Seems like Marvels Mystery Oil works to keep things happy. I don't drain all my small engines at the end of the season if I know I may need them mid winter. Those that remain fuel keep marvels in them. Never had a problem. Actually I run marvels in everything I own. Not a terrible fuel additive. I don't really put it in the oil though.

MMO is great stuff. About the only additive other than Seafoam I use.

I have some MMO.... Does it keep the new gas from plugging tiny pilot jets? I could care less about the "freshness" of the gas.... I am just really getting tired of tearing carbs apart on seasonal use engines due to plugged pilot jets. I have had probably 15 instances of it over the last couple years in motorcycles/generators/snowmobiles/ultralights. Prior to this new gas, I had never suffered plugged jets in my seasonal use engines.

I have started syphoning gas and replacing with a gallon of AVgas on some engines before storage, but with so many engines, it is a PITA to keep up with.

I can remember when Gas was red, and I'm not THAT old... I always run my small engines dry after every use. Went so far as putting fuel shut-off valves on my mowers, and dump it out of the weed eater, then let them run dry. Haven't had a carb apart since...

Use Startron: Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment - HOME

I can buy non-ethanol locally and use it in snowmobiles, chainsaws, trimmer, dirtbikes and the 911's.

Ethanol will rot out your fuel lines, diaphrams and many other parts in a fuel system. The fuel line in my mothers riding mower just crumbled in my hand last year when I was trying to find why it was leaking fuel on the muffler. Thing is only about 5 yrs old.........For my many bikes and snowmobiles, here's what keeps me out of trouble:

Either start it up once a month, or run the carbs dry when you use it.Been doing that for many years, way B4 Ethanol was a concern. Good luck with that bass boat.

I wish the a-holes in Washington knew how much ethanol is really costing the country. We are now having to use more oil based products to combat ethanols effects. There are posts like this on every forum I belong to.

Got my weed eater out recently. Fuel lines are shot. Carb is gunked up.
And I used Sta-Bil at the end of the season. Made no difference.

Got the mower out yesterday.
Took about an hour to clean out the carb and get it running.

Can't wait to see what the carb and reed-valves on my old dirt-bike look like.

The Sta-Bil site says I should have used their Marine Grade product to better combat the ethanol and moisture problem. I'll give that a try, or the Star-Tron product.

Just replaced my pressure washer because of ethanol. The pump was on the way out too - but it was the ethanol eating the carb seals that clinched the deal.

I now get all my gas at the marina - E0 - which is good because one of the boats has fiberglass tanks.

Your government, err your special interest money at work.

Thanks Bob! After failing to locate a reasonably convenient race, AV, or marina source, I think this is the route I will take. Since you can still buy sober gas, have you ever used this stuff? That site could dazzle me with bs, and I wouldn't know the difference :). I'll probably change my habits a bit too (draining carbs), at least on my small motors, which begs a question about a 6 cyl outboard with three carbs. Many, many years ago, an ex-BIL (sold high performance bass boats) told me there were two "schools of thought" about running her dry upon storage. His take: don't do it...theory being that each cyl didn't run out of gas (and oil lubrication) at exactly the same time so there was potential undue wear on the ones that ran out first. He was definitely a bs'er, and I was dazzled, but I've followed his ancient advice ever since. With outboard motor prices/rebuilds making 911 motors seem "cheap", I don't think I want to go there...

ps: even if the boat runs like crap, you'll never hear me ranting about a day on the lake :)

fixed it for ya.

I have always wanted to do that.:D

It was a HUGE rush the first time I fixed one of Sammy's posts too...you'll probably not be able to sleep tonight :)

At nearly $20 for a five pound block of Tillamook Medium Cheddar, cheese in not cheap.
oh.. and I see milk for $3.50/gal...

No, haven't used it, but read about it and heard good reports. Regarding running a 2cycle engine dry: I used to run my snowmobiles dry while spraying "fogging oil" into the intake. But at the start of the season, it took like 50 pulls to get the fuel back in the carbs. Now, over the summer, I just start them up once a month; helps lube the lower end also. Also, snowmobiles have "oil injection", so if the engine is spinning over, it's getting oil. I wouldn't worry about lack of oil when running dry, you'd be surprised how long an engine will run w/o oil - I have a few stories.

Regarding outboards, a local Public Broadcast TV channel did a 1/2 hour show on the effectw of ethanol - I interviewed a shop owner on the river near Portland, Ore that claimed owners often shelling out $1,500 to $2,000 in the spring....just due to problems from ethanol.

Here's another consideration to leaving a 2-cycle sitting: In a humid climate, you can gather moisture in the crankcase, due to condensation and the pouros crankcase casting. This will rust your crank and rod bearings, causing premature failure....I had a friend whose snowmobile sat several years in his barn....When it's below freezing one day, he tries to start it to let the grandkids ride.....It's locked up and won't pull over.....Takes it to a shop and after it sits inside overnight, it pulls over fine. Turns out the crankcase has so much water in it, it froze into solid ice.....I say start that boat at least once a month year around like I do my snowmobiles........G'luck

I am not sure how the boat carbs are set up, but standard motorcycle type carbs will not run completely dry unless you drain them from the float bowl screw. While running them till they quit "may" prevent the tiny pilot jet orifice from clogging, it will leave a small quantity of fuel in the float bowl which can then develop chunks of crap as the the fuel deteriorates. When the vehicle is re-fueled and started in the next season, there is a very real chance that the chunks of congealed crap can get suck into the main jet causing the engine to go severly lean. This exact scenario happened to me two years ago resulting in a seizure in one cylinder of my old snowmobile. When I tore it down to rebuild, I found little lumps of congealed crap gas in the float bowls.

Similar thing happened in my ultralight last spring.... The d@mn thing quit while climbing out nd luckily I got it down safely in a farm field just south of my house. I found congealed lumps in my float bowl... luckily I did not damage my engine.

The best surefire way to deal with the problem IMO is to drain the tank then dump in a gallon or so of AV gas. Then run the machine long enough to insure that the whole fuel system including the float bowls have cycled through to the point that the whole system only contains the AV gas.

How do I go about buying AV gas? Go to a small plane airport with a 5 gallon can then what?

Yep...... Just ask them you need to fill up some cans with 100LL Avgas. Some smaller airports have credit card type self serve pumps while some have mobile gas trucks that they pump out of for you. I have not been out flying this spring yet, but my guess is that Avgas is likely around $5-$6/gallon right now at the local county airports. It is often more expensive at big airports (but not always).

Thanks all! I live near an airport and although I couldn't find any sources online, I'm going to pursue it further...

Greenville SC prices for comparison:
Paid $4.95/g for avgas locally this week.
One of the local pilots who runs mogas told me about a "no ethanol" station nearby selling 93 octane for $3.59.

I live pretty near PTI (Greensboro), with all kinds of smaller operations (maintenance facilities, etc.) surrounding the area. Although I don't see anything online, I know the AV stuff is around here...now how to find it? Any suggestions...

This place is NE of PTI and apparently has a credit card pump. AirNav: W88 - Air Harbor Airport

Piedmont also sells fuel obviously at a couple different FBO businesses, but may not be easy to get at being a larger commercial type airport. One can use Airnav.com and SkyVector.com to search for airports. Often towards the bottom of airport pages one can see current fuel pricing and the name/phone number of the business at the airport that sells it.