Propulsion and the buoy run,

Finally got around to my buoy run to keep me qualified to have a slip.  Hawaii has a law for motor vehicles to have safety checks annually.  Tires, lights, etc. are given the once over and with that you can get your registration renewed.  State harbors also have this procedure.  Along with a USCG inspection we are required to make a run out to the furthest buoy in the channel without assistance.  So any kind of motoring or sailing, and even paddling I would assume, is permissible. (I was on a website about a sailor decades ago that used a long paddle over the back of his sailboat and rowed gondola style.)  I fabricated a outboard motor mount so I could hang a 85hp Johnson off the stern.  I had the lower end in the water for months and it was covered with growth.  It cleaned up well, turned over but wouldn't start.  Turned out clipping jumper cables wasn't enough and only after bolting wires directly to the battery got it to run.  The thermostat was stuck and it wasn't making water.  After days of wrestling with batteries, and gas, and scraping and, and, and, I was at the end of my string.  I put in forward and revved it up and moments later there was a loud click and water poured out the p*** hose.

So I'm good for another year.  Oh, and got it to tilt the prop out of the water.