Rub a Dub Dub

... three men in a tub (or dinghy).

Saturday I went over to Dennis' home to work on our new boating addition. The dinghy we had purchased at the swap meet was fairly dirty - I think it had been on some yacht's fantail getting coated with the exhaust from the engines. Dennis thought rubbing alcohol would clean it the best, but I had brought some paint thinner to try out as well. The thinner seemed to do the better/faster job and by mid-afternoon, we had it pretty clean.

Stephen arrived and showed with pride how well the engine operated in a trash can filled with water. He had painted the engine cover and checked out the innards. It started easily. Then he was off to get stencils so that we could paint the registration numbers on boards that fit into the sidewalls.

Around four, we took the boat and engine down to the harbor for a test run. The engine would start and then stop in about 3 seconds. Stephen was frustrated! It probably didn't help that we ran out of gas, but after a refill, the engine still wouldn't run continuously. Stephen postulated that a small float inside the gas tank prevented free-flow of fuel.

So we didn't make it out of E slip and the motor went back with Stephen for further tinkering. Here's hoping that we get out of the slip on our next try!