Re: 1976 OMC 235 HP Windows Media Video
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the positive feedback, as well as the forum help.
The tune is " Back Where It All Begins " from the album " Where It All Begins", by the surviving Allman Bros. ( Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe ) recorded , I think, live in 1994.
I wish that was my own forklift. I am a union steamfitter (boiler builder, pipe welder, etc) but I really am "kept" by 1 company that I have been with for many years. It is thier's , but they drop it off and let me use it.
On the very first, maiden voyage, I went alone. I didn't want to subject any friends or loved ones to the unlimited possibal problems that could arise with a 33 year old, untried (by me), beaten and neglected boat. I really didn't take any pics. I was travellin' light, it would be a long "walk" back to shore. Ha Ha.
The boat is on my mooring, it runs great, but the more that I am using it, the more things I find that need my attention. I am looking at this season as a "shake down" season. See what I got, what does it need, etc. I have been fishing with my kids, which is EXACTLY what is was all about.
When I got the boat, I had to have a transporter haul it back to my home. I gave my previous boat ( a 1975 winner viscount 21' cuddy with a 1979 115 HP inline 6, mercury outboard ) away but kept the shoreliner trailer. I added another axle and suspension, but it really isn't quite enough to really handle this boat with confidence. I can move the boat around my shop and home. I did have it hauled when I put it in , in April, but I did sneak down in the night with this trailer and pulled the boat when I had to repair my tilt worm gear shaft cap, and take care of the clutch pack.
In that slide show, there are two different points where I had it running , out of the boat. When you see it on a welded up stand/ rack. artificial stringer thing. Where you can see the engine and int housing AND a 2-1/2" welded up "Y" pipe hanging where the outdrive should be. I had that piped right out the door of my shop. That was in the dead of this past winter. Then where you can see the outdrive down in a landscaper's bucket with a cover on it. I cut in an overflow and put the hose out the door. On top of that cover is an old oil burner that I converted into a blower. It is pulling the exhaust off the top of the water, and I had that ducted outside. I ran and ran and ran that engine for hours. Because of that set up, I was able to play with the outdrive as well. I ran it forward , reverse and nuetral. That was all this past winter.
One thing that I did with this boat that I was real proud of was what I did with the controls and the dual station. I put in a pair of Morse twin controls. The throttle above and below are connected and then runs back to carb. The shift above and below are connected, but then my "invention". I made a stainless steel treaded rod that drops down from the arm of the lower control into a empty "cabinet" space. I made (everything is stainless) bushings and a bracket that hold two very expensive (yes I borrowed them from work) Honeywell industrial rated, roller type, end switches. The rod passes right between them, and has an adjustable lever that engages the swithes. Each switch has a normally open and a normally closed circuit. I ran the nuetral safety through both switches normally closed circuit. I ran the forward through one normally open, and the reverse through the other normally open. If I am in nuetral, the engine can be started. If I am in eighther gear, it can't. Once running, if I put her in gear, the rod engages the corresponding end switch, and walah... I have a normal dual station, Morse twin throttle and shift, electric shift. My description can't do it any justice.
Anyway, the point of making the slide show, was just to say thank you to all the forum members that have helped me get so far with it.
Thanks Again.
