1975 Omega Tri-Hull, Rot, engine and carb issues.

[thrillhouse700]

Hello all. I am new to this forum. I have been going through a lot of threads on this forum about the mercruiser engine thats in this boat. I have Identified quite a few problems so far just by reading threads. My problem is I am not sure where to start with the "fixing."

My buddy and I picked up a 1975 Omega Trihull with a mercruiser 165 in it. It has been sitting for well over 3 years in storage. At first it would not turn over, we drained the gas and replaced with fresh gas. Put a new battery in it, and gave the starter a light tap with rubber mallet and bam it turns over. It has an electric fuel pump in it. The carb is not spraying fuel but dripping. I am having trouble finding a rebuild kit. I read it has one of two carbs, either a rochester or a mercarb.

My biggest problem is the front motor mount with the alignment bolt in it is sinking into the hull, it has cracked the fiberglass and the lag bolts don't grab. This tells me it more than likely has some major rot issues. We got the engine running and have not started it since. We would like to get the rot and alignment squared away before we do anything else.

I am taking my camera over to my buddies house tomorrow to take pics of the damage. I am not really sure where to start tho. Thanks for any help.

 

[cr2k]

Re: 1975 Omega Tri-Hull, Rot, engine and carb issues.

If you dont get the alignment issues fixed you will be replacing gimbal bearings and engine couplers. Start there. One fix would be to find a piece of like 2 or 3 inch aluminum angle long enough to span the stringers. Put this over the rotting cross member under your front mount (adjusting for the thickness of the aluminum) and check alignment from there (you will have to pull the drive and use an alignment tool) Good time to change the gimbal brg too and the drive and shift boots too if they need it. Don't forget to grease the splines and u-joints when you go back on with the drive.

A Mercarb only has one idle adjusting screw in the center.
Rochester has 2.

Sounds like a project for sure. Good Luck with it. You know you can get plenty of advice here.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: 1975 Omega Tri-Hull, Rot, engine and carb issues.

You should probably post your questions in the restoration section and maybe read posts in there regarding people with similar issues. If your stringers are rotten, chances are your transom may be rotten as well as the floor of the boat. You need to really decide if all the work and money is really worth fixing up a 34 year old boat. You can buy a newer running boat for a lot less money than what you are possibly going to be sinking into this project.

 

[thrillhouse700]

Re: 1975 Omega Tri-Hull, Rot, engine and carb issues.

Yeah rear I know, mainly the reason I posted. I know a lot of you guys here know what your talking about. We are trying to decide if the money put into it is even worth it, Im assuming the resto forum would know where to go with all the rot?