C.A.S. Marine and Suzuki

Karen suggested that I would bore you with the details of our Suzuki outboard, so I won't disappoint!

In 2016 we decided we needed a new dinghy for the Bahamas. Everyone says "It's like your car! You'll use it for visiting, snorkelling, groceries, water ...!"

After much research I decided on a Highfield Classic 310 for the dinghy.  It is an aluminum rigid bottom inflatable and is lighter than comparable fibreglass RIBs. 

For the motor, I was looking for the lightest motor I could find because we have to lift the dinghy and motor on our dinghy lift when we travel.  

Dinghy & motor stowed for sailing

I have to admit to a soft spot for Honda products which are reliable, and in the case of our old 8 hp, started on the first pull just about every time.  At the boat show though I noticed the Suzuki 20 hp that was lighter than any other 20 hp  and even lighter than many competitor's 15 hp motors. It also had Electronic Fuel Injection, the only motor in it's class so equipped. Plus it was very competitively priced! So just following the 2016 boat show, we bought one from Chris Sellner at C.A.S. Marine in Ayr. Unfortunately our unit burned oil from day 1. In the fall of 2016 C.A.S. took it in and Suzuki authorized a complete rebuild including a new block. 

2017, and while we were breaking it in, it would hesitate at part throttle and did not have the power it had in 2016. After a couple of hours running I took off the cowling and checked the oil to discover that it looked like your double-double coffee! 

Plus there was water dribbling out of a plug on the head ... not good!  So since this was one week into our trip we were very concerned about how C.A.S. and Suzuki might handle it.  I am very pleased to report that they went above and beyond, replacing our 2016 with a 2017! All we had to do was get the motor back to Ayr, which in the end turned out to be a blessing since we got to do laundry and our new OHIP and NEXUS cards were in the mail! Turns out the NEXUS cards had to be authorized within 30 days so we would have missed the window if we had waited until our return in October for Karen's nephew's wedding.

As Karen's Mom would say "things always work out for the best"!