thill

Oh man, I just noticed this post! HAHAHAHA! Can you IMAGINE how hot a BLACK boat would be in the summertime! You would melt your shoes! HAHAHAHA! Good one! Seems like everyone is using rustoleum for everything nowadays...

Hey neighbor! The boat came from Baltimore, near the Key Bridge. We live about 2 hours south of you, near Lake Anna, but we used to live in the Bowie area I see you are over on the eastern shore. I'm supposed to go check out a 40HP motor in your neck of the woods sometime later this week... Small world. -TH

Mike, I really just started. But it is moving along quickly. I put about 2 hours into sanding the boat, and got it smooth. Blew it with compressed air and started to roll paint. Keeping a wet edge, it went really fast. It's amazing how nice it looks. Then today, I masked off the waterline, and applied fresh bottom paint. At this point, the outside of the hull is mostly done, besides under the bunks. Now, I've got to strip the interior, sand it down and paint the topsides and floor. Then I plan to move the side console forward. I thought about adding a center console, but the side console leaves lots of great fishing space. I'm going to add a cooler as a bench seat, and she will be ready for another engine. Here is the pic of the exterior work as of today: -TH

Guys, I went the Easy-Off route, and it works like butter! Sprayed about a 2-foot section, let it sit for 10 minutes or so, and it scraped off clean, revealing.... white gel coat. It looks exactly the same, minus the drips. That being the case, I wonder why the guy painted it? Either way, the test was successful! Will do the whole boat in sections, as I have time. Not trying to impress anyone. But I WAS impressed with this thread: McKee 14' Restoration I got this boat for cheap, so why not put in a couple hundred bucks plus some labor and enjoy a nice, economical boat for the back river, that doesn't look like crap? -TH

Ludicrous, I need to take a closeup for you to see it. From a distance, it just looks like an older boat. Up close, you look... blink... look again... and your jaw drops when you realize what you are looking at. Here is a picture I took the day I got it. I'll have to take a closeup later.

This is a curious thread, to me. As a hobby to support my fishing/boating habit, I've been buying old junkers and either fixing them for resale or parting them out. Couldn't make a living out of it, but it pays for my stuff. It seems to me that a lot of people do this in the mid-atlantic area. I usually have to strike fast when I find a good deal or it gets snatched up! -TH

Purchased a 14' McKee Craft (mainly for the engine) and the boat is in very solid condition. (bonus!) UNFORTUNATELY, the previous owner, in a drunken stupor, had slathered the boat and trailer in Latex house paint. It's dripping off everything! What can I use to get it off without tearing up the gelcoat underneath? I tried a powerwasher, and that would take forever. I tried a random orbit sander, and it takes it off fast, but it tears up the gelcoat. I don't want to have to refinish all the gel coat afterwards, if possible! Any suggestions? Paint stripper? Oven cleaner? Thanks. -TH

I had the same problem. Find the low speed jet and close it firmly, counting the number of turns. Then back it off to where it was, and go 1/8-1/4 turn more open. If this doesn't solve the problem, the carbs probably need to be cleaned. In my case, this cured my problem perfectly, and I didn't have to do anything more. Mine ran great for a year or two later, until I sold that boat. And the guy I sold it to still raves at how flawlessly it runs. Give that a shot before you go whole-hog on the carb. -TH

Follow up: Got it in the water and didn't have to do anything. She's idling and running flawlessly! Thanks again to everyone, especially those who recommended I look carefully at the throttle cables! -TH

Oh man, I feel like an idiot! But at least I learned something new. I cleaned up the linkage, but it still wouldn't touch. Everything looked right. But when I went to remove the set screw on the cable end, there was a lot of play, and then it became obvious.... It turns out, the throttle cable has a spring tensioner inside the end connector. (This seems like a good idea. Do all of them have this, and I just didn't know?) All I had to do is adjust the cable a little BEYOND where it normally would stop, and the spring takes care of the rest. NOW, it rests firmly against the idle screw every time. I won't try to adjust idle speed until I'm back on the water. I'll verify that this was my problem once I get it back on the water, but I'm very confident this was the source of my trouble. Gentlemen, thank you very much for helping me think and find the source of my problem. I really appreciate it! -TH

Kamper, I'm glad you asked. I hadn't looked at it yet, but saw your reply and went outside to check it out. The idle screw doesn't touch. I disconnected the cable, and it still doesn't touch. I gave it a little push with my finger and it touches. I opened and released it, and it keeps sticking in that spot, and needs a little push to close the gap. It's not sticking hard, just enough to keep the idle high most of the time. And THIS makes sense, because it USED to idle just right, in between sessions of idling too fast. I'm going to go outside and search for the sticky spot and see where it is. If I can find and clean up the spot, I'll hook up the hose and see how she runs THANK YOU, Kamper and Little Katuna for the good suggestions. I'll post what happens. -TH

