Fixing the Outboard. Again.

Fixing the Outboard. Again.

Why won't the bleeping outboard just stay fixed? This is the second time we've had to fix our Johnson 15 this week. First it was the water pump, and that took two days. Now it's the starter cord, and it's looking like that's going to take two days too. Yesterday we went into Mahon to do some last-minute provisioning. We were using the Johnson to do a long-range test. We got there perfectly well, if a little bit wet because of the waves. We got our shopping done, and then tried to start the motor. On the fourth or fifth pull, Dad pulled the starter cord right out of the housing. On examination, we saw that the cord had frayed and broken. Dad got out the spare line that we keep in case of this sort of emergency and wrapped it around the flywheel. He pulled the line right off the flywheel, and the engine purred to life without a single cough or sputter. We were amazed. The engine had never started on one pull before. Then again, he had pulled it several times before the cord broke. We got a good deal of the way back before the motor died. Then we got it running again, only to have it die only 20 feet upwind of the boat. We decided to just drift down onto the boat, even though we were on the wrong side. So ended our adventure with the starter rope.
--Orion Date
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