Need help with my 87 Mariner/Merc 60HP

[Mnemonic]

Hello all, I am new to these forums..

My grandfather had passed away a few years back and left me his 1975 15' Crestliner, with a 1987 Mariner/Merc 60HP OB on the back of it... it has been sitting for about 5-6 years without starting, but it spent the whole life of the boat as a lake boat... the motor looks immaculate inside. (see pics below)

The first steps i took to get it at least turning over, was i replaced the plugs, cleaned the airbox, put a teaspoon of quicksilver 2 cycle oil in each cyl and turned the crank manually for a bit.... still wasnt starting, so i did further inspection and found that the hose going from the primer solonoid to the carb was melted. I replaced that. The motor fired right up on high idle and the primer engaged. but when i go to take the primer off and lower the idle, the motor runs real rough and then stalls. I cannot get it to idle off prime.

So today i pulled the brand new NGK plugs i had in there to see if they will tell me what is going wrong with the motor, Plugs 1 and 3 look fine, but plug 2 looks as if it was cold fouled by the looks of the picture in my service manual..

I am not sure what this means, but i am thinking the carbs need to be decarbed.... I think, but the can of decarbing stuff says to have the motor on while doing it... I cant keep it running that long to do it...

Please advise, i want to get this thing normal running enough to winterize it so i dont have to deal with it next season.

Thanks,
Dan

[Corpus Skipper]

Great looking motor! I believe your middle carb may be gummed up, and the other two are probably not far behind. As long as the motor sat it is likely this is the case. It's a fairly straight foreward job to take the carbs off, disassemble them, clean them out, and put them back on. Most times, you won't even need new gaskets, but if so, the kits are readily available. Let us know how you make out.

[Mnemonic]

Yea, i fixed it allready...all 3 carbs were gummed up beyond beleif... cleaned em out, gave it a new gasket set, new mixture screw and new main jet, she purrs like a kitten now thanks for the reply!

[Corpus Skipper]

Glad to hear it. Have fun!