Bob D. wrote:

Call a marine place and explain the situation to them. Ask if the intake
manifold needed to be changed to accomodate the bad moddification, of if
there was just an adapter plate used.

Dropped the boat off to have it looked at last night.

Call an aftermarket supplier like Champion (can you tell I
was pleased with them) and ask if you purchase multiple carbs, if you can
return the one(s) you don't use.

That's a good suggestion, thanks.

Odds are if your experienced helper wasn't a marine mechanic or surveyor
they too would have overlooked the non-marine carb problem (except for
the spark arrestor, that's pretty obvious to most powerboaters).

Yep. It was my grandfather (a powerboater for 40+ years) who noticed the
missing arrestor, but he didn't realize the carb was wrong.

So Shawn, you wanted her, you married her, and now the honeymoon is over.
Now open your eyes to what you have to do (money and/or time) to make this
marriage work for you, or cut your losses and get away from the bitch
ASAP, and find another.

Hehe. Nice analogy. Actually, I'd think about cutting my losses on this
boat, but I doubt I could sell it easily if I told prospective buyers about
the problems and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't tell them. And I
still think this one will be a decent boat once I get it straightened out.

No matter what boat you purchase, having to spend additional monies is all
but a truism in the pursuit of boating.

Understood. The owner of one of the boats I looked at told me that boat is
really an acronym that stands for Break Out Another Thousand.

Shawn.