Part 1 and 2 are recorded here if you have not read them yet ...
http://www.scubaboard.com/t88211-.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/t88233-.html
(for that matter they are there if you have read them...)
After my first 2 boating successes which both happened to involve being towed back to shore (see the first 2 stories in the saga) I decided that the key to my success did not lie in the idea of sail power, but rather in the words of the immortal Tim the Tool Man Taylor success rested in the idea of More Power [add grunts] I was able to pick up a 6hp outboard motor. It fit the project well as I have no clue what brand it was, somewhere in its past a previous owner (probably ashamed of its performance) had erased all markings related to its origins. But since it started up sometimes I decided it was just what I needed to make my 12ft. inflatable seaworthy. With the small motor strapped on we headed out toward rabbit Island, a small island that does not resemble a rabbit, nor does it have any rabbits on it (though legend has it that at one time it did, until they ate all the vegetation and killed themselves off) which is just off the north East coast of Oahu not far from SeaLife Park and Waimanalo. After only 20 minutes of pulling the starter cord the little engine purred into life (or growled depending on your bias toward this little boat) and with oil and gas dripping steadily from the half sealed float bowl, my adventurous brother and I began our journey seaward toward Rabbit island. This only being a test voyage (I never have any other kind in case you had not noticed) we determined to take things easy. I had my oars along, which if memory had served me right I would have simply left on the beach to avoid any further embarrassment which they might cause, and we made a remarkably uneventful trip around Rabbit Island (we only stalled once and after several minutes were able to restart the engine). With this huge success ringing in my heart (after all I had only been towed back to shore 2 out of 3 voyages now) I determined the time had come to set my eyes toward the horizon and a BIGGER boat! Assured now that my problem all along had been a lack of power I knew the course of action which I needed to follow.
Over the next year I watched the newspaper and kept my eyes open for a boat befitting my new found ability to overcome the little obstacles which the sea might put before me, and of course one which would fit in my meager budget as a poor Bible College Student. Then in the newspaper I found it the perfect vessel for me. My Father and I went to inspect this sturdy boat as it sat in a garage out in Waianae. The man who owned it assured me that for the right owner it was a good investment. It only had slight dry rot and he had done the major work on it himself. Primarily that meant he had replaced the entire transom (it never crossed my mind to ask why they needed to replace the entire transom). It came with 2 100HP 1972 Evenrude outboard motors, both attached to their own fuel supplies (made from old beer kegs) At 24 ft. long I figured my fathers minivan could pull it and I made the decision to buy it. I had many grand dreams of voyages to the outer islands (its a good thing I was not a Scuba Diver at the time or I would have had many other impossible to fulfill visions as well).
That very week I began work on my latest project. Now mind you I had already built a small wooden boat (at least thats what I called it - you can read about it in part 1) so how much more difficult could this be I mean this one only needed repair how bad could that be? I only too soon discovered the answer to that very question. Over the course of the next 18 months (or was it 2 years kind of blurred together after awhile) I tore out all the dry rot, which included the entire cabin, much of the bow, all rails, several internal supports and anything that was not completely encased in fiberglass (which I assumed would be in fine condition underneath). Once all the bad portions had been removed I set about rebuilding. Replacing each of the parts, and even enlarging the cabin so that it was large enough for me to easily stand upright in. I then made the all important decision of what colors to use. White for the hull, bright red railings and (of course) battleship gray for the cabin. My mind had not been idle during the months I spent working on this project, I had studied more books on sailing, taken a coast guard auxiliary class and learned everything I could (especially about distress signals and rescue procedures) One of my favorite parts of the Coast guard class was learning how to take a bearing off of 2 points and triangulating your position on the chart. I took every precaution I could think of. 2 Motors, 2 fuel sources, 2 ignition sources, 1 anchor with 30ft of chain and 200ft of ½ nylon rope, a sea anchor as well. For distress and rescue (though what chance was there of me ever needing that again?) I had a VHF radio (registered with the FCC), CB radio (with all 40 channels) along with flares (complete with flare gun) distress flags, dye markers, food and water for 3 days, plus a pole for pushing us along in shallow water (this was replacing those useless oars) and just in case both ignition sources on the outboards failed I had a pull cord so that we could manually start the engines. For my crew I invited my college buddy Bruce who had even less boating experience that I did (after all I had 3 voyages under my belt now) He, unsuspectingly accepted my invitation and we headed off with the boat in tow toward Sand Island boat Ramp (Just outside of Honolulu) As we launched the boat into the water I made sure the drain plugs were in place, then we ran through a battery of tests to make sure everything was running just fine. 1/3 of the fuel was in the main tank with 2/3 in reserve (I was practicing the rule of thirds even back then) just to make sure we did not overextend ourselves. I then fired up the starboard engine it started without a problem and purred away (literally this time) the port