Going after two free boats and motors?

[oilsmoke]

I've probably got close to 50 motors in the basement, garage, and shed here. Most were pretty much free or bought for boats I no longer own, and the boats sold but the motors never did.
I can't see selling a good running motor for $50 because sooner or later I'll need it of find another boat for it, if not, they can bury me with them.

I used to say my limit was 20 motors, then I changed that to 50, I guess now I'll have to make that 100 motors soon.
I'm still not as bad as the guy two doors down from me, he's got motors in his kitchen, bedroom, and closets, plus two old school buses in the yard full of outboards and parts. One older neighbor said he started gathering them up in the 60's. He keeps a book in the house and he's got every one numbered and each one gets pulled out and run at least once a year. He'll clean the carbs, replace the impellers, get them running 100% then he buries them back in the bus or basement and moves on to the next one. Likely to do it all again next year.

 

[boatyard]

I thought everyone here would have at least a few dozen motors on hand?
Over time I seem to gain two or three every year. I only buy when they're so cheap I can't not take it home. Lately, that's been more and more often. (Over the past 10 years or so I've accumulated at least 30 or so Johnson/Evinrude 9.9 and 15hp motors, in all configurations, all run or won't take much to get them back on the water. I never save anything that I can't make run the day I brought it home and built a stand for it.).
I have two campers full of motors, I don't think I've ever counted them all but I did buy 26 20-25hp Johnson/Evinrude motors a couple of years ago from a guy who was retiring and moving into an old age home. He had gone through every one of them over the past 20 or so years and had them lined up in his den like trophies on painted wooden stands on wheel.
In a way they were his demise as far as living on his own in his later years. His wife, who was a good bit younger didn't like him having outboards and motorcycles in the house, and the resulting argument drove her out of the house. Without her to sort of limit what he brought in the house, he decided to convert one room in the house into sort of a museum, that being the living room. He fell and broke his hip and shoulder trying to get his one Harley up the front steps into the house, that set him back a bit and took away a lot of his mobility, then he fell trying to carry a motor from the garage into the family room, with the motor falling back on him sending him down the 5 steps into the garage where he had just finished working on it. After that he never returned home. His wife sold me all his outboards for the cost of removing the bikes from the living room, then she sold the house and left for good leaving his ashes with the fishing club to dispose of. Later we found out she ran off with a buddy of his from the club, this guy 24 years her senior.

The woman who bought his house is still trying to get the smell of gear lube and fish bait out of that house but she did buy it with a fully stocked bar, so most of us neighbors are glad to help so long as the bar stays stocked. I don't thing anyone has told her yet that the former owner had outboards and bikes stored in there though.

 

[LDUBS]

"I thought everyone here would have at least a few dozen motors on hand?"

Not me. I have only one motor hanging on the back of my boat.

I am impressed with the motor collections you guys have managed to put together.

 

[freeisforme]

I haven't counted lately but I'm probably over 90 or so, mostly all 9.9/15hp OMC and Mercury motors, with a bunch of 30/35hp and 40/50hp 80's models in the mix too. Then there's the larger motors, 110/115 OMC and Merc from the 80's and 90's, a few triples from the mid 80's, and a whole wall full of 5 and 6hp motors of all ages.
Who can turn down a $10 motor with good compression at an estate sale or farm auction?
A year ago I had no trouble getting $500 for the 6hp motors, $1000+ for the 9.9/15hp models, and $1500 and up for the larger motors, but this year boaters and fisherman have been absent both as buyers and on the water. Even the auctions are devoid of buyers, auctions that used to bring 200 people now are lucky to have four or five bidders, and most items sell for low bid since there's no one buying hunting or fishing gear.
They sold a huge 25ft? Aluminum cabin boat two weeks ago for $150 with two 140hp Johnson motors on it and a newer trailer. I didn't see the brand on it but they said it had a title but there was only two bidders and neither one was all that enthusiastic about it.

 

[seahorse]

Wow, I feel like an amateur here, I doubt if I've got more than 15 or so total right now, but I'm always looking for a deal. I'll buy anything that runs or has the potential to run for under $20. Lately I've let a lot go buy because there's been so many motors and no buyers. (its not just motors that aren't selling, I talked to a guy at the fleamarket on Saturday and he said if things don't get better he's giving up selling there. He hasn't made back the table fee selling fishing rods and reels all summer. He seemed to think that everyone is waiting to see what happens with the election. If things don't change, all of this stuff will be worthless.

 

[Boosh]

I can’t believe how many motors some of you guys have! All of you must be single

 

[barnfinds]

With the way people are giving away motors for cheap and how many go for pocket change at the auction these days I can't build stands fast enough. My garage attic, basement, two sheds, and part of an old chicken coop that I converted into a garage outback are all full. I've never counted but a thousand or more likely isn't too far off. Most are late 70's and 80's but there's a few older and a few newer as well.
The sweet spot for me is the 1980's motors, mostly 1978 to 1992. OMC. I avoid Mercury, they need too many special tools and parts are not as easy to find here.

Single, hell yeah! Got rid of the ex when I got rid of my first boat. Both were more trouble than they were worth.
I had a mid 70's glass boat, she was getting older, was costing me a bunch of money, and I wanted something different, so I got rid of her, then I sold the boat and bought myself a new bass boat, then a pontoon, then a cabin boat, a small speed boat, and anything I felt like buying.