6. Horsepower is good...

Messing about with motors...

Today we made our contribution to global warming and reducing the gasoline surplus. There was always the possibility of fire, narrowly averted by sheer luck. Why these 1970's two-strokes fell out of favor is beyond us.

OK, so inspired by legends of Mirrors being propelled by outboat motors, we thought we'd give it a try as the wind direction completely refused to cooperate. This created a few challenges in itself as we didn't have a motor mount so had to improvise a bit to avoid having the transom fall off (or at least that's what Mark thought might happen) under the surge of raw power.

So the motor ended up a bit off center... Turns out this is not a problem at all when you're dealing with only 4 HP. Mark's fears that the transom would fall off were also not founded either - everything was solid as a rock (though it should be pointed out we didn't tow the Mirror with the motor on as that would have pushed our luck a bit too much), Anyhow, this was the arrangement we went with. Seemed to work.

So we clamped everything firmly in place, filled up the fuel tank keeping a spare gallon on-board, and plopped the boat in the water. Much to everyone's surprise, with just a minimum of tweaking (these old engines like to start on choke, then rich, then run lean when warm.. gotta love the '70's), but a vast cloud of blue smoke, it fired into life with Cap'n Mark at the helm.

Predictably our course was set for the Petaluma turning basin and Dempsey's. Shawn, doubting Mark's mechanical engineering talents, was assuming this would involve lots of rowing.

After a couple of beverages, we were fortified enough to start back, this time with Cap'n Shawn at the helm. Here he takes it for a spin (check out that planing...) to get the feel of it.

Turns out there are quite a few backwaters to the Petaluma river that a bigger boat can't get to. The Mirror under power really does turn on a dime. More exploring in the future no doubt...

After a good old potter about, back we went to the Marina on the right. It should also be said that the new 'old' trailer worked perfectly too so we're obviously just wondering what we did wrong that we haven't discovered yet.

Being creative fellows, we pondered the lack of motor mount and quickly came up with design. Who wouldn't think of a bit of plywood and duct tape after all? We're glad to report it does work - no need for that fancy stuff; use the Mark and Shawn design for peak performance and durability.

Who'd have guessed a Mirror has a sun deck?

Ha, to all those doubters, the Evinrude worked flawlessly and the rapid journey upstream meant time for an extra pint, obviously well deserved.

Shawn points out crossing the bridge will get us to the pub. Inside we get into a worthwhile discussion about the Petaluma River Festival with a few folk so if you're here under sail or oar on August 10th 2008 at about 10am, meet up at the Marina and sail on down with the rest of the flotilla.

Then on to Shawn's garage to put it back but not before a quick stop at 'Larray's market and bar'. It used to be 'Ray's market, bar, and haircuts' but the haircutting part has gone and Larry now owns it so he changed the name a bit. A bit of old time Petaluma for sure.

And finally, back to the garage, to be greeted by Cap, who we reckon will join the crew next trip like this. A good day all in all so we declare motoring a success

Mullings
So the usual contemplations.
(1) Being under power, why bring the center board we thought? We found out why it (or a short version) might not be a bad idea. When you get into choppy stuff, water spits right up, out, and into the boat. While it won't sink you, it's annoying, and predictably quite wet. We stuffed a towel in which worked a bit.

(2) Didn't need them but bring a basic toolkit if you're driving about with a 70's motor. It wasn't needed this time, but betcha it will be in the future.

(3) Make sure you tie the motor to the boat in case it falls off. Ours didn't but it's just a matter of time...

(4) Off center fitting of a motor is fine - don't even worry about it - the boat handles just fine.

(5) Wear sunscreen until we come up with a canopy :-)

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