Just bought a duck boat for me and my sons. The motor (1981, 7.5 mercury, tillotson carb) has sat for 8 years. I got her running and had fuel dumping out the front of the carb while it was running. I replaced the needle, float, gaskets and got everything running fine. Tested on the water and after running great for about 10 minutes it flooded out again and had fuel dumping out the front of carb. Couldn't get restarted, and forgot paddles, so dog paddled back to shore. Took carb apart and readjusted the float. I also noticed the diagram for the carb shows a spring that goes with the needle. There was no spring in the needle/float assembly when I first disassembled the carb. The new needle I received did not have a spring, but I just looked at another supplier and their needle comes with a small spring. Does anyone know if this needle should have a spring? I assume it goes between the needle and the float tab. Would the spring, or lack of the spring, cause the flooding issue? Could this be a problem with the reeds? I got it back together and running without the spring but I still have a small leak out the front of the carb. Appreciate any help....