"Lift in" day for our Sunstar 18. It has been a bit of a mad panic getting ready for Saturday morning as it became apparent that our old outboard's gearbox has packed up leaving us without an engine!
Fortunately a few phone calls around to local chandlers and outboard suppliers I was able to source this fantastic "nearly new "Mercury 4 stroke outboard from Cowes. Skipper fitted it in place with a few hours to spare!
Had a morning coffee and did some knitting while we waited for our turn to be lowered in by crane. It was a warm cloudy morning with no wind, quite muggy at first with a light Easterly later in the day. The Sun was shining by mid day, so I was pleased to be on board this trip. As there was no wind we motored down river to our swing mooring and we practised a few manoeuvres with the new outboard, it is lovely and quiet, nice and nippy too. The only concern is that it is heavier than our old one and with the full tanks of fuel and water she seems a bit low in the water aft. So for now I have re-arranged stuff from the aft locker into other lockers thus taking a bit of weight out. We may want to raise the outboard bracket, we'll see how things go after a proper trip out in the Solent. We took the Folly Launch taxi to shore and had lunch at the Folly Inn. Then walked along the riverside foot path back to Newport to collect the car and home.
It's good to be back on the water and with the Easter and Bank holiday days just around the corner we are hoping to get out there and enjoy it!
Fortunately a few phone calls around to local chandlers and outboard suppliers I was able to source this fantastic "nearly new "Mercury 4 stroke outboard from Cowes. Skipper fitted it in place with a few hours to spare! 
Had a morning coffee and did some knitting while we waited for our turn to be lowered in by crane. It was a warm cloudy morning with no wind, quite muggy at first with a light Easterly later in the day. The Sun was shining by mid day, so I was pleased to be on board this trip. As there was no wind we motored down river to our swing mooring and we practised a few manoeuvres with the new outboard, it is lovely and quiet, nice and nippy too. The only concern is that it is heavier than our old one and with the full tanks of fuel and water she seems a bit low in the water aft. So for now I have re-arranged stuff from the aft locker into other lockers thus taking a bit of weight out. We may want to raise the outboard bracket, we'll see how things go after a proper trip out in the Solent. We took the Folly Launch taxi to shore and had lunch at the Folly Inn. Then walked along the riverside foot path back to Newport to collect the car and home. 
It's good to be back on the water and with the Easter and Bank holiday days just around the corner we are hoping to get out there and enjoy it!
No comments:
Post a Comment