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.