Ouachita 1648

[chbarnha]

didn't even realize your from rva, im from king William. Just got on craigslist looking for a smaller ob or a project ob and your 65 evinrude popped right up. small world

 

[meonline06]

Sure is, and thanks for reminding me I need to take that listing down.

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[Bridge4]

Sure is, and thanks for reminding me I need to take that listing down.

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WIth that pretty paint job I bet it moved quickly! Some of these old motors look great redone, if they were lighter I'd want to hang a few on the wall as art.

 

[meonline06]

Sure is, and thanks for reminding me I need to take that listing down.

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WIth that pretty paint job I bet it moved quickly! Some of these old motors look great redone, if they were lighter I'd want to hang a few on the wall as art.

'Tis the season. I love the designs of the older outboards. If I come across a vintage small outboard I think I will fix it up just to hang on my wall.

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[meonline06]

I spent a little bit of time in the garage yesterday getting the motor ready to be worked on. I haven't got all the parts I ordered in yet, so I'm going to wait to install it all at the same time. There were a ton of extra wires and b.s. from when I removed it from the boat it came with....and now there's not.

These are the rusted control cables that I need to replace

This is where the missing choke plunger should be.

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[Jim]

Great thread man! :beer:

 

[meonline06]

Great thread man! [emoji481]

Thank you Jim!

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[meonline06]

First and foremost Happy 4th of July!!

I picked up another motor a couple days ago. It's a 1985 60hp Evinrude.

I haven't had the chance to see if/how it runs yet. So now I once again have options for powering the boat. The jack plate is supposed to come in tomorrow. I'm taking advantage of this opportunity to paint the boat and probably the trailer also. I started stripping the hull today with my power washer. So far I've gotten half of it stripped. It's a slow process, bit far easier than sanding or using a chemical paint stripper.

Before:

Now:

I don't plan on stripping it all the way to bare aluminum. I'm just taking it down to whatever isn't chipping off.

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[meonline06]

Got some parts in yesterday.

Vance Manufacturing jack plate with 4" of lift and 3" of setback

Trim/tilt fluid

I also got a part for the Mercury motor but forgot to take a picture. I'm thinking that I will need more trim/tilt fluid because the pump cylinder is completely empty. I figured out that all the fluid had leaked out of it through the fill port; the screw was loose and I had it stored upside down.

I would like to get the rest of the hull stripped tomorrow and potentially lay down a few coats of primer, but that all depends on what the weather is like tomorrow.

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[meonline06]

I finished stripping the hull yesterday with the pressure washer. I had planned on doing some light sanding with a palm sander to finish prepping it for paint, but my buddy stopped by with a new to him Stratos bass boat and halted my progress. It has a 115 Evinrude that needs some work so that will be another project for me now. Anyway, tomorrow I plan on getting some primer on the boat.

I also got the new to me 60 hp 'rude running yesterday. It sounds pretty good and the water pump is doing its job. I need to order some controls for it. I dont think I'm going to buy factory Evinrude controls because people want a ridiculous amount of money for them. I plan on buying a cheaper universal throttle control and I will mount the ignition switch on the console.

The 'rude runs good but the paint on it leaves a lot to be desired, so I suppose I will be throwing some paint on it too.

 

[meonline06]

I pulled the boat off of the trailer a few days ago and started spraying some paint. The trailer had a lot of surface rust, so I used a combination of my pressure washer and an angle grinder with a flap disk to prep it for paint. It's not perfect but it looks way better. With my wife's help, we managed to finish painting the hull and motor also. I'm not sure about the shade of paint we put on the motor, but it won't be changing at this point. Painting is one of my least favorite things to do.

I won't be able to work on the boat this weekend, but I would like to have everything back together and on the water next week.

 

[LDUBS]

Motor looks pretty darn good from here. Nicely done.

 

[meonline06]

Motor looks pretty darn good from here. Nicely done.

Thank you LDUBS. I should always trust my wife when it comes to aesthetics.

 

[meonline06]

I repacked the trailer bearings yesterday. My original intention was to replace them, but they were in good shape. I plan on taking a little trip tomorrow and wanted to make sure everything is in good order. The hubs already had bearing buddies, and today I will try to pick up some new dust caps.

Sorry, I didnt take any pictures after everything was cleaned up.

 

[meonline06]

I took the trailer on a road trip and came back with this guy.

It's a 2000 14' Tracker with a mod v hull. I haven't decided what I will do with it yet. The main thing is that the trailer pulled great. I had it at highway speed for 8+ hours, which is the longest trip I've had it on, with no issues. With that out of the way, I tossed the boat back on the trailer and mounted the motor.

The plan is to button some things up and get on the water tomorrow.

 

[meonline06]

I got all of the motor cables run yesterday. My plan was to do some light modifications to the throttle and shift cables to marry the Evinrude motor to some Mercury controls. It wasn't until after I had everything hooked up that I realized the throttle action for the two manufacturers are opposite. Evinrude cables extend (at the motor) to advance the throttle, while Mercury cables retract to advance throttle. So...the day was a bust. And now I have to find an Evinrude control box. I did manage to mount the ignition switch to the console, so I truly just need the throttle/shifter. I also got the console completed and wrapped in carpet, unfortunately I forgot to take pictures after the whole throttle debacle. I probably won't get an opportunity to work on the boat for another week due to work and a road trip so stay tuned....I'm looking forward to water testing the new setup as soon as possible.

 

[Travm70]

This build is awesome!
Great job!
I’m in the RVA as well working on a build... but it’s taking me way too long.


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[meonline06]

I haven't posted in a long time but I have been constantly working on the build and fishing. The biggest changes/ additions include repowering to a 1976 70 hp Evinrude that I picked up at an auction. I was originally just going to flip the motor to make some money, bit it was so clean that I threw it on my rig. I also made a new switch plate out of aluminum. I made some reinforcements to the decks just to get rid of some creaking sounds when I walk around. They were already plenty sturdy, I just needed to secure the deck boards in more places.

I have enjoyed working on and fishing out of this boat for the last few years, but it's time to move on to my next build! I have already picked up a tracker grizzly hull and plan to get started by next week. So the Quachita is officially FOR SALE.

I made a video walk thru that I uploaded on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fA28hchW2t4

For those interested, I have a how to video on rebuilding a water pump with the 70hp Evinrude: https://youtu.be/tex25JKVKCo

And here are some pictures of the build as of this week: