Expert: tyler boehner - 2/12/2008

Question
QUESTION: i am getting ready to pick up a 73 glasstron that has one minor issue, wondering if you could help. the control box is stuck in forward and wont come unstuck. the guy i bought it from says he took it to a dealer and they hooked it up to the computer and said the switch inside the throttle control box was messed up. if i replace the control box, will this fix the problem? or do you think it could be something else? i dont think its the cable since the throttle still works. if it is the throttle control box, do you know of a part number or where i can get one that isnt oging to cost and arm and a leg? and help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

SSgt Walsh Joseph M
USMC

ANSWER: I have to know what engine is on the boat to give you any direction.  Is it an I/O or an outboard.  Being a 73, I don't think the person that worked on the boat hooked a computer up to anything.  That was way before they started using computers on motors.  Stuck in forward and switch in the throttle makes me think that is an old Evinrude electric shift outboard.  If that is the case, I don't know what the part number is but I can tell you those switches are getting very hard to come by.  And it has been a couple of years, because we don't work on them in my shop anymore, but if i remember right, they are about $150 just for this tiny little switch.  Replacing a control box that old can get tricky too.  If i were you, I would make the owner fix the problem for you, and pay a little more for an operational boat rather than buying something that you could easily put more money into than its worth.  Old boats have expensive problems that get harder to fix by the year.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The motor is a 65 horse Johnson outboard. the guy that is selling it told me that the boat shop he took it to told him that it was the switch. so i was just wondering if i could replace the throttle control and if it would be fine, or if there were anything else that could be done without spending another 500 dollars on it.

Answer
I don't think so.  I think you are either going to have to bite the bullet and spend a lot of money to get it running right or find something else.  Being an engine that old, i have to warn you again that most places won't even work on them and the places that do can't find parts because they don't make them anymore.  Another thing to think about is that a motor that old is bound to have more problems on down the road.