There’s a lot of advice out there about keeping your engine healthy, but few people talk about how fuel management can prevent you from running into many of the common problems you see in many outboards.

Over the years working with Sea Foam, we’ve learned a ton about engines and engine problems.

There’s three big takeaways that I’ve gathered in working with those guys as they relate to engine issues.

The first point is gum and varnish. This is something that no one is really talking about. Varnish and gum are sticky and they lead to carbon deposits. They also cause issues with fuel flow throughout the fuel system.

The second thing is evaporation. As fuel ages, the light ignition vapors evaporate into the atmosphere, leaving us with less volatile gas that doesn’t want to burn as well.

So, that leads to the third point which is fuel management. Managing your fuel can make a big difference on how well your equipment runs, so what I would recommend is rather than filling up your boat at the beginning of the season and taking months or an entire season to burn through all of that fuel, just add fresh gas at each outing. This keeps the light ignition vapors in the system and if you manage your fuel well, you’re gonna have less problems in the long run.

Just like you wouldn’t want to run old gas that’s been in your tank over the winter, you don’t want to run your boat in late summer or fall with gas that you put in the tank way back in spring. The same concept applies and it’s often the cause of many of this issues that we listed above.

It’s amazing what a little bit of fuel management and other preventative measures can do to ensure the health and lifespan of your outboard engine. Nothing’s worse than dealing with engine problems when you’re trying to get out on the water for a day of fishing. We only get so many opportunities to fish, why waste a few of them dealing with outboard issues.