Hog Island, Grenada
12.00.039N
61.44.580W

Dale hitched a ride with John into town today and was finally able to locate the part needed for the outboard. At first the Mercury dealer said that they didn’t have the part but when Dale started asking about whether there were salvage yards in the area, they found that they had and old engine themselves in the back and sold him the used part.

Upon his return he was able to finish putting the engine back together with no extra bits and pieces left over but he spent the better part of the day trying to start the dang thing. He definitely got his work out for the day. In the end, he gave up and called John and asked for his buddy’s number. To his credit, John waited about a half hour and then came over. One pull and the engine started. Apparently, it had been flooded (although I did see Dale empty the fuel filter a couple of times). They tinkered with it a bit longer, adjusting the idle before Dale did a couple of victory laps around the anchorage. He’s still not happy with the way its running but at least we have transportation now.

Since we were told almost 4 years ago that the engine was damaged from a water intrusion problem back then, I suspect that the end is in sight. It’s been extremely reliable and I am going to pick up some gas additive to help clean the innards some more; maybe it’ll help, it certainly can’t hurt.

We ended our day with the social hour on Sea Witch with John & Debra and Gary & Linda from Rainbow Rider. Again, we enjoyed everyone’s company and lots of stories were told.