1997 S200TXRV Issues

[hillfisher]

After leaving dock on Saturday morning to go fishing, my motor started acting as though it was loosing fuel. I was traveling approximately 25-27 mph @ 3700-3900 rpms and boat was almost surging, but barely noticeable on speedometer. I checked bulb, it was tight. Removed motor cover, fuel filter was full. I fish every two or three weeks, so motor has not sat more than three weeks at a time. I run Stabil in tank and usely add 20 gallons of fuel every other trip or so to tank. I also add ring free with every fuel addition. OK back to running. I restarted motor and this time opened it up wide open and ran for approximately one minute and then returned to normal cruising speed and surging had stopped, but when I stopped to idle into first fishing spot motor would slowly die each time I moved throttle to idle position. It would fire up immediately and idle (lower than normal 700 rpm's) 500-600 rpm's. This continue until loading boat back onto trailer. In January I preformed my yearly duties (new Yamaha fuel filter, NGK sparkplugs, remove on engine fuel bowl filter and clean). I have since rechecked my recent preventive maintenance items to make sure everything looked in order. Where should I begin to look?

Thanks,

[boats.net]

Probably needs carbs cleaned. You can run on a portable gas tank connected to engine fuel filter to make sure the problem is in engine and not in boat fuel system.