Yamaha Engine Blues

We have been sitting for several days trying to get our Yamaha 9.9 hp outboard repaired. It should have been a simple issue to resolve. Just replace a coil in the ignition system. The problem is getting the coil. The Yamaha dealership network apparently doesn't have a single one of them in inventory anywhere. The Factory will be glad to get one on its way, shipping time is anywhere from five to ten days, maybe more, depending on if they have to manufacture one before sending it to us. I never made friends with the Merc on Kintala's dink. After what looked like a budding relationship with Yamaha, our relationship appeared to hit a bit of a bump. I have little use for manufacturers who have such a skinny parts inventory on hand that a simple failure takes days to resolve. So who do I try next? Honda? Suzuki? We have had good relationships with motorcycles built by each. I wonder if their outboards are as good?

We found an after-market part that got here in two days but, as was not a total surprise, the part we ordered didn't actually fit. Then, as it turned out, that was not actually an after-market parts issue. The issue was that we were given the wrong part number to order. Having spent a good bit of my professional life trying to make sense of manufacturer's parts manuals, I can't find too much fault with that kind of mistake. And there is actually an upside. We could have ordered the number we were given from the factory (at five times the cost), waited five or more days, and then found out we had ordered the wrong part. 

This way we figured it out in two days. With the right part number in hand, Deb found another aftermarket one in stock. Word is it will be here Sunday. Okay. Unfortunately, it is a holiday weekend. The shop will not be working on the motor until Tuesday. That makes Wednesday the earliest we can leave. But at least we have a tentative date for being on our way. Which is better than not having a clue. In the meantime, we're enjoying being in a no-wake, protected channel over what promises to be a long holiday weekend of drunken boater antics. And for the moment, it doesn't get any better than that.

This is what a morning on the dock waiting looks like.

The facility here is really pretty. The grounds are landscaped nicely, there are a couple of parks along the waterway, and a brick path that walks the whole length of the channel.

There have been a pretty impressive collection of boats on this dock.