Thanks for that, Bob. I ran the boat on muffs again today to verify RPM. I thoroughly cleaned the spark arrestor to improve airflow. My shop tach shows 3800 at about 3/4 throttle. Don't wanna race the engine on muffs, so will take a reading next time on the water. The boat gage only showed 3K, so the gage isn't working properly. What a relief.
Attempted to adjust the idle. Closing the mixture screw improved idle, but the screw went all the way in and it idles just fine, so next month will be carb rebuild.
Did I mention that the previous owner advised me to "prime" the fuel pump by pouring gas in the carb? Oh, and there was a can of starter fluid in the boat! Grrrrrr.....
My opinion is that engines are designed to start by turning a key and maybe manipulating the throttle a bit. If that doesn't happen, then something needs to be fixed/adjusted/replaced.