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I HAVE HAD A LONG HISTORY WITH BOATS, as I was born in England to parents who worked for the Falmouth Dockyard. Falmouth is at the extreme west of England and is a large British port. It is closest to the USA, and that made it an extremely important strategic port during World War II. Falmouth was the first safe haven from U-boats for ships crossing the Atlantic. My grandfather was in the British Navy and my mother and father worked for the British Navy. With the end of World War II, the importance of Falmouth harbor had diminished significantly by the 1960’s and the lack of work caused my parents to immigrate to South Africa when I was very young.

With boating in my blood, it was natural for me to serve my mandatory two years of National Service in the South African Navy, which mandatory or not, was a great honor for me. It has been easy for me to build up a considerable amount of boating experience without really trying. I have sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, all around the South African coast many times, across the English Channel and off the coast of France, in the Mediterranean, in the Caribbean and the Californian coast. I have been on warships, tall ships, submarines and all sorts of sailing boats including several world-class ocean racers.

Until recently I had never owned a boat. I have been looking at boat ownership for several years, buying books on boat building, boat repair and asking myself questions about what boat would be the best fit for me? I would love a 50′ cruising yacht but this is beyond my budget so I considered a 32′ Ericson. This seemed too much boat unless I was going to live on board, which is not in my plans at this stage. I looked at Santa Cruz 27’s, Moore 24’s and finally RIBs and Whalers. It seemed that the little powerboat would match my current budget and allow me to buzz around for some fun on the water; shooting down to Capitola for breakfast, surf the local breaks by boat and listen to the summer concerts on the beach from the water.

Using Craig’s list I found an “inexpensive” 15-foot fiberglass power boat called a “Performer”. This hull was made in 1959 and the style is called a “runabout”. This is a typical boat that many families use for water skiing, towing or simply cruising around and enjoying the local sites. The boat came with a trailer and a 30hp motor that looks to be in pretty good shape. It started after a few pulls. Success! What more did I need to know?

I looked at the boat on a Thursday evening and told the seller I would call him the next day. All evening I was thinking to myself, “I should have paid him then and there”. The next morning I called the seller and told him that I wanted the boat and that I was coming back to pay for it and take it away, which I did.

Two weeks later I launched the boat in Santa Cruz harbor and took it for a spin. Everything seemed to be working fine but after five minutes the engine started to splutter and then died. No amount of pulling the starter cord would bring the motor back to life. I think that even the Dali Lama would curse if he had to pull a start cord “5000″ times without a cough of life. On the advice of a friend, I left the boat for an hour and on my return, to my surprise, the engine started ‘first pull’. It ran for about 5 minutes, then spluttered again and died. I left it for an hour and the cycle repeated itself. Clearly the engine does not like to run when it is hot.

I thought to myself, “No problem, I’ll get a few books on outboards, it is probably just the spark plugs or the carburetor and if I can’t fix it, an outboard motor shop will.” The books arrived in the mail and I fiddled with a few parts of the engine but I have Real Estate clients whom I wish to serve and wearing the hat of outboard engine mechanic was not fitting well with all the other hats that I have to wear, so I started to look for an outboard engine mechanic.

I called on Dave’s Outboards, Aquarius Boatworks, Moore and Sons, and a big outboard shop in Alameda. All of them asked the same series of questions and then gave the same advice. The first question was “What make is the outboard?” I said Mercury. The second question was “What color is it?” I said blue and white. Something deep inside me told me that this was an important question and when the other person answered “Oh no, that’s bad”, my stomach sank a little (and for the first time I wished it was the boat that was sinking).

It turns out that my engine was built in 1958 by Mr. Kiekhaefer, the founder of Mercury motors. In the late fifties, Mr. Kiekhaefer was at the height of his “Iron Fist” reign as the king of racing outboards. To protect his position he built his engines in a way that requires many special tools to take the engine apart unlike Johnson or Evinrude which can be taken apart with a screw driver and a pair of pliers (I am told). Technology has moved on so much in the last 50 years that I was told by all the outboard motor mechanics that they would not work on this engine - even if I was paying $95 per hour for them to do the work. I was told to either get good at doing the work myself or buy a newer engine.

This is when I became acquainted with the difference between a short shaft and a long shaft. It turns out that in the old days, power boats were built with a short transom of approximately 16 inches from the top of the transom to the bottom. Some “genius” decided to change the transom height to 20 inches so most outboard engines made in the last 25 years have a shaft of approximately 20 inches. This would leave the propeller too deep in the water for my boat; however, I could fix the problem by raising the transom 5 inches. Investigating this “opportunity” revealed that for about $300 I could get a metal bracket made and do the rest of the work myself.

All I had to do now was find a replacement motor, which takes me back to Craigslist. If I don’t find a suitable engine, I will be forced to post my own ad entitled “Boat for sale, 1959 classic runabout, PERFECT for a short trip”.

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