Yamaha VMAX 225 (Gen I) fuel problem

[Texas_bullet]

I gambled and lost (on old fuel). After smelling the 6 months-old fuel I decided the E10 stuff was still viable. Went to the lake and ran from one fishing spot to another at 3300 rpm (best fuel milage speed). Later my buddy suggested a high speed run to charge the cranking battery. We took off and ran 5-6 minutes at 4500 rpm, then the motor stumbled and died. It wouldn't start until about 30 minutes later. We idled back to the ramp. Took the boat in to the Skeeter shop and had them replace the large outboard water seperator filter mounted on the transom (2006 model). They also removed half the old fuel from the port tank and ran it off of both tanks. The starboard tank had fresh gas. They ran it on the lake for two hours to test with no problems. Cost? almost $400 for taking a risk on old gas. And yes, I do use Marine grade Stabil. Now I have to decide what to do with 10 gallons of suspect fuel that was removed from the boat. Maybe I can add it to my wife's minivan a little at a time.
TB