"GC" wrote in message
...
I'm still a novice boat owner so I was hoping someone would be able to
help
me out....
I have a 17foot runabout, The outboard is a Johnson V4, I think its about
1975... so kinda old....

I don't have time to address your questions, but some of the issues seem to
relate to the boat sitting around too long without being started. If you
don't already own one, go right out & buy one of those things you hook up to
a garden hose and place over your cooling water intakes, so you can start
the motor in your driveway. Start the motor more often so you find problems
BEFORE the boat's in the water.

Or....maybe you're already doing this, in which case, never mind. :-)