Happy with your evinrude?

[Toddo1]

Re: Happy with your evinrude?

I have a 1981 70 HP Johnson and I love it. It runs like a champ, its easy to work on and easy to get parts for. Just do your maintenance.

 

[GreatRiverDucker]

Re: Happy with your evinrude?

Jovial about my Johnson !!!!

hehehe

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Happy with your evinrude?

I have never owned anything but an OMC motor. The newer motors are not only pretty much like everyone else's (direct injection, fuel injection, computerized, etc.) but, in some cases, actually are someone else's! To me, the older OMCs are gems - they are simple, of a tried and true design and are very reliable when properly maintained and/or repaired. There are also "nine million" of them around so parts, both new and used. are readily available.

What I like the most about older OMC motors is that they are simple to work on. Although I will take my motors to the authorized OMC shop for certain things, I do the vast majority of the work on them myself. I don't have to own a bunch of special tools to do this and I don't have to spend a ton of money to keep my motors going strong.

I am currently running a 1972 Johnson 65hp and a 1969 Johnson 6hp (kicker) on my 17.5 foot trihull. Previous to this setup, I had a pair of 1958 Evinrude 35hp Bigtwins on this boat and on a 15 foot trihull before that. On the same 15 foot trihull, I had probably the most unusual setup in "da bayou" - the 6hp that I just mentioned matched up with another 6hp, which pushed the boat all of about 8mph!

Where I live, you can run a boat very literally for hundreds of miles if you want to. I didn't quite make hundreds of miles at 8 mph but I very often did spend 10 hours at a time in the boat exploring the maze of bayous, lakes and oilfield canals near my home. During most of these 10 hour days, I ran those two little motors at WOT with the occassional stop to bag a redfish or two. I also towed a fair number of guys with broken down $17,000 motors, back to launch with those little "bee buzzers!" Funny how all the guys with lots to say about my admittedly goofy setup, had nothing to say when their engine wouldn't run over some stupidly expensive computer chip, and they then found themselves tied to my stern, damn glad that I stumbled upon them out in the middle of nowehere!

Aside from some of the later model FICHT motors and a few others, OMC outboards are about as bullet proof as it gets. Keep yours in good shape and I think you will enjoy many seasons of fun with minimal expense.

 

[ezeke]

Re: Happy with your evinrude?

I'm never happier than when I have an old OMC motor to use.

I especially appreciate all the inexpensive parts provided by the guys who are too cheap to buy a service manual.

 

[wavrider]

Re: Happy with your evinrude?

/\/\/\/\/\ What Jay said.

Pulled many a high dollar Suzuki and Yamaha off the lake with my 16 ft tri hull and old 1970 33hp Johnson.

Sort of amusing to watch them snicker when I launch before them, manually lowering the engine, hooking up the gas line, priming the bulb, opening the cowl door and pulling the choke, no electric choke. then back to the controls and turn the key till she fires, usually first few revolutions and she hits, then back to the engine to put the choke off and close the door on the cowl.

then later on when they are waving me down cause some sensor or electronic gizmo gave out and end up pulling them back with a 38 year old engine. the comments start flowing. That thing sounds good, runs well.

I light a cig and smile while I reply "Amazing what a set of points gaped correctly will do for an engine"

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Happy with your evinrude?

And, in return ... what Waverider said!

When I had the 6hp Johnsons on my 15' Glassmaster, I was launching one day next to two guys in a bass boat of about 18 feet. The owner had a huge Merc on it, which had apparently just been installed. As I prepared to go out, this same owner was actually running his mouth to me about my "dumb boat." He and his buddy then departed the boat launch, hitting the throttle before they got out of the no wake zone and roaring up the bayou to the first turn. I soon followed at my "breakneck" speed and ... yup, you guessed it ... found "Mr. Tude" and his buddy around the corner, dead in the water. It seems that this "genious" had an OMC on the boat before the Merc and had bought a new connector for the fuel line but it wasn't the right one. I stopped and asked them if they wanted a tow back to the launch and, of course, the boat's owner got mad and said no. At the same time, the friend was asking me to stay! The owner finally gave in to reality and admitted defeat.

I towed them in with one big damn grin on my face and asked the smart guy, at least several times, how much he paid for the boat that I was hauling back to the dock!

Wanna guess who's turn it was to snicker?

 

[5150abf]

Re: Happy with your evinrude?

I have an 81 50 and couldn't be happier.
Compression is 110, it idles really smooth and it still has factory paint on the head gasket.
Keep up with maintanence and use good oil in the gas and it should run for years.