Hi there,
I need a bit of advice on an issue we're having starting
our boat up.

We purchased a 95 Sea Ray Sundancer a few months ago that came with a
two year old 5.0 Mercruiser and recently replaced manifolds. All went
reasonably well on the first couple of trips out but the last time we
tried taking it out for the day I couldn't get the thing to start. I
tested it out the previous day at our home and had the same issue,
though I did manage to finally get it cranked up and running.

On each occasion the same thing has happened. I give the engine a
couple of pumps with the throttle, as instructed by the previous
owner, leave the throttle slightly open, and turn the ignition. After
a couple of tries it starts and all seems well, until I throttle it
back to idle. The engine ticks over for maybe 10 - 20 seconds, then
begins to sound progressively rougher until it cuts out altogether.
After that I can't get it running at all. The first time, on the
trailer at home (yes, I did have water running to it) I managed to
coax it to life half an hour later, and kept it revving for a while
before I set it back to idle. But when we went to launch the boat on
the weekend, the damn thing cut out on me at idle and refused to start
up again, even after we let it sit at the dock for half an hour,
trying over and over. I virtually drained the batteries in my
attempts.

A neighbor, who's a pro fisherman, is of the opinion that it may be
something as simple as a fuel filter being clogged. This might gel
with our first couple of trips out, when the engine kept cutting out
on us at higher speeds.

Any views on the matter? And if it is the fuel filter, can someone
tell me where to find it on the engine - yep, I'm about as
mechanically inept as they come, but am willing to learn for the sake
of the boat!

Thanks in advance............Tim