The Simplest Thing
The “Duckling” was a Starcraft aluminum mini-cruiser, 21'7" long, 8' beam, bought in 1966. It had a cuddy cabin and a 110 horsepower I/O drive. It was my wife’s and my first power boat, bought to fill the void left by the departure of our two daughters who had finished college and married.
From the beginning we had a problem with the engine occasionally dying out. New fuel pumps, both mechanical and electrical, were installed. The carburetor was replaced. After each repair, the tank was topped off and the Duckling skipped over the water as well as ever.
In June 1968, my brother, his wife, my wife and I towed our boats – they had a Boston Whaler loaded with camping equipment, and we had the Duckling – to Trenton, Ontario. The purpose was to make a round trip on the Trent-Severn Waterway.
Starting on the Trent River at the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario, the Waterway wanders 310 miles slightly north of west from Trenton to the Severn River at Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. Forty five locks raise you 640 feet to the highest point at Balsam Lake, Buckhorn, and then drop you 398 feet at Georgian Bay. On the way the route takes you through the Kawartha Lakes, and across Lake Simcoe, some of the most beautiful cruising water I’ve seen.
Without difficulty, except finding the Duckling a lousy rough water boat and very subject to cross winds, the latter causing me some embarrassing moments due to the swirling winds in some of the locks, in several days we reached Lake Simcoe. In a heavy rain storm with little visibility we ran a compass course across the lake to the town of Orillia. I found a covered slip in a marina and we spent a comfortable night.
The next day was clear. While getting gas I explained to a mechanic the trouble I had been having with the engine conking out. Without a word, he pulled the intake tube from the gas tank and pointed out a small split near the bottom of the tube. hen the fuel was low in the tank, the split was uncovered and the fuel pump could pump nothing but air! With fuel level above the split, fuel was pumped normally. That explained why after every so-called repair job, as a matter of course we always topped off our tank and the problem appeared fixed.
The 10 bucks given the Canadian mechanic forever solved our problem.
The lesson learned: Look beyond the obvious; it's often the Simplest Thing.
-- Bill Corey