TOPIC: Outboard recommendations / experience?

Looking for a reliable outboard for my g3 as the shop told me my 40hp Johnson can not be fixed

Who has good experience with certain motors on an original transom ?
I am not looking to fly, just me and my wife in the boat and it should still plane (as in skip over the water instead of through the water).
I am thinking low weight, two stroke, short shaft, reliable, and not too pricy
40hp enough?
What brand? What age? Where to buy?

I am in CT

Dennis:

Our 1960 G-3 has had four (4) outboard motors on it as follows:

1960 Johnson 40 H.P.
1960 Johnson 75 H.P.
1964 Mercury 65 H.P.
2008 Mercury 50 H.P.

The first 40 H.P. ran well but could not pull my older Brother up out of the water when water skiing, so my Dad bought the Johnson 75.
That Johnson 75 ran real good for over fifteen (15) years then finally quit. So, he traded the 75 in for the Mercury 65 which also did well. When I inherited the boat, that motor had a bad powerhead so I put a newer Mercury 50 H.P. Two-Stroke on it. That newer motor pushes our G-3 along at 42-43 MPH with my Wife and I in it and about
45-46 with just me in it. (GPS INDICATED). Our new outboard has a 20"lower unit and I think you want an older outboard with the 15" lower unit. Our G-3 has the original transom but I installed a hydraulic jackplate to handle the longer lower unit. This newer 50 HP Mercury weighs 204 lbs. Dennis I would Google "antique outboard motors" and you should be able to find a good older outboard if that is what you want.

Dennis there is a boat/outboard dealer in Green Bay, Wisconsin that my Dad used to do business with by the name of "Jims Outboard/Boat Service." Jim Schlumpf is the owner and he has a huge barn stocked with alot of older engines. Very nice guy.
Here is his phone number if you are interested Sir:

(920) 494-0242

I will try to get some pictures up here for you also.

DEN,: I would keep asking members here for leads in your area. For
your all around questions about low price ... I would look for
early 70's MERC four Cyl 50 hp . These are basic Black , not high $ collectible chrome of early 60's .... Have pointless spark.
13 spine is a unique patern for the prop hub.!!
65 - 70 hp would still be sought by water skiers / etc , so the
50hp should be reasonable (?) . Course the sales ad may have a
nice 60 -65 HP motor , then just re-sell the boat & trailer, to re-coup your outlay.

Keep us informed.

Keep and eye on Craigs list. I have got 2 really good deals on motors off there. 50 to 75 hp is just about what your looking for. Johnson Evinrude or Merc. No matter what motor you get there will be some work you have to do on it.
Mike aka the pirate

Dennis;
I'm not too far from you in western N.Y. Got 300 outboards around here should be able to fix you up with something. Shoot me an Email we'll talk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tim

I have sent Tim an email
And I have seen every outboard on Craigslist and bay by now

There seem to be a lot of people with good words about the Etec engine from Evinrude
Now I realize I won't make friends asking about a new engine for a classic boat in this forum but please bare with me
I love the lines of the older engines but with my wife on the water you want a reliable engine. ( no AAA)
Anybody have experience? They look expensive to start with but they seem to start well (an attempt to make a word joke in English by a Dutch guy lol)

Hi Dennis,

I have a 2005 Etec 50 on my '59 Glasspar Avalon. It is a great motor. It always starts immediately, idles slow and smooth and has the great powerband of a two-stroke. It will run all season on a full tank of oil. Its all computerized; will take over the throttle and idle you home if it overheats or runs out of oil... I love it.

Its a bit on the heavy side for a G3... I think 320 lbs... as opposed to the 240lbs of my Merc 85 hp stack-6... and with the 20" shaft you will need a jack plate which will add some more weight back there and set the weight 5-6" behind the transom... now... look at my G3 with a 240 lb motor, a 40+ lb CMC tilt and trim unit... and the weight set back 6" behind the transom:
See that there isnt much freeboard with that weight... so keep this in mind with the Etec 40-60 hp motor... if you have the stock transom height.

Dean

Dennis:

I faced the same issue when my Dad passed away and left our family owned 1960 G-3 to me. As I posted above, the boat had THREE older outboards on it and I decided that I wanted a reliable, newer engine. I have nothing against the older engines at all and have gotten some "flack" from a few that don't like to see new engines on the older boats. Oh well,................

Dennis, the "Evinrude E-Tec" Outboard Motors are very good engines and I did look at them. But due to cost, I purchased a NOS (new,old stock) 2009 "Mercury Two-Stroke" 50 H.P. from "Bass Pro Shops." They still have alot of them available and you can go to their website www.bassproshops.com to view their national inventory.
Just go to the BOAT section and click on Outboard Motors (REPOWER).
They have some that are over four(4)years old that still have the full factory warranty on them. AND,...they are priced right Dennis.

I will post some pictures up for you so you can see how the newer Mercury 50 looks on our 1960 G-3.

Here are some photos of how the boat looks with the Mercury 50 Dennis. As Dean said, with the longer lower unit, I installed a hydraulic jackplate and it has worked great! The Merc 50 weighs 204 pounds and the jackplate is about 28 lbs.

Dennis,..here is a closer view of the motor and jackplate. I like the "Bob's Machine Hydraulic Jackplate" because it is pretty light and is only about 3 7/8" wide.

Hey John! I've finally put 2 and 2 together! I've had this picture on my computer since before I restored my G3... I didnt know that was you and your G3. Really nice ride!

Dennis: One other note... you may already know this; but the vintage outboards (pre '85) were flywheel rated HP and the new motors are prop shaft rated HP. So a new 50 HP Merc is probably like an old 60-65 HP motor in terms of performance... and if it were me, I would try to go with a 2 stroke (they are all oil injected these days) as they have much more of a snap out of the hole.

deanlofall wrote:

Hey John! I've finally put 2 and 2 together! I've had this picture on my computer since before I restored my G3... I didnt know that was you and your G3. Really nice ride!

---

Thanks Dean! You have one heck of a nice G-3 yourself!

Yeah, Andrew Gott (Andgott) took that picture of our boat last year on the Tennessee River as I was passing behind them at a Glasspar Boat Event! The only thing that could have made it better was for me to have been wearing one of your nice "G-3 T-Shirts!"

OK all ya'll

I have made up my mind, i think. I am connecting with Tim in a month from now and he will install a white 61 merc 400 for me.
i think he made me a good offer, and the engine will look good on the boat. I think he advised me based on my request for reliability - not max power - and the fact that my wife wants a white one - this was his only white one. LOL
I have a little thing in the back of my head that wonders if the 400 will be sufficient to push us, and if I should go for a black 500 that he has to offer in stead. Is there anybody that can comfort me that the 400 is enough? (we just want to cruise, not race, but I do want the boat to come out of the water - plane - not push through it. We won't be skiing. Don't want to consume too much gas either.

now my next task is getting the boat re-coated with some mills of gellcoat. found out i have to do a lot more sanding before the sprayer will get his hands on it (he told me today when i tried to drop it off for a price negotiation).
he is asking at LEAST 2000 dollar he said because he has to blow about 6 gallons of gell coat on there to get it to look nice.

Does that sound about right to you experienced G3 folks? I have to do a lot more sanding before he will even do it for that price. He won't touch it with anything other then the spray gun for 2000 dollar. Blew me away (no pun intended), there has to be a better solution (read more affordable solution).

should I just pull out a can of paint and a smooth roller? will the 2000 dollar paint job give any value to the boat if I want to sell it? (just imagine I would want to sell - won's happen offcourse)

Dennis, you never said whats wrong with the 40 horse? not everyone wants to work on some older motors as i think they dont want trouble wasting time finding parts though there are many repairing these wonderful classics out there? All women lov white , but think between the two i would go for the 500 if possible. I have a 650 and cant imagin having less on the transom but hear the 500 is a very good motor...Good Luck!

G3bill

regarding the 40 horse: the guy said that it needs at least a carb rebuilt, something with wiring and then he mumbled a bunch of stuff over the phone that I could not understand because I was walking over the streets of new york while he was mumbling in his phone, but he ended with : so thats at least 1500 dollar worth of work plus parts, and the engine is not worth that after it's fixed.

So for someone who can do this himself, I am sure it's fixable, but for me having to pay him to do it, it's not worth it at his hourly rate.

I made adeal with Tim (read further up) that he get's the old 40 johnson, and I buy the merc from him.

any recommendations about painting the G3? 2000 dollar is what I was quoted - I am in the wrong part of the country to get anything done for a reasonable price (fairfield CT) I think. ;(

Dennis:

Here is a picture of our G-3 showing the bottom that was sanded and re-gelcoated with a spray gun by my vendor.

ONLY the white was redone (sanded down and re-gelcoated) as the black stripe and top red gelcoat deck were still in very good shape. Our white bottom was also in pretty good shape with only minor "stress cracks" and a few holes in the transom where THREE (3) outboard motors had been over the past fifty (50) years.

The work done on our G-3 did not cost $2,000.00, but from area to area there may be some variance in price. Your bottom may be in worse shape than ours was too. I know there are other G-3 owners that have "rolled" gelcoat on their boats. One thing I do know is regardless what you decide is in my opinion, gelcoat is TOUGH to work with if you haven't ever done it!

IMO, I know its too late, but from what i've seen i think anyone that isn't going to do most of there own repairs or restoration should buy a boat in perfect turn-key condition if possible? Otherwise you should expect to spend much more than you can ever expect to sell it for later:( . Some on these boards have driven many hundereds of miles, some thousands to find that sweet g3...