New member and bad luck

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nctlspider

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 14, 2013
Messages
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Location
Inverness/ Crystal River, FL
Hello,

Its time I formally introduce myself. I'm Cory, I live in west central Florida in the little town of Inverness. I bought my first boat, a Lonestar Corvette, a few months back. Its 12 foot with a 1968 9.5 Johnson. I didn't inspect it all that well when i got it. It turns out that its probably been through a few hurricanes and crashed into rocks/ oyster bars. Thats just been all part of the learning process though! I've learned about rivets, steel flex, motor height, trailers, bearings (this is not new), etc.

I will showcase lots of pics and tell the story as it unfolds. As of today, the boat floats without leaks, but the motor went kaput yesterday. For some reason, one of the needles in the crank came loose and lodged itself in the cylinder wall. Anyone know why this happens?

I'll leave out the most graphic damage photos :oops:
 

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Oh the photos didn't load in order. Hold....
 

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more pics
 

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And finally, this was yesterday....

I took her out for a float test. No leaks, got excited and ran out into the lake. Less than two minutes and my motor blew.

Just plain bad luck. #-o
 

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That bearing was wayy shot - might have been run without proper oil mix ratio (or none) over revved or some other abuse to get it to do that


Might have been the result of a "shade tree" repair earlier in its life


Did teh motor show signs that it was taken apart before?
 
I disagree on the 'Bad Luck' part. Bad luck is when you do everything possible and someone dies during the trip. Every other 'event' else is a various shade of good luck.

Shoot, you have a 45 year old motor and the boats around the same age. It appears you having a great learning experience with your new (to you) boat. Don't sweat the dumb stuff and expect the worst while hoping for the best. This should be an inexpensive project. You are in Florida, the boating capital of the world. Be patient while keeping your ears open and it should be.

The motor looked to be a grenade in the making. At least you didn't get too far out on the lake before it pooped.

Find another, buy a manual for it and at least pop the carb / intake off so you can see into the jug and verify the bearings / crank appear in decent shape.
 
After doing mild research, the oversized rings seem to be unobtainium.

I'll likely be looking for a new motor, or a dirt cheap 9.5 that mine can serve parts to. It ran like a top the last two times i took the motor out. Hard to believe you can over rev them without the throttle linkage being adjusted.

The only repairs /take down i can see was someone tore the thermostat out and tossed it, then gooped up the cover. Other than that, it doesn't seem like anyone else has been in it.

On the oil mix, that just reminded me the previous owner ran weedeater oil mix. :roll:
 
nctlspider said:
On the oil mix, that just reminded me the previous owner ran weedeater oil mix. :roll:

Not the worst mix to put in it, at least there was oil #-o

And as far as having bad luck, and on the lines of what Ranchero was getting at, it sounds like you're just having some boat luck.

Stick with it and it will get better and you'll have a blast! And welcome to the site!
 
Oh, don't take it the wrong way. Its depressing, but its not going to stop me. I meant bad luck in that I don't think it was anything I did or didn't do, it just got wore out. I would have liked to have fished out of it before she died.

That being said, there are a few 9.5 motors locally I am thinking about looking at. I bought a bunch of new parts to put in it (plugs, water pump impeller, plate, and housing, points, condensors, etc) that I've had beyond the 30day mark for returns. If I can find a newer 9.9 then I will likely sell them on ebay.

I had some leftover Steel flex, so i hit the bottom of my canoe (after i beat it back semi smooth with a rubber mallet)
 

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Got another motor with lower compression but rebuildable. Got it running then took the lower unit off to replace pump. In the process i took a look at the thermostat because she didn't pump water during the test. That thing was corroded! Broke one bolt and the "ears" broke off. Finally got it off and the thermostat was just as bad. Ran some water through the block to cool it off.

The water tube didn't want to let go of the pump housing. I sure am glad that LEEROYS RAMBLINGS has posted many of these problems. That guy deserves a medal.

The cylinder walls are glazed. No scratches or gouges i can see. I am thinking of just honing the cylinders and putting new standard rings in... Anyone disagree? I should do new needle crank bearings at the same time right?
 

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I would not buy a corroded outboard for any price in any condition. They truly are disposable motors in salt environments.

At a certain point you'll either get lucky, buy a new one or go back to oars.
 
[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=330342#p330342 said:
nctlspider » 24 Sep 2013, 20:34[/url]"] Hard to believe you can over rev them without the throttle linkage being adjusted.
Over rev is easier done than you might think. It can be as simple as installing a prop that's too small, a spun hub, or raising/adjusting your motor too high in the water and letting it cavitate. Hope you have better luck with this second motor.
 
Not much work has been done lately, but i did get a couple coats of paint and some steel flex on it. :)
 

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And just added a folding all around stern light i found on clearance at Walmart. If i'd seen it last week, it would have been 50% cheaper than it already was #-o
 

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