More Repairs

MONDAY
After our disappointing, aborted "shakedown cruise", Welike went straight to the emergency room at Action Marine in La Conner -- the only Evinrude dealer around. We picked her up this afternoon, one week and $400 later. Problems were wrong spark plugs, a clogged fuel filter, and worst of all, very undersized battery cables that had been put on by the shop that mounted the engine. It turns out that these motors are very particular about the amount of amperage they need to turn over. The mechanics ran Welike in the Channel today to make sure everything was okay. Apparently the 19" prop is wrong, too, and would be very hard on the engine. They recommended a 15", which will be in on Wednesday with the new battery cables.

Bill Roberts, former owner of Welike, helping remove the old Merc 115 from Fran's Skagit on July 1st. A lot has happened since then!

WEDNESDAY
I bailed out of work at 2 o'clock determined to get Welike ready for a test ride tomorrow. Installed the new 15" prop, which went quickly. We will keep the 19" on board as a spare.

Then I pulled off the battery cables and installed the new, much heavier set. Took a bit of fussing as it is very tight quarters under that cowling. I was so happy. Mission accomplished! But no. After putting everythng back together and buttoning up the cowling, I got back aboard for a quick test and the trim/tilt function didn't work! Tried jiggling all the wires, checked for missing contacts -- nothing. Called Action Marine for advice, and although I couldn't speak with the mechanic, Duane, the gal I spoke to said it sounded like a ground wire problem, which got me wondering about the condition of those wire terminals I'd just reassembled. I knew I hadn't missed any, but I hadn't really inspected them, either. So I pulled the cowling and removed all the wires again. Each of the wires terminates in a little circular piece of stainless steel or brass that drops over a bolt on the engine, one negative and one positive. On close inspection, all of the surfaces were dirty: I couldn't actually see bare metal for all the grime. So, I got a piece of fine sandpaper, a flat blade screw driver for scraping, and a piece of steel wool and went to work until I had gleaming bare metal on all the contacts. Then I reassembled everything and turned the nuts down VERY snug. And, what do you know -- the trim/tilt works just fine.

So with that behind me, we are ready for a splash test tomorrow afternoon when the tide is up. We will launch under the Rainbow Bridge and cruise in the channel a bit, then head out to Skagit Bay so we can open up to full speed. Duane says we have to be able to see 5500 RPMs or he's not going to be happy.

If all goes well we are planning to launch in Anacortes tomorrow for a day trip up to Friday Harbor with Amanda. And yes, we will take the little Merc as a backup just in case.

Oh, I do have one other repair to make tomorrow. I have to replace the all-around white light. When Bill had the new bimini top installed, he made it fairly tall, and the old all-around white is no longer visible from the stern. The current light is one that Mr Smith obviously devised; I'm going to pattern a taller one on his design using a new pole I got at West Marine last week.