lrg355

That was a friends motor and the peacocks were left out. The mud trapped some water causing the crack. Sent from my SM-J737V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

A few years ago a friend of mine pulled the block and manifold plugs on a 5.0. He had a slip in a muddy area. Water did drain but there was some trapped in mud and that resulted in a cracked block in the spring. A valuable lesson for me. Since then, I always remove the plugs and blow compressed air in the holes with a tube and a rubber seal at the end. Usually more water and debris drains. Also always remove the hose at the water pump. I had a 4.3. Sent from my SM-J737V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I am assuming it has a hydraulicly actuated rudder for steering. If it does there is an interesting way to hook up an autopilot that runs both the main steering and the kicker. I had a setup on a 27 single inboard. I ran a steering cable from the rudder arm around to the steering tube on a T9.9 Yamaha. The kicker was turned by the rudder so any autopilot ( mine was a Raymarine) that turned the rudder arm Cylinder would also turn the kicker. Worked great. The steering cable had a special end to hook a rod end bearing to the rudder. Got it at Salmon Country in Mexico. Was about 200 $ for the cable. If I had to do it over again I would modify a standard cable on the drive end and save 150 bucks. Sent from my SM-J737V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I am about to try a unusual Lowrance idea. I have a Lowrance Hds7 gen 2 touch. I bought the hydraulic autopilot last year but to install on an outboard. I never installed it and l am planning to sell the boat since I went bigger. The new boat is an I/O with a mercruiser alpha 1 gen 2 out drive. I plan to install a machine type hydraulic cylinder to the out drive steering arm. The cyl will be about $100. It will be controlled by the Lowrance pump /controller. It will need a bypass valve to be engaged when the autopilot is off otherwise the cylinder will lock up. I will let you know how it works in the spring. Sent from my SM-J737V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I previously had a few omc cobra engines. Used car parts often EXCEPT do not use car head gaskets. Marine head gaskets are Stainless Steel. Car head gaskets don't last well in a non closed cooling situation, especially in salt water Sent from my SM-J737V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

If you decide to sell equipment separately I would be interested in the Terrova. I was planning to look seriously at that model in the spring. Sent from my SM-J737V using Lake Ontario United mobile app