What a day... (Long Rant)

A close friend of mine recently lost his wife of 41 years. Since then, he's been floundering a bit, unsure of what to do with himself. He loves to fish, so I talked him into buying a 16' Lowe with a 50 Johnson on the back for $1,200. The deal wasn't so sweet, because the power trim was locked, and it doesn't go into reverse. He found a good-looking 2001 Johnson 50 on FB. Seller said it was a great running motor. Found out later that it WASN'T. He asked if I could help him get the engines swapped over, and I said sure, I had 3 hours I could spare, if he wanted to drive 5 hours to do it.

I did not know what I was getting into...

He arrived this morning and we got the old motor off pretty quickly.

While taking the old motor off, I noticed some movement in the transom. Was it rotten? No...

That is when we realized that the transom had broken loose from the rest of the boat. The two strongbacks had snapped at the transom. So, for the next couple of hours I was fabricating aluminum, clamping the transom back into shape, then tying it all back together. The end results were better than new.

• Then, we realized the new motor had a rusty steering tube. (drilled, honed greased and got it cleaned up.)
• Then, we discovered that the new motor didn't trim up and down. (found bad ground @trim panel) Fixed it.
• Got the motor on and transom was solid, yay. Bolted it down.
• Then, we discovered that the huge, 25' long wiring harness that came with the new motor was incomplete- UGH.
• Then we realized that the new motor didn't come with a side mount, and the old one didn't come with a trim switch, so spent the next bit of time making the trim from the binnacle fit on the side mount.
• Had to do a Frankenstein wiring job, merging the old wiring with the new, and got in the new gauges. Finally, it was time to test the motor.

Turned the key and not even a cough. pulled the cowl and I noticed that all the carb and timing settings were all a mess. NO WAY this motor ran well, with what they were trying to do. Did a sync and link, putting everything back to OEM spec.

Turned the key again, and she started but ran terribly. Obviously running on 1 cylinder. Pulled the top plug and no change. Looked at the top carb and there was NO top jet in the carb. UGH! GREAT running motor, eh? Put my finger over the hole, and the cylinder started firing. That was definitely the problem.

I found an old carb, stole the jet and we were back in business. Ran some pre-mix with Seafoam, and she ran pretty good. Asked him if he had cleaned out the tank, and he said it was full of good gas. Switched tanks, and within a couple of minutes she started running worse and worse. UGH. After awhile, it wouldn't run at all.

I asked whether he had emptied out the tank before filling up, and of course, no, he just added new gas to it. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

Okay... let's pull the carbs, so I can show him how to do it. That went well, and he listened and watched carefully. Replaced some clear tubing that had been used as fuel line, yikes! Once done, we drained gas out until the WATER stopped showing up in it, hooked it back up and it ran okay. With a few adjustments, it ran solidly

It was now night time. Sent him off to his hotel, and I got everything back together, and I just sat down to make this rant.

Hopefully, the lake test will be uneventful tomorrow.

-End Rant-

That was a good read.
What a hassle that turned out to be. Good thing you know a thing or two about boats and motors. There must have been a point where you asked yourself "what have I got myself into".
At any rate, I'm glad your friend is closer to getting on the water. You're a good man for helping out your friend and lending a hand.
Good luck on the water test today.

Al M.

I hope he realizes what a good friend he has.

I have a 16' Lowe. It only weighs 550 pounds and rated for 50 hp.

I'll keep an eye on the transom...

Where do you live?! I want to be friends!

I've got a row of 1989-1992 OMC 40 and 50hp motors with locked up tilt units that aren't worth fixing. most are good running motors that just need the tilt dealt with but its no worth the time to repair them only to have them not bring enough to cover the time alone.

Any one of those repairs you did would have far exceeded the value of a used boat here.
I see three types of boat owners, those that just pay others to fix their boat or motor, those that just dump it and buy a new one, and those who fix their own stuff and only buy it if its cheaper than dirt.
The latter has been slowly becoming less capable over time and often do more damage then good.

I just gave a guy $100 for a 2020 Yamaha four stroke that someone broke off both spark plugs in. It will likely require pulling both heads and possibly two new or used heads if i choose to fix it, but for the price, I can flip the parts for a good profit regardless.

He owes you a few cases of beer at the very least.

Lot of work. Hope you guys get rewarded with a smooth outing today.
Waiting on an update.

I do my best these days to not know anything about outboards, bikes, and trucks around here, it lets me get more of my own stuff done. I can count on one hand how many I'd volunteer to help for free these days.

