9/14: The Spartan is almost ready for paint.
The KG7 quicky parts aren't looking good though (sigh). I may have to stick
with the service motor for now. I'll keep looking and hoping.
I got to tag along with a friend
who found an old marina getting ready to close up. Not much as far as the
older merc parts, but I got some nice stuff anyway. There were a few
Merc gear case tools, a Mk25 recoil and face plate ('55 I think),
a nice brand new set of remote controls that fit the Mk10/10A/15/15A/28/28Awith
both ends, the cable, all hardware and even the "neutral" decal for the
shifter! I also picked up a base for another cast iron Kiek motor stand,
which worked out well because I had an extra tower that I got with one of
my other stands. AND, I finally got a Merc-o-Tronic tester, seems to work
just fine so far. Not a bad day at all!
I'm heading up north again this
weekend for the antique races in Crystal Lake, Ny, should be a real
good time and a great opportunity to learn more about the race boats,
motors, rules, etc. I'm planning to start racing seriously in the
next year or so, I've got to pick up all the info I can (and hopefully
a few parts along the way!).
10/15: Long time away! I got married on Sept
30th, so a lot of my time went into getting everything ready for that, then
we went away for a week, then had to straighten everything out when we got
back. That said, let's see what's new! Hmmmmmm....
1st off, I got a "B" quicky tower
and foot for a wedding present from a friend! It's the longer "Q" tower(as
opposed to the more common, shorter "H" tower), and it's complete
and ready to go! I bolted the
KG7 power head on one night, and that's where it's been ever
since. I'll get another head for it eventually and put the original
KG7 back together (I picked up a nice 2 blade speed prop for the service
KG7 also).
I've been working on the Spartan
hydro here-n-there over the last few weeks. I got the topside 1st
coated, even though the bottom still needs a little work, and rigged
up a homemade steering assembly out of a steering wheel from one of
my old cars, the pulleys, hub and cable from a box of parts I had around
and a few pieces of aluminum and copper pipe. The steering bar is only
temporary so I could mount the pulleys where they needed to be. I made
it out of a piece of flattened copper pipe to get the right angles
and such, but it's nowhere near strong enough to actually use in the
water. Here's
where I'm at now. I'm working on setting up the throttle cable bracket on
the motor and converting one of my 2 handle Quicksilver controls (
one of the handles is broken off anyway) into a spring return throttle
for the hydro until I get a "Dead Man" throttle.
That's pretty much all for now.
Winter's coming soon, so I'm going to spend as much time as I can
on the water and working on the hydro. I'm still hoping to get the
Spartan in the water for a few runs this year!
11/2: Got the Spartan in the water!! The
bottom wasn't quite finished as smooth as I would have liked, but the
weather was cooperating for the day, so out it went. The 1st
time out it was FAST (to me anyway), handled well and cornered great!
On the 1st pass, I had the motor tilted too far out, so back to the
launch. A minor adjustment later got the rig standing tall and planing
quick. It's quite a feeling when you're spinning water, trying to get
the bow down, then all of a sudden, it hooks up and you shoot forward!
After 4-5 good passes, the carb got plugged up, so that ended the day
as I didn't have the tools with me to disassemble it. Unfortunately,
the battery in the camcorder was dead when we got to the lake so I don't
have any pics. That night, I pulled the carb and cleaned it out nice,
I also changed the gasket where the power head meets the tower as I
noticed a small leak while running it in the tank. The next day, back
to the water! It ran great for the 1st pass, then starting starving
for fuel again. I had put an in-line fuel filter on the night before and
it was plugged up pretty good. I know the tank itself was clean when I started,
so there must've been stuff in the gas can (ARRRGHHH!). So
here's a few pics of one of the good runs from the second day.
I don't have a helmet on, stupidity on my part and I certainly wouldn't
recommend it, it won't happen again.
I was a bit nervous about my
1st time piloting a hydro, not knowing how it handled and all, but after
the 2nd or 3rd pass through the corners, I felt right at home. I was also
worried that high speeds in a small boat might be a tad scary. Again, I felt
very comfortable and secure in my ability to handle the boat. Before the
end of the 1st day, I was already planning the next, faster project!
This is definitely something I want to do!
Just a note: I NEED A "D" TOWER AND FOOT!!! hehee
11/24: Finally got around to finishing the
Trojan resto story (took me long enough!). Other than that not much going
on, I've been working a lot, no time for boats (sigh). While burning
some scrap wood, I came across the old ribs from the Trojan and made
patterns of everything. Just about every time I take the boat out,
someone asks about it, and more often than not, ask if it's for sale, so
I decided to build another from the patterns I made. I'll change it a little
so it's not exactly the same, but it'll be pretty close. I've also decided
to start building boats to sell (besides the Trojan replica). I'm asked quite
a bit if I sell boats as well as work on them, so here I go. If nothing else,
maybe I can make my favorite hobby self supporting. I'll still have a hard
time selling the motors, though, so it may be "find your own motor for it"
(hehee).
