The jets in these things are so small that they are simply too prone to having issues! I had a small 2.5 Yamaha outboard that was a really beautiful little motor. It ran nicely and I otherwise really liked it but for the sensitivity to water in the fuel. In order to avoid issues I used a little Startron in the fuel to help "dissipate" whatever water got into the gasoline. It actually works pretty well for that purpose. Then I added a little of the marine version of Stabil to the fuel to provide some anti corrosivness to the fuel. Finally I began only filling the fuel tank of the outboard with one of those water separating funnels. That formula did the trick for the most part although if I ran the engine out of fuel on a drizzley day it would always have some difficulties after refilling.

In the end I gave up and began searching for an old 2 stroke in nice shape. I found what I was looking for when a really nice guy advertised a ten year old 3hp Yamaha for sale. It was almost unused but it was ugly! He had decided to paint it with a brown primer when it was new to discourage theft!!!

Well it worked so well that although it was virtually new, it would not sell. I grabbed it for $450 and took it home took some paint thinner and proceeded to remove all of the primer. It was like the thing came out of a time capsule!

We have had it for two seasons now and although it amazes me how much more fuel the 2 stroke engine uses compared to the new 4 strokes, it is perfect! No more worries about the fuel. Simply keep the fuel container closed and the mix right and everything works just fine. The difference is amazing actually. Not one time in the past two seasons did I have to do more than pull the starter more than once or on a couple of occasions twice.
I actually dread the day when it goes away. It will be impossible to replace.