Our beloved Yamaha Enduro 25hp outboard has been in a state of disrepair for a few months. She has had problems going into and staying in reverse.  Matt was able to make it “limp” along for a few months before it finally just stopped working (in reverse).  So, we learned to use our outboard motor without reverse.  Luckily Matt was able to download the motor schematic and determined what the issue was (or what he thought it was).  It appeared that the cotter pin that is in the shifting mechanism was broken, rusted, or non-functioning. In order to get to the cotter pin, you have to take apart the entire outboard and lift the motor (head).  Ugh.  Not something Matt has experience doing, so we decided to wait until we got to Tahiti to fix it. Yamaha shop said it would take a very long time to get the parts in, if they could get them in at all.  We ordered the parts from the U.S. and Wayne brought them in during his last visit. 

Dropping off the Outboard

We arranged to have the Yamaha techs meet us at Marina Taina where we could more easily offload the motor and load it into a truck.  They arrived on time and we showed them the spare parts that we bought and were providing.

Matt and Jerome carried the 130lb outboard to the truck and she was off to the hospital.

Spare Outboard

We had saved our old outboard, a Mercury 8hp motor (40lbs).  For years we thought we should sell it and once we tried.  But it ended up sitting under our cockpit table for years.  Matt worked on it while I was in the states (in July) and got it running (while on the stanchion of the big boat).  Sweet. 

Before we sent the 25hp Enduro in for repairs, Matt tested the Mercury 8hp on the back of the boat again to ensure it worked.  It started running after the 2^nd pull.  How is that for awesome? 

After Yamaha took the 25hp Enduro, Matt installs the Mercury 8hp on the back of Sweetie.  He pulls, and pulls, and pulls and nothing.  He worked on it for 45 minutes and the darn thing would not turn over!  Seriously? 

We decide to paddle over to another dock where I hopped out and ran to our friends on Liward.  They are preparing their boat for storage. They graciously allowed us to borrow their 15hp outboard (80lbs).  So, I hop back in the dinghy and we paddle ¾ of mile around the marina to Liward so we can drop their dinghy onto ours.

Only slight problem is that their motor is a short shaft and our dinghy has a long transom. What does that mean?  It means that we have to go slow to allow the prop to reach the water and properly operate.  The red arrow is Liward in the background – their outboard on Sweetie and the dead Mercury on its side.

Lucky for us, Yamaha was able to repair the outboard the next day and they delivered it the day after.  Thank goodness, as it was challenging being careful with a borrowed outboard and going back and forth to shore (which is well over a mile away).

Sweetie’s Motor Returns

Yamaha folks delivered our repaired outboard.  You can tell how heavy she is when it takes 3 people to manhandle her back into the dinghy.  We decided to just lay it in the boat and then use Liward’s nifty lift to put it in place.

Steve and Lili had to drop their dinghy and move it, move their ladder, and prepare their lift.  I can’t believe how awesome our friends are!

Lili operates the lines, Steve guides his outboard back onto Liward from his boat, and Matt guides it from below.

Then we use the same lift to hoist our 25hp Enduro off the dinghy floor and into place on the transom.  Works like clockwork.  Super cool.

We get back to Sugar Shack and the Mercury 8hp is still on the stanchion.  Matt has tested and started it every day for the last 4 days and it starts right up!  Not sure what happened earlier when we really needed it.  But, I am super glad we had our friend’s motor to use in its place. 

The Problem

Matt was correct in assessing the problem.  The cotter pin that holds the two pieces below together had rusted and broken off.  The smaller U shape piece is supposed to be held in place to the shaft with a cotter pin.  But instead it moved about preventing us from shifting in reverse.  Once we got it back, we could clearly see that the pin was stuck in there – which is why you can’t see through it.

Lucky for us we have amazing cruiser friends who helped us out in our time of need.

We enjoy pool time at the highest restaurant in Polynesia, in our last blog.   Events from this blog post occurred early November.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.