The boat: 1976 Trimate II
The motor: 135 HP Johnson Seahorse
I bought the boat earlier this spring for $1200, so I didn't expect much. The first few trips out she blew those expectations out of the water, planning out at 45ish mph and handling like a go-kart. Over the next month or two, the engine developed a real problem under load, it would barely push past no-wake. I read enough to figure out that the engine was down at least one cylinder, but I wasn't sure why. I don't know a whole lot about 2-cycle engines.
After one particularly fitful day out on the lake (that ended with a tow), we decided to take it down to the local marina and let them give it a once-over to see what was wrong. I was hoping with everything I had for a leaky carb or a bad ignition coil. Boy was that hope misplaced
.
In the words of the service advisor at the marina, piston 4 is "flapping around" and there's no point in trying to fix it. He advised a new motor.
Being that this forum has so many experienced checkmate owners, I was hoping y'all could help me flesh out my options. Is it possible to replace jus the powerhead on an older outboard like this? Is it worth it, with a 40 year old lower unit? Has changing outboards on an older boat been known to make transom problems worse (I don't have any that I know of, just wondering)? If I do replace the outboard, does anybody know how new I could go with it and still have the steering/throttle/trim & tilt match up? A 4 cycle would be incredible.
It seems like another boat would be about the same price as replacing the outboard, but we really like this little Trimate. I want to say thank you for the time you spent reading this and thank you ahead of time for any advice/opinions/comments you can contribute. I'm sorry if these are beginner questions; I'm just angry at this damn motor and trying to figure out how to get her back in the water.
The motor: 135 HP Johnson Seahorse
I bought the boat earlier this spring for $1200, so I didn't expect much. The first few trips out she blew those expectations out of the water, planning out at 45ish mph and handling like a go-kart. Over the next month or two, the engine developed a real problem under load, it would barely push past no-wake. I read enough to figure out that the engine was down at least one cylinder, but I wasn't sure why. I don't know a whole lot about 2-cycle engines.
After one particularly fitful day out on the lake (that ended with a tow), we decided to take it down to the local marina and let them give it a once-over to see what was wrong. I was hoping with everything I had for a leaky carb or a bad ignition coil. Boy was that hope misplaced
.In the words of the service advisor at the marina, piston 4 is "flapping around" and there's no point in trying to fix it. He advised a new motor.
Being that this forum has so many experienced checkmate owners, I was hoping y'all could help me flesh out my options. Is it possible to replace jus the powerhead on an older outboard like this? Is it worth it, with a 40 year old lower unit? Has changing outboards on an older boat been known to make transom problems worse (I don't have any that I know of, just wondering)? If I do replace the outboard, does anybody know how new I could go with it and still have the steering/throttle/trim & tilt match up? A 4 cycle would be incredible.
It seems like another boat would be about the same price as replacing the outboard, but we really like this little Trimate. I want to say thank you for the time you spent reading this and thank you ahead of time for any advice/opinions/comments you can contribute. I'm sorry if these are beginner questions; I'm just angry at this damn motor and trying to figure out how to get her back in the water.
