So after pushing my little 9 foot fishing boat around with an electric trolling motor for a year, I had the opportunity to buy a little 3.5 horse outboard. I bought it from a friend who hadn't used it in a long time. I cleaned the carb and it fired right up. It idles great and is pretty responsive........out of the water. I took it out on the water yesterday and it started right up, idled fine, and will push the boat to about 1/2 throttle. It just wont top out at all, not even close really and I only weigh 150lbs and my boat is a little 9 footer. With no load it revs fine. Is it a compression problem or is there something else I'm not thinking of? Thank you for any help.
