wrote:

The boating types
realize it's no real big deal as far as returning to port is concerned,
while the non-boater types start looking for life jackets and have
visions of a CG rescue...I, on the other hand, have visions of my ass
crawling around under the engine to remedy things...



g ...while i'm not a life-jacket paranoid, if ever i was crawling
about any engine, i'd recommend everyone on board immediately don a
lifejacket as i'd undoubtedly pull the wrong shuttlecock or plug in such
a misguided adventure. when my sal****er boat broke down, i looked at
the engine solely for the purpose of assuring there wasn't a flame,
smoke, or spewing liquids that might require an abandon ship response. i
had no idea what was wrong...figured i was simply once again victimized
and ****upon by yet another movement of the cosmic mechanical
sphincters. when i got back to the dock, mel the mechanic got on the
boat, put his hand on something that looked like the rest of the
indistinguishable engine landscape to me, and pronounced the problem as
a bad high pressure fuel pump. mel is an "engine whisperer" and i
consider him worthy of hero worship.

jeff