[byrdman64]

Just replaced fuel, filter, fuel lines, had compression tested-ok spark plugs fine.
water pump is ok
starts fine, idle's fine, shows 5 psi water pressure with boot on at idle
revs to above 5000 rpm, with boot on and in gear will rev to above 5000 rpm.
put the sucker in the water and will not go above 1500 to 2000 rpm.
what the heck is wrong?

[ob]

I'm going to guess that your carburetors are fouled and need dismantling and cleaning .Wouldn't hurt to install new kits.Otherwise,running on the hose and reving without load is no indication of how it will perform under load in water with back pressure on the exhaust.Also ,never rev that engine above 2500 rpm on the hose.
You could have helped determine whether a restricted carb/s is the culprit by performing a couple of things while test runnning in water.Once the engine reaches the point at which it will no longer accelerate,you could have bumped repeatedly on the key primer to see if it would respond.If so,then a fouled carb/s is likely the problem.If not,you could have next tried repeatedly pumping the fuel primer bulb and see if it would respond.If so ,then a fuel pump or fuel delivery to carb/s problem exists.

[byrdman64]

the boat has set up for 1 to 3 years not sure the guy I bought it from wife has cancer and he only started it once a month i think. he had sta-bil in the tank when i got it and I change the fuel out the day i bought it.
sounds like your right, a mechanic pulled the bowl screws and said the bowls were clean but i Guess that doent mean a thing huh?
Thanks for the reply

[ob]

Your not going to be able to tell much by just draining the carb bowls.I lean even harder towards fouled carbs now that I know the engine has set out of use for several years.Very common problem with two stroke outboards.