MichiBoater
Cadet
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2009
- Messages
- 19
OK guys I admit I'm very new to all of this. I bought the boat with the motor and trailer really cheap and I'm about to have an awesome summer cruiser with my family (I think). I spent all winter building new seats, cleaning, new carpeting, etc. But the motor has me baffled.
From the S/N it's a 1977 Mercury 850 Thunderbolt. I have the Mercury original maintenance manual. It tells me that the S/N would say PT if it had power tilt but it doesn't. It's just a serial number with no letters. BUT... there was a toggle switch (very aftermarket looking) near the steering wheel that said up and down with 3 wires going to it. The wires go to a little cube with more wires, which I think is just fuses. That's near the transom (not part of the motor at all).
The motor has two "shock aborbers" and when I picked up the boat the motor was "up" on a metal stabilizer pole attached to the trailer, presumably to save the transom when trailering. There is a lot of what looks like grease caking down the side of the motor, below the engine, running down the side of the engine on the "front" --nearest the transom/boat. I kind of thought that might be hydraulic fluid for some sort of tilt/trim but honestly it doesn't look like there are any hydraulic fittings anywhere on the "shock absorbers" and it doesn't look like anything in the manual in the tilt/trim section, although the manual *does* cover more than just this engine.
SO... I am clueless! I admit it! I can lift up the engine (working against the pistons/shock absorbers, I guess, because it's hard to lift). It pretty much stays up when I do lift it up.
I assume this means I just have to lift it up which is not easy when I'm putting it on the trailer and use the bar to hold it up. Then let it down when I go to the lake for fun in the sun and it just stays down in the only down position it can be in-- against the stop and there is no trim?
I'm attaching photos and hopefully someone can tell me what the heck I have gotten myself into!
Thank you in advance for any experience, knowledge, advice, and thoughts on my super cool new boat! BTW it's a 1975 SeaRay SRV 180 on a Holsclaw tilt trailer and the whole package was a $300 Craigslist special, complete with trashed seats and 3 Hefty bags of squirrel dung and nuts, etc. from its previous forest home. I put new plugs in the engine and new gas and it started right up and peed like a champ with the flusher attached today. This is going to be fun, I hope!
Bob
From the S/N it's a 1977 Mercury 850 Thunderbolt. I have the Mercury original maintenance manual. It tells me that the S/N would say PT if it had power tilt but it doesn't. It's just a serial number with no letters. BUT... there was a toggle switch (very aftermarket looking) near the steering wheel that said up and down with 3 wires going to it. The wires go to a little cube with more wires, which I think is just fuses. That's near the transom (not part of the motor at all).
The motor has two "shock aborbers" and when I picked up the boat the motor was "up" on a metal stabilizer pole attached to the trailer, presumably to save the transom when trailering. There is a lot of what looks like grease caking down the side of the motor, below the engine, running down the side of the engine on the "front" --nearest the transom/boat. I kind of thought that might be hydraulic fluid for some sort of tilt/trim but honestly it doesn't look like there are any hydraulic fittings anywhere on the "shock absorbers" and it doesn't look like anything in the manual in the tilt/trim section, although the manual *does* cover more than just this engine.
SO... I am clueless! I admit it! I can lift up the engine (working against the pistons/shock absorbers, I guess, because it's hard to lift). It pretty much stays up when I do lift it up.
I assume this means I just have to lift it up which is not easy when I'm putting it on the trailer and use the bar to hold it up. Then let it down when I go to the lake for fun in the sun and it just stays down in the only down position it can be in-- against the stop and there is no trim?
I'm attaching photos and hopefully someone can tell me what the heck I have gotten myself into!
Thank you in advance for any experience, knowledge, advice, and thoughts on my super cool new boat! BTW it's a 1975 SeaRay SRV 180 on a Holsclaw tilt trailer and the whole package was a $300 Craigslist special, complete with trashed seats and 3 Hefty bags of squirrel dung and nuts, etc. from its previous forest home. I put new plugs in the engine and new gas and it started right up and peed like a champ with the flusher attached today. This is going to be fun, I hope!
Bob
