Engine died on first run of the season

Hey guys,

I took my 2005 Outback DD today that has the carbureted engine. I have never ever had a problem with it and have always had it in for all scheduled services. I ran the boat for a couple of hours today and everything was fine. I was just coming up on a plane towards the end of the day and starting to power up when the engine just died. It would turn over, but it would not start. We checked and had fuel...but no spark. After about ten minutes...it finally started and ran fine until we trailered it. What could be causing this? Was it water in the gas or something else? Interested in other persons opinions.

(Info added later)
I guess I'm really feeling like this is a fuel issue and I mean bad fuel or water from sitting all winter. When the boat died, we took the carb cover off and we could see fuel squirting into the carb...the engine was turning over fine...my buddy said he didn't see any spark while I tried to turn it over when he took a boot off a plug and grounded it...that part bothers me. We didn't see any corroded connections and felt maybe the coil went bad...but I don't think that would kill the engine while running? We kept trying to start it and tapped on the coil...after about ten minutes...it started up and ran great...just like it did for about two hours prior to the problem. I discovered when I took my boat out of winterization that I left the gas tank about 2/3 full...so I wonder how much water got into the fuel?

Any other thoughts or experiences from anyone? I plan on calling the dealer on Monday...but I don't think we'll be able to duplicate the problem.

Something heated up in the coil or a connection or something like that would be my guess

I guess I don't understand how, after you had fuel but no spark you decided it was a fuel isue. Sure sounds to me like you have a spark issue. I had a moment like that one day two boats ago with my outboard. I hunted and hunted for the problem but forgot to check the obvious -- my son (3 y/o at the time) had pulled the lanyard loose. Glad it was only about a 20 min. delay before I figured it out. So start with the obvious stuff and work your way back.

OK...here is what we found out was going on. Apparently, the fuel pump was on it's way out. We made a bad diagnosis the first day when we said we couldn't see spark...we just couldn't see it in the sunlight. The fuel we saw in the carburetor was coming from the float bowls and not the actual fuel pump. It died on our Memorial Day trip and I had to be towed...first time in that boat...what a bummer. We took it back and got serious about trying to figure it out. Long story short...we discovered the fuel pump was spinning, but no gas was pumping out and we did have spark. We put on a new fuel pump and she has been running great since! I learned to be more thorough and systematic in checking those problems. I had already replaced he ignition module when I still thought we didn't have spark...but it was the fuel pump all along. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Glad to hear ya got it fixed. Sorry it was a dead roo on Memorial weekend. Good thing ya got the rest of the summer to run it.