The Wet Nightmare Lives On

As many know the rains in British Columbia during the fall can be very heavy and very consistent. This previous week has been one of those times.

My father is the proud owner of a brand new Mercury 25hp 4 stroke outboard. Which he put onto his 1980's MirrorCraft 16 foot aluminum boat. To match the new motor he decided to spruce up the boat; he  ripped out the old seats and floatation, added new seats and some paint. In his haste to get out and enjoy his new motor he skipped over putting the floatation back in the boat. We discussed the issue of whether the boat would sink, but for some reason it always ended up being while we were in the boat, and while the boat was moving at 17knots.

During August the MirrorCraft, also known as the "Wet Nightmare" for it's grace during choppy seas, was having some loose leaky rivet issues. So she was careened (an elegant way to say dragged up) on the beach and aluminium plates and screws were added with a liberal amount of the appropriate sticky goo. And yet the Wet Nightmare continued to drip like Chinese water torture.

Now it is the end of September and up at the cabins all the wives, girlfriends, and mistresses have left with the foul weather approaching, and the rapidly aging baby boomer men, who are now experimenting with prescription drugs and taking their waistbands to new heights, were left  working on their cabins.

My father during this time has been diligently restoring our 75 year old cabin, and has left the Wet Nightmare tied to the dock. We experienced few days of heavy rain, and those loose rivets were leaking away. The old man was immersed in waterproofing the cabin, and gave little attention to the Wet Nightmare. Well one day, the Wet Nightmare lives up to it's name. My father, after a hard day labouring on rain screen details, showed up with the light diminishing and dark clouds looming to find his boat missing..... as he adjusted his gaze he saw the boat, 8ft under water with a brand new engine sitting on the back and a red fuel tank reaching up from the depths.

So the old man called up his friend to help retrieve the boat from the frigid depths. He stripped down and  with rope in hand jumped into the bone-chilling dark water and tied the rope around the transom. Once back on the dock the old man and his friend hauled it up high enough to start bailing. The Wet Nightmare had become a horrible wet reality.

Now for you technical people here's where it gets interesting. They took the engine, doused it with freshwater, used compressed air to dry out everything, they undid all the electrical connections and gave them a blow dry too. Then after clearing out the crank case with water and pressured air; they did 4 or 5 oil changes, with a few crank overs until the oil stayed clear. Well guess what, that bad boy started right up. Perhaps a guide for those of you who will ever drop your 4 stroke outboard into the drink.

The Wet Nightmare lives on.