Reply To: Evinrude 28 HP SPL miscellaneous market and model questions

[David Stanton]

Don wrote:

I’m confused about your comment about no clamp screws,

Hey Fleetwin – Thanks for the info about my 28 SPL – good summary!

Disregard my comment about the transom clamp screws – it has them, and additionally, it has been bolted on.

For the transom clamps, my aging brain must have confused it with the 2 HP Minnkota 48 Volt Electric motor on my girlfriend’s pontoon that I worked on a couple months ago, which was a pain getting it off and back on the pontoon while standing in the lake, with nothing to even set on the transom to hold it while bolting on.  Her crowded metro-lake is restricted to “non-combustion engines and less than 10 MPH” .

Yes – It has the warning system you mentioned, and I hear the beep when I turn the key on.  Good to know it only beeps when overheating.  I replaced the impeller and housing, as someone must have run it dry – it pumped at higher speeds, but no telltale at idle, and I found part of the impeller had melted, and re-solidified after running down into the housing and, as you probably well know,  there was no scraping that loose.

After some needed TLC, the motor performs great.  The only downside I’ve found (which I expected) is this motor, like other 25s and 30s of similar design that I’ve fixed in the past,  has a fairly wide throttle range between slow idle and faster cruising where runs a bit rough (4-cycling, etc.) as the carb switches from low speed needle to high speed jet.  Noticeably wider throttle range running rougher that than most other motors!   I understand this is a well-known trait of this design, and not a problem for my usage.

Dave