Whaler Resto - pt xiv - haul of shame...

This past month should have been 

the icing on the boat cake.

Now that the Whaler was running solid,

this was the time to enjoy the proceeds

of all the hours tinkering and whittling away.

This was finally dialed in.

With the smallish 50 hp Johnson,

cruising speeds were an acceptable 20-25mph,

sipping the gas.

The controls worked so smooth.

Docking and trailering felt comfortable

even when the launch ramp was packed.

Perfect...

So why not muck it all up!

The Johnson wasn't a looker,

but I trusted it for our needs.

Wiring was replaced, 

stainless fasteners swapping rusty originals,

lotsa grease monkey tweaks.

It sounded like a diesel,

the perfect workhorse.

A lucky craigslist score.

In a blaze of overthought,

the trusty 2-banger was transplanted to another hull.

Yeah.

This is the part of the movie,

when the audience goes "Nooo...stop!"

My thinking was if the beater 50 was dependable,

then a super clean Evinrude 60 would be even better.

The swap barely took 2 hours.

Man this engine was quiet,

idled smooth,

cooling water shot right out,

and Wow it really looked cool.

The Mission Bay launch ramp near Sea World was empty,

football and rain will do that.

Perfect day and place to test out the new setup.

The lower unit shifted way smoother than the 50,

no clunking,

and the slow cruise out to the bay was not as smokey.

Maybe it was the wind.

I babied it for a while,

and when all seemed well,

bumped up to 2/3 throttle.

The hull planed out and we were cruising.

Yessss...

Circling back around the island,

the rain started,

and so did a clicking sound...

Nooooo.....

The smell of hot plastic and smoke is not a good sign.

Now it's really raining,

and I'm at the far side of the bay.

Dead in the water.

Good thing I didn't drag the kids out!

The little kicker worked it's wonders,

sloowwlly...

the haul of shame.

The 4 hp outboard was barely sufficient

pushing the 17' Boston Whaler,

2-3 mph at partial throttle,

4-5 mph at grenading high.

Better than paddling!

Weird how the most picturesque shots

are the result of mechanical failure.

This rainbow opened up,

and everything was all right.

Back home,

the outboard was immediately stripped down.

I shoulda known that a 30 year old engine,

in mint unused condition,

is like that cause it never ran!

If you look to the far left,

there's a wire that popped out of the head.

That's the temperature alarm sender exploding.

Whoops!

At least it didn't seize up.

This isn't what I wanted to see 

on the first week of lobster season!

Not that our hoop nets were ready...

This gamble didn't pay off,

however we had a trick up our sleeve.

Jake was ready.

Bring out that light bulb,

cause our ace in the hole is gonna get played.

We've had this yamaha 90 stashed away this whole time.

Now for the fun part,

changing the wiring harness and controls.

Jake said he'd whip that part out in the morning...

More soon...

TP