77 Proline / Evinrude / Johnson

[bloocrab]

I am currently looking at a 17' - 1977 Pro-Line with 77 Evinrude/Johnson.......

Do any of you experienced boaters have any experiences with this type of motor?

Looks easy to work on.....sounded pretty good, compression looked good ....???

I guess I'm just looking for some war stories ......if you have one to share, I'd love to hear it. I'm looking for a reason not to buy it. ,,, other than "A boat is money pit"...

[nautibuoys]

A bit different but I had a used 1977 24' Proline w/ a 1978 140h Evinrude for 8 years. Sold it to my bro who ran it for 5 years (he re-powered) and a guy is still running it today. Well built hull and held its finish and looks better than a lot of other makes. If the engine is a V-4 it was one of the better built engines of the time. Issue is it is 30+ years old and best you figure you will need to re-power at some stage. 4S engines can be heavier for the same HP and could throw hull balance off (need to check mfg'rs). Blue book will give you lowball values; BoatUS will also give you somewhat better ballpark value.

[freebie]

if it's a 3 cylinder they had soft cranks back then, if your paying any amount for it I would ask for a water test, what were the compression numbers? should be over 110 and within 10 percent of each other

[Gary]

Nice little boat if it's the one im thinking of. The outboard on the otherhand, If it is a V4 there good up to about 125 hp Over that they tend to wear out quickly. But are inexpensive and easy to re-build.

[nautibuoys]

FYI-that 1978 140 hp Evinrude ran for 22 years before my bro proactively sold it and re-powered. Heard they had low rings and tended to carb up but never an issue for us.

[bloocrab]

Thanks for the replys / / It's a 70hp

Looked at it again today ... need to give it some serious thought....


Thanks again

[Van]

The boat should be fine make sure the transom is solid.

Check here for engine info, lots of smart mechanics..

http://bbcboards.zeroforum.com/zeroforum?id=51