Step 6: Belated update

A lot has changed in almost a year. The Mercury engine has been sold. I got it going again but did have some trust issues with such an old engine and I was able to sell it for a good price. The new owner was pretty pleased. 

I have a new engine, a surprise birthday present, a 1992 Johnson 30 HP. I works and is behind the boat so I have been out and about a few times. I am really pleased with how it runs. At present it will do 46 km/h on GPS. However with some work it should run a bit better. I need to have a good look at the prop, one blade seems off and the engine does vibrate a lot. On the lost run I also noticed some white smoke so may need to have a look at the water flow. 

Further I have been gathering some stuff here and there, MOB switch, fire extinguisher etc. I will post some pictures soon.

Step to the side: 5 1/2 The interior

A follower has been so kind to react to the question I had posten on the side about the original interior. He supplied me with three pictures of the interior of his boat with original seats. 

Step Five: Power

Behold the power of my propulsion: a 1978 Mercury Thuderbolt M402 (40 HP)

I eventually was able to sell my trailer for 100 EUR believe it or not. Not as much as I hoped but I had no proper place to store it so I had to get rid of it. However I was able to compensate the disappointing sale with the bargain of the century. I got the outboard, with a brand new Mercury outboard control, new petroltank, jerrycan with fuel and a battery for... wait for it... 200 EUR. The controls are worth more than that. So I am quite pleased. That means that I have been able to buy the boat and engine for 700 EUR.

The engine needs some TLC but nothing too serious. The plan is to do the work over the next few weeks and both parties should meet in a couple of weeks.

Minor update: bad news, the impellor is bust, loose bits fell out of the cooling water intake. Probably a dry start by the previous owner. Good news, as the impellor was bust anyway, some friends and I started the engine today and it started the second time. Not bad for 31 years old. But then again, there seem to be a lot of new screws and bolts in and on the engine. Shows you the value of good maintenance I guess.

Step Four: The Launch

Yesterday I made the most of a rare free day and got the boat floating. Which I am glad it did as I bought the boat on dry land (a real no no some would say). I also had to self teach reversing with a trailer in about four minutes as there was a queue at the launching place, they are scarce goods.

As the sale of the trailer will (hopefully) finance my propulsion I had no engine to get me to the place where I can leave the boat (luckily only 300 meters away). The grand plan was to ask a passerby to tow me to where I needed to be. It does go to show that boating people are somewhat of a supporting community as the first unknowing passer by was willing to tow me to where I needed to be. After some interesting maneuvering, as I had no real way of controlling my boat, we got there safe and sound.

The crew helping out.

The day ended with some work being done to the trailer which is on the internet as we speak, just waiting for its new owner.

Step to the Side

As my boat is standing outside, not going or getting anywhere at any rate, I must admit that it were not only the practical reasons mentioned earlier that made me choose this boat. On the right of this page there is a link to a very useful site about the Shakespeare brand which includes some information on the founder of the company, Bill Shakespeare. I would also like to include a link to this site The Search for Bill Shakespeare. As you can read on both sites the story goes that Bill was killed while practicing for a grand prix. I just like the fact that the brand has real pedigree. It was not started to fill a gap in the market or anything, but because of real passion. A passion worth dying for. Just look at one of his first racing boats:

1962 Shakespeare Special 1
source

Step Three and a Half: It's here

Yesterday we picked up the boat. Glad to say that the trailer, which hadn't moved in 10 months, did the job. Haven't been able to do much other than clean it out properly and have a good look. The moment it appeared it had two permanent occupants.

Glad to say that there were no unpleasant surprises. Interesting ( I think it's original) pressure gauge on the dash together with some switches and speedometre.

Step Three: The Work

Tomorrow I will be picking up the boat but in the mean time I have been making a list of what I need/would like to do. Up and foremost I need to see if the boat is 'waterworthy', it has been on dry land for almost a year. The reason behind this being that I would like to sell on the trailer. As I am on a budget I would like to use this money to do the following necessities:

Toplight                      35 EUR
Cleaner and wax         20 EUR
Registration                 35 EUR
Registrationletters        25 EUR
Battery                       ?? EUR
Cleats                         25 EUR

As you can see about 150 EUR for the trailor would be nice. Let's see.