21-MAY-03 Went on my first trip of the year today. I decided to just try the gas motor and see how it works. No tests, notes, records or pictures. Well maybe a couple of pictures. I left the house shortly before 6PM and went to the glenwood launch. See the picture below to see what I found.
Since the launch was nowhere to be found without diving equitment I decided to bring the boat back to the house. I then took a quick cruise over the highway to Appleton. It's Glenwood's sister community on the other side to the river. The launch must be larger their becuase it was still usable. I went back for Little Squirt.
By 6:35pm I was on my way using my new 1966 3.5hp enginine. At first it ran fine but the longer I ran it the worse it got. I had to keep playing with the trottle to keep it from dieing out. Finally it starting to stall out. Each time it became more difficult to restart. Finally near the end of the trip I removed the gas engine from the mount and put the trolling motor on. I can't have both engines mounted at once because the two mounts are too close together. I arrived back at the launch at 8:20PM
When I was coming back to the dock their was a bunch of teenagers gathered on the dock watching me come in. They were totally fascinated by Little Squirt. They asked all kinds of question about the boat, the engines, and how I got it. One asked me how much the plans were. When I said they cost 35 they thought I meant $3500 dollars. I corrected them.
After all that I loaded up the boat and went home. Another interesting cruise complete.
Anyone who frequents this site knows I'm not a big fan of gas motors. I think they are loud, smelly, and they get gas and oil over everything. Well this little trip did nothing to change my mind.
23-MAY-03 Yesterday I cleaned the air intake and the glass globe that collects the sediment from the gas. I was cleaning the old oil off the engine when I noticed this interesting little device labled choke.
A thought occured to me when I saw this. What would have happened if the choke was not engaged the entire trip. Perhaps maybe the engine would not have constantly cut out. For the answer to this and other exciting questions. Please stay tuned.
Oh by the way I never said I knew anything about gas outboards.