Outboard and first sail…


Today was first trial sail in Liza. I had problems with the outboard motor. It is a Selva 6HP, supposedly fairly new, but a 2 stroke not 4 stroke. So not sure how fairly new is fairly new!

Anyhow it tended to stall whenever I put it into reverse and was difficult to start. So I took it to the local Suzuki dealership and they gave it a complete overhaul. It came back starting perfectly and going into gear easily.

But Saturday was a day of sea fog. So we started later. The outboard started fine and we motored out of the marina without a problem, though it did sound a bit rougher and not quite so smooth as when I tested it.

Sailing Liza was great with the new sails from Crusader Sails I thought I'd test the genoa alone to start with. How would she perform in light airs? She sailed amazingly well. Pointed well and could tack easily with just the genoa. My experience with Crusaders Sails is that their genoas are really nice sails!

I had a friend and her daughter with me. The daughter had never sailed so I wanted a calm easy sail so she would come to like sailing. I think her face on the photo at the top tells you her response!

So time to come back and the wretched outboard wouldn't start. Not at all. So I prepped a towing line and was going to call for a tow. One last try and it started. But felt like it was going to stall. So was having to keep the revs up. It did push her through the water well when running though.

Then maneuvering into the marina slot it wouldn't go into reverse again! Grrrr… then it did… so eventually berthed without incident, but not awfully easy. Maybe outboards are a bit fussy or maybe this is not a good outboard…

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