I took my present boat in trade only because a bud of mine wanted a collectable firearm I owned. So for the heck of it, I decided to restore a near-vintage boat (1971) and the 1974 Evinrude 70 HP that is on the boat. <br /><br />The boat had been kept mostly inside or completely covered, and the motor is very clean, was overhauled 2 years ago, and has less than 50 hours on the rebuild. I spent 3+ months completely refurbishing the boat and installed a new water pump kit, thermostat kit, and sparks in the engine. <br /><br />Made maiden run about a week ago. Motor started on first hit, sounded good and ran very good, but did experience fuel starvation at full throttle. No sweat, I suspect a too small fuel line and filter in new plastic tank. However, as I was idling into dock, the lower unit went out. Hard to say what caused the malfunction.<br /><br />I have spent the last week checking out every possibility and resource to replace lower unit. $1500.00 for rebuild and $1800.00 - $2000.00 for rebuilt/new unit. The used units I came across were on motors that been sitting in the weeds, back yards, or boat yards, for lengthy periods, in snow, rain, etc. <br /><br />It is just not practical to put that much money into an engine that is 31 years old, only to have something else give out. Considering that the boat is in excellent shape, and it is the boat that I put the most money in, I have decided to part out the rest of the engine and consider a newer engine in the coming spring. <br /><br /> Shame, but you have to accept when it is wise to surrender. 
