Failure to Launch

We joke around here that our boating season in New England is so long and lengthy.  I try to squeeze out every little bit that I can.  Originally, I had booked a 2016 launch date for Saturday, May 7, a regular Mr. Early Bird.  This year, I learned a very valuable lesson: one does not wait until the day before launch to test the boat engine. Although I thought I had successfully completed my pre-launch check list, I procrastinated on checking the Mercury 9.9hp outboard motor.  It seemed fine in the fall, I thought, so there was no urgency.  I'll just fire it up the night before launch, and we will be good to go.  Bad idea.

To my chagrin, I discovered the water pump was not functioning properly, leaving the motor at serious risk of over-heating.  The only saving grace was that a few days earlier I had convinced my neighbor Henry to come over with his Sawsall and cut off that rusted padlock on the motor mount, because now the engine definitely had to come off the boat.  Adding to my humiliation, frantic calls to local repair service shops were met with near uniform responses: two to three weeks before anyone could even take a look at it, let alone fix it.  Busy time of year.  Luckily, my buddy Ric put me in touch with a fellow named George Vigeant of "On Site Outboard" in Fairhaven, who was willing to look at my motor the next day.  He confirmed that the impeller was worn out and not drawing cooling water into the engine.

Those paddles are worn and will not properly draw water to cool the motor

It took George a couple of days to replace the impeller, and I bought a spare (about $20) to keep on board the boat.  But then he discovered the "tells" on the engine -- which should squirt out water indicating that the engine was being cooled -- were blocked.  No water coming out.  It took a few more days before George got around to blowing out those with some compressed air.  Final damage: $189 and a ten-day delay in my launch date.

Note to Self: replace this sucker every year or two....