Back in service with no issues. 2nd test run today. The alpha gimbal housing took care of all the annoying issues I had with the old mc1 transom. Trim and trim gauge work as advertised. No leaks and the old ford motor is running great. Very satisfactory feeling keeping this old boat going.
Since I didn't take the top off it saved a lot of time. Honestly the hardest part was fitting the wood and getting the mercruiser transom parts back on. There were quite a few spider cracks in the transom gelcoat, I painted just the transom with fleet farm tractor paint. It's a 10 foot paint job. Not a show piece, but it gets us out on the water. I'm in Hudson, that is the St Croix river (and Bayport mn) in the background. The 18 is basically a motorized surfboard compared to some of the boats out there.