Dinghy Outboard Motor Project Completed

I am finally getting to some of the photos of our dinghy outboard motor during the refurbishment project recently undertaken. The project as you may recall, began when I got my friend and fishin' buddy to take a look at the old 4 hp Mariner outboard that came with our yacht. At first glance it looked pretty hopeless. The housing was pretty corroded, dinged up and just generally beat up and mistreated. Add to that the fact that I had attempted to start it only once and, though it did start, after very nearly wearing myself out trying, it ran only a brief few seconds and then died. Nothing I could do after that would get it to restart.

Enter Rick, the master outboard mechanic! He emptied the old fuel out, poured in fresh, took out the spark plug, cleaned it and reinstalled it. After some brief confusion over which way the controls should be pointed before starting, he pulled the lawn mower-like crank handle a couple of times and the engine sprang to life. Yes!

So now we knew it wasn't a lost cause and was worth investing a bit of time and energy into. I ordered a couple of new spark plugs, installing one and putting the other aside in my spare parts kit aboard The Key of Sea. I learned early on ordering or buying two of everything, was, like in Noah's time, a good idea. Especially when dealing with older equipment. You never know when it may be impossible or at least very difficult to get a new part. And out at sea miles from the nearest parts store is not the time to find out you need a new cotter pin for your prop!

So I went on a mission to find the local rep for Mariner engines finally discovering that Clearwater Marine way out behind Chambers Chevrolet off I-5, is a Mercury dealer (the makers of the Mariner motors) and therefore the place to order parts for my motor. Order is the word of the day here since this motor was made back in 1988 and therefore parts off the shelf are pretty much not going to happen. I special ordered new zincs which I still wound up having to machine a bit so the flat-headed bolt would seat properly onto the base of the lower unit. I spent a lot of time cleaning off old grease and oil, lightly sanding and double 0ught steel wooling the exposed painted areas of the motor. I spray painted a good bright green Chromium primer paint onto all areas showing corrosion and or rust. Then I sprayed any public areas with Mariner gray paint including masking anything so that there was as little overspray as possible and the job would look as professional as my talents, experience and know how allowed.

I must say I am pretty impressed with the way it looks. Scattered throughout this blog are some photos of the project. Baring any unforseen issues, we should look pretty good out there this summer tootling around in our new dighy and like-new outboard.