Outboard Slowed A Lot Over The Winter. Any Ideas?

[BrianSnat]

I have a 2 cycle Force 9.9 OB (crappy motor, I know). Got it for free and last year I spent almost $400 at the local marina getting it running (It had LT 20 hours on it but sat unused in my dad's garage for 10 years).

Anyway, that little motor pushed my aluminum skiff along at over 20 mph when I was in it alone and even 18 mph with my wife.

To winterize it, I used some Stabil Marine in my gas tank on my last outing. Then I sprayed some fogger in the carb, and pulled the gas line and let it run dry. I stored it in the heated basement so it wouldn't have to endure the temp extremes of outdoor storage.

I had it out for the first time yesterday using a fresh tank of gas. The motor started on the first pull. So far so good. But I couldn't get more than 8-10 mph out of it. The boat never got up on a plane and skipped across the water the way it did just before I put it away for the winter. Ran the thing for a couple of hours and nothing changed.

Do the mechanics among you have any ideas what could be wrong?

[ww2farmer]

Could be a few things, first, drain the float bowl on your carb. and then take your plug(s) out an clean them or put new plugs in, the fogging oil has a tendency to foul them pretty good. If you have a fuel filter, change it. Sounds like the same exact problem I had 2 years ago right out of storage, in addition to those things I mentioned, I ended up draining all the old gas out, even though it was treated with sta-bil, and running some fresh gas with star-tron/seafom mix through it, cleared it right up.

This year I didn't use stabil, I used the startron/seafoam mix.......no trouble out of storage.

[BrianSnat]

Last few times I had the boat out with new plugs, new gas, new filter it was poking along at 6-8 MPH. Interestingly enough I used the boat for camping and fishing at a local reservoir last weekend. Put it in the water and I was moving at a decent clip, 12-13 mph according to my GPS. Next morning while fishing I was back down to a top speed of 6 MPH. Then heading back to the dock after breaking camp I was hitting 12-13 mph. Almost half the 20 plus it had been going last year, but acceptable.

The difference? When I had weight in the front, cooler, camping gear, my wife, etc the boat was going faster. When I was fishing alone it was going slower. The weight in the front seems to trim the boat, providing less resistance so the motor can push it faster. Guess I'm going to have to buy some sandbags for the bow for when I fish alone.

[BrianSnat]

Took the boat out crabbing a few weeks ago. I was expecting at best the 12-13 MPH I was doing when camping. The boat was back to normal doing around 20 MPH. I had added Seafoam to the tank. Could that really have made all that difference? Another possibility, the motor was sitting on my deck on its rack and was knocked over. Maybe that jarred something loose in the carb? Either way, I'm a happy camper now!

[Al Wolbach]

Say thank you to Seafoam. The stuff works......................Al

[J Francho]

Yeah, I think the Seafoam got the last of the fogger out. That stuff is great. Been using it this year, and the motor seems to run better.