20 years of Dust

New to this boating thing but my husband has the bug. My childhood girlfriends father who is in his 80's and hasn't touched his 79 Bass Tracker II in 20 years is willing to sell us his very gently used old friend which has been stored in a garage and under a canvas cover for $700. The boat although old is immaculate. I'm not worried at all about the boat I'm just wondering about the 40 hp Merc that hasn't been run for 20 years. I know it was in great shape but will it work if we pull out the carb and give it a good cleaning and change any bad gas put in new spark plugs etc. Or is it more probably seized up from lack of care? Any thoughts?[/attachment]

First off take the hood off the motor and check the wiring, before you do anything. Some of the old Mercury's of that era had wire that rotted for lack of a better word. New wiring harness should still be available, but hopefully it will be okay. If not you could end up spending some money. If wiring looks good, I would then pull the plugs shoot a little lubricant in the plug holes and turn it over by hand to spread the lubricant. Then I would do a compression check, cold with the lubricant it should check 100 + I would think on all cylinders. Next I would put lower unit in gear with plugs out and turn it to make sure it feels good, check forward and revers, then check lower unit for water...pull out flat headed screw in lower unit and drain oil, it should look good, not white or milky (water in Oil), also look for metal shavings. If you have good compression and a good lower unit most motors can be made run without too much major expense. Hope this helps....Those old bass trackers are nice and I would think it is worth the price without the motor if it is in good shape and the odds are the motor will not take any major work if it was running good when put up. My dad has a 74 model 80 hp and we got it back running a couple of years ago after sitting for 20 years, he did have to rewire it due to the wiring deterioration. One more thing you are probably looking a rebuilding carbs and putting in a new water pump at minimum....Water pump would be one of the first things.

Good Luck...I would go for it.

Flintcreek

After looking at the pictures, why worry if the motor runs or not. Maybe you and your husband have not priced new boats, motors, and trailers lately! IMHO trying to get a steal from an 80 yr. old is no different than trying to get one from a three yr. old! Good Luck!

I recently bought a boat that was sitting out in the open for 20 years! It had two motors and both started and ran. I just sold the 20hp motor (cheap) and am about to put the 4 hp up for sale today. I re powered with a brand new Honda 4 stroke.

Good luck on your project!

YOU COULD ALMOST GET $700 OUT OF THE TRAILER THAT THING IS IN GREAT SHAPE FOR 700 BUCKS... ID JUMP ALL OVER IT

haven't seen one of those tracker logos (fish in the crosshairs) in years. Looks like a good boat, would suggest you check the transom for rot as well as the floor since it was still exposed to the weather to some extent. GL

A wife who goes boat shopping for her husband and has connections ! I hope he realizes what a lucky man he is.

p.s. Jump all over that bargain.

I restore old Mercury motors and I see 20 to 50 year old motors all the time, the headaches and the heartaches. Your motor will need minimum, if sitting 20 yrs, fuel pump kit, carb kit, new fuel lines (rot from the inside)impeller, new lower unit lube, and probably a new wiring harness. All seals on the motor will possibly be dry and shrunk or cracked. I don't want any surprizes out of a motor when I'm on the water so I try to insure I cover the main catagories. Yeah, check the transom too here's what my 1990 model tracker transom looked like: