Quote:
Originally Posted by SoCal Hurricane
Nothing posted here… what do you have going on?
Mark 5’s are super rare!
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Rare indeed! It took a lot of patience to wait for one to surface on the used market at a reasonable price. There were a batch that came from the fall out of bankrupt Canadian expedition cruise company but the prices were too rich and the logistics transporting them across the continent too much for my liking. But this relic should fit the bill and the price was right.
My priorities are: to get the trailer road worthy, it needs new, higher bunks and paperwork. Shouldn't be too difficult, I have a plan and can pick up some of the parts later today.
Next will be moving that yellow battery box. I plan to move it ~4' forward and turn it around so the seat is on the port side and the tach and sounder face aft toward the helm.
This will give her more of a typical expedition guiding configuration for driving. We always stand, or sit on the pontoon. I anticipate with the 90 horse some additional care/skill is going to be needed standing. But my ultimate goal is to reduce the power to a 50-60hp 4-stroke which is ample from my experience. Even with 8-10 passengers we can usually get a Mark V on plane with 50 horses.
Otherwise it needs a thorough clean, there's a bit of oil around the transom. I don't have much experience with 2-strokes but I imagine that's one of the disadvantages, having oil accumulate.
I can see some of the material is perishing on the speed tubes so they may need replacing at some point but for now they seem to be holding air just fine. And then just pray that the hypalon and glue welds have a bit more life in them.
Capelin
