Sometimes it calls for a little ENGINEuity

Throughout this field season it really does feel like there is always something a little off. Sometimes the boat is sinking in the middle of the night, sometimes we have to pick up a dead sea turtle, sometimes there are hurricanes that send us wind, sometimes there are stranded dolphins, and sometimes there is engine trouble. This week we used three different boats and all three had engine problems.

One day last week (Thursday? I lose track of time down here) Emily was working with the FWC, so Stefanie and I decided to do inshore surveys. It was a beautiful day out. It was hot, sunny, windless, AND high tide - the perfect field day. Our spirits were high. We were seeing dolphins, making good time on our surveys, eating delicious Greek yogurt...everything was just splendid. That is, until the engine starting screaming at us. A loud, monotone alarm rang in our ears telling us to shut off our engine immediately - and we complied. So we sat there, eating our leftovers, pretending that this was an intended lunch break, and not talking. We were both thinking the same thing, "maybe if we don't talk about it, or about anything, the noise will go away and we can continue our survey". So that's how it was. We sat there and waited for the engine to cool off, and then quietly turned the engine on (NO NOISE!) and continued our work in the direction of the marina - just to be safe. As we headed toward the shore and enjoyed the sound of alarm-less ocean splash and engine buzzing, we allowed ourselves to hope that the alarm was a fluke. But it wasn't - and the alarm rang even louder this time and the engine had to be turned off. We were lucky, though, as just entering the marina. We took the oars and started to paddle in, until some nice southern gentleman tossed us a rope and pulled us to the dock.

We carefully pulled the boat out and brought it to the mechanic. It was a shame. It was the perfect research day and we were stuck without a boat. We didn't want this to be the case tomorrow as well, so we called Jenn and asked her if we could use her boat. She said "yes" (thank god) with the condition that she go with us to get some driving experience - which was fine with us. The next day we went out with Jenn on her fantastic $20G Caroline Skiff. It was a beautiful boat, but was not used very much at all. This became all the more apparent when it tapped out at 15 knots at full throttle. Pushing the engine to go 15 knots was not only a waste of time for us, but hard on the engine, so we brought her in. Stefanie left to get the trailor when Jenn noticed something - we forgot to open the vent on the gas can! Wow. The engine wasn't getting gas. No wonder is was slugging along. I ran to gather Stefanie and we loaded up and heading out again.

This time it was doing quite nicely. It was going more than 15 knots, getting gas, being awesome, but it was having trouble planing and it was still struggling. We went out and did some work, but decided it was too rocky and the engine probably needed a tune up or the carbs cleaned or something. We couldn't use this boat either.

The next boat on our list is an older, smaller Carolina Skiff that Stefanie has regular access too. We drove a few towns over to pick 'er up, excited to be able to get out on the water. We packed the boat up, put her in the water with smiles on our faces, ready to do research. The smiles quickly dwindled, though. Not even a mile out we noticed the engine wasn't spitting. The last thing we needed was to fry the engine of somebody else's boat, so we went back, took her out of the water, and took her home. When we got home we opened up the engine, put some rabbit ears on (I still don't know what that means) and reset the spitter. Now with the engine getting properly cooled, we got in the truck and went back to the water.

We were so happy to see that the engine was spitting and our hopes for the day did get high. That is, until we noticed that the engine was slugging and running rough. Stefanie and Emily decided it was probably the carbs. SO. We pulled the boat out of the water and brought her home, again. Emily and I opened up the engine and took the carbs out (apparently she had done this before earlier in the season). We took the carburetor apart, cleaned it and let it sit for an hour. After the carbs sat, Emily and I put them back together and assembled them back into the engine. It was actually kind of fun, beyond all the annoying tiny metal pieces, and I felt like I learned a lot about how engines work from seeing the inside like that. I now know how to do minor outboard repair! How fun!

We managed to finish that day's work after cleaning the carbs. The engine ran much smoother and we could finally get some speed. It was a short-lived high, however, as the very next day the motor that raises and lowers the engine started to give. In the shallow Gulf waters of Cedar Key it is absolutely necessary to be able to raise the motor up and off the ground - particularly at low tide. We checked the price for this kind of repair, and at a whopping 500 bones, there was no way it could get fixed. Neither Stefanie nor Frank (the owner of the boat) have the money to fix it. So we had to pull the boat again and return it to Frank, who is going to have his brother look at it and hopefully fix it.

That brings us to today. Our boat is FINALLY fixed and ready to use. A week of engines being a pain in the ass really set us back. Hopefully, we can make up for it within the next few days - I'm sure we will!! :)