Called Piranha propellers for some ideas on how to remove the hub from the old motor. They suggested that since their props have a lifetime guarantee on the hub, get the hub off any way I could, then send them the pieces and they would send a new hub. Called Sunset Marine back to tell them this, but when I did, they told me that they had managed to get the hub off by letting the sun heat it up, so I‘m good to go.

Also decided to replace the fenders on the trailer with wider versions, to see if that would eliminate the brake residue that keeps getting thrown up on the hull. Found the West Marine in Oceanside (hint - it's not even close to the water or the harbor), and picked up some galvanized fenders - 9" wide, they might do it.

Got a call from Derrick - the boat is READY! When we went to pick it up, however, they said the old Piranha prop hub would not come off the shaft, so they wanted to cut it off, and put on an aluminum 17" pitch ($149). They also threw in a new water separator filter - said the old one had a lot of water in it?? Doug said it might be coming in through the fuel tank vent, and recommended a clamshell over the vent, but this would not let us use the fuel catcher. We might try it later. He also recommended cutting a larger access hatch on the inside of the starboard transom, and moving the Navman sensor and the fuel filter up out of the bilge into that area.

Told them to wait on the prop replacement, as I wanted to call Piranha to see what they suggested.

Shoot! Motor has not arrived, they‘ll call when ready. Ordered 14 x 13" blades for the Piranha, got to believe it will get me into the 5500 RPM range with the new motor.

Went in to Sunset Marine, ordered the motor and dropped off TB2. Should be in by 11/26 or so, they estimated less than 4 hours to install, including taking out the old motor and the old VRO system. Asked them to move the old Piranha prop to the new motor.

I was sort of fixated on using a Suzuki for the repower, so we decided to call Sunset Marine in Oceanside to get a quote on the Johnson 115 4-stroke (which is really a Suzuki). They gave us a good price, but suggested going with the Evinrude E-TEC 90 instead. Of course, that was what we had been thinking about originally, just got sidetracked. It turns out our controls and gauges would all work, plus we could add the water pressure gauge back in. This offset the cost savings of getting a Suzuki motor through our friend Mike. Plus the motor is around 100 pounds lighter than the Suzuki.