Re: 1964 MFG 16′ boat need advice

[David Stanton]

Prices on boats and motors vary a lot around the country, and it’s hard, even with the photos, to get a good handle on things like hull condition.

Most of those old transoms have wood sandwiched in between the fiberglass. Hairline cracks you can have trouble seeing let water in and the wood rots – need special skills to replace that wood and glass over it, and it’s generally not worth the trouble. For that reason, on old boats, I stick with aluminum.

Looks like the boat needs seats. Here in Minnesota, boat costs are low because boats like this with bad interiors are very common – some, without motors or trailers are free. I’d put the trailer at $75-$100 if the tires look good, the motor at $100 unless you can hear it run and know it shifts (you can probably part it out for that if it’s junk), and the fiberglass boat at $50, because the seats are gone, and transom is hard to know if it’s good or not. If the wrong gear oil (you have to use the correct Johnson oil for those electrics shifts) , and/or water has gotten into the lower gearcase, the electric shift stuff could be shot, and that’s an unknown to you right now. Given all that, I wouldn’t pay over $250 for the whole package unless you can try it out on the water first – too many unknowns. If you can try it out, watch for bowing/flexing of the transom when you accelerate and under high speed load. If yu can see the motor run in a garbage can of water, and see it shift, The motor maybe worth another $100 to $150.

Beware that "ran good last time out, X years ago" is the biggest joke in the old outboard hobby. I’ve gotten motors where this was said and found problems, parts missing, etc., where there is no way it could have run.

Those old 75s are powerhouses with a lot of low end torque, but they are gas hogs compared to newer 3 cylinder models.
Dave