Re: [omc-boats] Introduction (new owner of 1970 Evinrude Explorer 16)

On Mon, 25 Apr 2005, LShuster (lib1) wrote:
> Great introduction! Appreciate hearing of your adventures. You photo,
> boat-diving,jpg would have made an excellent 1970 Evinrude Explorer ad.
> You're in the heart of Evinrude country with a really cool and fairly rare
> model. I always thought the Explorer/FrontRunners were soooo functional, if
> not just a little ugly-ducky, especially out of water. But I love to see
> people having fun using these boats, your pics are great. Thanks for sharing
> them with us.

I've actually been told there are a couple other boats "just like mine" in
Madison. I haven't seen any yet, but I really have only been looking for a
couple months. They really are ugly above the water, and especially out of
the water. But that's part of the appeal - I like the fact that it looks
like a crewboat. It's also got an incredible amount of space to work -
we've had five divers in it at once and I think we could manage six.
That's about what you can get on a pontoon boat. I've been hoping to meet
someone who worked on them - we're only about 90 miles from the factory.
I met a guy who worked at the OMC plant in Milwaukee in the 1960s, but he
worked on snowmobiles, not boats.

> You've really dived in (pun intended) and done a lot of work on this old
> girl, so congrats.
> I admire your willingness to tackle the mechanical
> sterndrive repairs. What P/N or pitch prop did you go with?

I have a 381187 (14x18) prop. It is running at about 4400 RPM (indicated
by a Kohler digital clip-on TinyTach) wide-open - I think that's about
right. I just bought a second prop on eBay for a spare - we've already
dragged the one I have through the sand once. It seems to pick up a
wakeboarder pretty well, even with five people on-board (the wake actually
is much better that way; with just two on-board the wake is tiny) and
cruises decently with three divers and gear. I'm not sure what the top
speed is - I need to get out with a GPS and check.

> Smart move on
> the pump and blower. What'd you go with? Did you use an auto-sensing bilge
> pump?

The pump was a "Black Max 600 gph" pump with a float switch, but the switch
can only be mounted horizontally, so it won't turn on unless there's
several inches of water. I've been meaning to find a better switch, but I
just hardwired it and just flick it on ocasionally when I think there might
be water there. So far I've only seen a little squirt. I'd like to get an
switch, as we do leave the boat unattended for 30-60 minutes while diving.
But so far we haven't been diving anywhere where there are big waves - if
so we'd probably leave someone onboard anyway. I rewired the bilge pump to
run off the interior light switch, and the blower runs off the pump/blower
switch. The blower is a 3" Rule bilge blower, and I replaced all the ducts
with dryer vent hose.

> Try not to turn the ball gears (run engine) in anything but fully down
> position, as they will wear prematurely otherwise. Comparatively speaking,
> props are easier and cheaper to replace than internals, but I'd try to find
> some deeper water or pole it in and out or have a buddy line -it out while
> you start it and then pull it our to the dock? Just curious what shape was
> your sterndrive rubber boot seal in?

The boot looks decent, it doesn't seem to be too badly dry-rotted and there
aren't any apparent cracks. I'm always nervous about it failing and
sinking the boat though.

> My V6 Buick got sold recently and I'm going to a 307 SB Chevy, so I can't
> check out the V6 oil drain plug for you. Most people get a drill-powered
> pump and suck the oil out the dipstick. My dipstick on the 66 Sportsman was
> nestled between the head and the manifold, as you said next to the OIL cap.
> See: http://hhscott.com/evinrude/images/PA140010.JPG

I'll check there...

> Your electrical improvements sound good, but I'd try to save the old
> original switch gear and panels, they pop out easily and are fairly modular.
> First Use DeOxIT D5, followed by Stabilant 22. They usually will solve most
> electrical oxidation & corrosion issues. Worth every penny.
>...

It's more the fact that a lot of the wiring has been badly modified. A
couple of the switches stick mechanically as well, though they seem to have
loosened up with use now. I was planning on replacing the entire panel
with a new stainless plate with nice marine switches, but now that it's
working better (and now that I've spent so much money on other stuff) I'll
probably just let it be.

>...

> I'll try to look up the uppercase CC's tonight, should be in the Seloc or
> Clymer OMC manuals. Did you do the rebuild without benefits of those or OMC
> parts manuals? If so you're a brave soul!

I did most of the disassembly without a manual, after wyomingben.com took
30+ days to get my manual to me. I have a Seloc manual for reassembly,
though I'm not terribly impressed with it. I'd like to get a real dealer
service manual.

When you say "uppercase CC", it sounds like you're talking about the oil
capacity. I'm actually talking about the grease fitting on the swivel
housing, the upper part of the lower unit that protrudes into the upper
unit when the outdrive is assembled. When the outdrive is assembled, it's
accessible through a threaded port on the uper unit. In the SELOC manual,
it's the zert fitting in the top right corner, on page 10-27. On page
10-43, they show you lubricated it with a grease gun (type I) in the top
right. However, nowhere does it mention how much grease to use. I just
realized it's filling a far larger cavity than I thought - perhaps I don't
have enough grease in there now.

I actually thought of a few more things I've done as well. I had to reseal
the fuel tank, as the gasket was rotted out and it would leak if the boat
was trailered with a full tank. That was an adventure - I spent an hour or
so with my head hanging down into the engine bay trying to reinstall the
flange (one of the clips that positioned the inner flange was missing). I
also replaced most of the accessible o-rings, shaft seals, and snap-rings -
it's funny how cheap that stuff is from an industrial supply store.

The one thing that really intimidated me was reshimming the outdrive shaft
- I'd talked to some OMC service places and they described these
complicated procedures that involved drilling holes in the gearcase. I
ended up just reinstalling the same size shims that were in it originally -
it felt about right and hopefully they'll work for a while.

>...
> adjustable red LED warning lights. If you tach doesn't "re-calibrate" by
> changing the 4-6-8 adjustment switch on the back, these guys can help you
> recalbrate it as well, but with your EE background you could build a pulse
> adapting circuit that would allow you to adjust it to a known good source.

I was hoping to find an internal adjustment pot, but I suppose that
switching to 8 would get it pretty close. I'll probably disassemble it and
see what's inside - maybe there's a resistor I can replace to recalibrate
it. I don't know when I'll get around to it - probably later this summer.

> Haven't answered all your question, but it's at least a start. Welcome
> aboard!

Thanks again!

Ethan

-- 
<A HREF="http://www.pobox.com/~ebrodsky/"> Ethan Brodsky </A>
UW FutureCar Team Paradigm: Two-Year FutureCar Challenge Winner
UW-Madison Clean Snowmobile Team: Winner of the 2004 SAE CSC
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