Beside feeling not particularly productive, the main engine (Honda Outboard) on our boat is not peeing. This is not terrible, we have the parts to rebuild the impeller and to break up any salt deposits that might be clogging up the cooling tubes. My concern is that to change the impeller, we have to remove the lower unit of the outboard engine. Now the engine weights about 250lbs and is bolted onto the back of our catamaran. Our catamaran is in the water and the bottom of the engine,when fully raised, is approximately 8 inches off the water. So we have to somehow remove the lower unit, which is currently 8 inches above the water, while being behind the boat without dropping it into the water. After that we can rebuild the impeller, remove the salt deposits, and reinstall the lower unit without dropping it or anything else into the water. We are all set to attempt this, but the weather is not corporating (really cold/windy on the weekends). So this weekend we decided to punt and ask our boatyard to handle it. This made me feel very confident that the engine would be up and peeing the next time we're in Savannah. However, our boat yard does not work on outboard engines or any engines for that matter. They were able to give me the names and numbers of two people that they would recommend. This is great, but I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy like I was before when I thought that the boatyard could take care of it. My concern is back.
This past weekend we purchased 12 feet of 1 inch webbing and 4 brass snap hooks to make safety tethers. I think that I will go make the tethers now. It shouldn't take very long and will feel good to accomplish something.
