This is my boat, or what it looked like before I got it. It's all cleaned up now and once I get some new pics I'll post them.

The 50 HP Merc 500, which was just rebuilt, has been remounted and is ready for break-in. The entire rebuild will be posted here with dtailed pics and notes. The engine when bought was running on virtually one cylinder. I had the closed- head bored .020" over and replaced the pistons with Wiscoe Forged pistons. New main, rod and wrist pins bearing, all new gaskets, carbkit, new reeds etc.
The engine showed classic signs of being run hard when cold. Scored pistons and cylinders, seized rings, lots of carbon etc. Chances are it wasn't run on good fuel and guality oil. The lesson here is obvious, if you want an outboard to last don't skimp on what you feed it and make sure you warm it up before you slam that control forward.
Also evident only after really pulling it apart was a broken reed. How this got through the engine without doing more damage is beyond me. There was only a small amount of nicking in the head on No. 2 cylinder. Had this piece of steel gotten caught in an intake or exhaust port while the piston was coming up I could have been looking for a new block. The block boring was hard to get done, I couln't find many machine shops capable of boring a closed cylinder. I finally found a shop in Connecticut who did a really excellent job, Fred's Auto Machine, LLC. All cylinders are bored, honed and deburred identically.
In rebuilding this engine I discovered many things that the manual doesn't clue you in on. Like the reed blocks. These needed to be lapped flat in order for the new reeds to sit just right. And the reed opening stops have to be bent just right so the reeds are anchored well at their bases.
All the parts were just over $600 and boring was about $300. A new power head runs about $2,500 and a new engine is out of the question. So for a $1,000 I'll have a virtually new engine.
I did manage to get about ten hours on the engine before it just wouldn't run anymore. After dismantling the head I can't understand why it ran at all.
There's still some restoration I'd like to do on the Glass and Gel Coat but it can wait, maybe forever. For now, the electrical wiring is all replaced, the engine is virtually new, and the hull is quite seaworthy, if not pretty. Even the the windows and frames were replaced and remounted. Everything is at least ship-shape, if not Bristol Fashion. But looks aren't everything.