2023: Outboards. Reliably Unreliable?

 Yamaha Outboard

Our faithful Yamaha worked fine and I was ever so proud of myself since I had made repairs the previous year and saved myself at least USD 3000.  That is until we got to Vero Beach in Florida when it would not cooperate and kept cutting out, or would power up only to die shortly after.  And then it wouldn’t start.  And we had only a few days before our guests arrived from Oz.  Talk about Murphy’s Law!

New Mercury 6hp 4 Stroke Outboard

So, rather than lose time working on, and may be repairing the Yamaha, we decided to get a new one, quickly.   A phone call or two and we had ordered a new 6hp 4 stroke Mercury available in the North Palm Beach store.  We could anchor a few kilometres near by and a kindly cruiser anchored near to me gave me a tow to the dinghy landing up a creek and the only place you could park a dinghy in that area.  I walked to West Marine and, against all their rules apparently, gave me and my new ob a lift back to the dinghy.  Off drove my friendly WM and I proceeded to fit my new Mercury to Bruce.  Only it wouldn’t start!  And, yes, I had fuel in the tank and it came with {a minimal amount of] sump oil.  Anyway, a friendly dinghy happened to be leaving the landing area and he and his family kindly gave me a tow back to WJ3.  Thank goodness for the boating community’s sense of helping each other in times of need...

The next day, after studying the Owners Manual umpteenth times and following the startup instructions, it still would not start.  So I called WM and they advised me that it was now out of their hands and I needed to discuss my problem with a dealer, which they were not.  WM just sell the stuff apparently.  And when I talked to a recommended ‘dealer’ they wanted me to deliver the ob with the appropriate paperwork.  And their work would have to be fitted in with all their other commitments, so nothing was going to happen quickly.

by now, our guests were sitting on a dock in West Palm Beach!  Oh well, nothing to lose, so I set the throttle on full power (not recommended) and pulled the starting chord.  BROOM.  All good.  I called WM and told them I had fixed it and how, and they were happy.  I was very happy and off we went.  Our guests, by this stage fuelled with a few happy-hour G&T's (American cocktail size), were very happy!

Four months later the Mercury started playing up (single cylinder remember) and a new spark plug fixed the problem.  Our Yamaha has had two changes of spark plugs in 15 years so I am now wondering if that might be the problem with that motor.  Anyway, the Yammy is now with a mechanic in Trinidad and, if they fix it as I expect they will, I will then have two ob.  Just like the alternator, it’s always handy to have a spare.

I later purchased, in St Martin, a throttle control variable tiller extension arm and it works a treat.  Even though the 6hp outboard can only comfortably move us through the water, when I am by myself and sitting forward, the RIB will comfortably plane.  I remove the extension when more than one person is on board.