuel line. I suspected it would be something special. I plan on replacing the line from the tank to the fuel pump. It looks fine but due to the age I feel it would be worth it to start out again with new line.

 

[Watermann]

Before firing the motor up I would remove the spark plugs shoot some fogging oil in the cylinders.A compression test would be good too in order to check the motors health. I wouldn't try starting it up with muffs on due to the age of the impeller it could frag and then be pushed into the cooling system. the best bet would be to insert a garden hose in the water intake hole after removing the out drive.

 

[ihc1470]

Finally finding a little time to start working on this project. Drained the old fuel out of the tank today. From what I can see through the fuel sender opening the inside of the tank looks quite well for sitting this long with about 10 gallons of fuel in it. From some of the ideas I have read on the net I think I am going to try E85 fuel and let it sit for a few days and then pump it back out of the tank. Then I will replace the rubber lines and probably will replace the fuel pump too just to be safe. I went through the carb last summer and it is reinstalled. At that point I need to get it out of the shed where stored and either move it to the shop or see if I can turn it around and then get it back into the shed. Would like to remove the stern drive and replace the bellows and other rubber items. It has been stored in the up position all these years so I am sure the bellows has taken a sit. I see on of the tires is flat on the trailer too. So at this point just need to start doing a bunch of maintenance items to get it ready to fire back up. I should see if I can run down a bore scope and see what the cylinder walls look like. Maybe a trip to Harbor Freight will be in order. When I get it out of the shed will try to take a few pictures of this project.

 

[ihc1470]

No E85 to be purchased in this area. The only station that sold it no longer does. So probably will look at using lacquer thinner. Ordered a new fuel pump today. Still need to get it out of the shed so I can work on the back end of the boat. I plan on taking the drive off the boat for service and to replace bellows etc. Is there any reason I could not run the engine while that is off if I connect water for cooling? Would be nice to be able to run for awhile and check for issues before getting it back out on water. Where would the water connection be if I did this? I plan on replacing the impeller in the lower unit before putting back into service. Don't know if it was ever done and I would assume sitting for 20 years has not done it any favors.

 

[Fishermark]

I take it this is not a high priority project?

Yes - you certainly need to replace the impeller in the outdrive. Look up in the stickies at the top of the page to see how to pressure test the drive. You will want to do that after draining the oil - before you put new oil in.

And yes - you can run the engine with the drive off. Simply stuff a hose into the hole on the transom assembly - where the outdrive had supplied the water.

You've mentioned a couple of times about replacing the fuel pump. That is a good idea as well. OR - since you are handy - you can also buy a rebuild kit for your pump. It is pretty easy to do.

 

[ihc1470]

Fishermark, No this is not a high priority project but am hoping to have it finished by spring. Yesterday hauled off several pickup loads of stuff (junk)that had been piled in around the boat over the years. I hope to get it pulled out and moved into the shop in the next little while. So today I pulled out the old fuel line 3/8 inch that went from tank to fuel pump. It will be replaced with new. I have a new fuel pump in hand Airtex 60032 which is supposed to replace the #47585 Mercury pump.The one thing I am confused about is the new pump has a fitting for the vent line. The old pump did not. There is only one line running from the old pump to the carb which is the steel fuel line. I am pretty sure Dad never had any work done on the fuel system and I broke the paint on the steel line that goes to the carb tonight when I took it off the pump so unless someone painted it in the past I am thinking it is factory original. I looked through the owners manual but they do not have any clear pictures of the fuel pump or carb so that did not help. The parts manual talks about the vent line and does show it off by itself in the picture. At this point I do not recall if there was a fitting on the carb for the vent to connect to or not. Need tp get a light around the old fuel pump and see just how in the heck it was vented.

I did install 10 gallon of lacquer thinner into the fuel tank which brought it above the old fuel line level that I could see. I will let it sit for a couple of days and see if it cuts the remains of the old fuel off the tank or not. The boat also has a 7.5 hp Mercury trolling motor so I pulled that fuel tank out of the boat today and drained it. It looked pretty clean inside but the fuel line needs replaced. That motor turned over when I pulled the rope. Not sure if the carb was drained the last time it was used or not. The fuel line was connected to the motor. I will find out quick enough I guess.

