The day we left for Florida we picked up our outboard 60 minutes before we left for the airport. Koki had "rehabed" it over the past three weeks. I put it on the dingy and drove away. On our return in December, we discovered it wouldn't start. After another Koki diagnosis we were informed the high pressure pump in the VST (very stupid thing) was broken. This started my lengthy correspondence with boats.net to buy a new pump, filters, and o-ring. Of course several parts were obsolete or on back-order. We did get the pump. Steve Clarke, our Canadian retired engineer-on-convalescence compadre, was fantastically motivating and totally absorbed in the breakdown and rebuild. Without him I never would have perservered to the finish. After two rebuilds, new fuel hoses, and new hose clamps, we put the Mercury back on the dingy and took her out for a spin. She idled wonderfully but wouldn't accelerate above an idle: the throttle control wouldn't advance! Then she quit and we paddled back (down wind, thank God) to Kuhela. After tearing the VST apart again, we discovered "crap" in the Columbian fuel. We threw out the old and brought in the new (that was the actual problem along with the computer not sending 12 volts to the pump). We cleaned/maintained the controls - the throttle linkage was rusted because of the cheap, metal construction - broke the linkage plastic (cheap) holder/lock, repaired/glued same, and re-bolted the unit. We re-wired the pump to the helm station jumping it past the computer. The engine started right up, but didn't "pee", that is pump cooling water thru itself. Man, could anything else go wrong? Steve, bless him, consulted the Mercury Service Manual and decided we could unbolt (just 5 bolts) the lower unit/leg and check the impeller which turned out to have a broken fin. We replaced the impeller, bolted the leg back on and started her up. No "piss"! In walks our second set of guests, Rick and Debbie Lehto of Miss Heidi. "Let's have another look at the impeller/pump." says Rick. So, off comes the leg again. Looks fine, so we glob on the grease, straighten out the impeller fins, and reassemble. Voila! She "pees"!!! We bolt the engine back on the dingy, bolt the controls to the helm, screw in the electrical pump switch in place, deflate the starboard pontoon to get the steering hooked up, re-inflate the pontoon, and launch. Holy Cow, she runs and pees like a racehorse.
She's now run for about 2 hours in open sea conditions (nah, in Ensenada Honda, Culebra) without a hitch.
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