Hello,
I recently bought a 16 foot Jon boat and have pretty much decided to go with a go devil engine/motor to run it with. Our local lake is a weed-fest and standard marine engines can be a pain to navigate the lake with. I'm not really concerned with speed, if I get 15MPH I'd be happy. The boat is light and will only have myself and sometimes one other or both of my kids (which adds to one other) and light fishing gear. Trolling motor and battery and perhaps a small cooler for food/drinks.

Lake is maybe 5 miles from home so all days gear is not needed

Anyways, I found a 18HP briggs beavertail Go Devil local and want to go take a look at it for purchase. I think it will push the boat as good as I want and from what I have read I can upgrade with a coupler and prop change upto a 23HP engine if I choose, at a later date. Is there any specific areas to look at on the unit for damage and or wear issues that will give me immediate grief? I am not worried about the engine as I know engines well enough to tell if it has an issue and can repair/rebuild one with my eyes shut (I'm a Heavy Diesel Mechanic by trade).

Check the shaft bushing for free play. You can down load a general godevil longtail owners manual. Google it, print it out. It goes step by step on maintenance and items to check for wear. You should Alston put a tape across the widest part on propeller to check for amount of wear. A 9x4 propeller should measure 9 inches across. A 8.5 inch propeller has quite a lot of wear. Also check the cup on the tail end of the prop. Hope this helps. Anymore ?'s just ask.

Thanks, I just did a quick read and it seems the setup is pretty simple for the motors. I wondered about the end play on the shaft and how much was OK, the manual gives the dimensions (think it said 1/8th inch max). I was looking at props and had earlier thought of taking a tape measure along to measure the prop to check for wear, exactly what the manual said to do. Both checks will verify if the engine is worth the asking price, along with hearing the engine run. I wonder if you know the price for new lower seals and a new lower bushing, just incase it needs either? I'm thinking replacing the lower seals would be a smart move no matter what, unless the owner can show they were just done.

As far as part pricing... get the serial number and call godevil. Waren the owner is super when it comes to helping out with information. Explain that your looking at a used longtail and would Luke to check.on the price of seals/bushings before you buy it. I bought a used one that needed the outer shaft tube replaced. I called him and for the outer tube, new style bushings, shaft and seals it was like $300. So ya they're real cheap to work on.

I went ahead and bought it. I forgot to bring a tape to measure the prop but the shaft was tight at the bottom and the $700 price was good for me. So, now I have to install it and get the boat rigged up and go try it out. The safety kill switch must have broke at one time so they installed a toggle switch in it's place. I need to buy the strap-on kill switch before I take it out, is that a go-devil only item or does anyone else sell the switch?

Go to Ebay, search for safety kill switch

http://www.amazon.com/Seachoice-11681-U ... ill+switch

I was searching for go devil kill switch, and not finding squat. Did the safety kill switch and bam, there it was on amazon.