Reply To: Thrust, hp, and weight comparisons

[Charles Myers]

An update

I have tinkered and tinkered with the synchronization.  Maybe it is right; I’m not sure.  I do know, though, that loosening the two bolts for the throttle cam and trying to reposition that cam did not seem to modify anything.  The short linkage rod (not the long one with the collar) on the throttle butterfly axle was bent, which kept that axle from moving all the way to its stop.  I straightened that rod.  I also adjusted the knurled knob on the throttle cable (the cable from the front of the boat next to the driver).  Those actions achieved a perfectly horizontal throttle butterfly at full throttle.  I then adjusted the collar on the long throttle rod on the port side.

On Saturday, October 28, 2023, we had an 83 degree day in Richmond.  My son and I took the boat to the lake.  The motor started, although the throttle control beside the driver had to be set much farther forward now to get the motor to start.  (That was a surprise.)  On the water and underway, at full throttle, the fast needle did what was expected.  It had a sweet spot for the fastest speed.  But when backing off on the throttle, no amount of fiddling with the slow needle achieved smooth idle.  The motor never quit, but it loped badly.  Interestingly when I got it to the best it could do on the slow needle, a minor turn of the fast needle achieved a steady (no loping) idle).  That was fine s long as we only wanted to move slowly, but the moment we gave it full throttle, it was necessary to re-set the fast needle a bit to resume best speed.

Best speed continues to be much slower than the boat moved in previous years.  Even so, I think we are making progress.  During the trip before this one, we got stranded on the lake, unable to get it restarted at all.  We had to be towed.  So our experience on October 28 was an improvement over that.

I am suspicious about the slow needle packing.  After we got back home, I added another packing washer and re installed the needle.  Cold weather is coming, and I have now winterized the motor.  So unfortunately it will be next spring before we get to go to the lake again to test it out.

What I need, I think, is to find an old timer who knows the 1956 Evinrude Lark 30 hp very very well and knows how to set everything correctly.  Does anyone know of such a person within 150 miles from Richmond?  I am definitely not ready to give up on this motor.  And keeping this 1956 motor married to this 1956 boat is a priority for me.

Thanks, everyone for all your help.