Pirates' Tender

Our short stay in the La Cruz anchorage gave us an opportunity to put our dinghy to use. We drove the dinghy in each day at least once, sometimes twice to do chores or meet up with people. When the 3 horsepower motor started giving us trouble, Ken worked on it quite a bit and then decided it was too unreliable. The 8 hp motor was our backup motor for the day the little motor quit on us or in case conditions warranted having a motor with more oomph. The 8 hp has hardly been used and works great.    

Because the 3 hp motor was an older vintage model, it was difficult to get parts and rebuild kits for it, so we decided to sell it. We advertised it on the morning VHF net and within an hour it was sold. Our neighbors on Kenta Anae bought it. The day they bought it, Shandro, Allison and Merle's older son (9 yrs) came over in his small red dinghy and explained that his vessel was the perfect pirates’ tender. For at least a year he had been hoping to get a motor for it. It needs a transom to mount the motor on and of course the motor needs some work, but we were pleased to see that about two weeks later, Merle had the motor running (at least temporarily).

Shandro and Matero took Kyle out for a spin.

Three boys in a boat.
Below - a short video of a paddle around the marina.

Of course Kyle has decided he too needs a kid sized dinghy and wishes we would have kept the motor for him. Our answer - he needs to learn how to swim well and be 9 yrs old before he can have his own dinghy.