How exciting!…We actually started the motors today. With plastic tubs to represent the water we hope to float on, and 20 litres of fuel in each tank the man from Yanmar hit the key and the port motor immediately roared into life. a few nervous moments and a bit of priming saw the cooling water finally flow and the cable throttle and gear controls worked a treat. ( no props of course, that would have been rather messy!)
We managed to stop back-slapping long enough to try the second motor and here’s where it all came unstuck as it roared into life for a few seconds, then coughed and died. No amount of priming the little pump lever would coax the little sucker into life. Fortunately Mr. Yanmar knew what he was doing and eventually found a loose plug on the fuel filter which was allowing the motor to suck air instead of fuel. A dab of stag sealant and some spanner work fixed the problem and off we went. Oh happy day!
Unfortunately that was the end of the excitement for the day and it was back to fibreglass in the icebox and teak on the internal steps. At least I continued a little switchboard wiring to keep the day interesting. I even managed to find out why one bilge pump kept running every time I turned on the instrument circuit and put things back where they belong!
