Motor

I purchased a new Honda 2.3 hp outboard more for Fib when she was new.  The motor ran flawlessly.  I know that these little four strokes are very sensitive to fuel with tiny jets and all that.  

Fuel should be fresh, ethanol free and clean. 

I only used fresh Chevron premium ethanol free gas that I filtered through a coffee filter.  at the end of a voyage I would always run the motor with the carb valve closed until it died to empty the carb of any fuel.  The screw drain on the carb I managed to strip so could no longer drain carb that way.

I was meticulous about this.  Until last summer at the end of our Desolation Sound cruise.  I think in the hecticness of recovering our boats at the windy ramp I forgot to drain the carb.  Probably thinking no big deal as I would be out again sailing soon.  Nope.  As things went we were busy with travels and home thing so the motor sat in the garage.  I did think to drain the tank but not the carb.  Old fuel in the carb will 'varnish' and cause havoc with these small things.

Forward to this June when Jean-Francois and I were heading out I had a difficult time starting the motor.  Even after a season of sitting it normally fired right up with one or two pulls.  It ran roughly and stalled frequently.  In the end I needed to run it with the choke half out to run at all.  Definitely dirty carb symptoms.  

Looked at some YouTube vidsof doing the work myself but in the end I delivered it to the Honda shop in Burnaby (where motor was purchased) for the work as well as doing the oil changes.

Fairly hefty price tag but happy with the work and motor run like new again.   

It seems that during the last year all gas companies have been mandated to include ethanol in the gasoline.   The only way it seems I can get ethanol free gas is to purchase the high quality, super stable four cycle fuel off the shelf.  I found some at my local Home Hardware at $26 for 3.25 litres which is ok for the small amount I use and the peace of mind.