"Thomas, I agree that it seems
"Thomas, I agree that it seems flooding. My old AQ140 gave me some challenges at the beginning, and the suggestion I made in my previous post always worked.
I don't know for how long you have owned your boat, or how aware you are of its history, or what maintenance you have done to it. A few things you may want to do include:
1) Get rid of points and condenser and install a Pertronix electronic ignition kit. You will be amazed to see how much easier your engine starts, even dusring cold and humid weather. Take the opportunity to inspect the springs and advance weights in the distributor.
2) Make sure the wiring from the ignition switch to the coil is in good condition. If questionable, replace it with marine tinned wire.
3) If you don't know the age of the distributor ignition wires, install a new set. Afterwards, adjust the ignition timing.
4) Get hold of a uni-syn carb synchronization tool and make sure both carbs are synchronized.
http://www.minimania.com/web/Item/UNI-SYN/AddedFrom/CatBrowse-%20TOOLS/InvDetail .cfm
Afterwards, adjust both carbs idle mixture and engine idle speed.
5) If the failure to start the engine is intermittent, consider the coil as being suspect. Luckily, coils are not expensive, just make sure the one you install has a primary resistance of just over 3 ohms.
6) If you haven't done so by now, take the time to do a compression test in your engine.
I am 100% convinced that your engine should give you many years of trouble-free service if properly tuned and maintained. However, I think it is important for you to know the condition of what you have now so that you can establish a maintenance baseline and you can trust your engine. In the end, it is usually cheaper (and less frustrating) to replace a few critical parts now and go to sea or to the lake with peace of mind rather than taking the family for what is supposed to be a day of fun and finding that your engine keeps letting you down for no apparent reason."