Missing the old outboard .

[lonehunter]

Now the old moters I have had in the past are now something piled up in a repairshops inventory as spare parts , Not from lack of care on my part .
A few were because parts are no longer available for the models , one however and by far my most beloved moter was due to a shoddy repair facility that reused an old torn headgasket pasted together with silicone . The head rusted up beyond a new sleve or a rebore , shame , it ran like a champ for over 60 years .

I have a new moter , a Merc . I couldn't belive the savings in fule these new jobs have , I can tootle around the lakes for hours on pocket change on any given day . Start ups are easy , one pull and take off at full throtle .
I will miss the chatter , rumble and the familiar cough of blue smoke the old scott-atwater uset to belch out during the first three or four pulls before starting on a good day .
I can't recall how many times Id'e launch out onto a lake only to find myself drifting somewhere down shore into a weedbed with one hand either on top of the moter or adjusting the choke while the other arm would continuiosly pull start untill fresh blisters appeared all over my hands as if by magic . Whatever companion I had either my buddy or one of my kids would take the time to wet there line and enjoy the show I would provide , cover off, a shot of WD-40 , cover on , another couple of pulls and a few choise words when a blister broke .
Half the fun of a fishing trip is getting there , isn't it ?
You and I both know that some of the most memorable fishing trips we have had involved a moter that just wouldn't behave the way we wanted it to . I recall one time out on Lake Erie when the 40 horse gave out and the mincotta got us in about a mile to shore before the battery puked out . We ended up spending hours tossing out the anchor and pulling ourselves forward twards dry land . Once ashore it was only a 12 mile hike back to the car and a phonecall to let the little woman know why I had missed our dinner engagement . Some excuses although true are not so belivable to a spouse that has already achevied the boiling point , she ranked it up there with the time I droped her car keys into the bottom of the Detroit River while pulling up anchor .
Yea , some times are more memorable than others , not only to ourselves either, I bet the coast guard still talks about the time they cought up with you know who when I had the cable asembly break off from the hull , full throtle in reverse and in a no wake zone , boy , that was fun to explain .
Yes sir re-bob , I bet I have a couple hundred stories that involve a cantankrous outboard , I bet you have a couple yourself.
Why not share one with us ?
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[davetclown]

I remember one once on the detroit river when we all went fishing, dad and his boat and rebuilt motor that was dredged up form the bottom of a lake.

there was me, my little brother, little sister, pops girlfriend, dad and me.

now there wasnt enough room in the boat for all of us to fish so a couple of us would have to fish from shore while three went in to the boat.

well the girls won out, they got to hit the water before we did, Little brother and me ages 12-13 was dropped off at the park on the mouth of the detroit river and lake st clair.

we sat there on shore not catching a thing, not that we were realy trying cause it was the first time we had ever been to the river and we were spellbound by the big freighters running up and down the river.

we sat there fishing and watching the freighters for a couple hours when we noticed a boat was fishing out in the shipping lane, now this wasnt any thing new, cause we saw lots of boats drifting in to the shipping lanes in front and behind the freighters.

we watched as the boat continued to stay in the shipping lane when the other boats were getting out of the way, we thought the fishing must realy be good for them to stay right there in the lane up to the last minute.

we watched as the freighter came barroling out of the lake, we knew it would only be 10 minutes before it would be right up on top of them. About that time we could see the net come out of the boat and we thought they were going to land thier fish and get the net out of there, but that was not what happened, they started using the net as a paddle trying to get out of the lane.

now those freighters dont have much room to manover and cant cut power with out turning sidways.

everyone on shore screamed in horor as the freightor came up on the little black boat, every one including me though that they were done for in this head on collision. as the freighter over took the fishing boat raised up in to the brake water from the bow pushed the boat twards our side and we watched in amazement that it wasnt sent to davy jone's locker.

the wake from the starbord side continued to push the little black boat away from the freighter. We could see the people on top of the freighter wich resembled specks of pepper against the white background looking over the rail as they were looking to see the damage the freighter might take from the little black boat getting sucked in to the back wake of the prop as many a fishing boat had in the past.

still paddleing with the net as they escaped the coreening of the bow, beeing boiled under by the break water, not turned in to kindling from the side of the freighter, not getting sucked in to the back wake of the freighter, we all breithed with amazement.

we couldnt wait to tell dad and the girls about what we had seen take place right there in front of us...

we sat there fishing, not getting a bite for a couple more hours wondering when it was going to be our turn to go out in the boat to fish. about that time we saw the little black boat getting towed back up the river in to lake st clare.

It was good to see they didnt get washed out in to lake errie. we couldnt help but wonder when we were going to get a turn, neither of us had a watch, but we could see the sun was heading twards the mid afternoon possision.

it was about that time when dad showed up to pick us up, not to go fishing but to go home. They were all sunburned, beat red, looked like they went though hells fire and back. It was after all getting late, we were getting hungry. little brother and me realy wasnt all that upset for not going, we were getting tired as well.

they asked if we had caught any thing, we said not realy, just a few little white fish the other kids were calling white bass, and they asked what we did all day, and we begun to tell them about the boat that nearly got run over by the freighter, and they said, "ya, we know all about it, that was us".....
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[lonehunter]

L.M.A.O. [laugh] !!!!

I thought that's where the story was headed , Roosterfish and I did the same thing in the Trenton Channel on the Detroit River !
tHERES NOTHING LIKE LOOKING BEHIND YOU AND SEEING ONE OF THOSE FREIGHTERS BARRILING RIGHT TWARDS YOU , LOOKS LIKE YOUR GOING TO BE HIT BY A 10 STORY BUILDING !
We'll have to get him to tell you about the time we got stuck on Mud Island during a thunderstorm , or the time we hit a rock in the middle of the river and sheared off the prop pin .
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[davetclown]

that the same roosterfish that entered the 2006 fishing contest?

if so tell him to send me a pm with an address, he has a couple lures comming for the contest. every one who entered received two lures. he is the only one I did not ship to..

it wont go out till a week after the superbowl sunday, thats when I make my next bacth of leaders.
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[lonehunter]

Will do!
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