Dinghy Motor Blues

Today was a tough day.. Not real bad but one where all the plans change in an instant.

The morning was going fine – had a nice Skype call with Jim Thompson then later about 3 hours before low tide I took the dinghy and hand held depth gauge out to measure the depth of the channel. I found mostly 7.5 feet or better. This is necessary because if we want to leave here and make Little Harbour tomorrow I need to work the tide. A – to get out of here, and B—more importantly get into Little Harbour. It is only 3.5 feet MLW there.

Everything was going fine and then when I throttled up to come back in the dinghy motor faltered. It had no power. It would just barely run. I noticed the fitting on the fuel hose to the engine was a little loose. I made it to the boat then troubleshot.

I replaced the fitting on the hose. No dice. I cleaned the plugs. No dice. I cleaned the fuel filter which contained little trash – no dice. Then I noticed a small hose from the carburetor just dangling in the air. Ohh it must have come off on the other end – where is the other end?? I could not find anyplace it would connect too. I checked the manual and in 3 pictures I saw the hose coming off the carburetor but no mention of what it connected to.. I then puttered around the anchorage looking for a similar motor to mine. Damn all where newer than mine and the ones I looked at did not have the hose.

Arrrrgh. I found out that the lighthouse marina was a Yamaha Outboard dealer so I went over there. Hmmm not open on Saturdays but I found a guy who said he could look at the carburetor later today.

Hmmm what to do??? Without a dinghy things get real tough… I should have brought along a spare carburetor!!
Well this place is good to wait for repairs. I can easily row to the grocery store and to the Lighthouse marina. We will have to stay till the engine works again.

Well I went back over a little later and met the guy and surprisingly he immediately started working on it. After quizzing me on spark plugs and filters he removed the carburetor and took it to the shop. He tore it down in less than 5 minutes then soaked the parts in cleaner solution, blew it out with compressed air then reassembled. I thought cool but the engine would not start… He played with it then disassembled it part way and reassembled it then the engine would start. He took it out and ran it hard and adjusted the jets. Then he let me try it. WOW it really worked again..

My day improved or I should say my mood and outlook improved. I’ve had very little trouble—mechanical – on this trip and I was surprised at how low I felt when I couldn’t easily resolve the issue. You have to expect this sort of thing and be prepared and prepare for a wait most of the time. This time of rectification in the Bahamas is unheard of. I’m happy and planning to head to Little Harbour tomorrow. Ya Hooo.