Hi new member here from Oklahoma. I was visiting a friend of mines Dad in Arkansas over Memorial day weekend and noticed an old boat under the lean to of his shed. He said it hadn't been out in almost 15 years. I offered to buy it since after restoring my '78 Goldwing I needed another project. I've only owned one boat; a '68 Terry fiberglass with a 25horse Evinrude. That was a project too and I got many years of use out of it. I've always liked little aluminum jonboats and little fishin' motors so I offered to buy it. He agreed and I said I'd be back to pick it up in a few weeks. I took posession of it saturday and had to buy new tires and rebuild the hubs before I could make it home. The tires were cracked and rotted and the bearings and races were rusted bad. I first tried to find new hubs to no avail. This surprised me..NONE of the boat dealers were open on saturday????? I finally found the bearings at NAPA,one pair in Van Buren and the other pair in Muldrow, OK about 20 miles away, then it was back to Ozark to work on the trailer. Remind me to buy my next project in the wintertime..working on anything in 100 plus degree heat ain't much fun. I drove 60mph all the way home and commenced to ripping everything out of the boat, a 1964 WACO 14ft. it was a floating putting green with all the astroturf carpeting. Then I took it to the carwash and took a bath washing all the dirt and crud out of the boat. It actually felt pretty good and I definately needed one LOL Next I dissasembled the trailer. The trailer is in pretty good shape but it's gonna need a lot of wire brushing and all new fasteners. The motor is a 1969 Mercury 9.8 according to the serial number 2618037. It's gonna need an impeller and the carbs/ fuel pump gone through, maybe points too. My questions are which Mercury Manual to buy and are parts still available for this motor at Marine dealerships? I'd like to hear from any Merc 9.8 owners about your experiences with this motor. Heres a few pics of the project I took at a rest stop on I-40 on the way home.
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new member, new project 14ft Waco Merc 9.8
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223nbecker45
Member
Nice boat to start on. I think you will need a lawnmower to start the project!
vbgreen
Active member
nice rig you picked up. I have an older mercury 9.8 and a 1977 monark with astro turf as well!!!! :LOL2: my 9.8 is a great little motor super reliable after a quick tune up she has been rolling great all summer. i currently have a 2 blade prop thought and am looking to upgrade to a 3 soon. i look foward to seeing some more pics.. the asrto turf is ugly but no complaints.... next pics will have gray carpet installed on boat this week
mmf
Well-known member
That is a nice little boat and a great find! Those little 9.8 Merc's are hard to beat! The older ones are MUCH better quality than the new motors of today which only last 10 or so years while the old Mercury's still go on and on 50 years later and more! I am a Mercury mechanic and mainly restore older mercury outboards, rotten wiring is the main thing that plagues the older motors but that is easy to fix with a little patience and time.
Yes, go thru your carbs and fuel pump with rebuild kits, also, make sure you replace the fuel lines, they will be rotten on the inside and stiff as a board, if you don't, you will immediately stop up your newly rebuilt carb and fuel pump with little bitty pieces of black rubber from the old lines!
The manuals for these motors can easily be found on ebay in CD form, I have bought many of them over the years. You need to make sure to perform a "link & sync" on your motor too especially to make sure the MAXIMUM timing is set correctly. Many times previous owners turn screws that they should not and get the sync out of adjustment, so that needs to be checked.
Your motor might have a "Phase Maker" ignition which is a great one and the main thing is to get the points set right, don't worry about the points looking burned at the contacts, this ignition switches the coils on and off and that will happen to a new set of points very fast. Make pictures of your wiring before tearing in to it too for reference and keep posting your progress.......good luck!
Yes, go thru your carbs and fuel pump with rebuild kits, also, make sure you replace the fuel lines, they will be rotten on the inside and stiff as a board, if you don't, you will immediately stop up your newly rebuilt carb and fuel pump with little bitty pieces of black rubber from the old lines!
The manuals for these motors can easily be found on ebay in CD form, I have bought many of them over the years. You need to make sure to perform a "link & sync" on your motor too especially to make sure the MAXIMUM timing is set correctly. Many times previous owners turn screws that they should not and get the sync out of adjustment, so that needs to be checked.
