Re: Evinrude gas hog
What do your spark plugs look like? If all black and sooty maybe you can change jets. Reading your plugs can give a lot of valuable info. Generally folks who live at higher altitudes and run exclusively where the air is a bit thinner might want to change jets, but if under a couple thousand feet not unless there is otherwise a real reason to. (I have no idea if yours is the right jet or not) Running much too lean will destroy a motor very quickly, so be careful, changing only one step at a time if you do this. <br />Curious, do you and your buddy have the same propeller, or is yours a shorter pitch? That might make a difference too, as could lower unit length and gear ratio. You compared fuel economy with your buddy's motor but I didn't catch if it otherwise performs as well speed wise. I am assuming that you're both running about the same amount of cruising speed vs. trolling/idle. If he just doesn't twist the grip as much obviously he won't use as much gas. If his hull design gets up on plane easily and yours doesn't like to do that it could cause a huge difference right there. Motor trim could even play a factor. Several other factors could come into play here- timing excessively retarded, etc. But be careful about over advancing to compensate as that will hurt the motor also. Is your advance mechanism working as the motor increases rpms? They can get stuck, though I'd expect it to cause a noticeable hesitation and lousy performance in the higher speed range. Just a starting point. I am not familiar with any specifics of your motor so I'm afraid all I can do is throw a few generalities your way. Sounds like it could be running too rich, but consider these other factors too. It may be just one or a combination of a few of these. I wish I knew what was a reasonable fuel consumption for your motor. What does your manual say it ought to be?
Greg