It doesn't have big tires or play in the mud, but it's about as off road as you can get.
I've been looking for a small boat to tow behind the Samurai. My original plan was for a aluminum boat but this jewel turned up on the side of the road a couple of miles from the house. It's a 1977 Mitchell 1075 Fishmate with a 1977 Johnson 25. For some reason I didn't take a picture of it when I got home. The repairs are already under way in this one.
The boat is in great shape, the engine, not so much. It cranks on the first pull, but wasn't getting water. First step was to pull the foot and replace the water pump. This is what was left of the water pump impeller.
The impeller, housing and wear plate were replaced and the lower unit re-installed. Still no water.
The pump was pumping, but water wasn't making it to the powerhead. I worked on it for a couple of hours to no avail and finely resigned myself to pulling the powerhead. 
I don't know if any of you have worked on saltwater outboards before. It usually entails many broken bolts and prolific use of a torch. Three hours later I finally had it apart. I found the problem, actually several of them.
First up, the exhaust down tube was broken. The old break is black, the new one is silver.
Second is the orifice for the lift tube from the water pump is completely blocked.
Post break, continued in a few minutes.
The third problem was the thermostat. It's pretty much falling apart.
Where I ended up last weekend was parts everywhere, parts on order, new decals on order. They all showed up this past week and today started the reassembly.
Power head with new exhaust tube, thermostat and water jacket gaskets and ready to go back on.
Middle section with 37 years of crap blasted off of it. I've decided since I'm this far into it I might as well paint it if I get it running right. There is even a company that repos decals for it. 
Then it started raining. This is where I stopped for the day.
I hope to have it back together tomorrow and get it in the water for a test run.
More to come.
AWESOME! Glad you are putting Mike's Garage-Ma-Hall to go use.
Well, I had a major setback Sunday. I finished assembling the engine and it fired on the first pull. It was pumping copious amounts of water and staying cool. It ran great for a couple of minutes and dropped a cylinder. A few seconds later it shut down. Pulled the top plug to find water in the cylinder. 
Pulled the bottom plug to find...water in the cylinder.
First thought was head gasket so I popped the head off. No gasket failure was evident, but there was lots of water in both cylinders and practically running out of the upper intake ports. Best guess now, is a crack in the block somewhere.
I'm at a pause as I explore my options.
1 A new engine is $3K. Probably not an option, mostly because I'm a cheap bastard.
2 Rebuild this with old parts. Possible, but trusting a pile of junk parts, miles from civilization, gets nerve wracking when you can't walk home. This engine will also turn 5000-6000 rpms a few feet from my head. 
3 Rebuild with new parts. $400, but I still have to source a used block from somewhere.
4 E-bay powerhead. Who knows what I would end up with. Maybe another cracked block. ???
5 Professionally rebuilt powerhead. About $800. This is the direction I am leaning.
I have one lead to chase for a free parts engine with a bad foot and a good powerhead. If that pans out I'll at least try it, if not I'll order a powerhead.
More to come.
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:
The shop is getting plenty of use. Moving from a 12 X 16 at my old house to a 26 X 26 here sure was nice. Working on cars in the A/C and heat is nice too.
Toyman01 wrote:
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:
The shop is getting plenty of use. Moving from a 12 X 16 at my old house to a 26 X 26 here sure was nice. Working on cars in the A/C and heat is nice too.
That place is amazing. Enjoy!
I had big plans to rebuild an old (late 60s) Starcraft aluminum runabout I bought, and seeing boat threads always makes me feel guilty that the hull is just sitting collecting leaves in my yard.
Good work- I'd go with a rebuilt head if you can't find a Johnson inexpensively on Craigslist. Go inland a bit and prices drop off quite a bit, though you might have to buy a rotten boat to get the engine.
Back to the top of the list.
After finding the engine problems, I took a break from this one. We have run it with a little 5hp I bought, but it's as slow as molasses. More power was necessary, but outboards around here are expensive if they run. Besides, that would just be boring.
A passing comment in another boat thread started me looking at jet drives. They can be had for dirt cheap, in junk condition, but I wanted a runner.
This one popped up this weekend and followed me home today. 
650cc, 50hp, and dirt cheap.
The good news is, it runs and the all aluminum trailer is probably worth more than I paid for it.
Next up will be much grinding and cutting of fiberglass.
More to come.
I love jet drives.
If you want to get rid of that trailer, let me know. They're crazy expensive up here, and I want to make a kayak hauler. 
I fired it up yesterday afternoon to make sure it was running and then started the disassembly. I hope to have the hull cut this weekend.
More progress this afternoon. Another hour and I'm here.
Engine out and on the ground.
Hull is upside down on the trailer and ready to be marked and cut.
Ride plate and intake grate removed.
Next step is cutting the hull. I'm not looking forward to that. Cutting fiberglass sucks.
Probably going to save that one for Saturday morning. I definitely don't want to cut it in my shop. I'd be itching for months.
I got bored this afternoon, so out came the saw. Naturally I ended up covered in fiberglass, but it's done.
Chop,
Chop,
Chop.
A little more whittling and some pressure washing and I'm down to this.
This will end up somewhere about here, just a foot or so lower.
I'm going to try to get the boat hull cut tomorrow. I've got a lot of measuring to do first.
