New Boat Motor

 

Sunshine Key Rv Resort and Marina, Ohio Key, Florida  (high 82, low 75)

 

It was a hot one yesterday and the past two nights have been too warm to open the windows, but I’m not complaining.

Yesterday was a long, and busy day, and we didn’t get home until after dark.

Yes, we picked the boat up yesterday.  They had to wait for UPS to deliver a part before they could finish the motor installation.  We joked that we needed to pick the boat up before rush hour traffic, but as it turned out, it wasn’t such a joke.   We found out the hard way that there is rush hour traffic on Friday afternoon in the Keys.

We headed up towards Key Largo about 3pm, but again, just like the last time we went there, the TPMS on our truck indicated we had a low tire.    We ended up at a service station checking air in the tires again. We now think it’s not a low air situation, but a malfunctioning tire pressure monitor system on the truck.  The nearest Nissan dealer is probably 100 miles away.

We needed to be in Key Largo in time to do a water test of the boat and be done before they closed.  We had to deal with some heavy traffic, and then to top it off we had to sit and wait for a drawbridge.

When we finally got to Markey’s Marina, David, the owner was waiting for us with a little goodie bag, (and a big bill.)     :)

I got a beautiful handcrafted cutting board that I had admired earlier.  Al got an Evinrude hat, some beer coolies, eyeglass straps, floating boat key and the like.  It was a nice gesture we thought.

David took us out to look at the boat and we were surprised how good it looked.  They had  the hull compounded and waxed and it looked almost like new,  and that’s saying a lot since it’s a 1986 model..  We were very pleased with the results.  David said anytime they repower a boat they clean and wax them for you.  Another nice gesture we thought. 

The next step was for them to take us out on an open water test.    The new motor ran perfectly and was so quiet.  It ran great but the technician wasn’t happy with the size of the prop, so he said he would talk to David about switching it over.  Something about too high of rpms with that particular prop.  It sounded fine to me!

After the test drive, we hooked the boat up and headed home.  We were tired of driving by this time but had another 2 hours drive in heavy traffic.

We saw a pretty sunset though.

We arrived safely back at Sunshine Key, fed the wild and hungry animals and sat outside admiring the beautiful stars and almost full moon.  We were more tired than hungry, so we just had a few chips and then headed to bed.

You’d think we’d be anxious to get the boat into the water, but both of us are dragging a little still.  I guess we’ll get there before the day’s over.

Here she is with her new wax job and motor.