On the Hard
13 November 2010
Hukilau is out for the winter. Today was a beautiful, day, sunny with temps in the low 60's, and I went to the marina to make ready for the shrink wrap. I borrowed a ladder, and put the windex and docklines below. I pumped the bilge as dry as I could (there wasn't too much there to start with), emptied the bucket in the v-berth, and took the engine off. I also attached a halyard to the end of the CDI line. I think I mentioned that when Scott and I lowered the genny, I had forgotten to attach a line to the end of the built-in halyard. By the time I had realized my mistake, the line was 15 feet off the deck with no way to reach it. I'm glad I did it now, as I don't know if I would have remembered to attach the line in the spring before the mast went up.
When I got home, I ran the outboard for about twenty minutes in fresh water. It took awhile for me to build a mount for it on a sawhorse (I don't remember it being that complicated the last time I did it), but eventually, I prevailed. I didn't think I could get a garbage bin under the engine, so I used the rabbit ears attachment for the hose at first. It made quite a watery mess, so I was encouraged to try the bin again. I did get it to fit, and had the engine run for a total of about 20 minutes all told in fresh water. I also tried to get the electric start to work, but not even a pip. Fortunately, the engine started on the first or second pull each time I tried it.
All is ready for the shrink wrap.