Budget boat build

[kenny]

Travis,
I was wrong. You're on the right track with your project. If nothing else you're learning from the project and doing something with your time that's constructive. Keep your positive , can-do attitude and get some help along the way from Greg and others on the board.

Good luck,

kenny

[Torque]

Keep posting. You have skills and can probably work through anything. With regards to height of motor, you are close. Should work, but it is dependent on float line of the boat.
I keep reading to see if I can help.

[Overkiller]

Thanks for the kind words. Depressingly little progress to report from the past week. I did drag the boat up to work Saturday and got the steering cable welded up. I still need to polish it up but it's solid now. I also turned the control cable ends so they'll fit the Merc controls. Went pretty easy. I duct taped a piece of conduit to the throughput on the lathe, supported it with some stands, and doubled the cable back through it to keep it from swinging around. I made a pair of Delrin bushings to take up the space around the barrel and as soon as I can get them run through the piping I should have controls. I do need to figure out a semi clean way to sheath the control cables, I've got a couple ideas I need to play with. Trying to avoid cosmetic issues as much as I can so I don't get bogged down. I have an old car in my barn that was my daily driver until I decided to give it a "quick" paint job. I figured it would look a lot better if I pulled the trim off first, and I had to pull out a few windows to get the trim off, and next thing I know it's been sitting waiting on a full restoration for years. I don't want a repeat of that f***up, but I'd really rather not just have loose lines running to my motor.

The boat/ trailer pulls really well, and on my way home I stopped off at a car wash and went after it with the pressure washer. I was really surprised how little paint came off, I was expecting it to strip right off. But all the loose stuff was removed before it ended up in the bay. Trying to turn a blind eye to the ugliness is a challenge, next winter when the fishing is slow I'll try to pretty up the boat a bit, that'll be the real chore. Pictures make the boat look better than it is and the "can popped open in the shaker" paint job hides a lot.

I brought home the nice battery charger and tester from work and was able to round up 3 good batteries for the boat. One less thing to buy. I'm getting a list together of everything I need for the electrical, I need to save some cash for that order it's going to be a duzy. I'm not really finding any gunnel lights I like. I was hoping for some smallish LEDs that I could select color on. I thought I had found some earlier but I can't find any now. I found the stuff to make my own but that will have to wait. I actually have a pretty big pile of stuff for the boat that needs installed, so no more buying stuff until I get it all hooked up. I hope to have the controls temporarily hooked up this week so I can work on firing the motor. I'll post up with better progress when I make some.

[Curmudgeon]

Wow! I don't know how I missed this thread before. I have really enjoyed reading about your progress (or lack thereof) so far. Keep posting!

[Texfish]

Thanks for the update ! The cable looks good.

[Overkiller]

Sorry it's been a while since my last update, I fear I missed my window to get the boat on the water for a trolling motor test run. Turns out my old lady's fishing licence is expired, and I got tied up with some other non fishing related life stuff which has delayed progress. But I press on with a few bits to document and a few questions I could use help with. My son threw up at school last Thursday which meant a half day for me. Once he was happily snoozing on the couch I started tinkering on the boat. Not a lot to show for it but I did get to spend some quality time on the boat working up a master plan and got a list together of hardware needed to move forward. I did manage to get the steering wheel and throttle mounted up in their new and improved location. I like it a lot better this way, I have a good idea where I want all my switches and I think it's a much better use of space.



I have some bonus holes in the console now and for the time being I'm thinking an aluminum overlay will cover them up. When I get to the beautification part of the project I can hopefully smooth and repair the fiberglass. The cables are run to the motor but alas I'm still drawing a blank on a clean way to route them. I think I'm going to have to admit defeat and have a rats nest back there. I did some remeasuring and I think I have a plan for a 19 gallon tank in the bilge. I really hope that'll be big enough or else I'll never be able to afford to take this thing out when I get it ready. I'd rather do something more with it then stand on the casting deck with a shiny washer on my line and cast it across the yard for the dogs to chase. Dogging is fun but I'd prefer fishing. I'll run a line to have a 6.5 gallon tank under the console as I already have the parts and a backup sounds smart.

