Last night the outboard didn't sound right so I took a look at it and discovered that the main swivel post that the steering connects to had broken. Bugger. With Colin coming down in a couple of days and us planning to go off sailing, I worked stripping it down until 01:00 then went off in search of a Mercury dealer first thing this morning.
Naturally, they don't have the part (which costs a ridiculous 400 euros) in stock. Unfortunately, neither does the Mercury importer in Madrid. How long might it take for them to get hold of it then? Maybe October. Maybe never. Most probably never. So I've spent a reasonably pissed off day trying to source one from other countries. Later I spoke to one of our friends who has a watersports business here and told him about it. "Of course", he replied. "That's normal, we always get our parts from Holland or Germany."
Where's the pics for engineering comments that you promised?