Yamaha Enduro 8 possible head gasket problem

Sea Change

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I've got a relatively new and very clean Enduro 8hp 2 stroke. It's been blowing a bit of white smoke at startup, and this seems to be getting worse. It only lasts a few seconds.

I took the cowl off yesterday and noticed a slight crustiness around what I believe is the head gasket. It's quite noticeable because the engine is otherwise extremely clean under the cowl.

At a glance, it doesn't *look* too difficult a job to tackle, compared to a larger engine.

The engine is in daily use and it would be a right pain to take it out of use for a few days, as we live at anchor. So I want to make sure I actually have a problem, and if so just how urgent it is to deal with it.

For context, the engine is from about 2017 and came with a boat we bought last year in the Caribbean. It had sat almost unused for several years. We've now moved further north and at first I blamed the change in temperature/humidity for the smoke. The engine has also become a bit harder to start.

What else could be causing these problems? I don't think there's any water in the filter. I haven't pulled the plugs yet but I'll look at them later today.
 
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This doesn't look as bad as I thought it did when I first spotted it last night. Of course I did wipe away some of the crustiness with my finger.

It would be nice it it *wasn't* the head gasket. Water in the fuel, maybe?? But it does seem more like smoke than steam on startup.
 
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