After a long wait, I got out on the water for a test today. After installing all the new parts to assure it would pump water, make spark, and run as it should, I took it out for a run. The compression tester from Harbor Freight must be crap because it said it had a pressure of 47 on each cylinder. The little engine started so easily, I thought it must not be true. After the Seafoam shock treatment, the exhaust dumped a lot of dissolved oily residue that it appears was just the nature of the treatment on the gunk in the exhaust system. I found some evidence online that this was what happened and it was suggested on a Facebook forum for these engines. The little engine spun up to full power and pushed my Jon boat up to 16 mph. I guess it couldn't be low compression. Now my next move is to clean up and paint the cowling and add the fresh decals. I didn't opt for the authentic set for that model year. I just got some that were a generic Evinrude 9.9.
After my recovery period for Covid, I went to Cullman on Monday the 8th and started catching up on the mowing and farm stuff. Pretty much everything needed mowing. The big tractor made short work on the main north fields and David helped me with the field across from the pond. The grass had grown quite long and with the two week absence, I simply started and mowed all of them. There is always some mowing to do. At least no trees had fallen. There were some indoor projects pending. A couple of shower fixtures had to be replaced. The screen door latch didn't hold and had to be improved. The old JD mower needed a bit of tuning so it would climb better and the mowing deck replaced. And the garden needed to be disked and more corn and okra planted. David should have had a shot on the groundhog at the old house but forgot to check his ammo. The hammer fell on an empty chamber. I got the conibear traps out and caught one of the groundhogs that lived by the spring. David had ...