Appropriate motor

G

great90wt

Recruit
Joined
May 13, 2007
Messages
2
This past weekend I pulled my late father-in-law's old boat out of his barn. It's an early 60's Sears 14' fiberglass boat. The motor is a '64 Sears 45HP with the bottom end missing. The engine runs but I'm not sure I can find bottom end pieces anymore. My wife wants me to fix up her dad's boat. The floors coming out this weekend as it has the usual soggy feeling and cracks. The transom feels solid as a rock so I think that's good.

I've been trolling this site for a few days, that's how I learned to check the floor and understand that I need to tear it out and access what's below. Does anyone have a recommendation on a motor for this boat? The plaque says a max. 45HP motor, and that Sears looks like it could really make that boat scoot. I want something that will be good as a general purpose motor that will have some getup and go when desired. Would something around 30HP be enough? The boat is so light when I need to move it I just pickup the trailer tongue and walk the whole thing over to where I want it.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!
 
tashasdaddy

tashasdaddy

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
51,019
Re: Appropriate motor

mercury made a great 45 hp. the boat is heavier than you think, i'd want atleast 40hp. and there are some good old 40 hp johnson/evinrudes around.
 
S

sdunt

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
389
Re: Appropriate motor

My 14 ft fiberglass can also be rolled around on the trailer by hand and Tashasdaddy is right, 40 HP or more.. I run Chrysler 45's on my boat and it works great for tubing and water skiing..

I do not recall who built sears outboard, I think the wards onces were chrysler. if you post some pictures of the power head with out the hood, both sides and a shot of the lower unit we might be able to ID it for you.

Also, heres the reading list:

Max Wawrzyniak's Obsolete Outboards column: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/columns/max/articles.htm

Max's stuff is also published as a book, fantastic reading for ALL outboard owners: http://www.duckworksbbs.com/media/books/cheap/index.htm

You can 'blog' your project for FREE at www.shareaproject.com and its also a great way to store pictures to link with forum posts.
 
G

great90wt

Recruit
Joined
May 13, 2007
Messages
2
Re: Appropriate motor

From what I've been able to gather so far, a place over in the Detroit area has a great website. They ID'd the part number of my motor as a McCulloch built motor for Sears.
 
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