The day started fine. Sun shinning, light winds, couldn't ask for a much more perfect day. So the wife and I go out, not to sail but to test the Seaclear software with my GPS. So basically it was a day of motoring. We weren't gonna go far, just up the lane maybe a mile or so and back. On the say up, I noticed no water stream coming from my outboard. Plus, there was a lot of exhaust smoke. I grabbed a toothpick to clean out the pee hole but all that was coming out was very hot air. And I mean HOT! I actually think it was steam, the unseen type because it was really hot. So I pull the lanyard to shut down the engine. I tried to continue to clean out the hole but now water is dripping out, and it was HOT! So I try to restart the motor to head back in and I can budge to pull line. It will not move. Now we are drifting toward the mud flats. It was high tide, no wind to speak of, and drifting. My wife saw a motor boat coming so I flagged him down. Told him my problems and asked for a tow back to the marina. No problems he says. Half way back, I noticed the motor was still in gear. So I put it in neutral and the motor started. We untied from his boat and he waved bye and left. I offered $10 but he refused. Nice guy. So we make it back to the slip where I started to dismantle the cooling hoses. The water was flowing but not very well. I back flushed a little and then the flow increased and the water was cold. Now, the day is ruined and I need to do more repair work on my motor. I think what I want to do is remove all the cooling hoses and back flush each water outlet port. I might even use a little bit of compressed air, but not a lot. So anyway, one of the ills of year round sailing is not having any down time for maintenance. I envy you east coast guys with your "on the hard" time.
