1966 Evinrude Sportfour issues

Hi all,

I've recently got a 1966 Evinrude Sportfour engine up and running the problem is that whilst I have it timed correctly and idles fine is that its unreliable. When i take the boat into the water it starts sometimes after 3-4 times and once I start to increase the rpm is will start to bog down and will almost go into limp mode other times during the same day it will start to increase rpm's and run great. Also when i stop the boat and then restart the boat it sometimes wont evan start and i start to panic and after about 30 minutes it will eventually turnover again. This is very concerning as I dont have any other device to get me to shore. I have had the carb rebuilt, plugs gapped to factory specs (.030) and has been compression tested, carbs checked and cleaned,timed correctly.

I love this vintage engine alot but I'd like to get to the bottem of this problem so i can be confident to take the boat out with friends and it should run correctly as it should.

Any suggestions would help and I will try my best to give you an accurate description of what is experienced or has been tried.

Thanks in advance

When it won't start again check your spark with a 1//4 " open air gap tester and see what you get.

Breaker points dirty and/or mis-adjusted. Coil bad or arcing out to the case. Distributor rotor arcing through to the shaft. Poor connection where the wires attach to the side of the magneto, outside or inside, or both. Bad spark plug(s). These are some of the most common possibilities that come to mind.