Tanks full? Check! Gloves, net, tickle sticks? Roger! Little boat ready? Well, no, not really. As it turns out, the little boat, our 20 foot bowrider, almost left us out at sea during scalloping in Steinhatchee. The old two stroke Johnson has always been reliable, but it was coughing and wheezing, and was literally pouring smoke out the exhaust. Sounds like it had COPD to me, too much smoking all those years. We dropped it off at the local Johnson dealer, and when we picked it up, they said it was running fine. They put a new electronic powerpack on it, all good they say. Not so fast though, it was still smoking like an old steam riverboat. And stalling. And coughing. We were too, all that dang smoke. There was only one thing to do, fix it myself. The fuel pump and also the oil pump for the oil injection are both housed in a single pump housing. I got one, and put it on, and now we are doing fine. No more coughing, wheezing or sneezing. And the motor is now fine too.
We dove in a favorite spot we know, and avoided the hoards of people intent on chasing lobsters, and quietly got our limit and headed for the barn. There is nothing like fresh lobster, yum, but it really is a lot of fun finding and catching your own lobsters. Why not give it a try? There is no better or easier place to go than the Keys, shallow water is fine too. Regular season is just a few days away, what are you waiting for?
