TOPIC: 1967 Evinrude Sportsman 120

I looked back thru my old posts (2016/2017 vintage) & can find no mention of the boat, so here is a quick history.

A guy called the marina I was working at in the summer of 2016. He wanted to get rid of a '68 Evinrude boat his dad had for 30 or so years. Dad's been dead about 8 years & the boat is just taking up garage space. Long story, boat is a 1967 Sportsman 120. Needed a good heavy duty buff job but should clean up nice. Interior was good, engine complete & trailer solid with a total of 6 wheels & 7 tires. I mention the wheels & tires because these things used a 9" split wheel, tube type 10 ply tire. The bolt pattern is 5" with a huge center hole, so it is an oddball setup.

Fast forward & I get this boat for free, hauling it home & back it into my shed. Water starts dripping from the fwd keel area. Yep, it is cracked. Looks like from long term sitting on its keel on a hoist. These boats are a foam core system, unusual for their time. So I assume waterlogged foam through out. I cut about a 2" by 18" piece out & make a repair externally. Then I remove every piece of hardware & buff like crazy. Engine needed carbs (yes 2 one barrels) rebuilt & a new fuel pump.

Boat runs pretty good but appears heavy. Over propped with RPM about 600 low. I run the boat all season (2017), not at all in 2018 and a quick afternoon on Labor Day this year. I decide it's time to perform surgery to remove the excess weight.

Out comes the rear bulkhead & engine cover, lower unit & engine. Next I remove the interior & windshield then cut the floor out. 465 lbs of wet foam plus water logged 1/2 plywood flooring. Stringers are 2" of plywood, wet but appear solid. Boat is gutted & put away until spring when the reassembly takes place.

More pics

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Looks like I need to do the same. I've spent a year on and off on this 67 Rogue 200. So far I've had 2 electrical learning experiences. The latter resulting in a complete meltdown of my wiring harness and a few components. I've moved out of my unfriendly condo complex that frowned upon my DIY spirit. I'll be closing on my huge shop and 1 acre lot I'm purchasing. I can put both my current projects in the shop and 2 more if I desire. If I decide to take a break I just leave it and pick up where I left off. There is no HOA but I think there is a home. I may sleep, eat, and shower in the home now and then.
I've noticed a couple of soft spots and the can that is recessed for the bulge pump was loose and standing water has submerged the area several times. I have to replace the floor in my 67' wellcraft so I may as well do them simultaneously. I may find another project and do all 3 at the same time this winter. I'd like to find a late model center console bay boat maybe two. Just do the same step on each boat like a production line. Sell one center console in the spring and hopefully make my material cost money back. That would leave me a 19' 67' Tube pulling machine, a 15' 67' Run about for my children to cruise in an inshore fishing boat but more Importantly, confidence and the experience needed to feed this sickness I've acquired. Next year I may do 4 more. The attention my classics get down south makes me think I could create a demand along the coast here. If a guy wants to go out to eat or watch the Blue Angels air show, hang out on one of the party islands or take friends on the Orange Beach Bushwhacker tour. His Million dollar Sportfisher is too cumbersome. His $500,000 offshore and his $70,000 Inshore boats aren't sexy at all. His wife won't let him buy a million dollar "go fast" boat because he got caught and had to sell the last one after someone filmed Episode 63 of "Girls Gone Wild" I know there are tons of those guys all along the "Redneck Riviera" who'd love to have a one of a kind head Turner. It be his least expensive boat and the most interesting most appropriate fun boat in his fleet. Sell one and his neighbor will have to have one. I think it would blow up like choppers did back in the early 2000's.