He Reigns Mon Ark project

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He Reigns

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Just got home from picking up a new project. I needed a boat upgrade for the waters I fish in. My old 13 foot valco was not getting it done anymore. I found this wonderful site and have gleaned much information off of it. So this will be my Log of the process to come. The valco had a 18 horse prop and did not work well because of underwater obstacles. Several props and sheer pins have done it in. This new to me boat will be a Outboad jet or a Jet Jon. Not sure yet. Will post more pictures later. For now a nighttime teaser. He Reigns......
 
A couple pictures after a short story, the boat is a 1980 16/44 Mon Ark, the PO bought this boat in 1982 and put a 50 prop force motor on it. He ran that motor and boat for 32 years until this winter the motor cracked a head while duck hunting. After that he desired to get a bigger boat for his grandchildren to go with him. I found this on craigslist with marginal pictures, made arrangement to see it and jumped on the opportunity as soon as I seen it. The OP took very good care of this boat, it shows its age some but you can tell it was never abused. Original paint, other then the drivers pad all the vinyl is original, the trolling motor is old and needs replaced. Now I have to decide, outboard jet or PWC inboard jet. A few pics.....
 
So there is my start, not exactly sure what direction I am heading with it other than toward the river. First project at hand is scrounging up some type of motor and pump. I can weld mild steel but NOT aluminum (no spool or tig). I do have a fabrication background so nothing is out of reach. Questions and Comment are always welcome!!!
 
Hard to beat a well executed inboard jet but then an outboard jet is much easier and will give you more room in the boat. If you want to try a objet on it and are around Missouri, I've got a Yam 50/35 I need to water test.
 
Personally I'd drop a 'whatever' brand small outboard on it to get it in the water while you find parts for the swap. Either O/b or I/B.

Pick up a spool gun and a power supply that will drive it. Mine is a Miller 210 with a 3035 spool gun. Find parts and start figuring where everything is going to go. The work is pretty straight forward but you will spend more time thinking about what you are doing than actually doing it. Mine turned out well, read the build thread if you want some insight on what's ahead.
 
Ranchero50, not sure a welder is going to happen. I would love it, but probably not. I have seen every build here and on any other web forum, and all youtube vids that have anything to do with a PWC motor and pump installed in a hull. Love your boat!!!

We did take the Mon Ark up to lake today with no motor other then the trolling motor. It almost was a disaster, the trolling motor is shot. I had to hard wire the motor for either full speed or off, Its toast. It did get us off the dock and down a bit to throw anchor and fish with spinners for some nice trout. Caught four nice fish, so not a total loss. It was more a figure out trip, the things I figured out....the front seat needs to move forward, more then likely on a bigger front deck, the back seat is in a decent position but need raised, again on a raised deck. The side storage box needs to go away and be replaced with a pedestal seat.

We may not have went very far but learned a lot about where things need to be. After 4 hours on the water I pulled the plug and got about a pint of water. So she is fairly water tight. Over all a good trip, learned some things and caught some fish......now to find some propulsion.
 
Congrats on the boat find! Wish my craigslist was that productive! :D looking forward to watching the progess
 
A couple updates, the caps were missing off the bearing buddies so I cleaned up the outsides and installed new caps. I will tear them apart and inspect at a later date. I ran into an acquaintance who had an old boat he ran a couple years ago. He said the motor stuck in gear and he parked it. He thought it may have been the gear control cable., either way he said he will bring the whole boat to my house at the end of the week and I can have the motor and controls. If I get it running good and am happy I owe him a couple hundred dollars. It's a 55 hp evinrude with a prop. I know what you are thinking, this is the jet boat forum, so bear with me, this boat will have a jet eventually. Just having a prop motor will give me access to 50% of what we can fish. Plus I could sell the motor to help fund a jet later. I have a family get together Saturday and it mother's day on Sunday so I'll work on it when I can. Hoping the old boy pulls through with that motor.
 
You could always convert the Rude 55 to a jet.. 35 hp at the pump would scoot that thing..
 
[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=351662#p351662 said:
Canoeman » 08 May 2014, 06:49[/url]"]You could always convert the Rude 55 to a jet.. 35 hp at the pump would scoot that thing..

I agree in that this would be the most logical solution except from what I have been told this motor requires a "L" pump. This is a rare pump in my neck of the woods, I called everyone within 200 miles and no one had a used pump. No worries though, a solution will present itself sooner or later.
 
Good attitude!!

And yes keep looking on craigslist etc and one will pop up i bet.

From 1968 - 1988 15" used L60/C and the 20" used L60L/LC
From 1989 - 2005 20" only listed as L60L-89 or L60CL-89


good luck!
 
[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=351694#p351694 said:
Canoeman » 08 May 2014, 11:01[/url]"]Good attitude!!

And yes keep looking on craigslist etc and one will pop up i bet.

From 1968 - 1988 15" used L60/C and the 20" used L60L/LC
From 1989 - 2005 20" only listed as L60L-89 or L60CL-89


good luck!

Thank you for the pump info!!! If anyone runs into one please send me a contact for it. I talked with the gentleman today, he said he will have the boat at my house tomorrow. I wonder if my wife would come out to the shop so we could enjoy mothers day together? Joking......well maybe?
 
So I got the donor boat last night. It ends up being a 1978 55 hp evinrude. The shifting cable was broke. So I though I had it made, I was wrong. No matter what I tried the lower unit was stuck in gear. I dropped the lower unit and start disassembly to run into this. Top bearing is toast, no oil in the unit at all. I guess I will tear it apart and see how much damage was done and make a decision if it is worth it to fix it. Right now would be a good time to find a jet pump to put on this motor!!! Beside that the top end looks good.
 
So thumbing through Craig's list I run into this. After a brief conversation I bought it really cheap. It seems to have a broken reed. I hoping for the best scenario. It's a 3 cylinder 750 with about 80 horse power. It does have a revearse and in over all shape look fairly clean. I will dig into it a bit deeper this week. Unfortunately this will be a cut and paste on the hull as I don't have a way to weld aluminium. Stay tuned.......
 
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