Heritage dreams

Vintage is not always great, but there are fine views from Memory Lane

- Sam Llewellyn

Heritage is wonderful stuff, I thought, rolling sleeves up and contemplating an ancient outboard. This 5hp 2-stroke began its life in the factory of Mr Yamaha in Japan, was bought by a man in Germany, made its way back to England on the back end of my Cornish Shrimper Daisy, and has since served as a general workhorse in places including the transom of a dinghy strapped alongside my ketch Dahlia during calms on a sail-only trip caused by her propeller loss 150 miles from home.

We have so far viewed this engine with affection, but nobody has been near it with anything resembling a spanner. So it was that seeking to do something - anything – that did not involve painting boats, I decided to give it the 10-year overhaul, or anyway change the impeller.

I have changed impellers before, notably in driving rain on the slipway at Tayvallich, and the task has seemed to present no problems. I therefore removed the bottom of the outboard’s leg, tutted at the dark, sooty state of the contents and tried to summon the old Tayvallich spirit.