In Praise of Sea Foam! :) . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

On the last Columbus Day Cruising Regatta last October, and on the last Fl 120 this past May, the 1995 Johnson 15 would some times miss or lug and after a bit, recover.
Once on the CDCR was only mild concern, since after all, it IS just shy of 30 years old.
Second time in May, was proof, that Something had To Be Done.   

I'm readying Urchin for sale, since the last CDCR and the last Fl 120 convinced me that I am getting too old to safely handle the boat by myself and sailing by myself, is about 70% of my sailing.   
Can't sell a boat with a motor that acts up, so I figured it was time to rebuild the carburetor.
Checked my records . . . .  lessee here  . . . . re-built it in 2004, just prior to going on a BEER Cruise with Travis Votaw as a guest, and I didn't want to embarrass myself with a balky motor.
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Travis Votaw, aboard Urchin.

I've oft said: "The Only Thing A Motor Does Reliably, Is Fail" 
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And on that trip, the motor even failed to fail;  the one time it didn't start on the first pull, was when I had the fuel line disconnected.

Carb was last rebuilt in 2004, 20 years ago.
I owe that maintenance longevity to the TSBB and to Sea Foam.
Sea Foam's claim to fame:
Product Features:
Cleans fuel injector and carburetor passageways
Cleans intake valve and chamber deposits
Lubricates upper cylinders
Works in crankcase oil to liquefy harmful residues and deposits
Stabilizes gas and diesel fuels up to 2 years
For any gas or diesel fuel blend
For all motor oils, conventional and synthetic

I forget where I read it from on TSBB first; it may have been author, Marlin Bree, who mentioned it and wondered whether it was any good, or not? 
Always willing to be open-minded and give a new product a try (or perhaps, merely the most gullible rube to ever fall off the turnip truck!)  I got some and started using it on all my gasoline powered equipment.
Noticed the difference, right away.

Worked so well on the outboard, that I started using it on the gas-powered lawn equipment as well, with equally good results.
Which is why I was surprised at the motor acting up last October and this past May.
So I got a carburetor rebuilding kit from Amazon, since all my favorite south Florida marine parts centers have long ago folded their tents and gone out of business. 

Got the kit and went after it.
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Only to discover that the carburetor was FINE, a piece of plastic that moves the Cam Follower had given up the ghost and broken after a mere thirty years.
It was immediately clear that the Cam Follower was not advancing the ignition timing enough and making the motor cough intermittently and once again, Charles had mis-diagnosed his equipment, from jumping to conclusions that after 20 years, the carb MUST be in need of re-building! 

Man!  You pay Good Money for something, you expect it to LAST!! 
Ah, well.
So now I have an even cleaner, clean carburetor, than the clean carburetor I took apart.   

Waiting on replacement Cam Follower and O-ring, from boats.net
Gotta say, that Sea Foam is some good stuff!   

Charles Brennan

[Monroe]

Charles,
Since you are not currently Scamping, how about putting an ear worm of mine to rest and post the lyrics to "You found a fine time to leave me, loose wheel".
A link to Robert Stephenson's poem about trying to escape from a windward cove would icing on the cake.

Monroe

[Frank B.]

Did i mention I hate outboards

Two stroke or four stroke? If I was king of the world there would be no outboards of the four stroke variety that could not be effectively fed with fuel injection, all those smaller would be two stroke which is much more forgiving in my view.

I have an open mind about my 15 4s which by the way was was fed a Sea Foam diet.  I've disassembled the carb and did not discover a visible flaw anywhere, however have not done a thorough cleaning yet, but checked all the parts with magnifying glass and all looked good.  However the silencer flange was broken, one spacer was missing but can't imagine how that would cause the problem, as that is on the intake side of the carb, if it was a leak between the carb and manifold that might cause it to lean out too much but that was OK.  So ordered the parts to fix the silencer and new gaskets all around and we will see.  However, we won't see until mid August, parts backordered from Japan.  BTW this carb is only five years old and probably has fifty hours on it, I put it on the motor when I converted to 15HP from 9.9.  It has performed very well with the exception of a hesitation when shifting to high speed jet which I've found out is normal with this motor.

no Pics, when i found out it would be month I carefully boxed up all components to get them out of my shop clearing it for other endeavors. The skiff will sit for a while longer.

Did I mention I hate outboards.......

[Charles Brennan]

Can ya hear Kenny R. singing something like THIS?!?     . . . .
Loose Wheel
(Sung to the tune of: "You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille")

v.1
On the road to Perdido, across from Home Depot
My trailer, she started to shake. 
Sounded suspicious, so I pulled on over,    
A quick look I thought I would take.
When I got off the roadway,
I thought she was OK, then I saw just how the hubs steamed.   
The grease was a'boilin' just like my worst scream-dreams!   
Busted trailer, flat tires and broke springs! 

v.2 
In the mirror I saw it and I closely watched it,
I saw how the wheel wobbled all over the place.   
The sudden flash of grease spray, there in the sunlight,
Put a strange look on my face.   
For a minute I thought I was dead.   
But the rig started shaking, those bearings were breaking.   
I looked at the trailer and said:

(Refrain) 
You picked a fine time to leave me, Loose Wheel! 
Four missing lug nuts rolling off in the field!   
I've had some bad times, lived through some sad times   
But this is something that duct tape won't heal! 
You picked a fine time to leave me, Loose Wheel! 

v.3
After it left me, I wished I had whisky.   
Rollin' down the road made the wheel look really small.
From the street lights of the Inter-State,
To the lights of the Toll-Gate,
I watched it roll, without talking at all. 
Though my boat's a beauty, it suddenly come to me,
Trailering all over, must be out of my mind!   
Hubs are all busted, trailer's got me disgusted, 
But I keep trailering, time after time! 

(Refrain) 
You picked a fine time to leave me, Loose Wheel! 
Four missing lug nuts rolling off in the field!   
I've had some bad times, lived through some sad times   
But this is something that duct tape won't heal! 
You picked a fine time to leave me, Loose Wheel! 

Charles Brennan

[Monroe]

Thank you Charles,
You are many things, a poet for sure.

Monroe