engine gave me a little more trouble, it turned over and over and over, but would not ignite (note to self: If something goes wrong at the beginning STOP, dont proceed ) Since we were not planning on going far we made the decision to proceed with the test and just leave the harbor, head 1 mile east toward Diamond Head, then return (I didnt realize it at the time, but this mirrored the path Id taken in part 1 of this little saga) Since the one engine was running smoothly and we had plenty of fuel, etc.. we headed out to sea. According to plan we motored along the coast toward Diamond Head, once in front of Waikiki Beach we turned around and began the journey back. About 5 minutes after turning for home the engine (on schedule) ran out of fuel. No need for concern, this was why 2/3 was kept in reserve I added the fuel, turned the key and nothing happened no purr, not even a sputter. I held the key down and turned to see if the engine was doing anything which my eyes could see, but my ears not hear only to have my buddy ask are the terminals on this battery supposed to melt when you start the engine up? I quickly discontinued applying pressure to the key and went aft to see what he meant. There sitting in a liquid state were 2 pools of molten lead which at one point had been the posts on the battery. I knew instinctively (ok it was OBVIOUS) that this did not look quite right. Removing the cover from the engine I quickly spotted the problem the starter motor had never dis-engaged after we started the engine before leaving and had burned itself out. Still not dissuaded I turned to my third option (the second being the engine which did not start at the beginning of the trip) my third option was the pull cord I had fashioned. I placed it around the fly-wheel of the engine, took firm hold of the handle with both hands and putting all my considerable weight into it I pulled as hard as I could the fly-wheel turned ¼ of a turn, not even enough to think about starting. For the first time I wondered if maybe I should have practiced this ahead of time After 2 more, equally disappointing, tries I realized the futility of this meathod for starting the engine. To this day I wonder why they even have those deceptive slots on the fly-wheel for hand starting a motor this large? I learned that starting a 100hp motor is much more difficult than a 6hp motor. In the mean-time my buddy (who never gets flustered over anything) had thrown the sea-anchor over to keep us from drifting further out to sea, and I noticed that I was in almost exactly the same spot I had been stranded in with my 12 inflatable sailboat from my first adventure at sea. The idea that more power was the answer had been as helpful as the new paint job was in granting us a successful voyage.
(continued in next post)
http://www.scubaboard.com/t88211-.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/t88233-.html
(for that matter they are there if you have read them...)
After my first 2 boating successes which both happened to involve being towed back to shore (see the first 2 stories in the saga) I decided that the key to my success did not lie in the idea of sail power, but rather in the words of the immortal Tim the Tool Man Taylor success rested in the idea of More Power [add grunts] I was able to pick up a 6hp outboard motor. It fit the project well as I have no clue what brand it was, somewhere in its past a previous owner (probably ashamed of its performance) had erased all markings related to its origins. But since it started up sometimes I decided it was just what I needed to make my 12ft. inflatable seaworthy. With the small motor strapped on we headed out toward rabbit Island, a small island that does not resemble a rabbit, nor does it have any rabbits on it (though legend has it that at one time it did, until they ate all the vegetation and killed themselves off) which is just off the north East coast of Oahu not far from SeaLife Park and Waimanalo. After only 20 minutes of pulling the starter cord the little engine purred into life (or growled depending on your bias toward this little boat) and with oil and gas dripping steadily from the half sealed float bowl, my adventurous brother and I began our journey seaward toward Rabbit island. This only being a test voyage (I never have any other kind in case you had not noticed) we determined to take things easy. I had my oars along, which if memory had served me right I would have simply left on the beach to avoid any further embarrassment which they might cause, and we made a remarkably uneventful trip around Rabbit Island (we only stalled once and after several minutes were able to restart the engine). With this huge success ringing in my heart (after all I had only been towed back to shore 2 out of 3 voyages now) I determined the time had come to set my eyes toward the horizon and a BIGGER boat! Assured now that my problem all along had been a lack of power I knew the course of action which I needed to follow.
Over the next year I watched the newspaper and kept my eyes open for a boat befitting my new found ability to overcome the little obstacles which the sea might put before me, and of course one which would fit in my meager budget as a poor Bible College Student. Then in the newspaper I found it the perfect vessel for me. My Father and I went to inspect this sturdy boat as it sat in a garage out in Waianae. The man who owned it assured me that for the right owner it was a good investment. It only had slight dry rot and he had done the major work on it himself. Primarily that meant he had replaced the entire transom (it never crossed my mind to ask why they needed to replace the entire transom). It came with 2 100HP 1972 Evenrude outboard motors, both attached to their own fuel supplies (made from old beer kegs) At 24 ft. long I figured my fathers minivan could pull it and I made the decision to buy it. I had many grand dreams of voyages to the outer islands (its a good thing I was not a Scuba Diver at the time or I would have had many other impossible to fulfill visions as well).