I had the great idea of getting everything on my hardware list last Friday for a busy weekend of boat tinkering but as you probably guessed (I didn't) everything was closed. I've got it all now but my son and I have boy scout camp this weekend and friends coming from out of state the following weekend as well as a litter of puppies due any day, so boat time is limited to an hour or so in the evenings after work. I tried today to pop the lower unit off to change the water pump but the boat had other ideas. I got all the bolts out that hold the lower unit and it dropped about an eighth of an inch. An internet search showed that there's a connection for the shift rod behind the bottom carb that needs unhooked to drop the lower unit. I got the linkage unhooked but the lower unit still won't come off. I cursed at and hit with a hammer and still nothing. That pretty much used up my bag of tricks so I'm hoping someone has some good advice.

Also on the advice front I need some help on battery mounting and a tach. The 2 bigass trolling motor batteries are going under the casting deck and the starting battery will be under the console. I was planning on using 2 of those spiffy battery boxes for Academy for the trolling motor batteries but they are too big to fit in the space I have to work with. So I'm thinking I can make some battery mounts out of aluminum angle and secure them to the deck. To secure the batteries to the mounts I was thinking some nice nylon webbing with the standard plastic buckles, like a backpack. Sadly I don't have a sewing machine to make then myself and I don't know anywhere that sells or makes them. Any advice? I can go another way if need be but I like the buckle/webbing idea. Looking through my treasure shelves I found a set of brand new autometer gauges I was going to use on a project before hope and change happened. The 120mph speedo, oil pressure and water temp are of no use but I think the tach, voltmeter, and gas gauge will work just fine. How do I hook a car tach up to an outboard?

While trimming the motor up and down trying to coax the lower unit off I noticed this and took a picture.

It's barely over an inch over the sponson turned all the way and if need be I think I can clearance out a spot for the motor to turn all the way. It's seems negligible so that helps to alleviate one of my big worries.


Lastly I hopefully took a better picture of the bottom of the motor vs the bottom of the hull. The motor is trimmed all the way down. It looks ok to me but I don't know any better. The motor isn't going any lower without a standoff plate so I'm really hoping it's ok.
You can see the picture that the lower unit is separated but still not removing due to some unknown reason.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Travis

[TXSHOCKWAVE]

there is bolt under the tourque tab.

[gregr1971]

Did you disconnect the shift shaft?
If so, and you have ALL of the bolts removed, the driveshaft splines may be fused to the crank splines. If this is the case, you've got your work cut out for you.

[Overkiller]

I'm pretty damn sure I have all the bolts out. If the torque tab is what I think it is (little mini skeg) then it's removed as well. The shift linkage is disconnected, it was behind the bottom carb. The lower unit seems to rotate a bit around the driveshaft. Guessing the spines are froze up. Any advice? I've whacked it pretty good with a dead blow to no avail. It's late now I'll attack it with more profanity and hammer whacking tomorrow.

[FishNette]

there is bolt under the tourque tab.

What he said

[FishNette]

Sorry, I didn't realize you already had the trim tab out. I'm not sure how to get a stuck drive shaft out. Surely someone here has faced the same problem and can give you some usefull advice.

Good luck! I can't wait to see that thing on the water!

[Rollo]

Your gonna need to get some steady downwords force on the foot a pry bar or 2 in the small gap youve got started with steady pressure on the foot. then get a pretty heavy dead blow on it,and I dont know if this is the best advice but you gotta hang in there and show it whos will is stronger,I might even try bumping over the engine at the same time with a remote starter switch!

[Overkiller]

I'm kinda leery of prying and messing up the seal surface. Is that less of a concern then I'm thinking? I'm going to drag my deadblow home from work and unleash the double hammer fury and hope for some luck. If that fails I'm thinking of wrapping a strap around the lower unit and tying something heavy to it and dropping it. I'm thinking a slide hammer like effect to shock that biotch loose. I'll do a final bolt check but I really think I got them all. Antiseize will definitely be a part of the reassembly. The oil fill and drain plugs are fairly well stuck too so I have a hunch no one's been in this lower unit in a while, fingers crossed.

[Robalo]

That is not a "sealed surface" between the lower unit boot and the motor but it can crack. Use a board or whatever you can fit and as the Munson Marine owner would tell me 30+ years ago-a "Mercruiser Impact Tool"-i.e. a sledge hammer/mallet and try to pry it apart-don't use all the pressure in one spot-move it around so it doesn't bind. Good luck-took us hours on an old merc to bust the lower unit free-a true PITA.

As far as a battery holder, just get a tray with a nylon tie-down at most marine places-I think even Academy sells em-those boxes are a PITA and usually too big as you noted.

[Texfish]

Overkiller,

On your battery mount check out the link below it may be what your looking for.

http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_10627_-1?N=581132546