New motor

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

turbotodd

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
1,410
Reaction score
7
Location
72032
Since dad’s 80th is coming up and Father’s Day as well, I had planned on buying him a new Yamaha F15 from work, for his little 1448 weld craft. Currently it’s powered by a 1957 Evinrude 7.5, which runs when it wants to. He likes the fact that it’s an old antique, but hates it’s “reliability”.

Saturday I was fixing to pull the trigger on a new 15, and took a minute for a quick lunch break and found a little F20 on the marketplace. No pics, just an ad, so I called the guy. HIS dad bought it brand new in 2014 and used it 6 times, died in 2018. His son already has a boat and motor that he likes better, and put his Dad’s old rig up for sale. He texted me a couple pics, and I took off early to go get it. For $1000, I’m tickled with it. Dad outta be too! Beats $3300 for a new one.
 

Attachments

  • 8DF03E3E-644C-4847-8FA2-7717602F8529.jpeg
    8DF03E3E-644C-4847-8FA2-7717602F8529.jpeg
    1.9 MB · Views: 548
  • D944FA9C-B068-4174-BA45-D718864D4F93.jpeg
    D944FA9C-B068-4174-BA45-D718864D4F93.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 548
Man you stole that! That's a beautiful gift for your dad. Hope he gets many years to enjoy it.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 
Awesome find. Hope he enjoys it and most importantly it's trouble free for him. I'm sure it will be with you backing it up service wise.

The best deals always seem to come from the ads with no pics. So many people, myself included, basically subliminally skip them. Goes to show how that primary pic you see first really makes or breaks an ad.
 
Uncle Dusty still fished out of his own boat at 91 years old, His engines kept getting smaller as he got older. Last one he had that he could still start was a Suzuki 2hp single cylinder. Folks at the ramp would always help him into his boat and push him off the ramp and others would help him get out of the boat and help him get the boat back on the trailer.
 
That's the way dad is.

He grew up on the rivers in Montana, then later at Oregon, then Nebraska, and I was born and lived on that river for the first 11 years of my life, now here. But here, he ain't spent much time on the lakes/rivers mostly because the boat he's had is, well, junk. Cracks around the rivets transom VERY soft, old Evinrude just ain't reliable enough to make for a comfortable day of fishing. He was at a...car swap meet a while back and found a guy with the weldcraft he has now, but no motor, so he used the old Evinrude and it's been a nightmare, at least for him. At his age, yanking on that rope more than twice means a phone call to usually me, get your boat and come pull me back to the ramp. I don't complain but I get concerned when he's out there crappie fishing in the cold and that blooming motor won't start (again).

3 years ago I took him trout fishing in my boat, at the time I had an older Yamaha 4 stroke 25hp. He was amazed how well it started, just bump the button and it's purring. Idled clean, no smoke, no mixing oil, etc. He liked it. Then last year sometime after he bought the weldcraft that he's got now, he mentioned that he kinda wanted a new 4 stroke motor, which you know about now. I was gonna buy him one until this 20 came along.

Oddly enough as I crossed the tracks to the guy who I got the 20hp from, there was a 3 way stop. I had to turn left but I looked both directions and to the right I spotted an old 2 door Ford Maverick. I have one already and thought it'd be neat to have another one for a driver. Needless to say I left a note in the window. Dunno if I'll get a call but you never know unless you ask.

Hung the 20 on his boat last night but he ain't got a tank that's worth anything, and the trolling motor needs wired up. Well I get a VERY rare day off this weekend and plan on going over there to knock that stuff out.
 
Still fishing at 80 is awesome! Congratulations to your father for still having the drive and ability to get out on the water. I had a Weld Craft 1544 with a 25 Yamaha 2 stroke, that was a great setup and one I should have never sold. I think Weld Craft is one of the better made jon boats out there and the 1448 with a 20 Yamaha should be a prefect combination that I'm sure your father will enjoy for many years to come.
 
thought I'd revive this with a final thought or two

finally got a good chance to get dad and his boat out to the lake, he's been out several times but with the trolling motor only. 1436 weld craft

the F20 is a little on the big side for the boat but it'll work just fine. The boat really needs to be about a foot wider but it is what it is. Maybe I can find a 1448 or something similar locally. They are hard to find here but there are millions of 1432's and 1436's

