TOPIC: A perfect day

After what seemed like nothing but problems with the engines so far this year I now have a winner. We took it out yesterday to a lake on Mt Hood that I had never fished before, my now retired co-worker had been telling me the trout fishing was great and there never more that 4 other boats fishing. We arrived at 7:00am, fired off the Homelite, put it in gear and trolled for 7hrs at 500rpm, 1.5 to 1.75 mph. I did not touch the throttle once and it ran better than it had ever run, perfect to be exact, not one hicup. Pee'd water from the tell tale the whole time at this speed which it hadn't done in the past. Paul my co-worker was totally impressed that you could have an engine that size and not need a kicker. Fishing was slow till we figured out the depth and got our limit.

Last week after going then coming right back from fishing, unable to use the boat because of the overheat problem my wife suggested buying a new engine. I said no there is no reason for that, just some bugs to work out and this one will be fine. I couldn't be happier with how it runs now!!

Glad to hear you had a perfect day on the lake.
My friends tell me the same thing, get a new motor. I said no I'm not a new motor guy. So far so good on my Bearcat. Also this motor is better on gas than the old 62 Homelite. Good on oil too.
Once in awile I have to blow out the pee hole. Seems that when that gets clogged my overheat horn and light go off. Once cleared and water is flowing again all's well.

Yep Dave they can have those new ones, too many components to go wrong. Seems like when it does go wrong it takes selling your first born to pay for it. These are simple, a bit more complex than an older 2 stroke but still relatively simple to work on. Yes they are heavy but for what they are when tuned properly it's hard to beat for what I use it for. I was in a discussion on AOMCI forum, some of those couldn't understand the fascination we have with these, while it's not everyone's cup of tea I don't think most have experienced what these engines are about. I spent a bit of time synchronizing the carbs on this last go around and it payed off big time. I kept showing Paul the fuel tank level throughout the day, he couldn't believe his eyes. I don't think we used more than 1.5 gallons in that 7 hrs.

I have a guy in Anchorage that bought a motor from me.
Like you, they took it out for some fishing, 5hrs and they used 2.5 gallons. They did some speed runs with different props, but most was trolling around. His friend with a two stroke kept looking at the tank!
They're getting a river runner ready with a second motor, and I just shipped them the jet unit yesterday.
I am getting ready to launch the 14T Power Cat with a short shaft Bearcat now that the jet is off.

Hey Bill good to hear from you! That was Paul who bought your 115 Mariner that was with me yesterday. All he could say was "don't ever sell that engine!" His 115 is still running excellent and he is very happy with it.

Had a little mishap today. Broke a cam/distributer key. Don't know how.Up and running now Still pumpming

Glad to hear you got the bugs worked out. After fighting that old 75 super seahorse for ever and the fuel consumption of a 100 golden meteor I absolutely love my 55. I need to get the idle right though, it idles way too high for me to troll with. I have a few to work out on my '62 to pair it up with the F-model i have on there now. The single 55 only seems to push my boat at about 17 mph so I figure I need twins or find an 85 bearcat.

64_Express wrote:

Glad to hear you got the bugs worked out. After fighting that old 75 super seahorse for ever and the fuel consumption of a 100 golden meteor I absolutely love my 55. I need to get the idle right though, it idles way too high for me to troll with. I have a few to work out on my '62 to pair it up with the F-model i have on there now. The single 55 only seems to push my boat at about 17 mph so I figure I need twins or find an 85 bearcat.

Do you have a tach to make sure you're hitting 5500rpm? If not you need to hook one up so you'll know if you need a prop pitch change. I'm running a 12 pitch on a 16ft aluminum Sylvan and average speed between four different 55's is 26 to 28 mph at 5400rpm, damn close to to the rated 5500rpm.

elgindave wrote:

Had a little mishap today. Broke a cam/distributer key. Don't know how.Up and running now Still pumpming

Two of mine have the plastic key and "knock on wood" have not given me any trouble, a third one has a brass key which was in it when I got it. I carry a couple keys in the boat just in case. Hope yours doesn't give you anymore trouble.

I just ordered two Brass keys from Bill R. He said They replace the nylon ones. Must not of been strong enough. I had a nylon one fail. Easy fix though. Not like the old style cam with the metal one pinned to the cam. When that broke it was cam pulling time. Don't ask me how I know. LOL

The keys went from white, to black, to white stamped FP.
The brass are an aftermarket remanufacture.
I am running one now in my F model on the Power Cat, by running one now I mean pre-launch tinkering in the driveway.
I am having some fun getting this one sorted.
Went through a set of carbs and swapped them on tonight, now she idles nicely and doesn't leak. Have to put a different gearcase on her, and pull the powerhead to do valves and clean cooling passages along with new rubber mounts. Correct valve adjustment makes a big difference on idle quality.
Boy these are sure fun to tinker with listening to them idle down etc.
When fine tuning the carbs, I loosen the tie bar so I can adjust each carb idle and mixture independent from the other carb, then tighten tie bar last.
No smoke while tinkering!
It will be interesting to see how the 14T performs with the big heavy short shaft on her. Hope I have some freeboard aft...and hope she doesn't porpoise. Doug had a lot of porpoising problems with the 115 on his 16T so we'll see. However I won't be flying her like he could with that hp to weight ratio.
My guess is that she'll have speeds like Don's Larson as she's likely about the same weight. Maybe a bit faster due to wetted surface and air cushion but not sure the air makes much diff until 40mph. If she does 30 I'm happy.
Should launch her late next week unless I fly out again, or I run into some other problem.

Dick,
Yeah Paul should be happy with that 115 for years, that's a good engine.

billr wrote:

When fine tuning the carbs, I loosen the tie bar so I can adjust each carb idle and mixture independent from the other carb, then tighten tie bar last.


Dick,
Yeah Paul should be happy with that 115 for years, that's a good engine.

The thing I don't like about the tie bar is the slop in the linkage, I've shimmed all the linkage for the minimal amount, most being side to side. There's not much to do with the straight on movement. That's where most of the synchronizing problem lies, the bottom carb will start to open before the top one throwing off the mixture between the carbs. I'm thinking of putting Heim Joints in place of the tie bar.

Yep, I think the 115 will last Paul for the rest of his life, it's a great engine!

So what's going on with the last 85hp you bought? Have you had it running yet?