THE OUTBOARD MOTOR SAGA AND A FEW BUSY HOURS IN MALTA – 25 May / Day 32

THE OUTBOARD MOTOR SAGA AND A FEW BUSY HOURS IN MALTA – 25 May / Day 32

To set the scene for readers who missed to story so far my 9.8 hp Parsun outboard was taken to the Marina di Ragusa boatyard over a month ago for a service. I had asked for it to be ready after a week and was told that should be possible. It was not until three weeks later that they finally (under pressure) tried to start the motor and I was asked to attend as there was a “serious” problem. Being less than two years old and under warranty the next week was spent trying to see if the boatyard could be authorised to open the motor to inspect the problem, the nearest Parsun dealers being Safe Sea in Malta who supplied it and a southern Italian dealer in Napoli, almost 800 km away.

The pressure for me is to be ready to leave the marina by the end of May or face high daily costs for waiting for a solution. I decided to take the motor by car on Friday to the ferry to Malta (cost 202 euros) to take it to the dealer, not expecting to get it mended in time if there was a major problem, perhaps 8 days delivery of parts, and a busy dealer as people want their boats ready for summer.

I spent much of Wednesday and Thursday, with help from catamaran owner David Christy, looking at options to buy a new motor from UK (better prices) or from Sicily and got as far as trying to order a Yamaha which at the last minute I found did not have the tiller arm and rotating  throttle  which I need, then a Honda which was not even in Honda UK stock and would have to come from Europe, all in all it would take three weeks.

Thus thwarted (as Universe has better plan) I collected the Parsun from the boatyard on Thursday afternoon to be ready to leave early on Friday. The early morning was beautiful and I drove along the coast to Pozzallo with almost no traffic, except a couple of high speed Italians and a few very elderly Fiat 500s going very slowly. 

The crossing was calm, only delayed as the ferry had to wait inside the harbour as a naval ship docked, carrying African asylum seekers who like many others had been picked up at sea.

Sailing friends Andrea and Jenny were at the dockside in Valletta to meet me and give me things they need on their boat in Ragusa, as they will fly back with hand baggage.

Then after typical crawling Malta traffic I picked up mail and dropped off the motor, being greeting with the usual “attitude” of the business owner who never likes dealing with problems.

In Sicily we cannot find certain items to buy so I flowed from one shop to another trying to buy the items on my list, and was mostly successful. For example oats (for porridge) are my daily habit and I did not find one shop selling them here in Sicily. I managed to buy 7 kilos to keep us going. Also I bought delicious Maltese strawberries with much more taste that the more expensive and less tasty Sicilian ones.

Walking to Holland & Barrett (St Julians) I received a call from Matthew to come to collect the motor. I was not expecting to return with it and after H&B I drove there using Tom Tom gps as navigating the unstructured road system, and heavy traffic of Malta can waste a long time if the short cuts are not known.

Matthew said he had started the motor without problem and run for about 6 minutes. Some oil smoke came out (probably from transit handling) then stopped. He ran again for 10 minutes and there was no oil leak, which MdR said there was, and the cooling water was coming out properly. He did not start it up in front of me but the motor was warm so I put it into the car and went to the last two shops before boarding the ferry for another calm crossing.

On Saturday morning Steve and David, British boat owners at MdR helped me to carry the motor from the car, onto the boat and locate onto the transom. I connected the fuel pipe and turned the throttle control on the tiller handle. It was so easy to move that I though Matthew must have lubricated it, but knowing he had done nothing I looked closer to see the throttle cable had broken. Could this have happened as we carried the motor?

I could start the motor with the top cover off and move the throttle inside the casing, and at third pull the motor started.

So the interesting thing is how Italian technicians felt there was a serious problem, giving me days of stress, while the dealer, despite his “attitude” could start it easily. Does he have magic hands or perhaps the Universe did not want us to spend our summer cash flow on a motor we don’t need and there was magical intervention. For a few years I have felt the guiding hand at times and have asked Universe for support or abundance when needed. Thank you is all I can say, and I am sure a new cable is a small price to pay to be away on time from the Marina, hopefully on Thursday.