nihilum wrote:
i recently purchased my first boat. it is a 16' fiberglass bass boat
(1976 kingfisher) and has a evinrude 48hp spl on it. model is E48ESLCCC
which is a 1988 model. I took it out today for the first time and
thought it to be a bit sluggish for a 48hp outboard. my gps said that i
was travelling at 7 mph at full throttle with myself and wife aboard. I
was wondering if this is a normal speed for a 48hp motor. if not, what
are some suggestions of things that i could check on the motor?

any help would be greatly appreciated.


Your OMC 2 cylinder "looper" will run surprisingly well on just one
cylinder so much that it would be hard to tell you are missing at idle.

The obvious answer here is that one plug is likely not firing.

Check the plugs. If one is soaked in gas, or bone dry (the other of
normal coloration)that's the one. Switch them. Start it up and see
which cylinder is now firing by a second plug inspection to narrow it
down to the plug, the ignition, or the carburetion(each cylinder has
it's own carb on that engine).

A 48SPL on the 16' should do 28-31 mph with a 15" pitch prop at 5000 rpm.

Rob