TOPIC: All American/Merc 700 Direct Rev

I ran across this for $250.
Serial # is 1300009
Looks pretty favorable.
Neil

That's a bargain!

Nice boat for that price!

Here is the story;
A gentleman took it in to a marine repair shop, they run up a bill of $257.00 against it in repairs. They contacted the guy and said that it was going to be in the neighborhood of $600 when it was all done and ready to go. The guy said to hold off and he would come down and talk with them before he got too far into it. That was in 2005 and they have not seen or heard from him since. They have tried numerous times to contact him. They said they own it now for abandonment and they just want their repair bill paid for the boat.
Idaho is pretty simple with the paperwork so it may just be my next purchase.
The cowl is in the boat and they said the faceplate may be at the shop. It is sitting in their boneyard about 2 blocks from their business.
Neil

Nice... I love those motors, But I don't know how much I'd trust the direct reverse- Kind of scares me

-Andrew

Andrew
I don't know that much about them yet, but I will learn. Heck, it's an old Merc.
I have a Mark 55 I could put on the hull for the summer. If that happens, I will be learning about that motor.
I picked up a 1959 Mark 78EL Direct Reverse this weekend coming home from looking at this boat. If nothing else, they will be a pretty good looking pair hanging in the shop.
Neil

Neil,
That will be a nice one to restore, but be careful, at the rate your going, your going to run out of room!

Is that the old cable steering wheel hub on the right side of the dashboard?

Bob

I would jump on that in a heartbeat!! Too far away for me though.

Gentleman
I just made the deal.
I called him and I was prepared to offer him $175.00.
Before I got a chance, he said I could have the whole boat/motor/trailer package for $150.00. Life is good!!
Gonna' pick it up tomorrow.
I will post more pics when I get it home.
Neil-Chompin' at the bit in Idaho!

ANOTHER steal of a deal for Neil! Congrats buddy, I like that one too.

Wow, was it a driver training boat? If I'm not mistaken - the Port helm looks to be a rideguide, but there is also an Atwood helm (without wheel) on the Starboard side!

Maybe it was a His & Hers boat - that was popular back then.

By the way, Mercury DR motors work surprisingly good, as long as the engine is correctly in tune, and the operator has experience. The largest hassle is not being able to let the motor warm up upon launch. Before the engine is started, the skipper must have a clear plan on where the boat is headed. They can be "shifted" surprisingly fast, but it takes practice. I can't even imagine trying to learn how to ski behind one!

Bruce
I have the control that I got with the Mark 78. Looking on the inside there are two switches. Start forward, start reverse?
How is the motor "killed".
I get the concept, just a little cloudy on the exact process.
As far as the steering goes, not sure yet, but I will have pics after I bring it home.
Neil

Putting it in Natural...is the kill/off

Nice- looks like you snagged a great deal there.

That motor should be a lot of fun to learn, too... It'll add some challenge to things. Just install a heavy duty rubrail or get lots of fenders

-Andrew

When I start my 78 I have it tied off pointing to where I'm going. I start in fwd and it at idle it does fine.I rev it up a couple of times while warming and then take off, no prob. On return I spin to back in and start trying to start in rev. Sometimes it fires up and sometimes not. Either way it's going back just from prop spinning. I've launched by myself a number of times, no prob. People are amazed when you tell them there is no neutral!!

Neil wrote:

Bruce
I have the control that I got with the Mark 78. Looking on the inside there are two switches. Start forward, start reverse?
How is the motor "killed".
Neil

The throttle cable is linked to the distributor as with most any other outboard engine. The difference is that on a DR motor, the distributor has to be able to make the engine run in both clockwise & counterclockwise directions. This is not as simple as it sounds. Other engines have ignitions that move from fully retarded (idle) to full advanced (fast) and back again. The fully retarded position places the ignition impulses far enough past the top dead center (TDC) of the piston stroke, to make the motor idle very slowly. If this position was moved too far retatded, the engine would die, because the spark would be happening too late to ignite the gasses in the cylinder. No kill wires or switch, the timing would just be too far off to allow the engine to fire.

