Gilligan Is Still On The Island

Unfortunately, we were not successful in bringing home the sailboat.

We drove the truck over to Dean's house and unloaded the Evinrude outboard and all the gear we might need. I hung the outboard on the back of the boat and Dean gave me a few lessons on how to operate the motor plate and how to drop the rudder and tighten up the clamp. After about 15 minutes, we had everything set up and Luann drove over to the marina to wait for our arrival.

Well, we started motoring up the channel and were getting ready to turn towards the intracoastal waterway, when the motor gave out a loud "gasp!" and shut off. Thankfully, the wind was favorable and pushed us back up the channel to the dock. We tied her back up, I pulled the motor and checked it out on Dean's back porch.

After working on it for a while, I eventually figured out that the little blue Evinrude that could, had somehow burned a piston. Since there wasn't anything else we could do, we decided to pack everything up and head back home... with no sailboat in tow.

Yesterday, I decided to check on eBay for parts for the Evinrude and found a 7.5 HP Johnson Sailmaster listed for a very reasonable price and with a 'buy it now' option, so I decided to buy it. The Johnson Sailmaster has a super-long shaft (25 inches, instead of the 15 inches of the Evinrude) and an alternator to charge the battery in the sailboat too. This unit is made specifically for sailboats and is actually a better choice than the venerable Evinrude would be.

I'm hoping that the Sailmaster will get here in time for us to haul the sailboat out next weekend, but I don't know. Meanwhile, I'm going to see what I can do for the Evinrude to prepare it in case things don't work out as hoped.