After the last few outings with sketchy river current, and multiple days of great sailing weather but high current, I decided to upgrade my little electric trolling motor to a 6hp Tohatsu.
One of the challenges of sailing on the river is the current, which limits how far you can go when there is no wind (or the wind does not cooperate). Commercial boat traffic and other boats increase the risk. While the trolling motor was great due to its silent operation and no need for maintenance and I’ll miss it greatly, it simply did not allow me to get out on the water as often as I would have liked to.
The new Tohatsu arrived today and made a trip to the marina to get it installed. I probably should have had another person to help but I managed to not drop it in the water during the process. After adjusting the height and making sure everything is tight, I added the oil, hooked up the gas tank and…the oil light lit up. With panic I turned the motor off and went back to the manual.
During my reading of the initial start up procedure I missed the part where I had to circulate the oil (who reads manuals anyways, right?).
So there I went again, tried to start the motor and…nothing. Off to the internet I go to try and troubleshoot what I did wrong. Turns out, during my noob outboard operator experience, I flooded the motor with gas. After opening up the throttle and pulling the handle once more it fired right up!
After letting it idle for about 10 minutes as the manual suggested, I took it for a test ride. What a difference! At the very lowest throttle I was going upstream at about the same speed as I was going with the trolling motor at full power! No wind, so I motored to the Neville Island point, nervously (even though I knew that my mast had enough clearance) going under the Coraopolis Bridge enjoying the view of the sunset and the wildlife.
