Outboard engine harness, that is.
^^look at the pretty new harness!^^
When we bought our boat back in 2012, she not only came with a nice Avon by West Marine RIB dinghy and 8HP Yamaha outboard motor, but also a spiffy little engine harness used to hoist the dinghy motor on and off the sailboat whenever needed.
And for some strange reason, we have continued to place our faith in that original, super worn out harness for the past eight months.
Probably not the smartest move as some of you might recall what happened the last time we trusted something original like this…yup, we lost the freaking dinghy after a knot we never checked or re-tied came loose. That should’ve clearly been lesson enough, but for some unexplained reason, we have continued to use and, might I add, heavily rely upon our very worn out harness. Putting it through constant heavy duty wear and tear on the regular as we hoist our 60 lb. motor nearly every day on and off the boat. For months on end.
^^the old one…in pretty crappy shape.^^
Not only was our old harness very worn out, but it was also always in the way. It’s loosey goosey shape interfered with the cooling water pilot hole (better known to most as the pee tube, lol) on the engine. It flopped over in front of the motor and was constantly in the way of the pull start cord and gear shifter. The sun-damaged fabric was weak and had no good place to clip the engine hoist onto. And it was always just loose, super fragile looking, and had obviously broken at least once in the past based on that awesome knot holding it together.
After months using this old and broken harness to hoist our dinghy outboard motor on and off the boat, we finally smartened up and ordered ourselves a brand new one last week while we are here in Salinas, Puerto Rico waiting on some other engine parts to arrive. That is, after we debated whether we should attempt making our own, DIY-style harness, from rope. But, thankfully, not before the old one totally broke on us and caused any damage to the motor itself.
Although Amazon.com had a Davis brand engine harness available for shipping to Puerto Rico, the customer reviews suggested it contained metal parts that may rust after awhile so we opted instead to order one from Defender.com.
The one we purchased does not have any metal elements that could easily rust or break. And after receiving the new harness, Jereme quickly switched out the old with the new and we were back in business just like that.
We no longer have to hold our breath each time we hoisted the outboard motor. Phew!
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