I'm new to the board and look forward to takin advantage of the good information on here so first off thank you to any of you that may be able to help me out with my problem. I have and Evinrude 15 hp Model# E15RLETB. I worked with it off and on last year with no success, luckily my buddy got a new boat/motor so I spent most of the year fishing with him. First time I put it in the water It fired right up at the first turn of the key. Got it warmed up and started across the lake to do some fishing. I only made it about 3 or 4 minutes up the lake before it started boggin down real bad. Lasted about another 15 seconds before it stalled out. Wouldnt start back up for nothing. I dropped the trolling motor and fished a shoreline, accepting the fact that the motor wasnt going to run. Not wanting to get too far away from the ramp since all I had was the electric motor, I started heading back. I figured the 15 hp had sat for a while so maybe I would give it another try. It started up but again but died after only 45 seconds to a minute. Now I know first thought is its a carborator problem. I had put some fuel treatment in at the end of the previous year, I know thats not sufficient winterizing but its a little late for that. So I get it home, tear into the carborator, it was clean as a whistle. Changed the spark plugs, the primer ball on the gas tank, checked the fuel pump, timing key, as well as other basic things. Had a gentleman who works with small engines frequently look at it and he couldnt figure it out. I took it out a couple more times after I had check things and it did the same thing. When I could get it started which was usually the first try, it would run for a few minutes and then die and I wouldnt be able to get it started again unless I let it sit there for an hour or so. The one other thing I should mention is that it seemed to stay running longer if I left the cover off of it. Now I know I should have takin it to the shop and had a Marina mechanic take care of the problem but by then they were pretty well booked up and I really couldnt afford it. Spring is rolling around again and I havent made any progress on the motor and what do ya know, I get laid off so again I really would like to save a little money by fixing it myself if possible. I had somebody suggest that I had a problem with the powerpack. It seems like its running a little sluggish for the short time that it does run (maybe on one cylinder?) and once it heats up it dies and wont start/run again till its cooled down. It also seemed like it ran longer when out of the water and just hooked up to rabbit ears with no load on it. What do you guys think? I can answer any questions you may have as well. I know its not easy to diagnose a problem without seeing the motor but I would really appreciate any help. My dad talked to a mechanic at a local marina and he seemed to thing the theory on the powerpack was correct. Thanks again I really really appreciate any imput and sorry for such a long post.