Your motor might have a "Phase Maker" ignition which is a great one and the main thing is to get the points set right, don't worry about the points looking burned at the contacts, this ignition switches the coils on and off and that will happen to a new set of points very fast. Make pictures of your wiring before tearing in to it too for reference and keep posting your progress.......good luck!
mmf
Well-known member
you can find them on https://www.boats.net/parts/search/...79 THRU 2798056/FUEL PUMP ASSEMBLY/parts.html #3 OR #11 on the link (diaphram kit) cheap too, make sure you choose the correct one by the serial number, or iboats.com. I am a tightwad but boats.net usually has any older part but their shipping is higher than iboats, which I normally have shipped by USPS first class mail instead of UPS or FED-EX. Take very good care of the fuel pump body because they are very hard to find and now obsolete too!
Thanks for the link! My serial # is 2618037 so that means I need # 11 is that right? Or if I wanted the whole assembly that would be #9?
Worked on the trailer tonight with a wire wheel getting most of the rust off and priming with rusty metal primer. Still have a lot to do. Also noticed I need new bushings for the leaf spring eye. I wonder if NAPA would have them.
Worked on the trailer tonight with a wire wheel getting most of the rust off and priming with rusty metal primer. Still have a lot to do. Also noticed I need new bushings for the leaf spring eye. I wonder if NAPA would have them.
mmf
Well-known member
cfox74 said:
yes #9 would be the whole pump, I would call them to make sure indeed they do have it, otherwise you will need the rebuild kit.
Okay thanks for the help. I got some bearing buddies from NAPA today and finished priming the various trailer parts. Igot the throttle gears unstuck and working freely and tested the spark. Looks like the spark is okay. It was a real hot spark., thats good. I have the side bowl carb. I just got my seloc manual today so I plan to study up on it this weekend. looks like the wires to the kill switch may need replacing.
Progress so far:
trailer disassembled, wire brushed, primed and painted, 3 new tires, rebuilt the hubs and installed bearing buddies, built a new box and sideboards and put two coats of spar varnish on the wood and put some carpet on, sandblasted the winch and got it freed up and working properly,and installed new wiring for the lights.
replaced the transom with oak plywood, 3 coats of spar varnish and started trying to remove all the old carpet glue. From the looks of it it has been painted once or twice before and needs some minor welding on the bow and transom. I've tried paint stripper, xylene, mineral spirits, and goo off but nothing seems to work very well. I've been using a wire wheel on a die grinder and some 3m pads with fair results.
Got the motor running today. carb kit, fuel pump diaphragm, new hoses and a new 3 gallon tank, also a new water pump impeller. It runs good and idles pretty well but the bayonette fuel connector to the motor ( the female) was leaking when I pumped the bulb but not when the motor was running. I took it off and hooked the 3/8" hose to the 1/4" hose to the carbuerator with some brass fittings for now. I can't believe they want $50 bucks for that special, hard to find, little connector.
The motor stop switch was beyond repair and they don't sell 'em anymore so I rummaged around and found a momentary switch that came off an old Vetter fairing I bought for my '78 Goldwing. I guess someone at one time had bypassed the starter button on the handlebar and was using that switch for a starter button, or maybe it was for a horn or something, anyway it fit perfectly in the hole in the front of the Merc where the stop switch was located. I made a new wiring harness and hooked it up. Works like a charm.
My goal for now is to get the inside of the boat ready for new paint. Looks like it's gonna take a while.
trailer disassembled, wire brushed, primed and painted, 3 new tires, rebuilt the hubs and installed bearing buddies, built a new box and sideboards and put two coats of spar varnish on the wood and put some carpet on, sandblasted the winch and got it freed up and working properly,and installed new wiring for the lights.
replaced the transom with oak plywood, 3 coats of spar varnish and started trying to remove all the old carpet glue. From the looks of it it has been painted once or twice before and needs some minor welding on the bow and transom. I've tried paint stripper, xylene, mineral spirits, and goo off but nothing seems to work very well. I've been using a wire wheel on a die grinder and some 3m pads with fair results.
Got the motor running today. carb kit, fuel pump diaphragm, new hoses and a new 3 gallon tank, also a new water pump impeller. It runs good and idles pretty well but the bayonette fuel connector to the motor ( the female) was leaking when I pumped the bulb but not when the motor was running. I took it off and hooked the 3/8" hose to the 1/4" hose to the carbuerator with some brass fittings for now. I can't believe they want $50 bucks for that special, hard to find, little connector.
The motor stop switch was beyond repair and they don't sell 'em anymore so I rummaged around and found a momentary switch that came off an old Vetter fairing I bought for my '78 Goldwing. I guess someone at one time had bypassed the starter button on the handlebar and was using that switch for a starter button, or maybe it was for a horn or something, anyway it fit perfectly in the hole in the front of the Merc where the stop switch was located. I made a new wiring harness and hooked it up. Works like a charm.
