At the begining of this season I was given an old (1967) 14' fg boat with a 1980 Merc on it. It hadn't run since 1999. With some help from this group and a lot of reading (here), I did what needed to be done to get it going and it finally started up. We've been out in it a few time and it just gets better and better and better.<br /><br />Yesterday we decided to go fight the zoo that is our local 5-lane ramp and did so at mid day, in the hot sun and low tide. I backed in, hopped into the boat, cranked the engine for less that 1 second and it fired up. I backed off the trailer and my wife and kids jumped in the boat after my wife parked the rig. The 50 was nice and warm by then and I'd had enough of watching the antics at the dock. We pulled away slowly, and I dropped the hammer.<br /><br />Within seconds the tach was at 5600 rpm so I pulled it back to about 5000 before pulling back to 4500. The throttle response was instant and strong all the way through and for the rest of the day, a re-start was a touch of the key away and the engine sounded like it had more fun than we did. <br /><br />It may not be pretty, but it's mine, it's paid for, it out runs a lot of other "prettier" boats and thanks to this group, it runs like the day it came out of the factory. There's sure something to be said for that "old stuff"!<br /><br />thanks guys!<br /><br />Nikko
