Summer Cruising

Summer 2019 was classic and during Summer 2020 the best place to be was on a boat!

Flying Scott as Garage Art?

After the restoration of the Scott I decided I didn't want to put it back in the salt-water so the motor and controls were lovingly put in storage so when it needs to go back on Whisky Tango it will be ready to go. 

Fun Zone Yacht Club

After restoration, the Flying Scott is now perfect and quite frankly, I didn't have the heart to put it back in the saltwater. Given the fact that running the Scott in salt requires semi-annual restoration, and it does pollute the bay a little, and it's kind of loud and smelly, and it doesn't really like going slow... like a crazy person, I took my newly restored Flying Scott off the boat and put it on a motor stand to display as "art" it in my garage.

The Dorsett with it's new "salt-power" at the guest dock at "Billy's at the Beach" in Newport Beach, CA
Whisky Tango is sitting petty right next to a Van Dutch '55 that can be all yours for $1M.

I decided, to "responsibly" propel the Dorsett on our summer cruising I would order a 30HP Tohatsu 4-stroke. The weight of the Tohatsu was almost identical to the Scott (4-strokes are usually heavier than their 2-stroke cousins). Also, it's my understanding a 60 HP (rated at the powerhead) is about the same power as a 40 HP (rated at the prop) new motor. We had it installed on the boat by the guys at Amber Marine in Costa Mesa, CA.

I could have gone with a bigger motor but we strictly use this boat for harbor cruising and the 30 has plenty of power to get the Dorsett on a plane. I felt the 30 was a good compromise and of-course I rebranded the Tohatsu with a couple of Dorsett stickers and we were off to the beach.

The Dorsett at the guest dock at the "View" in Newport Beach, CA

The Dorsett at the guest dock at the "Woodies Warf" in Newport Beach, CA

The burgee we are running on the bow of the Dorsett is the official burgee of the FZYC (Fun Zone Yacht Club). The historic Fun Zone sits mid-peninsula in the Newport Harbor and is the home of the original Ferris Wheel and Merry-Go-Round and Bay Arcade in our little beach town.

Would you like to be a member of the FZYC? Everyone is invited, we have very low standards.

Flying Scott Restoration Complete

The chrome (finally) arrived home and it was time to put the Dorsett back together. All the chrome got reinstalled with new stainless hardware and nylon lock-nuts.

The big upgrade was installing the vintage Wilcox Crittenden Sea Flair burgee pole. This burgee pole was designed to go on a special base for the stock Wilcox Crittenden bow light on our boat. The problem with using the bow light base on a Belmont would put the burgee too close to the windshield. The compromise was to buy a second bow handle and machine a hole with tab slots so the burgee pole could be mounted upfront.

Fresh chrome. It took 3 shops and almost 8 months to get the chrome back. Nobody wanted to deal with the little parts and the pot metal. It was worth it. 

With the carbs rebuilt and the chrome reinstalled, everything went back together great and the motor was back on the Dorsett in record time. Since this was the third time I had the motor apart, during reassembly I replaced almost every bolt on the motor with new stainless hardware.

The cowl chrome side plates were replaced with a set of '59 sides. My '60 sides need to go to the chrome shop for refreshing. All the exterior bolts were replaced with stainless acorn nuts and 'new' rubber for the cowl came from my '59 donor motor that had perfect donor rubber.

Running the Scott in a bucket, I spent some time trying to adjust the idle down and get the timing just right for Harbor cruising. In Newport we have a 5 MPH max speed and the Flying Scott prefers to go fast! My only problem... now the motor is too nice to put back in saltwater!

Fresh paint, points, plugs, fuel lines and rebuilt carbs. 

Ready to roar and run for another summer of fun!

Triple Carter Carburetors Rebuild

When we took it out after the summer of 2017 we were dealing with rough idle... so I used the winter downtime to rebuild the carbs with the NOS carburetor rebuild kits I got on eBay and to replace almost every nut and bolt on the motor with stainless hardware.

Lovell Marine Products NOS rebuild kits for the Carter carbs installed on Flying Scott motors.

These are pretty basic and the rebuild is simple. The only odd part is the fuel rod spring and pin. Ideally, I need to have three custom springs wound as I haven't found anything that fits.

Boating? Summer 2018

Last year we finished the season with a friendly tow home from the Harbor Master after our motor conked out in front of the Lido Isle Yacht club. I determined we were having a fuel delivery problems and fortunately earlier in the summer I was able to score two sets of NOS rebuild kits for the Scott's 3 carburetors on eBay. I put the boat away for the season in September determined that I would do the rebuild in the Spring.

In May, I was preparing the boat for our Summer season with the intention of rebuilding the carbs doing a basic tune-up with plug and points and changing the gear oil. But as I was lifting the motor I noticed it was tipping to the left side as I lifted. Maybe only 1/4-3/8 but there was a definite tilt. Upon further inspection, I determined the main hinge bolt had rusted through on one side! Based on this discovery, I knew I needed to replace the bolt or risk having to fish the motor out of the bay.

Not only was the main pivot bolt rusted through at one end but
so was one of the two transom clamp lower bolts. Salty.

The challenge was to remove the bolt which was rusted into place. In order to remove the bolt,  I needed to disassemble the motor. As one would expect... the salt had done a number on the fasteners. Last time I assembled the powerhead I replaced the 13 bolts that secure the powerhead with 1/4-20 stainless cap screws. Salty water is an electrolyte that can easily corrode either the aluminum or stainless steel material when they come into contact with each other. When completing my assembly I used a liberal amount of silver anti-seize and ten of the bolts came out without an issue and three sheared off at the head. The same thing happened at the lower, where three came out just fine and two broke. To add to my misery I found the main shaft had rusted into the bottom of the motor making it very difficult to separate the lower or remove the powerhead after drilling out all the broken bolts. My half day job took the better part of two full weekends. Ugh. Next time more anti-seize, more grease and I think I need to remove and relubricate the bolts at the end of every season.

What goes with new paint? New Chrome! See that burgee pole?
I cut a slot for it in my extra bow handle. Hopefully, I will be
able to fly a FZYC burgee next summer.

Since I had the motor apart it seemed like a good idea to give it fresh paint. I had painted it 3 seasons ago but there were spots that needed love and I had some bubbling in the paint on the lower and around the edges of the cowl due to water sitting on the flat surfaces. Last time I painted I spent hours soda blasting the motor in my little blasting cabinet with my underpowered compressor. So I stripped down the parts and took them to Orange County Sand Blasting in  Anaheim.

I also thought it was a good idea to pull off all the chrome and send it to the chrome shop. All the chrome was pulled inventoried and delivered to a buddy of mine who is in the motorcycle parts business. They do a lot of chrome and I begged a favor to have him put my chrome in with one of his wheel orders knowing it would knock 75% of the cost out of what otherwise would have been a $3K project. The only caveat... no promises about when it would be done.

Mike Kuhar painting my motor cowl. Mike's business is
refinishing furniture and custom home interiors.
Vintage boat motor painting is a hobby.

A few weeks later the parts were ready and I took them to my buddy Mike Kuhar who has Kuhar Refinishing in Costa Mesa CA. Mike sprayed the Wake White paint which was color matched and supplied by Sav-On-Supplies in Costa Mesa CA. Mike painted all the parts and shot the cowl with rattle can orange-red Chevy motor paint for the perfect two-tone paint job. After everything was shot mike laid on a couple coats of clear. The motor looks wet even when its dry. Perfect.

Next Step... motor reassembly.

Wilcox-Crittenden Sea Flair Burgee Pole

I recently grabbed a bow light base and burgee pole off a Dorsett Catalina on e-bay. A little digging and I've learned the parts are made of pot metal called "Zamack" and are from the 1959 Wilcox-Crittenden Sea Flair line.  They are pretty worked and will likely restore poorly because of the pits.

Since my bow light is so close to my windshield I'm thinking of modifying the extra bow handle I have to accept the Wilcox-Crittenden burgee pole.