That very week I began work on my latest project. Now mind you I had already built a small wooden boat (at least thats what I called it - you can read about it in part 1) so how much more difficult could this be I mean this one only needed repair how bad could that be? I only too soon discovered the answer to that very question. Over the course of the next 18 months (or was it 2 years kind of blurred together after awhile) I tore out all the dry rot, which included the entire cabin, much of the bow, all rails, several internal supports and anything that was not completely encased in fiberglass (which I assumed would be in fine condition underneath). Once all the bad portions had been removed I set about rebuilding. Replacing each of the parts, and even enlarging the cabin so that it was large enough for me to easily stand upright in. I then made the all important decision of what colors to use. White for the hull, bright red railings and (of course) battleship gray for the cabin. My mind had not been idle during the months I spent working on this project, I had studied more books on sailing, taken a coast guard auxiliary class and learned everything I could (especially about distress signals and rescue procedures) One of my favorite parts of the Coast guard class was learning how to take a bearing off of 2 points and triangulating your position on the chart. I took every precaution I could think of. 2 Motors, 2 fuel sources, 2 ignition sources, 1 anchor with 30ft of chain and 200ft of ½ nylon rope, a sea anchor as well. For distress and rescue (though what chance was there of me ever needing that again?) I had a VHF radio (registered with the FCC), CB radio (with all 40 channels) along with flares (complete with flare gun) distress flags, dye markers, food and water for 3 days, plus a pole for pushing us along in shallow water (this was replacing those useless oars) and just in case both ignition sources on the outboards failed I had a pull cord so that we could manually start the engines. For my crew I invited my college buddy Bruce who had even less boating experience that I did (after all I had 3 voyages under my belt now) He, unsuspectingly accepted my invitation and we headed off with the boat in tow toward Sand Island boat Ramp (Just outside of Honolulu) As we launched the boat into the water I made sure the drain plugs were in place, then we ran through a battery of tests to make sure everything was running just fine. 1/3 of the fuel was in the main tank with 2/3 in reserve (I was practicing the rule of thirds even back then) just to make sure we did not overextend ourselves. I then fired up the starboard engine it started without a problem and purred away (literally this time) the port engine gave me a little more trouble, it turned over and over and over, but would not ignite (note to self: If something goes wrong at the beginning STOP, dont proceed ) Since we were not planning on going far we made the decision to proceed with the test and just leave the harbor, head 1 mile east toward Diamond Head, then return (I didnt realize it at the time, but this mirrored the path Id taken in part 1 of this little saga) Since the one engine was running smoothly and we had plenty of fuel, etc.. we headed out to sea. According to plan we motored along the coast toward Diamond Head, once in front of Waikiki Beach we turned around and began the journey back. About 5 minutes after turning for home the engine (on schedule) ran out of fuel. No need for concern, this was why 2/3 was kept in reserve I added the fuel, turned the key and nothing happened no purr, not even a sputter. I held the key down and turned to see if the engine was doing anything which my eyes could see, but my ears not hear only to have my buddy ask are the terminals on this battery supposed to melt when you start the engine up? I quickly discontinued applying pressure to the key and went aft to see what he meant. There sitting in a liquid state were 2 pools of molten lead which at one point had been the posts on the battery. I knew instinctively (ok it was OBVIOUS) that this did not look quite right. Removing the cover from the engine I quickly spotted the problem the starter motor had never dis-engaged after we started the engine before leaving and had burned itself out. Still not dissuaded I turned to my third option (the second being the engine which did not start at the beginning of the trip) my third option was the pull cord I had fashioned. I placed it around the fly-wheel of the engine, took firm hold of the handle with both hands and putting all my considerable weight into it I pulled as hard as I could the fly-wheel turned ¼ of a turn, not even enough to think about starting. For the first time I wondered if maybe I should have practiced this ahead of time After 2 more, equally disappointing, tries I realized the futility of this meathod for starting the engine. To this day I wonder why they even have those deceptive slots on the fly-wheel for hand starting a motor this large? I learned that starting a 100hp motor is much more difficult than a 6hp motor. In the mean-time my buddy (who never gets flustered over anything) had thrown the sea-anchor over to keep us from drifting further out to sea, and I noticed that I was in almost exactly the same spot I had been stranded in with my 12 inflatable sailboat from my first adventure at sea. The idea that more power was the answer had been as helpful as the new paint job was in granting us a successful voyage.
(continued in next post)
so hopefully I've learned my lesson...lol
