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.