Anyway we went to the local lake, actually an arm of the lake about 5 min from his house. Real convenient without actually living on the lake. Dad and I fished that area from when I was about 13 until, gosh, in my 30's? Then we both got heavy into drag racing and forgot about fishing; even sold his boat (I bought a couple though, just didn't use them enough). So for about 15 years we ain't fished that part of the lake together, til yesterday. Boss sent us all home cause one of the employees tested positive for corona. Hmm...67 degrees outside, sun shining, nothing better to do, grab a bag of minners and round up dad and his boat and head to the lake

He backed me into the water and I fired up the little F20. Backed it off of the trailer, he parks, and then he climbs in & sits in the front seat. We idled off. He turns around and says are you paddling? Nope...idling. The motor is so smooth and quiet that you can't hear it running. No seriously, that's how quiet it really is. I'm actually quite impressed, it's quieter than my 2018 F25 is. Certainly smoother too. Well anyway we idled around for a while, I came back up the creek and hammered down to see if it would plane the two of us, and yes, easily. All I needed to know. Ended up catching about a half dozen crappie and a small catfish. Dad lost about a 3 lb crappie right at the boat. I thought it was a bass when he raised the mouth up out of the water. So we're done fishing, dad walks up to the truck and while he's walking (and stopped to pee), I take off down the creek to check the trim pin adjustment. Wide open, GPS'd 25.7 mph steady. Stopped, turned around, raised the pin a notch and tried again. 28.2mph steady but on the limiter (needs a prop change but he will never run it like that). I'm tickled with that. That's not much different than my 25 is but his boat is obviously much lighter, smaller, less hydrodynamic drag.

Very impressed with this little F20. Quiet smooth no spray not much vibration to speak of, uses no fuel (and that's gonna be a challenge). Only thing I need to do is clean the carb again, he let it sit all summer and it it a little hard to start cold. Most of us could deal with it just fine but I know where the problem is and I'm real picky anyway. Actually a customer asked me to replace his carburetor (same F20 yamaha motor) and I have the old one, I think I'll just clean this one up and bolt it to his motor. Probably a better idea. Then clean his old one up and keep it around because I know for certain he's gonna let it sit again and the fuel will get old. Maybe someday I'll pick up an F15 or F20 and it may need carb work, I'll have one ready to go. Also have a complete lower unit in the storage building in case dad hits a stump that is an inch under the surface-and he will (that lake is FULL of them!)

wish we'd caught a few more crappie for a meal but any time on the water regardless of whether or not the fish are cooperating is better'n sitting at the house in front of a TV or better'n working for sure. Back to work today, then Saturday is my last day there. Off for a while until I decide what I want to do. Long as the weather holds out, you can for sure bet I'll be on the water some. Hopefully dad goes with me. I think he wants to go see my fav fishing spot.
 
Imho that 7.5 is a much better motor...whatever starting issues it may have, when resolved would be more dependable...its 60yrs old, id almost guarantee you that yamaha will be dead way before its 60...probably die before the 7.5 does....js
 
Riverbean said:
Imho that 7.5 is a much better motor...whatever starting issues it may have, when resolved would be more dependable...its 60yrs old, id almost guarantee you that yamaha will be dead way before its 60...probably die before the 7.5 does....js


I'll not live another 60 years, neither will dad so it's not an issue
besides getting parts for those novelties is getting harder, you can't run to a dealer and pick up a impeller. Yamaha dealer is 2 minutes away and keeps most stuff in stock, no waiting for weeks to get a simple service part (if you even get it

the old points ignition is a pain in the neck, best thing that ever happened to ignition systems was going away from the mechanical point system and going to solid-state and CDI systems. I"ve been in in the yamaha repair shop for 28 years and never once had any ignition problem-ever. All carburetor problems and one or two lower units from guys who've hit rocks or whatever

not to mention....ain't gotta mix gas and oil, and we all know today's gas is just stellar quality so after 1/2 of it evaporates into thin air you're going from the original 50:1 to 25:1 and didn't touch a thing. And just as important, don't have to worry about forgetting to add the oil to the tank, which is the #1 cause of 2 stroke engine failure.

and....the old 7.5 is a recoil start. The yamaha is electric start. MUCH easier to push the button, no rope to break off, etc. Even if the Yamaha were manual start they are a LOT easier to pull start than the old 2 stroke stuff was. Nobody believes me but until you've had one you don't know. My 25 is easily started by reaching around behind me (without turning around), grabbing the rope and pulling....from behind me...just give it a quick yank and it's running, every single time, and no throttle input is needed. Mostly impossible with an older 2 stroke, they need some throttle usually to start.
 

Latest posts

Top