Mixed results this weekend. Gloria and I raced in the Sunday afternoon races. There were two races and 3 C-22s were in the fleet. We finished a solid last place in both races. That's both disappointing and disturbing because I have raced better than that in the past. But upon arriving back at the dock, I noticed we have some “lettuce” growing on the hull at the transom. I guess the antifouling paint I used wore out. Can't win races with a garden growing on the bottom. If I get time, I'll raise it on one of the club hoists and power wash the bottom.

More unsettling is the fact that when it was time to come in, the outboard wouldn't start. Again! (Read the earlier posts to get a feel for how frustrating this situation is for me.)

Suspicion is once again on water in the gas somehow. The external tank is about half full at this point, so maybe there is enough air (and exchange of air) to allow water to accumulate. Also if water had gathered in the “reserve” area, the sloshing around the tank took as we heeled and tacked, could have stirred things up. I'll try draining the tank into something where I can see if there's a layer of water. I'll probably need to drain the carburetor bowl also. Then fresh gas and a double dose of Sta-Bil ought to do the trick.

At my boat club there are at least two other owners of Tohatsu-built outboards experiencing the same “water-in-the gas” issues I am fighting. Maybe Oklahoma City has just had a lot of water-laden gas delivered to us? Maybe the unusually wet spring and summer have resulted in water seeping into the holding tanks at the gas stations. Who knows? But it seems odd to me that we're only hearing about it from the owners of Tohatsu built engines. Do other small outboards have a fuel/water separator in their lines? The Tohatsus don't. I have been told by a rep at their support line that they have a separator available for $117. That seems like a lot, so I'm going to try other things first.