On a DR motor the distributor has to do twice the job as the one in the engine above. The middle of the throttle stick is fully retarded. But this fully retarded setting is too far for the engine to run - in either direction. There is no kill switch needed. As the throttle lever is moved from center, (in either direction) the distributor is moved accordinly to a more advanced setting in relation to the crankshaft rotation. This is where things can get really confusing.

With a regular motor, Having the motor ignition at fully retarded idle is like having the volume knob of a radio turned to "1" or very low. Pushing the throttle lever all the way forward is like having the volume knob turned up to "10". The range looks like this:

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.
Idle..Slow........Fast
Retarded.......Advanced

With a DR motor, stopped is at center throttle. pull throttle toward you & start for reverse. Push throttle away from you & start the engine for forward. It looks like this:

10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1.0.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.
Fast.........SLOWstopSLOW........Fast
Advanced..........retarded...........Advanced
Full reverse.......stop..........Full forward

The motor must stall & come to a full stop before it can be re started in the reverse direction. There is a single button built into the end of the throttle handle that is pressed to start the engine forward or backward. Two internal switches are used, each operating it's own starter relay, to spin the starter forward or backward. The starter motor actually has TWO Bendix drives on the shaft - one above and one below the flywheel ring gear. Pretty complicated way of changing directions instead of changing gears. It only lasted to mid 1961, then it was abandoned.

Looking on the inside there are two switches. Start forward, start reverse?

Ignition (starter) and Choke (?) Just a guess.....

Good job Neil. Nice acquisition. She should look good with the rest of that stable you have.

Bob

First off;
Bruce, thanks for the looooong post. That was lots of typing.
I have a much better understanding now. Indeed, a different looking starter, two solenoids, and a distributor that advances in both directions.
Here is what I ended up with.
After a little cleaning.

wow neil,you call that a little cleaning?man it looks great you got a bargain indeeed,it doesnt look like the same boat,john

Thank you John
The "secret" ingredient is 41 quarts of elbow grease!
I went and picked it upon Saturday.
$150.00 just like the gentleman agreed.
When we pulled it out of the weeds, there was a bad tire and no spare. When I counted out the money, he handed me back a twenty to help with a new tire.
He said there was no papers on the boat or trailer because it was abandoned at their dealership.
In between the seats in a waterproof container I found the regs for both. Things are looking up.
I am going to run my Mark 55 on it.
Neil

boy,now thats a really nice guy.boy it looks great,and yeah when i go for a boat i ask what size wheel and tire,and if i have one,even if i take it off another trailer,itake it along just in case,but usually i just take the lowboy that was my dads,i have a 2,ooo lb electric winch from walmart about 75 bucks it slips over a hitch ball that i welded to the trailer,john

That is the way to do it John.
No worries about spares, light hookups, bad wheel bearings, trailer plates, etc.
That trailer looks like it will haul everything from a Jet Deville to a Coupe Deville.
Neil

lol,yeah it was bought for my dads mini hoe that i inherited,it works great for boats,i use the winch to get up on the flat part of the trailer then pick up the hitch part of the tounge and lay it across the 2x6s so it doesnt crush the tool/chain box.plus i carry an extra set of bearings in 2 sizes and tools if i need them,my wife says i worry to much,but i was left on the side of the road 2 times in one day with the cabin cruiser.

Bruce
I am a little late to get to your question.
The boat was originally a cable/pulley steering setup.
It was converted to a single cable. I don't know whey they changed sides. Here is a couple shots of what they did. Looks like a aftermarket, shadetree, whatever is on the bench to screw together, ubolt, one size fits all, adaptor, telescoping, steeeeering mechanizationalizm. Only safe right up to the point of launch!!
Neil