Re: Need recommendation for 7.5hp project

[20mercman]

Just my opinion, but I think that the 58 Fleetwin was the best looking of all of them. I did convert ours to a fuel pump as at the time, I didn’t have a pressure tank. I now have one for our FD-10 and Fastwin, so no big deal. The pressure tanks work just fine. I feel that they work well enough that I may consider putting ours back to pressure tank system. ( I didn’t do anything that could not be undone.) As for the 7.5 hp. range, there are a ton of motors to choose from in that horsepower range. As was mentioned, the Mercury 7.5’s are very powerful motors for their size, troll all day, smooth, great motors. They all have their issues with each make. The Mercury will certainly out power the Evinrude. I have a Corsair Navigator that was built by Scott Atwater, and this is a very nice classic motor with full gear shift and good performance. They were built under the Firestone and Corsair names for private label and do not have the bail-O-matic pumps. It will also easily outrun our Fleetwin. The pre-1954 Fleewins’s were neutral clutch, so no full gear shift, but were faster.