Johnson/Evinrude 8hp J8REUC Fuel Consumption

Bought a used 97 Johnson J8REUC to replace my old Suzuki 8hp. Runs great but gets far worse fuel milage than the Suzuki and all other friend's outboards with similar sized 2-stroke outboards.

-It's on an 11' inflatable that weighs about 100lbs.
-Starts, idles, and runs great up top but while just putting around just off idle it smells very rich and goes through way too much gas.
-Sea-level running in So Cal
-Good compression
-Champion QL77JC4, although I'm going to try to run a hotter plug and lean out the low speed needle this week.
-Low speed needle likes about 2.5-3 turns out. Idles too low and misses if leaner. Turning up the idle to compensate for a leaner setting really kills the milage even more.
-50 main jet
-As soon as I'm off idle I can see what seems like too much fuel coming out of the float bowl as I look down the carb throat.
-I rebuilt the carb and find no issues.

I have a good understanding of 2-strokes and have been racing MC with them for years.

Any sugestions?

An older outboard will use 10 % of horsepower in fuel consumption at wide open throttle in gal per hour. Figure it out for yours ??

Revisit your carb work and make sure everything is clean. Did you replace the needle and seat? Float level correct? Manual primer not leaking by?

Those Johnson outboards are a great running / cheap on fuel motor.-----Revisit your work.