Boat trip to chocolate lots of surprises

[ubermensch1324]

Recently picked up a jon boat for $1000. 16' w/65 hp engine in really decent shape. I've owned a boat before but never an outboard. The boat was probably just fine but when we got out we ran it for a mile or so and it wouldn't shoot water out of the back (water pump not fuctioning?). So basically it over-heated @ 8:30 am about 10 minutes out after fiddling with it for an hour. Got it compression checked AFTER it overheated and it ran 90 on the top and 130 on the bottom. Bad news, might need a new engine - here we go again!

We used the trolling motor to get us to the spot and at least snag a few fish before we headed out early.

Top-water bite was on fire for it being ~10 am. First hour we snagged over 10 specks. I've been throwing them back lately (except for flounder and reds) but my buddy has this gotta keep em all mentality, despite his freezer full of fish so we decided to keep some but we threw back lots.

We turned a disaster into one of the better sessions this year.

About 20+ trout for me caught on top. Buddy caught quite a few as well. Some of them ended up being small, it seems like we run into that a lot @ chocolate. Should have been easy limits for both but we left em biting @ 12. Battery was dying on the trolling motor...this thing only moves us 2-5 mph in a huge wide bottom 16' boat. Ugh!

On the way in the trolling motor was going so slow that we just fished the shoreline of chocolate as we went. Snagged 3 kepper trout and a huge spanish mackeral that blew up on the skitterwalk.

Sorry for the crappy picture, buddy was in mid fillet and was being stubborn not letting me pull em out to take pictures so there were a few not pictured. We kept about half.

[Jhua]

You should check that before you leave the ramp! :P

[buoy37]

I am sure the motor can be fixed.

Nice catch you guys put together. Spanish Mack? That's awesome!

[Jhua]

I am sure the motor can be fixed.

Nice catch you guys put together. Spanish Mack? That's awesome!

what?

[buoy37]

That's the third smack I heard being caught in Chocolate. They are scattered but in there!

Shhhhhh!

That is PM material.

[buoy37]

Smack -- The sound specks make when they hit a topwater.

[ubermensch1324]

I'd price a rebuild before I bought a new motor .

Yeah, right now the guys at Evans Marine said it could cost upwards of $2,000 to re-build this Johnson/Evinrude 65 hp 2 stroke. I believe the engine is like an 1982 but he said it would be cheaper than purchasing a new one for $3-4k.

Was kind of hoping for something cheap but I figured there would be some hiccups like this along the way!

Would you rebuild this thing for $1800-2,000? The weird thing is it's starting right up perfectly, I think it just needs a new water pump since it's not shooting water out the back.

[Beandaddy]

Put a water pump on it and see how it does. I know the compression is not the same but I bet it would still run OK.
It would buy You time to save money either option You choose.
Beandaddy

[Shortystillsurfs]

Look up tynker on here.
Reputable. Knowledgeable. Reasonable.
He has help keep me running.
He is a trustworthy source of info and has very quick turnaround, from water pumps to re building the entire engine.

[ubermensch1324]

Put a water pump on it and see how it does. I know the compression is not the same but I bet it would still run OK.
It would buy You time to save money either option You choose.
Beandaddy

Look up tynker on here.
Reputable. Knowledgeable. Reasonable.
He has help keep me running.
He is a trustworthy source of info and has very quick turnaround, from water pumps to re building the entire engine.

Thank you guys for the advice and referral. I think I will do what beandaddy says and get some use out of it by throwing in a water pump. Crossing fingers!! Broke college kid so I hope I can make do with $2000ish budget!!!

[awendel]

I've got that same motor on my 17' flatbottom. I bought it from a friend of mine who had just put a new water pump in it. Same story as you, put it in for the first time and ran about a mile when it overheated and locked up. When he put the lower unit back on, he did not get the water pipe stabbed back into place and the pump was not getting water to the head. All I did was install it back correctly, replaced the thermostat, squirted some oil in the cylinders and got it freed up again. It's been running fine for 4 years now. If it did hurt it, I can't tell. Still pushes me 42mph.

[ubermensch1324]

I've got that same motor on my 17' flatbottom. I bought it from a friend of mine who had just put a new water pump in it. Same story as you, put it in for the first time and ran about a mile when it overheated and locked up. When he put the lower unit back on, he did not get the water pipe stabbed back into place and the pump was not getting water to the head. All I did was install it back correctly, replaced the thermostat, squirted some oil in the cylinders and got it freed up again. It's been running fine for 4 years now. If it did hurt it, I can't tell. Still pushes me 42mph.

Awesome news!!!

Had a second opinion look at the engine - thanks to baby tran cat for the referral to Pat. The top ran 130 and the bottom 125 on compression check so the engine is actually in really good shape...THANK GOD!!! Finally good news for me on a boat story! Ha ha. Kissing the ground right now because I couldn't really afford $4-5,000 for a new engine.

Yeah it looks like I had a loose ground wire melting everything up and also had a faulty water pump. Apparently ya gotta change them once a year or so and this boat had been sitting up since the beginning of '09. Never had an outboard engine but it makes sense that ya gotta check that water is shooting out the back, I've seen those types of engines out in the water do that.

Total cost comes to $200. That's a win!

[Jhua]

Awesome news!!!

Had a second opinion look at the engine - thanks to baby tran cat for the referral to Pat. The top ran 130 and the bottom 125 on compression check so the engine is actually in really good shape...THANK GOD!!! Finally good news for me on a boat story! Ha ha. Kissing the ground right now because I couldn't really afford $4-5,000 for a new engine.

Yeah it looks like I had a loose ground wire melting everything up and also had a faulty water pump. Apparently ya gotta change them once a year or so and this boat had been sitting up since the beginning of '09. Never had an outboard engine but it makes sense that ya gotta check that water is shooting out the back, I've seen those types of engines out in the water do that.

Total cost comes to $200. That's a win!

So when we gonna putter around chocolate? :P

[FP10]

You should have just bought my boat.

[ubermensch1324]

You should have just bought my boat.

Word!

OT: took the line on Indy v. Tampa bay +10 1/2 for Indy. Indy didn't look as good as I thought but Tampa Bay surprised me, I thought they sucked. Their QB is underrated. But still Nov. 13 Texans gonna whoop up on some buccaneer ***. Put it on ur calendar FP10 so u can quote me on this post!!