I learned the hard way at work a few years ago when I felt sorry for a younger guy who had 5 kids, a mortgage, and a wife that ran up bills like money grew on trees. His truck failed inspection for ball joints and he was broke.
Some dealer or shop quoted him $1,500. The parts were maybe $150. I told him to buy the parts, I ave him the part numbers and told him if he showed up at my house on Sat. morning with the parts and a cold cooler full of beer I'd help him replace the ball joints. He showed up at 7pm with two tie rod ends and no beer. The tie rod ends were used too.

I told him they're not the parts you need but he said they were cheaper so he bought them off CL instead. The guy told him its what his truck needed. I told him they didn't even fit his truck, and that two tie rod ends off a GM won't fit a Toyota Tacoma. I had given him the part number s and told him where to buy them.
Four weeks later after having hitched ride to work for a month, he says he got the parts and can we do it that weekend. i said okay but he needs to be there bright an early before it got too hot to work on it. He shows up at 3pm, again, no beer, and he left the parts at home an hour away.

Keep in mind this is a guy in his mid 30's with a family and 5 kids, a house, and a job driving making deliveries all day. but he couldn't seem to grasp the get here bright an early part for some reason.
I tried again the following week but he again didn't show up till dark and with only half the parts on a day it was pouring rain. He showed up completely unannounced and expected me to work on his truck in the dark, in the rain.

I did my best to be polite but when he started with something about me promising to help him and now backing out, I made it real clear he must be an absolute idiot to think anyone who offered to fix your truck for free is going to do it in the dark in the middle of a thunderstorm when for the third time you failed to show up with any cold beer, and 12 hours late for the third time in a row.

He then started about how its not his fault, he had to do something for his wife. I gave up at that point and told him to grow a pair and tell his wife she has to wait. He never did show up with the parts nor any beer. He's still hitching a ride to work because on ball joint broke and the truck is stuck at some some shop with a tow bill on it he can't afford to pay.

I thought about telling him I'd pick it up and bring it to his house so he don't get charged storage but thought better of it.
I since retired and from what I heard he's still without wheels to get to work with.

Wow, that guy has issues. I wonder what the root cause is?

My story continues long into the next day, but has a good ending. I'll type it out when I get home this evening.

Think I’d sit down and have a Bourbon after that day.

oilsmoke said:

I do my best these days to not know anything about outboards, bikes, and trucks around here, it lets me get more of my own stuff done. I can count on one hand how many I'd volunteer to help for free these days.

I learned the hard way at work a few years ago when I felt sorry for a younger guy who had 5 kids, a mortgage, and a wife that ran up bills like money grew on trees. His truck failed inspection for ball joints and he was broke.
Some dealer or shop quoted him $1,500. The parts were maybe $150. I told him to buy the parts, I ave him the part numbers and told him if he showed up at my house on Sat. morning with the parts and a cold cooler full of beer I'd help him replace the ball joints. He showed up at 7pm with two tie rod ends and no beer. The tie rod ends were used too.

I told him they're not the parts you need but he said they were cheaper so he bought them off CL instead. The guy told him its what his truck needed. I told him they didn't even fit his truck, and that two tie rod ends off a GM won't fit a Toyota Tacoma. I had given him the part number s and told him where to buy them.
Four weeks later after having hitched ride to work for a month, he says he got the parts and can we do it that weekend. i said okay but he needs to be there bright an early before it got too hot to work on it. He shows up at 3pm, again, no beer, and he left the parts at home an hour away.

Keep in mind this is a guy in his mid 30's with a family and 5 kids, a house, and a job driving making deliveries all day. but he couldn't seem to grasp the get here bright an early part for some reason.
I tried again the following week but he again didn't show up till dark and with only half the parts on a day it was pouring rain. He showed up completely unannounced and expected me to work on his truck in the dark, in the rain.

I did my best to be polite but when he started with something about me promising to help him and now backing out, I made it real clear he must be an absolute idiot to think anyone who offered to fix your truck for free is going to do it in the dark in the middle of a thunderstorm when for the third time you failed to show up with any cold beer, and 12 hours late for the third time in a row.

He then started about how its not his fault, he had to do something for his wife. I gave up at that point and told him to grow a pair and tell his wife she has to wait. He never did show up with the parts nor any beer. He's still hitching a ride to work because on ball joint broke and the truck is stuck at some some shop with a tow bill on it he can't afford to pay.

