Last weekend was our first back in CT since the big trip to LA and Oahu. A fabulous trip that included a wonderful sunset sail on a big catamaran off of Waikiki:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/general-discussion-sailing-related/295097-exhilarating-cat-sail.html

Patti and I decided to go sailing on Saturday, Aug 26. The weather is beautiful, and we're looking forward to a nice sail, maybe with some swimming. I go to start the engine, and instead of firing up easily as its done since the big repair in June, I got nothing. After trying for awhile and clearly flooding the engine, I waited twenty minutes. I did get it started, but the only way it would staying running (very rough) is to have the throttle at half open. Lots of smoke in the exhaust, and when I moved the throttle to wide open, I got almost no response from the engine. Except sometimes, it would respond like a minute later. And when I put it in gear, I couldn't get it to respond to changes in throttle.

I was devastated. Hoping that it was just bad fuel, I took the tank home, drained it, cleaned it, and put fresh fuel, oil and stabilizer in it and went back on Sunday, Aug 27. No change. Damn.

That's it for this engine. I am not spending another penny on this motor.

I did a lot of research, and found (not surprisingly) that I can't get an electric start engine smaller than 8 hp. In the end, the best deal I could find was with Affordable Marine in Plainville. I also had to figure out if I could use my existing bracket.

I spoke to the Garelick people, and they recommended that I upgrade to one of the newer brackets. As best as I can tell (although I am far from sure), the existing bracket that I bought from Rudy at least 10 years ago is rated to handle an engine up to 115 lbs. The new Tohatsu 8hp 20 inch shaft electric start engine I'm buying weighs 90 lbs. But it's a four stroke.

I compared the bolt patterns for my existing bracket with the new bracket, and I can't just swap them out. And the shim block that is there now is a good two inches narrower than the new bracket footprint.

So I asked Brian at the Yard to do some research for me and price out them making this whole thing work. I'm just hoping my season isn't over at this point.

Sigh.