Underway again with a new outboard

My buddy Dave and I finally departed port on Saturday and headed off for a short week of anchoring in the the same area as Sheri and I visited a week earlier. The ride over to our usual first stop in Blind River was nice although it became very windy towards the end and we were glad to be at the safety of a dock once again.

One noteworthy item on this segment of our summer adventure was the acquisition of a new outboard for the new inflatable tender we added this season. Wanting to be more capable while at anchor, we decided to upgrade our aging Zodiac with a new hard bottom inflatable which we did while still in Florida. As you may recall it was transported up here on top of the car and successfully attached to the back of our boat like the old one while we are underway. After launching the dingy for the first time and attaching our existing 6HP outboard, it was quickly apparent that it was just not powerful enough to move the new boat along at any reasonable speed. A new motor had been considered while still in Florida but we felt like giving the old one a try before moving up. I called the dealer in Florida and asked what he had to offer and he indicated that the motor I was interested in was in short supply and that it could be a few months before he could get one. As it turns out, I remembered seeing a Mercury dealer the day before when we were over in nearby Cedarville for dinner and went back there on Tuesday to see what they had. Well, lo and behold, he had exactly the motor I was looking for and made me an exceptional deal including a generous trade in on my old motor. He had to perform some prep work and had it ready for us on Thursday to pick up.

And now for the rest of the story. The new motor is a 9.9HP Mercury 4 Stroke and even though it's only 60% more powerful, it is much more than that including an extra 25 pounds heavier. The old motor at 57 pounds was manageable when attaching to to the dinghy but the new one was just too heavy to manipulate by hand. It just so happens that the original owner had a similar size outboard and had mounted a small hoist that could be used to lift the motor on and off the boat when the tender was launched. The hoist had been stowed in a locker for all the years we have owned the boat so it was a welcome relief knowing that we had a solution to handling the heavier motor. The other piece to this challenge was getting a lifting harness that attaches the motor to the hoist and keeps the motor in an upright position when it is being handled. A suitable harness was ordered and luckily arrived Friday before we left. We tested everything out except actually putting it on the dinghy while at anchor which will be our "moment of truth". Here's what the setup looks like.

Stay tuned.