Mercury 50 BigFoot 2004 dies repeatedly after a few minutes

I bought a pontoon a couple of months back. For the first few weeks in ran great. It still fires right up and idles smooth and quite. I put it in gear and head out onto the lake and after a few minutes it begins to bog down and eventually dies. I checked the pump bulb and it is soft so I pump it up until its hard. Boat starts right up sounds good again. A few minutes later same thing bogs down and dies. Bulb soft again. So I repeat pumping it until i get back to the dock. Have checked fuel line and clamps and seem fine. Changed fuel which i had put in fresh when i got it as well. Have added stabilizer. When I first added stabilizer it ran the rest of the weekend without problem. Next weekend the problem returned.

Any thoughts?

Re: Mercury 50 BigFoot 2004 dies repeatedly after a few minutes

Sounds like the fuel pump, I had the same exact problem.

Re: Mercury 50 BigFoot 2004 dies repeatedly after a few minutes

Any advice on how to test the fuel pump to ensure that is the problem before I go purchase one?

Re: Mercury 50 BigFoot 2004 dies repeatedly after a few minutes

No sorry, I dont know of any. Maybe you can help me with my mercury 60gp. Its making a squealing noise coming from the lower unit. Similar to the sound you hear from a car or trucks belt. Ever have that problem?

Re: Mercury 50 BigFoot 2004 dies repeatedly after a few minutes

No thankfully not. I am fairly new to boats so I dont have a lot of insight into these problems. I think if it were me though I would pull it out of the water and hook it up to a garden hose so I could pin point where the noise is coming from... prop, shaft, what have you.