Carb cover....Nissan 40 HP, 2005

[Tim Frank]

When I fog this motor at the end of the season prior to putting away, I have to take off the cover over the carb throats. I'm always doing it over water...increasing the chances of dropping a screw etc.
If I drilled three holes that lined up with the carb intakes and used rubber plugs to seal, it would be a much simpler task.
Any pros/cons or "or don't even think about it because...."?

[pvanv]

Some outboards come equipped with removeable plugs in the air silencer, for just that purpose. See http://www.brownsmarina.com/tech-winter-outboard.html.

[John_S]

The older 2 stroke, 2 cyl 40hp does have a large plug in the air silencer. I remove it to do yearly (spring) decarb, but not for winterizing. For winterizing, it is easy to pull plugs and squirt some clean oil into cylinders, and turn it over by hand.

I also don't see an issue with adding your own plugs, as long as the outside of the plug is larger and will not easily push through and into the air silencer.