Marlin Bree

Two cycle
layup tips

Two cycle outboards, such as my Nissan 5 hp., have an enviable reputation of being reliable and long lived. A few steps will help them remain faithful.

Here's what I do:

1/ When I get Persistence ready to haul out, as I pull into dock and have the boat secured, I simply reach back to the outboard's fuel connection and unsnap it. It comes off readily.

Then I let the engine run out of fuel, which happens in a few minutes, usually, at idle, while I do other things getting ready to trailer the boat.

I feel letting the engine run itself out of gas is an important step in engine maintenance because it allows the two-cycle engine to clean the carb of fuel so there's no gas in the engine to slowly dry up and create gum or deposits during the long months of storage.

2/ When I get my boat out, I take off the engine and store it in a cool, dry place, and upright. Usually, this is in my workshop where I can later change the lower unit's oil and change the sparkplug. Since plugs are cheap, and, my engine uses only one, I always start the season with a fresh plug.

3/ The gas supply is critical, and, I get rid of the "old" gas by mixing it in small quantities with other gasoline engines, including my 4 x 4. Next season, when I go out on the water, I'll be heading out with the comfort of knowing that there'll be no old gas gumming up my carb, since I will have fresh, and, freshly mixed with the correct oil to gas ratio.

4/ Though most boaters usually use "regular" gas, I step up one category to get a higher octane ratio, which I feel makes the little engine run a little better (or at least it sounds better). Besides, since I burn so little gas each season the few cents a gallon difference between grades don't make that much difference.

5/ I take off the gas containers and store them inside. I also store the boat, comfortably fitted in its full-length topside cover, in an inside storage place for the winter. In Minnesota that's been the Minnesota State Fairgrounds (usually the horse barn) for the past decade or so. I've tried leaving Persistence outside for the winter, but the ice and snow generally have a way of finding themselves under a covered boat and these are destructive to a varnished wooden boat. So at the end of the season, Persistence goes away to safe, and dry, indoor storage.

Getting Persistence
ready for fall layup

Each season, the battle to keep up an aging composite hull continues.

That's the bad news: you do have to work on it.

The good news is that an epoxy/wood hull is probably the longest-lasting hull available anywhere, or so I've heard.

1/ This year, I'll be revarnishing the hull. It's all bright finished, and, like a good piece of sporting equipment, it takes its share of bumps and bruises coming alongside a dock. Usually, I wet sand the hull first, then apply the varnish with a WEST System roller, starting in the aft section and working forward. To prevent drips below the waterline, I mask this off with 3M's blue masking tape. For the strokes, I roll the first of the varnish up and down, starting in the center of the area to be varnished. That way, I am really spreading the varnish. I usually only do a few feet of hull at a time before I go over it all with a foam brush to smooth out the varnish (and watch for any drips).

2/ Clean up waterline. Last year, I repainted the waterline a Bristol Beige, to match the mast, which I had also just repainted (a large job, by the way, that required taking the mast down to bare metal.) I usually get to the clean up shortly after I haul the hull in mid-October, so that the waterline gunk is still moist and can easily be wiped off with a large sponge.

3/ Clean the bottom by washing it off with a sponge and pail of water. This is not my favorite area of work, and, is messy, but the VC-17 will stay a lot cleaner for next season if you do a light little wash up and wipe up of lake scum. I'll recoat again with VC- 17 in a season or two.

More work ahead as I get to it.

--marlin

A storm trial
of an engine

Excerpt from Wake of the Green Storm

Persistence did a dangerous dip to leeward, hung down on her rail for a moment -- and finally turned.

We were facing the wind. The sail rattled on the mast, and, the boat afelt terribly unstable underneath me.

On hand on the tiller, I reached back and gave the outboard full throttle and locked it there.

Power. I simply had to have more power in the teeth of the storm. The engine would just have to take it.

The little Nissan bellowed and dug in. The boat bounced up and down careening sideways. Sometimes the prop was in the water; sometimes it was out. The engine revved unmercifuly and screamed.

We were gaining.

Handy Spring Checklists
to prepare boat for season

At the beginning of the boating season, there's a lot of work for inland boaters to do to ready the boat for use. The work depends on the boat, but here are some checklists from the author's Boat Log & Record to give you some guidelines:

For more information on the author's Boat Log & Record and more boating information, please click on the log's name in blue on the right of the page.