Also noticed that after 20 years or so of sitting that the air has escaped from the left tire on the trailer. I would think that old air would be stale anyway so maybe it is just as well its gone!! I do plan on pulling the wheels and checking the bearings etc. before it heads for the water the first time. I noticed the tires were 6.70x15 LT tires so who knows when or where Dad found those. I will upgrade them to radials.

As of now I have fuel line to order for both motors. Figure out what the heck is going on with the vent for the fuel pump.(Maybe someone will jump on here with a picture or two of what it should really be.) Get it moved over to the shop so I can work on the stern drive and then get into that. My plans are to change all the rubber parts and oils and do an inspection. At this point I am not anticipating finding anything that will be wore out but there may be damage from a long time of sitting. I may find other issues as I continue on but for now that is the plan of attack.

And I will take a few pictures when I get it out where I can.

 

[ihc1470]

Took a few minutes to look at things this morning. The original fuel pump which is still on the engine looks to have a plug driven into the location where the vent tube is on the new fuel pump. There is no vent tube to be found on the carb although I can see in the casting where they may have planned on putting one. The Rochester # on the carb is 7043182 and the Merc tag is 1351-5202A1. Those numbers I find list on the web as the one and same carb. So my conclusion for what ever reason, there never was a way for the fuel pump vent to the carb. The hour meter on the engine shows 51 or so hours, since it was my Dad's boat and I mechanic I am sure if there ever were any issues I either would have heard about it or would have been asked to look at it. Looking at the PDF file of the parts breakdown again this morning it looks like they are showing a fitting that would drive into a hole in the carb and is listed as the carb end fitting. The fuel pump fitting is shown as a threaded fitting. Both look like barbed fittings and would have a hose slipped on to them. That would make since to me. On EBay I found someone that pictured the carb and it did have a fitting in the location I would have assumed it would be. So has anyone else run into this issue. This does appear to all be factory so not sure why there was never a vent line from the pump to carb and the fuel pump is plugged..

 

[ihc1470]

So I would like to get the rubber parts coming for the stern drive. The serial number for that unit is #3990794. Not sure if you can match a year to the serial number but I am thinking it should fall into a range of 1973 to 1975. The operation and maintenance manual C-90-66113 is dated 5/73 and the boat is registered as a 1975. So is there some sort of kit that I can order or is it all individual parts? I am thinking all the oils should be changed at the same time. OEM or aftermarket parts or do they even make aftermarket. And what all do I need to replace? Bellows, cable boots, water pump impeller, exhaust coupler? and thing else.

 

[Fishermark]

The older boats did not have the safety provision for the vent line. It came later. I have some pics of my old carb - will look and post some pics that may help you.

 

[Fishermark]

Here's a pic of the old carb on the boat I used to own. Not sure if it is completely like yours or not... but may give you an idea of where the vent line can go. The barb fitting pictured at the top of the carb is where the vent line goes.

The fitting at the bottom of the pump is for the vent line.

 

[Fishermark]

So I would like to get the rubber parts coming for the stern drive. The serial number for that unit is #3990794. Not sure if you can match a year to the serial number but I am thinking it should fall into a range of 1973 to 1975. The operation and maintenance manual C-90-66113 is dated 5/73 and the boat is registered as a 1975. So is there some sort of kit that I can order or is it all individual parts? I am thinking all the oils should be changed at the same time. OEM or aftermarket parts or do they even make aftermarket. And what all do I need to replace? Bellows, cable boots, water pump impeller, exhaust coupler? and thing else.

On the drive itself, you want to pressure test it as mentioned earlier. That will tell you what, if any seals, etc need to be replaced. Otherwise, in the drive itself, just the water pump assembly and/or impeller.

Certainly replace the drive bellows and shift bellows. If there is any resistance in the shift cable itself, go ahead and replace the shift cable assembly.

