Moomba Outback 2005 Carb Issue??

[bd3900]

My brother bought a 2005 Moomba Outback in 2013 to pull me skiing. He died of melanoma in 2015 and I inherited the boat. He winterized the boat himself in 2014 but I didn't get it out on the water till August 2015. The first time in the water it ran really rough, had a hesitation when accelerating to pull me out of the water on my slalom ski, felt like it was missing/skipping frequently during the ski run. Used it only a couple of times last year and it continued to have these problems, including smoking almost all the time the engine was running.

Winterized it with dealer in 2015. Asked them today at de-winterization about these issues and they suggested carburetor problems. However, their mechanic only works on FI systems. About to move from Charlotte, NC back to Gainesville, GA and put the boat on Lake Lanier. Anyone else had these types of issues and if so, what was/is the fix? I know almost nothing about boats so need someone I can trust to find what's wrong with the boat and get it running well. When my brother had it, he did all the work on it and it ran like a champ with the exception of a slight hesitation upon quick acceleration to pull a slalom skier out of the water.

[kaneboats]

First drain all the gas out of it and empty the fuel lines and change the fuel filter. I would not be surprised if that is half of the problem. The fuel these days just does not last like it used to. Then you may need a rebuild of the carb. I'd check your ignition stuff too.

[zabooda]

Take the gas line off the carb and jumper the fuel pump to run all the gas out. Change the fuel filter, run fresh gas with Seafoam through the system, start the engine and spray a carb cleaner. Run the boat on the water to get the Seafoam running through it. If it still runs rough, I would suspect a carb rebuild is in your future considering the age of the boat it would be inevitable anyway. On a side note, check the condition of the impeller.

[bd3900]

Will do all above. I had the impeller changed yesterday with the de-winterization. Thanks!

[fu-man]

I had the same symptoms in my 2003 carb outback. Friend with a late 90's kanga pointed me in the right direction. Check the leads on the underside of the distributor cap. They get oxidized. I replaced my cap and rotor and it solved the hesitation, rough running, skipping, etc. About a year after I replaced it I started getting same symptoms again. I took some wet dry sandpaper and cleaned the oxidation on the leads of the cap....problem fixed again.