Ghost in the Machine

Here is the issue with the outboard that's been keeping you awake at night, or should be.

The problem is that you can't swing it up during shallow water and then go straight back to the motoring position when it gets deep.  If you pull the motor back at all, you have no choice but to chunk your way    through every tilt setting until it's alllll the way up....then take it allll the way back down to reset it....before you can finally tilt it back to where you want.  About that time you usually hit another shallow spot.

It's more than just an annoyance.  If you're already in shallow water when this happens, you may not be able to get it to the alllll-the-way-down position at all.   And then you're stuck until you work your way through enough beer it will float through the riffle on its own.

This is what it looks like from the outside:

Here are the mysterious inner workings:

We are going to have a pre-trip meeting at Brown's and we'll bolt the motor to the bar until somebody has a good idea.  Gordie won't mind.