This outboard was really cold blooded. In order to be better able to "tweak" the air/fuel mixture underway I made a slight modification to the needle valve. As you'll notice, the extension is actually an old, bent allen-wrench silver-soldered to the head of the needle-valve. This extension allowed me to adjust the carburetor underway without hanging over the transom trying to stick a screwdriver into a hole in the motor shroud.
Despite my ability to adjust the carb underway, the motor still ran flaky. Often it would act as though it wasn't getting enough fuel, and I'd need to run it at half choke in order to keep the motor running. The second season after I bought the boat I disassembled and cleaned the carburetor. I found several "chunks" in the fuel bowl that would clog the needle valve when the motor was running. After cleaning the carb, the motor ran great for the rest of the season. But, after storing the outboard for the winter, she exhibited the same problem the following spring. Confused, I added some Seafoam to the gas in an attempt to clean the carb. This simply exacerbated the problem. The following spring I disassembled the carburetor again, and again found "chunks" in the fuel bowl. I quickly determined the problem. The previous owner had stored the outboard for several years in his basement with the tank empty. The dampness from his basement had caused the gas tank to begin to rust. The Seafoam had dislodged some of the rust in the gas tank, which worked its way into the carb and clogged the needle-valve. My solution was to purchase and install a small lawnmower fuel filter into the fuel line. The filter is designed for unpressurized fuel systems and available at any hardware or home improvement store for under $5. This simple upgrade gave me my first trouble-free outboard season with this boat. What a pleasure it is to have an outboard that runs and idles properly!!
Finally, as I was readying the boat and motor for summer 2004, I noticed to my surprise that one of the propeller blades had broken off. I think this happened on our last sail of the 2003 season - when we pulled the boat out during extremely windy conditions. The ramp faced directly into the wind, and the waves literally pounded Grace Period onto her trailer. Most likely, I forgot to raise the motor mount when we came into the dock, and the prop blade hit the bottom and broke off as the boat slammed into a wave trough. This was the OEM prop and made, as best I can tell, of some sort of plastic or "bake light" product - it was very porous and fragile material for a propeller blade. A local boat dealer was able to order a replacement blade for around $90, but after about 20 minutes on the internet, I was able to find a discount supplier of the same blade (made my Michigan Wheel, Inc.) for about 2/3 the price. (I purchased the prop from Dan's Discount Props out of White Lake Michigan (http://www.dansdiscountprops.com/index.htm) -- they had great service and excellent prices). The Michigan Wheel prop (which is the only replacement for this outboard that I could find) has a bit different pitch and as such provides more power but less speed than the original propeller. But since I'm powering a displacement hull anyway, the difference really doesn't matter.
