Dinghy woes.

We have a 4hp Mercury outboard for the dinghy.  The motor stays mounted on the stern rail of Spartan when not needed, gets put on our inflatable dinghy when it is needed.  The inflatable is another story.  The outboard stayed on the stern rail mount for 4 months, ever since Moro Bay.  We're now in Newport Beach, moored on a float in the bay.  We had a friend's car on the other side of the bay, about two miles away.  Cindy need to get to an appointment, so we pumped up the dinghy (part of the other story),  put the outboard on the dink, and set off.  The outboard wouldn't start.  Now in  hindsight, we should have rowed back to Spartan and fixed the problem.  No, we didn't do that.  I started rowing, occasionally stopping to try to start the engine.  No luck on the engine, the rowing was giving me great exercise and helping with the problem I have with displaced ribs.  The jerking on the starter cord was exacerbating a shoulder injury, and ultimately causing "tennis elbow" in my left arm.  We got Cindy to where she could get to the car and get to her appointment, I got myself lunch and a think.  I walked to the local grocery store, where I could pick up a wrench (to remove the spark plug) and a can of starter fluid (to prove if it was a fuel system problem or a spark problem.  Not bad for a computer geek).  Got back to the boat, squirted some starter fluid in it, it caught and ran for a bit, then died.  Not spark, must be fuel.  I found a screw to drain the carburetor bowl, turned it with my pocket knife.  Water, then gas.  .  We'd gotten water in the fuel tank from sitting on the rail for 4 months.  I was then able to start and run the motor, though it ran a little unevenly.  I motored across to the fuel dock, drained what was in the tank and what was in my gas can and replaced with fresh fuel.  The engine ran all the way back to Spartan, then started again and ran back to where I needed to pick up Cindy.  It even ran out of gas, I re-fueled, and it started again.  I get to the dinghy dock, kill the engine, and wait for Cindy.  She get back and the engine won't start.  Nothing.  Had I brought the outboard tool kit this time? No.  Did I even have the starting fluid that I'd bought a few hours ago?  No.  I had fixed the problem, why would I need that.  The drain hole just drained gas, so it had to be spark (compression was never a questions).  Cindy had helped a boat that had just come over from Catalina to dock, they gave us a tow over to our boat before heading further south to Dana Point. 

Next morning I found the outboard tool kit.  Too long a story shorter, I replace the spark plug, and the engine has run flawlessly ever since. Lessons learned:
Carry the tool kit when in the dink.
Know where that drain hole is.
When you have water in the gas, change (or clean) the spark plug, along with the fuel.
Cover the engine if it's going to sit out in the rain.