I can fix lots of the complicated stuff... mechanical and electrical, but
give me a little challenge like getting rid of the air in my inline fuel
filter and it can lead to a few hours of mental frustration. Two weeks ago
my system was running lean and occasionally revving higher than normal
related to this issue. Today I replaced the entire 3/8 fuel line, inline
clear filter, primer bulb, and the 3/8 x 1/4-20 barbed nipple at the top of
the gas tank. The old nipple had a one-way check-ball in it and the new one
didn't. When I got it all back together and tried to prime the line I
couldn't get enough volume out of the bulb to draw the fuel "over the hill"
past the top tank nipple. When I put the one with the checkball back in,
each squeeze of the bulb sucked the gas up the feed tube and the checkball
maintained my progress until the bulb got full.

I thought I was home free until after a few strokes the bulb was getting
firmer and no more gas was entering the clear filter. In fact, the filter
was full of air and I couldn't get it out until I opened up one of the carb
bowl side vent/drain plugs and then pumped the bulb. After that I could
pump the bulb and get all of the air out of the fuel filter. I never really
ran into this problem before so it caught me by surprise. I took the boat
out for spin, thinking the air would work its way out of the filter but it
didn't. What do you guys normally do to get all the air out?

Mike