Bad News and a Warning for Saltwater Boaters

[parishht]

Well, ley me start by saying check you r engine often for saltwater intrusion into the cylinders.



I kept having trouble keeping my 1990 150 Evinrude running this year,
I could start it on th ehose, but in the water it would die out.
I thought maybe something simple like dirty carb or fuel line clog.
I tried evrything and finally gave up and took her to the mechanic.
Well he scoped the engine and found that saltwater has been seeping into cylindaer 1,3 &5 for a long time and finally caused burn through of the cyliders.
He told me that he suggests to all his customers to have gasket replacement every 4 or 5 years to avoid this issue.
Well this explains a lot and this was probably happening for a while and now that I think of it, it explains why I noticed a loss of power last year and the year before.
Well, until I can afford another engine, I guess next summer will be a good year to do nothing but work on the hull and I think I may need to replace the transom, it is still pretty firm, but I have noticed some indentations around the engine bolts.

Oh well, next year will be fishing from a canoe and beach.