Apr 17 - give up ? Moi ?

I awoke with renewed determination to find out what's wrong with the Yamaha Tilt & Trim, or at least to remove the part and determine if I want to simply order a new one, if that's the problem.  Besides, with the part removed, the boat is usable.

There's a pin at the top that I couldn't see and, at the bottom, a large bolt.  It took my two-foot breaker bar to get the nut moving on the bottom bolt and then, try as I might, I couldn't get it pushed out the other side.  I hit it with a hammer and then with a small 2.5 pound mallet over and over again with no luck.  Then I decided to see if I could remove the pin that allows you to adjust the bottom angle of the motor.  It's against this pin that the motor was jammed.  Well, surprise surprise, I was able to get that out with some tapping. 

Gene came along at that point, wondering what I was doing "with all that hammering on a Sunday morning".  He pushed the "up" button while I lifted the motor ... voila !  It raised.  I could now get at the upper pin.  That proved to be somewhat difficult as well; I had to remove one of those split rings in the groove at the end of the pin (I don't know what they're called).  Eventually I got it out, propped the motor on it's flip-over trailering rest and the tilt & trim was free, from the top at least. 

I tried some more to get that bottom bolt out ... but no luck.  Thank heavens for that work platform at the back of the boat or I'd have never been able to do any of this. 

Next I tried removing the top screw, the filler screw, for the hydraulics.  Fluid came out so it was obviously full.  The motor was just clicking so I gave it a rest ... a short rest ... but then came back at it and I was able to crank the hydraulic plunger down ever so slowly.  More playing around ... then I simply tied it in place, tucked in under the motor, with a small bungee, somewhat resigned to having Ralph look at it.

Back at it ... cranked it up, ever so slowly ... it was shiny clean but I wiped it off and greased it.  Down, then up, then down, wiping and greasing each time ... faster and faster, smoother and smoother ...  perhaps I was beating this thing ?  Perhaps ?

Well, this seemed a whole lot better than it was and, in fact, was now sounding like it used to before seizing up.  I decided to get it back in place, inserted the pin and then attempted to get that split ring onto the end of the pin.  Over and over again, worried that I was going to lose it into the water, until finally it sprung ... gone.  Ugh. 

I have to explain how I'm working at this thing ... I'm lying on my back, hanging over the water, head on the platform, working up into the underside of the motor.  The pin is about 1/2" thick with a nylon sheath.  I figured at this point that I could replace it with a bolt, a nice shiny stainless bolt from Fastenall, but in the meantime it wasn't going to go anywhere and I would take Cassie to the sandbar.  I got into the boat to put in the plug and, amazingly enough, when that split ring sprung, it jumped forward and into the boat.  How lucky is that ?

Ok, I have to try this again and got it open and on the end of the pin the first try.  Amazing.

I do have the appropriate tool with the little 90 degree hooks or pins that open these things but it's such a cramped space and with the boat not on a trailer, such an awkward place to work ... but anyway, it was done !

Up and down went the motor, smooth as silk.  Amazing.  Cassie and I went to the sandbar to celebrate; she ran and ran and ran, swam and swam and swam ... we had a good time.  Oh, by the way, at the sandbar ?  Well, I tilted the motor but not out of the water.  If this thing decided to give up on me, I wanted to be able to get home !  There was no such bad luck, it was working.

The moral of the story is to regularly grease that hydraulic plunger.  Ignore the fact that it looks shiny, use grease, use more grease.

Never mind Ralph !  I don't need you this time !

In the meantime, the girls had gone to the air show.  Cassie and I could see it from the water.  This time, due to the wind, there were no biplane rides, no hot air balloons, just (apparently), a helicopter ride that would have been hugely expensive.   They said that the ride was, at most, three minutes, and I expect that it cost a bunch.

So I had a successful day.  I'd thought about going out on the bike but when I started all this, there was rain north of us.  That evaporated (probably literally) but once I was going at that motor, I wasn't going to stop to ride.

The original plan had been to go boating, with me riding on Monday.  That changed due to the wind (and the air show), so I was going to ride but then got into my repair job.  Now the plan is for us to go boating today.  I'll go for a ride tomorrow and probably Wednesday as well, doing some catch-up.  We'll see.

Sometime in the next couple of days I'm going to help Gene get his boat out of the water.  We're going to have to remove the side bunks on the trailer as his boat is considerably wider than the Skiff.

We went to Bennie's for sushi; Angelika's treat.  That proved to be wonderful.  I had a delightful sashimi presentation with a seaweed salad; Sandy had her normal Sushi selection; Angelika had tuna and a salad.  

Onward ?  I sure hope so !!