What Is the Port Side of a Carburetor?

With the proper reference document -- the engine operator's manual for your boat's engine -- and a bit of practice, you can immediately locate the port side of the carburetor on your boat's engine --whether your boat is powered by an outboard, an inboard or an inboard-outboard -- with no more than minimal effort.

  1. Carburetor or Fuel Injection

    • Before you attempt to find the port side of your engine's carburetor, it is advisable to first ascertain that your engine does, in fact, have a carburetor. Many modern inboard and inboard-outboard marine engines are conventional automotive engines that have been specially outfitted for marine use. Like their automotive counterparts, they are fuel-injected engines. A quick read through the engine operator's guide, with special attention to the specifications of the engine, will reveal whether or not your engine is fuel-injected or is equipped with a carburetor. If yours is a fuel-injected engine, the question of port side is moot: you have no carburetor.

    Visualization Exercise

    • The port side of the boat is the left side, as you face forward, toward the pointy end of the boat that's known to seamen throughout the world as the bow. The easiest way to clarify this bit of nautical intelligence is to stand up. Pretend that you are a boat. Raise your right arm; this is your starboard side. Raise your left arm -- this is your port side.

    Practical Application

    • A practical exercise of the knowledge you've gained by pretending to be a boat requires you to remove the top cover of your outboard or to remove the engine cover of your boat. For proper orientation, if you have an outboard, stand behind the outboard, so that the propeller is against your shin. If your boat is powered by an inboard or inboard-outboard, stand in front of the hatch or engine cover. In both cases, you must raise your left hand, then move to the left side of the engine.

    Finding the Carburetor's Port Side

    • Once you arrive at the left side of the engine, find the carburetor. If your engine is an outboard, take the top cover off to expose the powerhead, the internal-combustion engine of the outboard. Locate the carburetor, hiding below the air silencer, the equivalent off an automobile's air cleaner. Move your left hand onto the left side -- the port side -- of the carburetor. If your powerboat is powered by an inboard or inboard-outboard, the carburetor is located on the top of the engine beneath the air box, which is still the equivalent of an automobile's air cleaner. This means that the side of the carburetor on the left -- the port side of the engine -- is the port side of the carburetor.