[rigspelt]

After rebuilding the carb on this new-to me A4/boat and running it at the dock for the first time this spring, I could smell a hint of gas. Found and could see a tiny drip with the finger test under the main jet plug. Carefully tweaked it a bit (heeding Don's warning about tightening too much and squishing the hard-to-replace washer thereby causing a worse leak) which stopped that drip.

Couple of days later (still not running engine much, just brief periods at the dock to set up idle and get feel for shifter) I convinced myself I could smell a hint of gas after opening the boat. Finger test found a bit of wet gas on the undersurface of the carb at the flame arrester housing-carb joint. Removed the flame arrester and found 1/4" of fuel in the throat. Most likely scenario is leaking float valve and dripping out the choke linkage, or around the old flame arrester o-ring, but I cannot verify that.

I tossed in the towel tonight and ordered a new carb from MMI to replace this apparently original carb. The linkages and screws are all creaky, and maybe I blew the rebuild, not being a mechanic.

For sharing the learning, here are photos of the floats and valve. For those new to the insides of the carb, it is upside down in these photos: the floats press up as the chamber fills (down in these photos), shutting off fuel from the pump as the stainless float valve needle seats upward into the brass seat.

When I did the rebuild, I had used the dowel in the kit to buff the valve seat. I found no grit in the float valve, but of course it may have come off if one was there. I had tried to make the bottom of the floats horizontal or a hair up. How does the alignment look?