Nirvana's Water Taxi .. or Dinghy!

A while ago .. over 7 years to be exact (wince!) Ken and I purchased a new inflatable dinghy and Tohatsu outboard motor. We were excited about "our new car" .. little did we know how long it would be in storage .. and that we'd have bought something different if we knew then what we know now! Inflatables seem to be a pain, and the fact that ours isn't Hypalon doesn't help but .. it's what we have for now, and more importantly .. it works!

For most of the 7+ years that our dinghy was in storage, it was in our closet. The dinghy was only in a hot storage unit for just over a year, and we hoped that the seams would not fail when we finally inflated our lil Zodiac again.

We had forgotten how to inflate the dinghy, but it was pretty easy and luckily .. it held air!

After lowering the dinghy into the water, we used our new engine hoist to lower "Mr. T" onto the dinghy. When we ran our dinghy that one time seven years ago, lowering the engine was tough and we were lucky it didn't sink to the bottom of the canal! I don't think we wasted one cent purchasing the engine hoist .. it made the process so much easier!

After giving our Tohatsu some TLC from sitting 7+ years, we still needed to break in "Mr. T". So, we motored around the canals for a couple of hours. It's such a great feeling to finally be back on the water on our own boat after all these years .. even if it's on our little inflatable! These are the same canals we rode the dinghy through all those years ago when we were still living in our house. We feel like we're making progress after all these years.

We've taken our dinghy for a spin a few times since this day, and our Tohatsu is finally broken in for the next ride.

Here's a view of Nirvana that we hadn't seen in a long time ... from our dinghy!

We're feeling good about finally having our dinghy and motor back on Nirvana, but we're already considering options for a more durable dinghy. I'm really interested in the Port-A-Bote, as it folds up and can be stored on Nirvana's stanchions .. leaving our view unobstructed and the deck free from obstacles. We'd really like to ride in one since we've heard they're a little "different". Anybody from Texas to Florida wanna give us a ride on theirs? We'd love to hear from anybody that has one .. even if we can't take it for a ride.

Hasta luego .. until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

Reviving Our Tohatsu!

When we bought our Tohatsu & dinghy brand new, we didn't realize we'd use them one time then put them in storage for over 7 years! But, that's what happened. For the past few years, it seemed that we'd never see "Mr. T" and our dinghy again. Downsizing, becoming liveaboards, and continual boat projects never left time (or the need) for our dinghy and motor. Finally, the time had come to pull them out of storage! 

After hibernating for so many years, we knew it'd be best to give our Tohatsu some TLC. After loading "Mr. T" into our truck, we headed to our daughter's house to use her garage and water. Living at a marina with a condo association means no working in the parking lot!

Once we got to our daughter's place, Ken placed the Tohatsu in a tub of water to test it. As we figured ... it wouldn't start! We knew the carburetor needed a cleaning, the impeller needed to be replaced, and the fluids needed to be changed. The first thing Ken did was remove, disassemble and clean the float & jets of the carburetor. He then reassembled the carburetor, put it back on the motor, then tested the motor again. It ran fine .. whew! The next step was to remove the lower unit of the Tohatsu to replace the impeller.

From the lower unit, Ken then removed the impeller housing from the top ..

which revealed the impeller. The impeller looked pretty good, but after sitting for several years we replaced it anyway. This was a pretty simple process, as the old impeller easily came out of the housing. To install the new impeller, Ken coated the inside of it with gear lube then slid it onto the shaft. 

After the impeller was in place, Ken slid the housing over it while rotating the shaft to allow the housing to sit properly. We were feeling pretty good, as replacing the impeller went smoothly ...

but not so fast! After lubricating the shaft of the lower unit with gear lube, Ken tried replacing the lower unit back into the motor ... for over an hour! Ken and I both tried and tried to get the damn thing back in, but it just wasn't happening. We checked the gears to make sure the motor was in neutral, but nothing worked. We were having a hard time seeing where the shaft was going, and we were getting pretty frustrated. We decided to take a lunch break to get away. When we tried again with clear heads, full stomachs, and a flashlight borrowed from our daughter ... the lower unit went in on the first attempt! Being able to see with the flashlight made all the difference. Hallelujah! Getting the shaft aligned just right is critical in getting the lower unit back on.

After the lower unit was installed, Ken changed the engine & lower unit oil. This was pretty simple and he had no problems. For this maintenance, Ken used "lower unit gear lube" and Castrol 10W-40 .. both from Wal-Mart.

Once everything was back in place, Ken set "Mr. T" into the water and tested it out. Luckily, all went well with putting the motor back together and it ran great. It was such a relief to have "Mr. T" up and running again!

 The next step was getting it to our boat. I was able to help Ken lift the motor in & out of the truck, but carrying it across the parking lot, along the walkway, and down the dock had me nervous. The motor weighs almost 60 lbs. and is awkward to carry. Luckily, our dock neighbor noticed our "situation" and offered to help Ken carry the Tohatsu to our boat. Talk about relieved! It's always nice to be surrounded by such kind folks. I snapped a quick photo before they disappeared, so it's blurry. 

Once resting in Nirvana's cockpit, Ken and I were able to place "Mr. T" on our stern with the help of our new motor hoist. We can already tell the money spent on our hoist is well worth it!

Now that we had the motor and hoist on the boat, it was time to bring the ole (new) inflatable dinghy out of storage. Would it hold air after all this time?!

Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

Saving Our Back With A Motor Hoist!

When thinking of the reality of living on our boat full-time and having to lift our dinghy motor on and off Nirvana's stern, it sounded like a PITA .. and our back! When we looked up Garhauer's motor hoist, we figured the price was well worth the convenience of easily lifting "Mr. T" off/on our boat. We know that cruising will sometimes be exhausting, and that there will be times we'll feel lazy. A hoist will make it less likely that we'll take the lazy way out and neglect our motor.

Garhauer has a great reputation, and we weren't disappointed when we received our engine hoist. It looked to be of good quality, and it was pretty easy to install. The first step was installing the "ball" and backing plate on our stern, which would hold the stainless steel tube. Ken used butyl tape for the installation, and the hardest part was having Ken squeeze into our rear lazarette to install the backing plate. I knew I'd get him to do yoga one way or another!

Once the "ball" had set, Ken simply attached the two pieces of stainless steel tubing, secured the black sleeve over the joint, then placed the stainless steel tube with collapsible arm on to the ball. He then attached the tube to our rail with the hardware provided, and that was pretty much it! The hoist also came with 60 ft of line, so we were set.

The big question was, "How the heck are we gonna get "Mr. T" to our boat?! The motor had been sitting on a saw horse in our storage shed, and I managed to help Ken lift it into the back of our truck. After a trip to our daughter's garage for some TLC on our motor (post soon), we then lifted "Mr. T" back into the truck and drove to our marina. As we drove to the marina, thoughts of carrying "Mr. T" upright through the parking lot, past the condos, and down our dock with Ken had me a little worried. "Mr. T" is just under 50 lbs. and I wasn't sure I'd be able to carry it too far.

As luck would have it, a sailing neighbor on our dock pulled into the parking lot right after we had parked and were working on getting "Mr. T" out of the truck. I can't tell ya how relieved I was when he offered to help Ken carry the motor to our boat! I grabbed my phone and snapped a quick photo (blurry, I know) before they disappeared. The boating community is always ready to lend a hand!

In no time, "Mr. T" was perched on our motor mount with no mishaps. The next step was to bring our dinghy out of storage and hope it still held air! 

 With the hoist installed and a harness on the motor (yellow strap in 1st photo is gone), we had no doubt that the money spent on this was well spent. Not only will it make handling our motor easier, but it will also be helpful in lifting water, fuel, and other heavy items onto the boat. My back is already feeling better!

Hasta luego .. until then. Mid-Life Cruising!

Our New Car!

 

Getting ready for our first ride!

Just as landlubbers need a car, so do cruisers!  They need a vehicle to get them to shore for groceries, diesel, laundry, exploration, etc.  This past weekend we got our "car" and put her in the water for the first time.  Ken and I have been dreaming of buying a dinghy and motor, but we really didn't expect to have one so soon.  However, after an unexpected tax refund (we haven't had one in years), a little bit of money we received for Christmas (2010 and 2009 - we were afraid to spend it with all the unexpected expenses this past year - yes, we are really frugal), payment from an insurance claim I recently made (do you remember that guy who side-swiped me?  He asked me not to call the cops which I reluctantly agreed to and then he "thanks" me by trying to claim it was my fault!  Never again will I not call the cops if there's damage, but the pictures told the truth and I've chosen to ride around in a car with scratches), and another unexpected refund from an insurance policy we found ourselves feeling confident that we've earned a dinghy and motor!  None of these payments were large, but saving and lumping them all together paid off.  In fact, we have just enough money left to purchase some davits to hold our new "car" on our sailboat.  After a few stressful and challenging months, we feel really lucky to get a break!

Ken inflating the dinghy and our new Tohatsu motor

Defender was having a clearance sale and we found a great deal on our 8'8" dinghy and our 4hp motor.  We know that a rigid dinghy will be better for the Caribbean, but we think this dinghy will serve the purpose for the next few years and it was in our budget.  Our new Tohatsu ("Mr. T") requires some breaking in, so the canals in our neighborhood are perfect for this.  Can you tell we were anxious to get on the water ... we left the tags on the motor!

 We weren't sure of the best way to get the boat and motor into the water, so we decided to put the motor on the dinghy, tie the motor to the dinghy so we were sure not to lose it in the water, then slowly lower the dinghy into the water, stern first - luckily we had no problems. We really enjoyed putting around our neighborhood over the weekend, and it was a totally different feeling than riding in the sailboat.  Docking is a lot easier! 

As the weekend came to a close, we had to figure out how to get both the dinghy and motor out of the water.  Ken ultimately decided to pull the dinghy onto the dock with the motor hanging over the water, then remove the motor and carry it into the garage where the stand Ken built is located.  We had no problems, but are anxious to order some davits.  They should be a lot easier on Ken's back!  We didn't want to deflate the dinghy just yet, so it's in the house in a sitting area that we don't use.  We knew we needed that room for something!

Back home - we never get to see Nirvana from this angle!

Thanks to all that responded to our question on our Facebook page regarding a radar and radar arch vs davits.  We really appreciate everyone's advice!  While we may purchase a radar in the future, we've decided against the radar arch and will get davits instead.  The davits will be less expensive and probably a better idea for a 30 foot sailboat.  Ken has been speaking with Mark from Garhauer, and he's been wonderful!  We can't say enough about the service we've received and after taking a few more measurements Ken will be placing an order.

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!