I took my old 70's model boat out for the first time and it ran fine until I shut it off after about 10 minutes.  After that it would not start back up.  I took off the spark plugs and test to see if they had any spark but they would not work.  I figured the timing must be off but I can't seem to get the flywheel off to check the timing.  The connections to the battery were fine and everything.  Nothing seems to be wrong with the wiring because it worked just fine until that point where I shut the engine off.  If the timing was OK before how can it be off synch all of a sudden after shutting the engine off?  When I first started it up in the water on neutral I noticed a lot of smoke coming out of the propeller area, it smelled like burning oil or unburned gas.  I thought maybe I put way to much oil in the gas.  The guy at the marine place said to mix 20:1 but the specs say to mix 50:1.  I noticed that after I ran the boat.

Some info like the year, model and size would help.  If the keyway is still lined up in the flywheel with the crankshaft, the timing didn't change.  Other than that, not knowing anything about the type of motor I can't help you much.

Oh, I can say you have way toooo much oil in it.  Even the old motors that mixed 20:1 and 25:1 back when they were new will mix 50:1 now with TCW-3.  Back in the old days they didn't have the oils we have now, that's the reason they rans so much oil.  If you could find the mixing instructions for those old motors they would say you could use 30W non detergent motor oil.  There is a hellava lot of difference between the lubrication value of the outboard oils of today over 30W oil and the early two cycle oils of the distant past.

Thanks for the information.  I got the motor running today which is good news.  The bad news is I found the impeller was dry rotted into a million peices and I will have to wait until Friday to get the new one.  As for the gas I currently have mixed now will be tossed out.  The oil I have now is TCW-3 Evinrude outboard 2-cycle oil and with that I will mix 50:1.  One thing about the impeller though is that I found some kits that have an impeller plate.  When I pulled out the shredded impeller it did not seem to have any plate for the impeller to sit on.  Hopefully that won't be a problem.  The model I have is a 40HP 1970 Evinrude, the Norseman model I believe. (40454).