Aaaahhh... Some very good replies! Kamper, I'll definitely have to check for that. I think part of the reason the idle won't slow down is that the speed screw never touches anyway. I agree about running lean! That's why I opened the mixture jets a bit. But what I'm hearing is that I really need to clean and service the carbs. For some reason, I've always been a bit timid about messing with carbs. No problem ripping an engine apart, but carbs have always spooked me. I think it's time I go over this phobia, and just cleaned the stupid things up! I'll post once I build up the nerve. Worse case, I have to take it to a mechanic to undo my mess. Thank you, gentlemen, for the straightforward advice! -TH

Knotreel, Thanks for the reply. Very interesting. I'll have to go inspect the engine carefully. What you write is why I thought it was strange that the engine sped up a bit when I made the mixture more RICH. (to keep it from "sneezing" and then stalling at startup) The original problem wasn't bad, only once in every five starts, and if I tapped the choke, it would go back to normal. I opened the jets just a little more, and it went back to great operation. All this is making me wonder if I don't need to just take this engine in to get the carbs serviced.... The problem is finding someone honest, who won't try to pull a fast one. I've had poor success finding a good mechanic since moving to this area. Hopefully, I can find the issue myself tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the helpful information! -TH

Knotreel, Thanks for the reply. Very interesting. I'll have to go inspect the engine carefully. What you write is why I thought it was strange that the engine sped up a bit when I made the mixture more RICH. (to keep it from "sneezing" and then stalling at startup) The original problem wasn't bad, only once in every five starts, and if I tapped the choke, it would go back to normal. I opened the jets just a little more, and it went back to great operation. All this is making me wonder if I don't need to just take this engine in to get the carbs serviced.... The problem is finding someone honest, who won't try to pull a fast one. I've had poor success finding a good mechanic since moving to this area. Hopefully, I can find the issue myself tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the helpful information! -TH

Bill, Thanks for that info. I'll have to check my shop manual. So far, all it's told me is to back off the idle speed screw, which is already pretty much backed all the way down. I don't think it's even making contact at all. I'm going to look in the section about base timing advance, and see what it says. Thanks for the help! -TH

I purchased a couple of Mustad gaff heads from Terminal Tackle - One I mounted to a nice fiberglass handle, and the other I did the same as above, and epoxy/glassed it to a closet pole I worked in a lathe. Both have performed very well, so far, (STRONG!) but nothing over 150- 175# tuna. I think I actually trust the closet pole gaff over the glass one, as it doesn't flex as much and just slaps the hook to 'em. All this to say, the Mustad gaff hooks have performed well for me. -TH PS - They are tinned steel, not stainless, so I wiped them with vaselene last year to avoid any kind of corrosion. So far, so good after 2 seasons. I don't even rinse them.

T. Hill here... thanks for the email. Greetings and best wishes to all. I live in central VA and mostly fish the Chesapeake Bay. Have 3 boats currently, from a 14' jon to a 21' Trophy. Current fav boat is my "new to me" Aquasport 170... so simple, so easy to fish out of, and seaworthy, too. Looking forward to interesting exchanges of information. One question: We have dialup ISP due to a rural location. Why is this site so SLOW to load for us? Literally takes 2 minutes for a page to pop up. But then the quick edit takes only a blink. Is there anything I can do to speed things up? Thanks again for the invite. -TH

This is an older engine that truly runs flawlessly... I really HATE to mess with a good thing! Not to mention the cost/labor of removing 3 carbs, stripping them down, cleaning them up, reinstalling them, adjusting them, synchronizing them, and then TRYING to get them to run as well as they do now... I didn't touch the idle speed screws and I only backed off the mix screws about 1/16th of a turn. Is there really no other way to adjust the idle speed? -TH

1989 Force 85HP. Despite the typical rep, this has always been a flawless-running engine until last year, when it started stalling on some startups. Posted for help, got the advice to open the idle mix jets just a touch, and it worked like magic! Back to running flawlessly! But now my idle speed is a bit high. My idle screw is all the way back, so how else can I slow the idle down? It's up around 1100, instead of 800... Thanks in advance for the help. -TH

I've fished both, and the bow mount is much faster to respont and hold it's own in a wind. The Lencos are pretty decent, but you need some good battery reserve to run them well. Have never used the engine-mounted ones, but I'm guessing they will have a hard time in a breeze. Hope you like whatever you decide! -TH

1989 Force 85HP. This has always been a flawless-running engine until last year, when it started stalling on some startups, but not others. Posted for help, got the advice to open the idle mix jets just a touch, and it worked like magic! Back to running flawlessly! But now my idle speed is a bit high. My idle screw is all the way back, so how else can I slow the idle down? It's up around 1100, instead of 800... Thanks in advance for the help. -TH

Ditto. Yamahas run so well, you probably won't even have to clean the plugs, if you use Yamalube or a semi-synthetic brand. That is a great motor. Always check the o2 sensor, if it's an OX66, as they get carboned up after a while, unless you use ring-free in every tank. -TH PS - Nice looking boat!

Use a teflon or polymer-based polish, NOT regular wax, and the abovementioned problem will not be a problem. Your boat will be MUCH faster with teflon on the bottom than it will with slime and barnacles and other growth!

Wow, I live in Spotsy, work in DC and fish in Virginia Beach... I must be the craziest of all... -TH