I thought about telling him I'd pick it up and bring it to his house so he don't get charged storage but thought better of it.
I since retired and from what I heard he's still without wheels to get to work with.

Click to expand...

Well, you can't fix ....

Well, that day was tough, and Friday was almost the same...

Thursday night ended with a motor that ran okay.

Friday morning started out with installing the fishfinder, but then we found more issues. Almost none of the electrical system worked. One by one, we found and marked each circuit. Also discovered that his trolling motor wasn't dead, it was just a bad connection. Fixed the wiring, and it pulls the boat great. Also, fixed switch panel issue, and got everything on the boat working. (Surprise!)

Worked until about 5:00, after which I called it. He would have to do the rest. Took the boat to the lake and she ran great, everything working properly. YES!!!

Here is a pic of the boat. I really like the layout, although I'm not thrilled with the red interior:



And that 50 pushed her VERY well. The holeshot is great, better than my 60HP.

We brought a couple of rods and we caught some fish. Here is his best one:



He is a very good friend in his 70's who has been watching his wife get sicker and sicker and then die. He just sent me a message telling me how much my kindness meant to him, and how he has been more down than I could ever know. That makes it all worth it!

To be clear, my rant was not about him, but about the frustration caused by a boat that was supposed to be "in great shape" but turned out to be badly neglected and WAY more work than it should have been. But that is typical of sellers nowadays.

Still, I think he now has a great platform to fish out of. He's already got some slime on the boat. Good start!

I'm glad you got it worked out and he has a very usable fishing platform. Nice LM! Hope he puts many more in the boat.

Thanks, FG.
I worry that now that he's back home, he's going to fall into the same pattern. I called him yesterday, asking if he has taken the boat out since he is back home in NC. He said no. I asked him to promise me that he would take it out at least a few times while the weather is good, and he said he would.

If needed, I'll go down there and go out with him. People need encouragement sometimes.

OldSailor85 said:

I have a 16' Lowe. It only weighs 550 pounds and rated for 50 hp.

I'll keep an eye on the transom...

Click to expand...

I didn't get pictures, but there are two braces at the top of the transom. Look carefully where they bend and are bolted to the transom. On his, both were snapped at the 90 degree bends.

To fix, I used 1/8" thick angle aluminum, using 4 solid rivets on each bracket side, and then bolting to the transom with the original bolts. I used a bar clamp to pull everything tight before securing everything.

I'm very happy with the results. It's stronger than the original thin metal used in that area, and you don't even notice that it's a repair, unless you knew what it looked like before.

If you like, I'll have him send me a pic of the repaired areas. That would probably be a good thing for others with this same issue.

It sounds like a solid fix to me.
I've fixed a few with broken transom gussets the same way, either using angle or U channel to replace what was there.
On my old Starcraft, someone had run it with an oversized motor for years with a rotten transom and cracked all three of the gussets. I bent up new one's from heavier gauge aluminum, removed the old pieces completely and added four rivets to each where they went through the bottom of the boat using another piece between the bottom of the hull and the new brackets.

The new rivets went through both outer strakes, the reinforcement plate, and the new gusset brackets which were bolted through the transom using 5/16" stainless carriage bolts backed up with another plate on the inside.

The boat was originally rated for 85hp, they had been running a 115 on it. I later put a 140 hp Evinrude on it and made it fun. The transom never moved in the 8 years I abused that boat. (It seemed to have a thing for jumping wakes and chasing down jet skis). It was basically a gutted out, rebuilt Starcraft Jupiter with two heavy duty pedestals a PVC floor, and two bucket seats and rod holders flush mounted all around the gunwales. It was super light and that 140 Evinrude ran really strong.
I sold it to a neighbor who parked it under a tree. A huge storm we had toppled the tree right onto the boat, the motor was shoved 4ft into the dirt and the hull no more than a foot high including the trailer front to back.
I knew something had happened down there because after that storm I found pieces of the engine cover in my yard half way down the street, most likely blown in by the wind.

I felt good about the repair, but hearing your confirmation makes me feel even better.

Here are pics after the repair was done. Nothing much to look at, but it gives you the idea:



Unless you are looking for it, you wouldn't notice them, but they sure made a difference.

Kudos to you for taking great care of your friend! Keep an eye on him, as a lack of communication, social interaction, and willingness to participate in past interests can be a sign of depression. Losing a life partner after 41 years can be devastating.

Yes, you are right about that. He's doing okay.