My goal for now is to get the inside of the boat ready for new paint. Looks like it's gonna take a while.
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Making some progress. After almost two weeks, working a little each day I managed to get most of the old carpet glue off and got the inside sanded and roughed up good enough to paint. Paint may not like to stick to aluminum but I tell you carpet glue has no equal when it comes to that task! Can I get a witness!!
One of my neighbors heard me going on for hours with the right angle die grinder and came over to see just what in the heck I was up to. We got to talking and he offered to paint the inside for me at his rental locker. I don't know how this relates in the grand scheme of things but his name happens to be..... wait for it..... Davey Jones. Ain't life downright strange sometimes?
We turned the boat on it's side on the trailer and washed it down with a pressure washer and some Dawn dishwashing soap. Rinsed it off good and let it dry while we knocked down a few cold ones, swapped some stories and grilled some T-Bones. The paint we used is a two part epoxy floor paint, just a little darker than Battleship Gray. We've painted all kinds of stuff with it at work and it seems to stick to anything pretty well. It took us about four hours cause we had to stop a lot to let the air compressor catch up but we got-er-done. Drying time on the can says 7 days to immersion service, so in about a week it ought to be about as hard as concrete. That gives me time to measure and plan for the decking and the sole work. It seems most folks here on the forum are big on carpet and I ain't knockin it but I'm not gonna use any carpet. I know what I want, just gotta figure out how to get there from here.
Oh yeah forgot a pic of the new transom and motor plate.
One of my neighbors heard me going on for hours with the right angle die grinder and came over to see just what in the heck I was up to. We got to talking and he offered to paint the inside for me at his rental locker. I don't know how this relates in the grand scheme of things but his name happens to be..... wait for it..... Davey Jones. Ain't life downright strange sometimes?
We turned the boat on it's side on the trailer and washed it down with a pressure washer and some Dawn dishwashing soap. Rinsed it off good and let it dry while we knocked down a few cold ones, swapped some stories and grilled some T-Bones. The paint we used is a two part epoxy floor paint, just a little darker than Battleship Gray. We've painted all kinds of stuff with it at work and it seems to stick to anything pretty well. It took us about four hours cause we had to stop a lot to let the air compressor catch up but we got-er-done. Drying time on the can says 7 days to immersion service, so in about a week it ought to be about as hard as concrete. That gives me time to measure and plan for the decking and the sole work. It seems most folks here on the forum are big on carpet and I ain't knockin it but I'm not gonna use any carpet. I know what I want, just gotta figure out how to get there from here.
Oh yeah forgot a pic of the new transom and motor plate.
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More painting today. I painted the top of the gunwale and the stripe down the side. I scrubbed the parts to be painted with Dawn dishwashing soap, rinsed then scrubbed again with straight vinegar and another rinse. One big roll of masking tape later it was ready. I used primer and tractor and farm implement paint from Tractor Supply, gloss black. Paint went on well and dried in about an hour although it probably won't be fully cured for about two weeks. I put the outboard on and fired it up this evening just for the heck of it. It starts easy and idles well, water pumps working Then after I shut it off and emptied my water tank I noticed fluid weeping from a tiny hole in the left side of the lower unit. Uh-Oh.. I pulled the lower unit fill plug to see if the fluid was milky..everything looked okay just clean gear oil came out. I looked for a crack or something but it's just a tiny little hole and it's only water coming out. It occured to me that little pinhole was probably just a weephole to drain the excess water from the motor after it's shut off. Gonna have to check the manual to see if it's mentioned. Anybody know if it's supposed to do that?
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Painted the flooring and deck with the same epoxy paint I used on the inside of the boat, and put a coat of spar varnish on the seats and trolling motor deck. Also spray painted the pedestal seat grey to match the rig (it was OD green). A few more coats of spar varnish and I can start wiring everything in.
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Got the lights and the fishfinder wired in today, also finished up the storage compartment and installed the batteries then checked everything out. Everything worked. I have one big battery (110 amp hr) dedicated to the trolling motor, a MinnKota 65. The battery box has an LED battery checker and a built in power port. I didn't have room for both the battery and gas tank behind the rear bench so I decided to put the battery in front of the bench and the tank behind it in the center, it's a 3 gallon Attwood and fits between the transom supports perfectly.
