Home

Projects

Photo Gallery

Our Other
Pearsons

After buying a used dinghy from our neighbors at the marina and restoring it, we decided to refurbish an old outboard that had sat in the corner of the garage for 20-some years. It is a 1952 Johnson Seahorse 5HP that has very few hours on it, so it really only needed cosmetic work. While searching for info on the Seahorse, I came across a page about the restoration of a Seahorse. I found this to be a great resource; it has links to other pages that sell paint and replacement decals.

The first step was to remove the lower shield from the engine block, the pull-start mechanism, and drain and remove the circular gas tank. These parts were all wet sanded with 220 and then 400 grit to remove all the old paint. The few scratches on the lower unit were sanded out as well.

All the parts were then primed with a zinc chromate primer and once dry, a couple of light coats of the finish color were applied. Details of the primer and paint can be found here: http://www.axxent.ca/~nymarine/pntinfo.html This paint is an alkyd enamel which is very hard and resistant to chipping.