Waiting for another shoe to drop...

For those of you who are tired of hearing about our outboard problems,  check back in a couple of days.

Monday morning we rowed ashore in spite of 15 knot winds to get the parts we hoped would fix our beloved Mercury.  After a quick trip to check out the grocery store (it's wonderful) with parts in hand we rowed back to the boat.  We soon had the four new parts in and the carb back on the motor.  The motor fired right up!  Of coure as soon as I tried to start it a second time it was flooding out just like before.  Right after lunch we rowed ashore again and carried the outboard to the Mercury dealer.  When I explained the symptoms the mechanic was hopeful of a simple solution.  He said to check back around 4:00.

When I checked back the mechanic was shaking his head!  He had had the carb off 3 or 4 times and still couldn't make it run properly.  He wanted to soak the carb body overnight to maybe flush the little passages clean.  Check back in the morning...

First thing this morning we rowed ashore with our laundry.  While Sue did the laundry I went to one of the many hardware stores here (they even have an Ace Hardware and a NAPA) and then on to the Merc shop.  Another head shake - not a good sign.  The solvent soak hadn't worked, but a NEW carb should fix us right up.  They had one new carb in stock, and BTW, someone else had just brought the same engine in with the same problem!  Since a new carb was cheaper than a used outboard I told him to go ahead.

When we went back to pick up our outboard the gal said there had been a problem and we needed to talk with the mechanic!  It turns out their new carburetor wasn't complete and they had taken a part from a used carb, but they reduced the price by 15%.  With that discount in mind, and while staring at their "All Sales Final!" sign I asked if we could return the parts we bought Monday.  Sue was amazed when they said yes.

Once again the outboard seems to be running and we can get back to playing tourists again and see some other sites besides hardware stores and outboard repair shops.  Today (Wednesday) is another lovely day, sunny and 80 degrees.

P.S.  After typing on this blog for almost 2 hours (Kindle typing is very slow) the Kindle froze and I thought I had lost it all.  Luckily, Sue managed to find a saved draft of most of it.