You might consider replacing the shift shaft seals with the upgraded version. Easy to do and not very expensive. Here's a good site to find oem part numbers. You can then order what you need form them or shop around and cross reference the numbers to aftermarket if you want.

 

[ihc1470]

Spent the afternoon checking the motor out a little more. First time actually I really tried to see if it was stuck or not. It is not. Pulled the plugs and squirted some oil in the cylinders and turned it over about 4 revolutions on the crank. Looking at it with a bore scope the cylinder walls look good and I do not see signs of rust so unless there are some stuck rings things should be good there. Pulled the fuel pump off to replace and removed the distributor to clean up and lube. It also needs the primary wire replaced as the insulation is very brittle.

Also working on the trailer brakes and wheel bearings. The brakes are a 12x2 electric system and though the lining was in fair shape it was a strange shoe as it was a one piece shoe with no way to make adjustments for wear that I could see. The insulators were not in the best of condition where they passed through the backing plate so I elected to replace the complete assembly. The bearings themselves appear to be fine so cleaning and repacking should put that back into good shape.

I need to pull the air horn back off the carb so I can drill and install the vent fitting for the fuel pump line. Not sure why that was not done originally but I do plan on making that update.

The door is froze down getting into the shop where I can pull the stern drive off so that part of the project is on hold until the weather warms some. Has been sitting at zero for a few days but did get back up to about 25 today. So while I am waiting for a little warmer weather so I can get doors open I am working on the items that I can access where it is sitting now. I need to find some sort of small pan to go under the motor to drain the oil. I plan on installing a remote hose I can fish out the back for future oil changes when I go back together. Once I get the oil drained and refilled and before I reinstall the distributor I will run the oil pump with a drill and prelube the engine. Looking through the oil fill hole in the valve cover I can not see any oil anymore so want to get oil back up on top and get the lifters filled back up too.

I am sure I will open a can of worms with this question but here goes. What are the recommendations for lube in the stern drive? The quicksilver products or something else? I talked to the local marina and they gave me the impression they were just using brand x products. I would lean towards the quicksilver products if I can get them but that may be an issue around here.

Anyway a quick update on the project. Still no pictures but have not had the boat out of the shed yet.

 

[ihc1470]

Parts are on order for the stern drive. The vent line fitting is installed in the carb and it is bolted back onto the engine. New fuel pump is installed. The distributor is repaired and ready to go back in but before I do that I want to run the oil pump with a drill and get oil pumped back though the engine. The old oil has been drained so now would be a good time to pump clean fresh oil through the engine refilling the lifters etc. The new electric brake is installed on the left side of the axle but am waiting until I get the boat out of the shed before doing the other side as there is very little room to work on that side of the boat the way it is parked.

So a question, I have a second boat project going. This one a 1973 Fiber-form with a 165 hp OMC drive. This boat has also sit for about 25 years so it is getting much the same treatment as the above boat. This one I plan on selling. Anyway the fuel tank is a mess. I have 20 gallon of lacquer thinner sitting in it which is breaking down the old varnish and rust that was on the tank walls. I am thinking though that there are still going to be issues of getting all the slug out of the tank. Besides the fuel sender float has disappeared of the sender and the fuel pickup tube is gone at about the halfway point in the tank. So how is the fuel tank held in the hull, straps or is it just sitting there with the floor holding it down? It sits in the middle of the aisle starting about 1 foot forward from the engine and runs up to about the front edge of the front seats. I can feel the seam in the flooring where there is a access panel above the tank so is it possible to cut along that seam and then pull the flooring back from the edge to find the screws that I assume they used to fasten it down. Or is there some other way to gain access to the tank that I am not seeing. Thanks for the help.

 

[jbcurt00]

IHC
Start a different topic about the Galaxy, amd its fuel syst questions or about the OMC drive line

Having multiple boat ls, motors or fuel systems all in 1 big jumble makes it tough to keep track and help.

Try breaking the posts into smaller bites too, so its not so hard to read and keep track of where you are when you start to answer your questions.