What's the buzz

The absolute end of the season is signaled with  taking the tender out for the winter..  I took the opportunity to give the Ole Seagull an outing and a bit of a trial.  My tender is 12 foot and fairly heavy... especially with 4 inches of water in it so I wanted to see if the Seagull had enough guts to push it along.
The first thing I noticed was how light it is compared to my 4 horse mariner.  I can easily manage this engine around the pier ladders and hooking it on the back of the tender is a doddle.
The second improvement is that because it is light it doesn't sink the back of the tender, helping it track better through the water.

The seagull seems to take several pulls to get it going from cold but once warm it starts before the cord has had time to leave the flywheel.  As there is no neutral it took me by surprise and pulled on the painter, spinning the boat on the out-haul.  I reduced the revs and pull along the out-haul to point her nose out into clear water.
The last thing I noticed was the noise and vibration :)  What a rasper!    This was the only downside, it performed beautifully and really the noise is ok.. it's only to get me out to Ciao Bella or get the Mirror home if I run out of wind or tide.

I pulled her up the slipway as far as I could but the clubs trolley is a bit too small making it hard for one person to get this lot up the ramp.

The great thing with  the sailing club is that, even out of season, someone will turn up eventually, and when they did they got roped into helping me drag her out and stash her in a corner until I can get back and pick her up. :o))