Intake clogged with algae?

Question

hey all its about time to get back into the water and i just started up my boat mercury 40hp outboard and noticed that there is something off....water is kinda spraying out uneven and appears to be barely making it out..not the normal 'pee' stream....the whole motor is pretty covered in algae including the intake vents where it was in the water over winter....what do i do?? im new to boats so only thing i can think of is to take it to a shop but is there something i can do like clean off the algae or is the algae inside the motor and cant be reached? or should i just leave it running and maybe it will work its way out?? i have no idea please help

thanks in advance

Answer 1

If you are new to boats, you probably want to have it serviced by a professional this time around.  If you have the time and the mechanic lets you hang around, have him show you how best to keep the intake and motor from getting the algae from building up.  If the boat sits in the water for long periods of time, you might want to take it out and pressure spray the algae off before running it and pulling algae into the intake.  I do not have an outboard, but my inboard has a filter to trap objects to prevent them from getting into the motor.  I assume there would be something similar on an outboard.

Answer 2

If you plan to try to fix the problem your self, DO NOT LET THE MOTOR RUN!  Take the boat out of the water, use a brush to clean the motor including the inkates and hook up a hose to the intakes.(you know the thing that goes on the hose and clamps around your downshaft by the intakes)  If you do this your engine horsepower is low enough the water should work its way throught the cycle without starting the motor.  Let it sit for a while then try to start it with the hose hooked up, if it doesn't work kill the engine and bring it to a shop.  Shops are pretty busy around this time of the year so you might have to wait a week, but its better than buying a new motor because it overheated and ceased up.