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Could motor bouncing in and out in waves cause it to stall?

bigtime_mcalpine

Regular Contributor
Following a thorough carb cleaning my motor now runs like a top...well except for the fact that it has now stalled twice!

It has run without issue for the past 5 outings but this last time, the waves were the largest I've sailed in yet on Lake Ontario. As a result, the motor pops in and out of the water with the wave action likely impacting the engine's ability to properly run it's cooling system. As an aside, the engine is as low as I can get it which under calmer conditions is great (it's installed on the back of my sailboat). Engine worked like a champ on the way out but we had to turn around due to someone being sea-sick. That meant that I had to turn the engine back on soon after I had shut it off. On the way back it again ran like a champ until I was almost safely in port. Then it picked the worst moment to turn off - right when I had the sails down and needed to point towards my mooring. Luckily it turned back on without issue. This happened 2x at the end of the journey.

Is it possible for the cooling to be compromised to the point where the engine overheats and turns off if I'm starving it of water on and off every 1.5s as the motor lifts and lowers with the waves?

Is there something else about severe wave action that might be coming into play?
 
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I didn’t see you list what motor you have, but my ‘78 Mercury 50 horse has an oem fuel baffle in each carb. According to a long time Mercury mechanic I spoke with, and as already stated above, these baffles are suppose to help prevent flooding under hard cornering or in rough water.

My uncle has had several 70’s and 80’s era Mercurys most 100 hp and up, and he can’t remember any of them having factory fuel baffles. Guess some have them, some don’t.
 
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