My 1975 bayliner good fishin' rig.

[swampratt]

Great boat but wires are dropping the insulation off.
Time to fix things on it.

Yep I am at the point "almost" of replacing the electrical plug on the inside of the outboard housing.
Mercury 50HP 4 cylinder.
I just replaced the factory fuel lines..Yes Factory from 1975.
I had the boat out 2 years ago and it was leaking fuel and running bad from that.

Just pulled it from the shed and decided to give it a good going over.
I siliconed my bare wires that way they have insulation on them again.
Fire waiting to happen.
I need to put a battery and muffs on it to see if it will start after I stick the front back on the engine.

There has been a lot of fish caught from this old boat. And many kids tubed and skied behind it.
Uncle got it new in Oregon and fished the Puget sound with it and trolled many miles in Oregon and Washington rivers for fish.
Dad got it from him in 1982 or so and i got it from mom when dad passed I always kept it up and gave her 500 for it as she tried to sell it to a co worker for 500. I said I would pay and she never gave me a price.
Hate that side of my family.

I sold it to a buddy that wanted a reliable boat and he had it for a few years and stored it nose down outside.. water logged the foam in the floor. He then was moving to texas and I bought it back for the same 500 I sold it to him for. $300 in supplies and I have new flotation foam and new floors
It has always fired right up and never any issues Knock on wood.

Never since I owned it has the fuel been ran out of it by pulling the fuel line and running it dry.
Last thing you want to do to a 2 stroke is run the cylinders dry of fuel..as that is the lube ..and it will rust the rings from storage. or cylinder walls.
Many people do it. I cringe at the thought.

I fished many days in Webbers Falls/Gore Oklahoma out of this boat.
Very light to tow rig ..I can drag it around the yard with ease by hand.
Pulled it many thousands of miles with my 82 mustang with 200 inline 6.

But in all honesty that 6 makes more pulling power than many 6 cylinder suv's.
Fell off the trailer at Eufaula on a gravel road when the front strap broke.. we were only going maybe 10MPH. had about 1/2 mile drive from ramp to trailer house.

Just small scratches on the bottom.. they built them thick and strong back then.

 

[bigred1]

Sounds like a great boat and a lot of wonderful memories. Nothing better than to have a dependable boat that will get you out and back every time. I've towed in a few "fancy" boats on Tenkiller with my 90 hp Merc fish and ski. Your right about draining the fuel line, bad idea.

 

[swampratt]

I fired it up today.
Took longer to get it started than it ever has cranked over for probably 5 seconds before it busted off and idled perfectly.
Now I know I messed up in the wiring as the copper wires on the internal plug are mostly bare and green and one crumbled in my hands.
There were 2 wires that tied together into 1 and one was busted off down low on the plug.. could not attach it.
Figured I would check charging voltage after it got running ,, it charges.. but it will not turn off with the key.

So that is what the extra wire was.. easy enough i just push the choke button near the key and the engine instantly dies.

Yea firing it back up takes 2-3 seconds of cranking. but it's alive
The water pump started flowing water from the port also.. but a bit weak at idle.
If my memory is correct the last time i stuck one in it was 1994.
It might be due