One of the biggest issues facing boat owners at present is the reliability of their outboard motors.
Its not that there is usually much wrong with the outboards themselves, it is usually the fault of the fuel that is used.
Petrol bought from the forecourt pump these days has a very limited shelf life and ideally should be used within 30 days of purchase or it can lead to cause starting and running issues.
The prime cause of petrol degradation is the ethanol which is now present in petrol at rates of up to 10%. Ethanol is hygroscopic, it just loves to soak up water from the hunidity in the atmosphere. This water mixes with water until a saturation point is reached and 'phase separation' occurs. At this point the fuel turns gunky and eventually becomes jelly like in its consistency.
As well as being highly corrosive to the carburettor aluminium and plastic materials this jelly also blocks jets which then cause poor starting and running.
This is why many outboards refuse to start after winter storage, or even prolonged periods without use in season. Costly and inconvenient repairs are then needed.
These problems can be totally avoided with the use of Aspen fuel. Aspen is a totally pure and therefore chemically stable fuel that contains no ethanol, benzine or sulpher as well as being free of aromatic hydrocarbons. Aspen can be left in the engines for years and will never go stale or form deposits.
My own Mercury 25hp Bigfoot, as well as my 2.5 hp Suzuki auxilliary have been running on Aspen 4 for over 10 years and have never failed to start withine the first few cranks, even after an 8 month winter in the garage. The Suzuki has only ever been started in the spring and autumn and has never been used to rescue the boat. It has had the same fuel in the tank for 10 years with just a little topping up and starts first or second pull every time.