I was looking at a friends Blog the other day and I realized he had a good idea. We depend on our dinghy like most need their cars. But most cars are a lot more reliable than the fickle outboard motor. When we left Portland we had a wonderfull 25 HP motor that Jean and I had bought years before and kept in pristine condition. But after 12 months in the salt waters of the carribean that motor coughed it's last stroke as we came back to the boat on our last day in Puerto Rico.
I am in the midst of rebuilding our fearless 25. It needs much work and I hope to have it running next month. But out here on the mooring we needed something we could depend on and yet the kids could start and operate easily.
As our luck would have it just as we were about to leave the dock a nice 8hp came up for sale. The owner had not used it in some years and the carb was a bit clogged But he gave me a very good deal. After an hour of rebuildiing the carb we have a very dependable motor. The kids can all start it and have no problems tilting it out of the water when we reach the boat.
The next time we head south I am going to take 4 or 5 used outboards with me. Everyone down island seems to need a newer motor.