I have a 8 HP 4 stroke Mercury. Just about 3 months old. It is a 30 mile trip to the marina for service so before I go there, I wanted to check here.

   The first time it always starts up, runs like a champ. I will motor out to where I fish, shut it down, and fish that hole. When i go to start it up, it will give me a problem. I will end up having to totally open the choke, and really pull on it to start it up. Each successive time during the trip it seems to get harder and harder to start.

   I am not sure if it is operator error or what. Just does not seem right that a motor with <12 total running hours on it would be so difficult to start. When I first got it, that was not an issue. Just seems the last few trips out, it just happens.

  Anyone have any ideas? Things i could check? I am grabbing some of the rabbit ears this weekend to really check it out in the driveway, so anything you got for me to look at I would appreciate.

Sounds like the motor is flooding after you have warmed it up and shut it down to fish. One possibility is the float valve in the carb has some crud under it allowing the bowl to fill too high. Accumulating crud will aggrivate the problem.

One easy cure I have used is to drain the carb, there is usually a drain screw or nut to do this. Remove the fuel inlet hose (or pipe) and squirt some carb cleaner into the fuel inlet port. Hose it down thoroughly. Then with the drain still open, replace the fuel inlet hose and pump fuel into the carb to flush out any debris. Close up the drain screw and dry things out before starting the motor. Be sure to check out your fuel tank to insure it is clean. And you might install an in-line fuel filter if your motor is not equipped with one.

I use a kicker motor on my salt water boat for trolling and boat control while fishing kelp beds. I have found the quick connect fuel connection to the motor will allow a small ammount of saltwater to get into the fuel line, just a few drops, and this ends up in the carb. The salt will plug up the idle jet in the carb and aslo cause the flooding you have experienced. A coupleof years ago I removed the quick connect fitting and plummed in the fuel line to the motor. No problems since.