Good advice. I suggest you consider going one step further, if you havea
friend that is handy get him just to look over the engine to see if he has
any observations. Or I'd even consider paying a half hour or so of labor at
the local marina to let one of their guys take a look at it.

"Butch Davis" wrote in message
ink.net...
Andre,

You've had several good recommendations. It seems that you are not
terribly mechanically inclined. So, I don't recommend you attempt to
remove, disassemble, repair the carb, etc.

I'd get a can or so of carb cleaner and add it to the fuel tank then just
use the boat as usual.

Did you add fuel stabiliser to the tank at the end of the season last
fall? If not, be sure to add some at the end of this boating season. Take
the boat for a good long run... 20 minutes or so after adding the
stabiliser to ensure the treated fuel reaches the carburetor and fills the
float chamber.

If the carburetor cleaner treatment fails to do the job have the problem
taken care of by a professional.

Good luck.

Butch
"Mike G" wrote in message
ews.com...
In article ,
says...
I do a 20 minute boat run between the marina and my small cabin almost
every weekends. Something weird (and a bit scary) happened last
weekend. I warmed up the boat (idle) for about 5 minutes while
loading it and then we stated our usual run to the cabin. After about
5 minutes, my wife noticed a burnt smell and sure enough, when we
looked at the engine compartment, lots of smoke was coming out of it.
I have an older 18' Bayliner (1990) with an I/O OMC Cobra 2.3L
twin-cam engine. Because it is an I/O, I couldn't quite see inside
but my first reaction was that I may have a fire going in the engine
compartment (probably did!) . I promptly stopped and shut off the
boat and opened the engine compartment.

While I could not see an obvious fire, I suspected that gas overflowed
from the carb and spilled on the engine (would that be enough to
create all the smoke?). I unscrewed the flame arrestor (which was
very hot when normally it is not) and sure enough I could see gas (I
think) bubbling inside the carb (could a fire starts there???).

We were looking at a long paddle back to the marina and not knowing
much about boat mechanic (and therefore not having a clue what the
problem might be), I was a bit wary about even restarting the boat
(not wanting an explosion, a fire or blowing the engine). However,
the bubbling gas eventually dissipated so after 5-10 minutes, I
decided to give it a go (without the arrestor in place so I could
observe in there). The boat started and we started heading back
slowly toward the marina. Once I got in front of the marina,
everything looked OK (no more overflowing gas or burning smoke) so I
opened the throttle a little to do more testing. Everything OK again.
Put the flame arrestor back on and more testing. Again everything OK
and the flame arrestor was cool to the touch. After sufficient
testing, I concluded that things appeared to be back to normal, and
with the engine cover still off (so I could stop at any sign of
trouble), we turned around and proceeded to the cabin. 20 minutes
later we arrived at our cabin and again I checked around, touch the
flame arrestor and everything appeared normal. Use the boat a bit at
the cabin and again OK. Came back from the cabin last night to the
marina and no problem.

Otherwise the boat runs smoothly, no weird noise or other noticeable
problems.

So? what the heck happened! Even though the problem dissapeared as
quickly as it appeared, I am a bit freaked out that it will happen
again with perhaps more dire consequences next time. Any
suggestions, recommendations, advises or comments would be most
welcome.

Andre