Besides a better hydro for the
KG7Q, I'm hoping to build a bigger rig for D/FE racing next year (still
have to get the motor built) and also starting on the catamaran project.
It's gonna be a busy year! Happy Holidays to all!
2/19/01: Long time since an update, so here's something. Over
the last 3 months or so, I've picked up 2 more Mercs ('58 Mk28, another
'59 Mk78A), a '25 Johnson A25, a bunch of NOS Merc parts from a dealer
that went out of business in the early 60's, loads of Merc dealer
literature, and various used parts -n- pieces. I also got rid of one
of my Mk7's and am getting ready to thin out the collection some more.
Pretty much everything that's not 4 or 6 cylinder merc is going, except
for the KG7 with the quicky, the new Mk28, and perhaps the 10hp Scott Atwater
Bail A Matic. Boat building plans for this spring keep changing still. I'm
definitely building a smaller hydro for the KG7, that's for sure. The large
catamaran cruiser may have to wait again, but if it gets put off, I'm doing
a smaller cat (14') to run 2 Mk55E's on . I put the correct power
head back on the '57 Mk55E and converted one of the '58 Mk55's to electric
start. I've just about got the '57 Mk75 power head back together with new
bearings, reeds, pistons and rings, now I need to start the cosmetic side
of the resto. I need a hood for the new Mk28, but I've started taking it
apart to get it ready for paint as I'd like to make it the new motor for
the Trojan. The Mk55 is nice, but over the long run, a smaller motor would
be better for the boat. I took the auto transmission apart on the Mk28 and
it looks like someone recently rebuilt it (YIPPEE!!), same with the power
head, so once i get the top cowl and paint it all, it should be ready to
go. I've got a NOS remote throttle for this motor, but I'll miss the electric
start on the Trojan.
Hmmm, what else? The new Mk78A looks to be complete and in very
good shape. Compression is great and there's lots of spark. I also got
the controls with it.
I disassembled, stripped and repainted the controls for the '57
Mk55E and one of the Mk75's. I also stripped and repainted the gas tank and
recoil for the KG7 (that came out VERY nice), but I still need to buff the
aluminum grab handle and tank ring before it goes back together.
Oh yes, I'm building a scale model of the Trojan! Well, it
started out to be the Trojan, but a few wrong measurements made it
into "something like the Trojan". I built the whole thing from scratch
using measurements from the actual boat, but somewhere it ended up
being too narrow in the bow, so I had to shorten it to make it look
in proportion. It'll still be neat when it's done, but not a Trojan
replica, maybe next time. I actually built it just like building a
real boat, separate ribs, keel, chine rails, etc., so it looks like
a real boat inside and out. It's all mahogany (scraps from the hydro
project) and will get epoxied so it'll really float. I'm going to shape
the cleats, lights, controls, etc out of some 1/8" aluminum with a die
grinder. I haven't figured out how I'm going to make the steering wheel yet,
maybe the same way. So far I've got the whole boat framed, the bottom on
and epoxied, and one side on. Let me tell you, building a real boat
is easier that working in a small scale! The wood for the bottom and sides
is cut down to about 1/16" thick and although easy to bend, also easy to
split. I made it 1 1/2" =1', so it's about 20" long.
I don't have any pics of the new stuff yet, but I'll get to it
soon and hopefully get back into the weekly update routine again now that
there's stuff happening.
2/20/01: I got some pics of the model, the controls I painted, and the KG7 gas tank/ recoil that I'm working on up in the "Misc. Pics" section. I also started getting the Mk28 and '58 Mk55 (converted to ele. start) stripped and ready for paint, but I don't have the pics yet. If it ever gets a little warmer outside, I'll get a bunch of pics of the new motors and the projects I'm working on now.
5/7/01: Loooong time away, sorry
. Lots of updates in "Motors in the Works" and "Boat Projects",
as well as "The Jaws Boat Resto". No new pics yet, but I'm working on it.
Got a new boat, but no new motors since last time. Look around and come back
soon, I'll have the new pics posted.
5/9/01: I added some pics of the KG7/ Quicky and moved it to the
"My Motors" section now that it's done. There's pics of the new Berglund
project boat in the "Boat Projects" section and new pics of the Jaws boat
('61 crestliner) in the "Jaws Boat Restoration" section in boat projects.
I also added some pics of a motor I'm restoring for someone else in the "Misc.
Pics" section.
'Til next time, Happy Boating!!
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