Just got back from towing my 1968 Evinrude Sportsman with my 1965 Chevrolet truck for the second shakedown cruise, this time with the correct-length OMC Sterndrive. Everything went well, the pre-1967 four bolt stern drive performed flawlessly. Got her up to about 37mph...could have gone faster but I don't think the tach is accurate. I have a pretty good idea what 5000 rpm sounds like and it sounded like substantially less. I managed to convert the drive over to the internal wormgear steering that our boats use, using the parts from my burned up 1968 drive. Aside from having to fabricate an end plug for the wormgear, it went smoothly.
I also did a full oil change in the drive to start things off fresh. I didn't even check the impeller on this drive, so it was a bit of a gamble seeing how old the drive is, but it works great, pumping plenty of water and having a nice tell tale stream. I don't think it ever saw much action. All that's left with it is to fill the holes on the exhaust housing where the external push-pull steering backet was, and add a fresh coat of paint. Since I've got things mechanically dialed in now, it's time to clean the boat up itself, maybe add some new blue carpeting. I also need a new bilge and blower as the original crapped out....currently I have niether. Since I don't have a blower I've been starting it up with the covers open and well ventilated, but my next purchase is an actual blower. I wish I could find an original combo, mine was too far gone.
Anyway, sorry for the story, but I was just so pleased that she was back up and running and that everything I did to the the old-new drive worked correctly! Oh...one more thing...it's hard to steer under power either direction...I was thinking of adding doel fins or a stingray to the drive...that should help with steering I think, I know it will pop it up on plane faster.
~Scott
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Received on Friday, 10 July 2009
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