Thanks, Tony. He and I will probably get a chance to look at it this
weekend. I'm going to attack basic wiring first. This boat is old, and
appears to have been maintained by someone who was quite a hack. And, your
last line about the ignition has been haunting me. :-)

"Tony Thomas" wrote in message
news:gTzGc.170$WX.77@attbi_s51...
1. Verify plug fire by removing each plug and testing as you would on
your
lawn mower. Prop against side of block and spin engine over.
2. Verify fuel flow by the following:
a. Remove air box from the front of the carbs so you can see the
throat
of the carbs.
b. Attach water hose flusher and turn water on. (this is so you
don't
run the water pump impeller dry and burn it up) You will need to crank
the
engine for several turns to verify fuel whereas plug fire is very quick.
c. While cranking engine over hold your hand over the front of each
carb. If the carb is sucking fuel - your hand will get wet.
3. Pull the plugs back out and verify they are wet. Which will tell you
you
have fuel flow.

My guess is you lost ignition somewhere. Either the kill switch or bad
ground would be my first place to look.

--
Tony
my boats at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
I'm missing the model & year of the motor in question here, but perhaps
the
symptom's generic enough that it won't matter:

Out on a friend's boat this weekend. He's got a 70 hp Evinrude 2 stroke,
3
cylinder. The motor ran nicely all day long, started easily at various
points. At the end of the day, while waiting for our turn at the launch,
the
motor died at idle and refused to start again. Although there was plenty
of
gas, we hooked up the 2nd gas tank just for the hell of it, with no
results.
This guy beats the snot out of the boat and thinks it's funny, so I
suspect
the boat's spirit is getting revenge. I mean, how many times can you
intentionally hit 3 foot wakes at right angles? But, there's probably
more
to it.

If this were my boat, I'd drop it off at my dealer's, since I'm not well
versed in engines. If I screw up my lawnmower...oh well. If I screw up
my
boat's motor on a day like yesterday, it could mean being stuck on Lake
Ontario on a day which began overcast, calm and hot, and ended up
looking
like the perfect storm. But, my friend's nutty enough to work on his own
motor, so...

Anyone want to reorder or add to this checklist?

1) Expensive ignition module - bad? Without knowing the year of the
motor
(yet), can't say for sure how it compares to my 1996 Johnson, which
*does*
have an outrageously expensive module.

2) No spark for OTHER reasons?

3) Sudden failure of SOMETHING in the fuel system?

I'll be invited out on this boat again, so I'd rather see something
SOLID
fixed, rather than hear "Weird....it's workin' fine now...hasn't
happened
since".