My wife and I bought an 18' '74 Hydrodyne. It is the same model of boat that I skied behind in the Western Regionals in Seattle in 1967. We bought it in Alpine, CA. and hauled it behind our RV up to Port Angeles, WA. We've had it out at Lake Sutherland several times this summer. My wife drove and I skied. We got a rub rail from Wefco in Canoga Park. Got a skeg from Tom Miller in St Joe, IN. Put a lot of work into the body, rebuilt transom, got the tow bar powder coated, and got lettering from "Reflections" in Santee. He rebuilt the engine cover, also. The engine was rebuilt at Sunset Marine in Santee. The engine runs great very quiet and smooth. I put a lot of work into shining it up, put the rub rail on myself. Mean Dean
The engine is a 302 Ford with an Alpha 1 Merc Cruiser Outdrive. We love it. We still need to get the shifter switch adjusted. There seems to be a leak somewhere, replaced the drain plug and seemed to help, and maybe when we put the new skeg on that might help also. We're running out of problems because we've literally fixed most everything on it. On out month and a half trip north, the boat was launched in Lake Berryessa near Napa, CA, Whiskeytown Lake near Redding, Long Lake in Olympia, WA, and Lake Sutherland, WA, which will be it's new home.
If you are talking about a neutral only start switch, it may not have one. Are there any wires going into the shifter? Be very diligent about tracing leaks, getting water into the balsa core is bad. The most likely culprit is the drain plug, I would clean the hole carefully and install a new plug. jim
Found out we need a conversion kit for the shift linkage. Not cheap. We also need to replace the bearing between the I.O. and the engine and pull the engine again to get everything aligned. I look at other modern tournament boats and yawn.... Mean Dean
