Unreliable Outboards

[schoonerdog]

Looking at everything, how many times a year do you either have your outboard not start or have an issue that makes you dock bound while you fix it. It can be do to anything, no coolant stream, stalls, won't start, etc.

Here in the states they've added ethanol to all gasoline fuel. After a week or two it develops a sludge in the tank. As a result I've really never seen a reliable outboard anymore. Even "that mechanic guy" with all the tools who strips and rebuilds everything gets stuck on the dock at least once a season. My own outboard, if professionally cleaned, should be good for about 2 months. Last time though it was only a few weeks. Of course, there's also coolant flow issues, etc that's typically two times a year something will get into the coolant flow for my nissan 5hp and require me to fix it. My old boat was powered solely through outboards and we'd joke inside the community that none of us ever had both outboard working at the same time.

Be honest!