Like your steak rare, not your engines
Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:09 pm
To each their own, but for me, there's nothing better than a juicy rare steak. Succulent and delicious.
Engines on the other hand, are a commodity best served well done.
When I purchased my boat some 18 months ago, I should have been more careful when selecting the motor. It was in great condition, well serviced. Running well. It was also a well known brand.
It didn't cross my mind that this particular motor was a wash up of a now defunct OMC company. The Evinrude ELAN 35hp.
Had a fair few issues with this motor and took it in to Southside Marine (as covered in a recent thread). Alan was quick to tell me that this engine is as rare as hens teeth in Australia. Checks out, given I can't even find a service manual for it online.
Turns out it's an electrical fault the tune of which is going to be close to $1.8k in parts and labour to fix.
Lesson learned. But, it is what it is, and we move on.
Now it get's interesting. What to do next?
a) Get the new parts and fix it. Hope nothing else goes wrong. BUT, essentially fixing a well known problem in a rare(ish) engine with the plausibility of having more issues in the future and parts being hard to find
b) Buy another engine. Something second hand, easily available, easy to fix. Potentially get something pretty decent for around $3k. Feel the boat is slightly under-powered anyway at 35 so could step it up. Sit on the old engine and scope out ebay/wreckers for the parts over a few months and hope something pops up. Then fix it up and sell to subsidize the outlay of the new engine
c) Do nothing. Put all my fishing photos on the digital cloud. Refer back to them every now and then in a morose stupor. Check weathered piers for the signs of squid ink. Argue with people in the comments of fishing Facebook pages. Occasionally order fish an chips and reminisce on the good old days.
d) ??
Taking all suggestions on their merit, with a preference for avoiding option C.
Cheers,
Goat
Engines on the other hand, are a commodity best served well done.
When I purchased my boat some 18 months ago, I should have been more careful when selecting the motor. It was in great condition, well serviced. Running well. It was also a well known brand.
It didn't cross my mind that this particular motor was a wash up of a now defunct OMC company. The Evinrude ELAN 35hp.
Had a fair few issues with this motor and took it in to Southside Marine (as covered in a recent thread). Alan was quick to tell me that this engine is as rare as hens teeth in Australia. Checks out, given I can't even find a service manual for it online.
Turns out it's an electrical fault the tune of which is going to be close to $1.8k in parts and labour to fix.
Lesson learned. But, it is what it is, and we move on.
Now it get's interesting. What to do next?
a) Get the new parts and fix it. Hope nothing else goes wrong. BUT, essentially fixing a well known problem in a rare(ish) engine with the plausibility of having more issues in the future and parts being hard to find
b) Buy another engine. Something second hand, easily available, easy to fix. Potentially get something pretty decent for around $3k. Feel the boat is slightly under-powered anyway at 35 so could step it up. Sit on the old engine and scope out ebay/wreckers for the parts over a few months and hope something pops up. Then fix it up and sell to subsidize the outlay of the new engine
c) Do nothing. Put all my fishing photos on the digital cloud. Refer back to them every now and then in a morose stupor. Check weathered piers for the signs of squid ink. Argue with people in the comments of fishing Facebook pages. Occasionally order fish an chips and reminisce on the good old days.
d) ??
Taking all suggestions on their merit, with a preference for avoiding option C.
Cheers,
Goat