The weather in the UK is beginning to improve, time to think about making sure your engine is in a safe condition to put onto the water.

I would reccommend giving your engine a once over if it’s not been used over winter to ensure that first day on the water is an enjoyable day with your family rather than a frustrating day ending in you swearing at your engine a few hundred times.

Take a visual look over her, are the fluid levels good? Using a water bin of the correct depth for your engine, clamp her on and make sure everything which twists and turns does so freely, if anything is stiffer than it used to be or simply won’t move, stop right there, don’t try to force anything as it’s likely you will cause expensive damage. Make sure the frictions are off, use a little WD40 or 3 in 1 oil and gently try to move it, if doesn’t move smoothly or is seized bring it in for maintenance.

Test run your engine with fresh fuel in there, let it run for a few minutes before selecting gears to allow a little warm up time, is the water tell tale running as it should? Make sure the throttle and carb are working properly, will it gently rev up without hesitation and return to idle properly?

Select the gears on your engine and make sure all operates smoothly and of course returns to neutral with ease.

Easter is traditionally the start of the busiest time for outboard engine maintenance companies, if your engine is due a service or has problems which you need help with. Contact us as soon as possible via the website or call 07867 988381 and let me get your engine running properly as soon as possible avoiding the “silly season” when it’s likely I will be booked up weeks in advance.

Happy and Safe boating

Tony