Your friend will be foolish if he bolts up a new motor to that boat without making sure the built-in fuel system is working properly. The primer bulb can go bad, the flapper valves inside can get hard or sticky and make it hard for the motor to pull fuel up to the pump. The fuel pump in carb/efi motors wont pull fuel past a significant obstruction.Strapping on a new motor could quite easily cause a repeat melt-down. These things do _not_ like to run lean, as the shop suggested. It is completely silly to run the fuel to the bottom of the tank. Does your friend know what is in the rest of the tank? humid air. Cool things down at night and now you have condensation. It is better to keep the tank reasonably full over extended periods of non-use, and to add something that absorbs water every now and then as well. And check the fuel system to be sure that unnecessary effort is not required to pull fuel from the tank.I personally find this explanation hard to swallow unless your friend really does run the boat low on fuel, and tolerates the bogging every time he turns or takes off. If he does that, pat him on the back and buy some stock in an outboard manufacturer, as he is going to help them out a lot.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
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