Evinrude 9.5 and Alumacraft Model AL questions

[groundshock]

Just picked up a 1965 Evinrude 9.5 for my 1960ish Model AL Alumacraft. Being my first outboard (hell, first boat) I'm looking for any and all suggestions on what I should do to make sure that the motor is in tip-top shape, and any suggestions or tips on operation.

That said, I took it for it's first run tonight. Seemed good enough, but I guess I don't know what to expect. The boat hit 13mph on the GPS at full throttle with me (230 lbs), a full tank of gas (6 gal), electric trolling motor, and 27 series battery on board. Does that sound about right on a 14 ft boat? It never got anywhere near planing out on flat water, don't think I should expect that but it's worth mentioning. The battery and trolling motor were up in the bow, gas/motor/me obviously to the rear. I did my best to balance the weight out.

Also, I could get it down to about 2.2 mph at it's slowest, and it pretty much wants to die on anything lower than the 'shift' setting on the tiller handle. It's awfully shaky at lower RPM.

What type of performance should I expect out of it with the boat I have? Any guesses on what speeds I should be seeing high and low? Should the motor shut off when the tiller handle is put all the way to slow, or should I ideally have to hit the 'stop' button to turn it off?

Any insight on this would be great. Thanks guys.

 

[Johny25]

Congrats on the boat and motor 13mph is not bad numbers on a 14' boat with a 1965 9.5 on it. You may be able to get another 2-3 mph with some tweaking like a better prop, better weight distribution, moving the motor to a different trim position, jacking the motor up, and getting the motor running in tip top shape.

No the motor should not shut off on its own. There are numerous reasons for this and most of them will have to do with the carburetor or . It may just need a good cleaning and most likely by the sounds of it needs to be adjusted. Are the correct plugs in the motor? I am not as familiar with the 60's models but it may need a link and sync done on it,but I can't remember if you can do that to your model and year. Pappy may be along and give more info, he is good with these vintage motors.

 

[groundshock]

Sounds good. My biggest concerns simply stem from not knowing what to expect out of it.

 

[Pappy]

Unless your boat/load is very heavy I would think your numbers are low.
For your idle issue try adjusting your low speed needle. Since you mentioned it was shaky I would start leaning it until it smoots out and tweak it as needed from that point.
On the high speed issue - that is right around the time that OMC started producing carbs with a fixed high speed jet in place of an adjustable needle.
If you still have the needle then do the same thing and adjust to the highest RPM obtainable then back the needle back out around 1/8 turn for safety.
If you have the fixed high speed jet there is always a chance that it is the wrong jet, is missing altogether, or some shade tree that thinks drilling out a jet will produce more power in a two stroke...... did that to the jet. Unless you have set of number drills there will be no way to tell except by replacing the jet and trying it.
At any rate that would be a good time to purchase an OEM kit for the carb, thoroughly clean it and install the new kit.

 

[groundshock]

See, that's what I thought. I really expected at least a bit more snot out of it.

I do know that it has a fixed high jet. What would be the process to adjust the low needle?

Also, I haven't been able to source a new carb kit for it, any suggestions?

 

[Johny25]

Hey pappy do you know what the gear ratio is on the 65' 9.5hp by chance?

 

[Pappy]

To adjust your low speed needle you should have the boat in the water and the engine running and warm. Before starting, close your needle completely until it very lightly seats against the seat then open it around 1.5 turns. This will probably be a rich setting. When at idle start turning the needle clockwise (lean) around 1/8 turn at a time and let the engine stabilize for around 30 seconds. You should experience the engine speeding up and smoothing out. Once the engine starts to either slow down again or lean sneezes then back the needle out (rich) to where it ran the best and out another 1/8 turn.
Take a look for your parts at either Seaway marine or Marine Engine.com . Another source will be the folks over at www.aomci.org

 

[Pappy]

Hey pappy do you know what the gear ratio is on the 65' 9.5hp by chance?

13:23 or .565
Don't expect any low slippage numbers with the smaller engines. Probably nothing under 15%

You can look this stuff up yourself by the way. Peruse the brochures for the year model you are interested in and look up the specs on the brochure.

 

[Johny25]

I actually found somewhere that stated is was a 13:23 but I did not think it was correct. That is lower than I expected it to be for a little motor.