ignition missing

[trafficzar]

While motoring along at a good clip my outboard will suddenly lose power. It feels like I'm running on 1 or 2 cylinders. It is a 80 hp mercury (3 cylinder), serial number OB301609, mid eighties. This has happened for the past few outings. Always starts up and runs the next day like a champ and then suddenly half an hour to an hour it loses power again.

Where do I start to track down this problem? Could it be something as simple as a defective coil?

Thanks Mike

[boats.net]

Could be a bad powerpack, start by checking spark when problem exists.