The sonar is a Hummingbird TCR-ID1. I know very little about this unit but I have the manual so I'll play with it tommorrow and try to learn how to use it. Power for the lights and sonar is via a smaller deep cycle (40 amp hr). Also have a surface temperature display.
The trolling motor/anchor deck worked out great as a footrest while setting on the front pedestal seat and the trolling motor handle and anchor mate are within easy reach. I plan to add a front power port next week.
We've got a REAL cold front coming in tonight and tommorrow the forecast is for upper 80's as compared to 105-110 that we've had everyday for the last two months.
I can't think of anything I did during the refurbish that could be considered "cutting edge" or real innovative, so I doubt my posts here have inspired anybody, but my end result is a testament to what a wonderful resource Tinboats.net is for anybody trying to restore or customize one of these wonderful old boats.
Some before and after pics:
The sonar is a Hummingbird TCR-ID1. I know very little about this unit but I have the manual so I'll play with it tommorrow and try to learn how to use it. Power for the lights and sonar is via a smaller deep cycle (40 amp hr). Also have a surface temperature display.
The trolling motor/anchor deck worked out great as a footrest while setting on the front pedestal seat and the trolling motor handle and anchor mate are within easy reach. I plan to add a front power port next week.
We've got a REAL cold front coming in tonight and tommorrow the forecast is for upper 80's as compared to 105-110 that we've had everyday for the last two months.
I can't think of anything I did during the refurbish that could be considered "cutting edge" or real innovative, so I doubt my posts here have inspired anybody, but my end result is a testament to what a wonderful resource Tinboats.net is for anybody trying to restore or customize one of these wonderful old boats.
Some before and after pics:
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Took the boat on it's maiden voyage yesterday. Winds were gusting in excess of 20mph and the lake was whitecapping. I wanted to see how it performed in rough water. Going with the wind pretty cool. Going against the wind and waves.... I got soaked but the boat handled pretty well. The motor performed flawlessly. It started on the third pull at the ramp and everytime thereafter it started with a single pull, so I guess I've got the carb and sync set pretty close to correct.
Launching and taking out was a little tricky with the wind blowing onto the ramp from a quartering angle and the lakes here in the "drought-land" are so low that the ramp didn't have much of a slope.
I had to trim the motor all the way down by taking the pin out and move some stuff around in the boat to make it somewhat plane out. Battery had to go to the front up against the deck and I believe the outboard needs to come up about 2" so I'll have to study up on jack plates I guess. I don't plan on going to the big water very often unless it's a lot calmer than it was yesterday, and in Oklahoma calm days are rather infrequent, so I plan on fishing smaller game and fish lakes around the state.
One minor glitch was that some " NER-DO-WELL" lifted my trolling motor prop at the boat ramp when I walked down to the ramp to check it out before launching. The motor is a Minn Kota 65c and nobody has that prop anymore. Minn Kota doesn't even have it. Guess they never expected that motor to last so long. I found a guy who makes die-cast aluminum ones that will work but aren't as big as the original. The original was a 9" and he only makes a 7" prop that will fit. I know next time to not use a cotter pin to attatch the prop. Next time I'll use a roll pin or take the prop off and put it on after I get on the water.
Today I bought a cover for the boat and installed the outboard security system.
Launching and taking out was a little tricky with the wind blowing onto the ramp from a quartering angle and the lakes here in the "drought-land" are so low that the ramp didn't have much of a slope.
I had to trim the motor all the way down by taking the pin out and move some stuff around in the boat to make it somewhat plane out. Battery had to go to the front up against the deck and I believe the outboard needs to come up about 2" so I'll have to study up on jack plates I guess. I don't plan on going to the big water very often unless it's a lot calmer than it was yesterday, and in Oklahoma calm days are rather infrequent, so I plan on fishing smaller game and fish lakes around the state.
One minor glitch was that some " NER-DO-WELL" lifted my trolling motor prop at the boat ramp when I walked down to the ramp to check it out before launching. The motor is a Minn Kota 65c and nobody has that prop anymore. Minn Kota doesn't even have it. Guess they never expected that motor to last so long. I found a guy who makes die-cast aluminum ones that will work but aren't as big as the original. The original was a 9" and he only makes a 7" prop that will fit. I know next time to not use a cotter pin to attatch the prop. Next time I'll use a roll pin or take the prop off and put it on after I get on the water.
Today I bought a cover for the boat and installed the outboard security system.
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