You may recall I had assumed my old Yamaha 2 stroke 15 was dead, and was looking for advice on an upgrade a few months back. The unexpected need to spend $2500 replacing a riding lawn mower ate up most of the new motor budget, so I took the old motor to a local guru to see if it could be salvaged. It's a '92 that was pretty beat up when I got it cheap around 2002, and I've put 20 years of hard use on it. Lots of time in shallow rocky water, and lots of dings.
Strangely, it was a tidal mud flat that I though had killed it. On my last duck hunt last December, I mis-judged the tide on my way into a favorite spot in the dark and buried the prop in a mud bank. I didn't think much of this--it's not exacly uncommon in the places I fish and hunt. So I tilted the motor up, poled into my spot, and hunted for a few hours. When I got up to move the boat as the tide started to drop again, I realized the prop was missing. It was a LONG pole and paddle back to a spot where a local friend could deliver me a small trolling motor so I could limp back to the laun
Did I knock the prop off? It sure didn't feel like I hit anything hard enough to do real damage, but who knows?
Dropped it off at my local motor doctor last Friday assuming he'd call with bad news and I'd be motorless this season. He called this morning and had it back up and running with a new prop. Picked it up this afternoon for a late day shake down cruise. Started on the first pull, and I need to double check whether he change the prop, because my WOT top end speed is about 4 mph faster than ever before--and that's not because I've lost weight.
Black ducks and teal are gathering. 17 days till my local opener. I could hunt geese tomorrow, but think I'll head to the coast and look for stripers instead. Still too hot more my fall trout fishing, but a work meeting will take me to Cape Breton in a week, and I'll be able to steal two half days of salmon fishing on the Margaree on either end of the travel.
Fall is looking up!
Strangely, it was a tidal mud flat that I though had killed it. On my last duck hunt last December, I mis-judged the tide on my way into a favorite spot in the dark and buried the prop in a mud bank. I didn't think much of this--it's not exacly uncommon in the places I fish and hunt. So I tilted the motor up, poled into my spot, and hunted for a few hours. When I got up to move the boat as the tide started to drop again, I realized the prop was missing. It was a LONG pole and paddle back to a spot where a local friend could deliver me a small trolling motor so I could limp back to the laun
Did I knock the prop off? It sure didn't feel like I hit anything hard enough to do real damage, but who knows?
Dropped it off at my local motor doctor last Friday assuming he'd call with bad news and I'd be motorless this season. He called this morning and had it back up and running with a new prop. Picked it up this afternoon for a late day shake down cruise. Started on the first pull, and I need to double check whether he change the prop, because my WOT top end speed is about 4 mph faster than ever before--and that's not because I've lost weight.
Black ducks and teal are gathering. 17 days till my local opener. I could hunt geese tomorrow, but think I'll head to the coast and look for stripers instead. Still too hot more my fall trout fishing, but a work meeting will take me to Cape Breton in a week, and I'll be able to steal two half days of salmon fishing on the Margaree on either end of the travel.
Fall is looking up!
