The Mariah Owners Club - Fuel Flow Issue, 1994 Mariah Barchetta 192

Good Afternoon,

My name is Dan and I have had what appears to be fuel issues for nearly 3 years now. A little background: I purchased my Mariah boat in 2010 and immediately had hard starting and stalling issues...I was told that it as probably from water/sediment in the gas, and they recommended that I have the tank completely drained and refilled with fresh gas and fuel stabilizer...so I did. The problem went away for a little while, but returned. I then asked a boating friend, and he said that the stock plastic slotted vent for the gas tank exhaust, could be allowing rain water to drain directly into my tank...so I changed it out for an aluminum one with a wire screen flame arrestor. Still not fixed...I checked and changed the fuel/water separator at least 3-4 times in the first couple of years. Back to 2014 This year after having major motor issues (from the prior owner not correctly winterizing the boat and he tried to use a high temp engine 'adhesive' to seal the cracks, but failed to tell me), I decided to have a new 4.3L V6 Merc installed and I thought all of my engine issues were gone and 2014 was going to be sun filled, warm weather boating days. I get out on Lake St. Clair, get on plane for about 3-4 seconds, then the boat loses power and stalls out (still full throttle) and I had to get towed in by another boater, because it would not start again! I did some research and numerous other boaters had nearly the EXACT same response of the engine being fuel starved, so all indications pointed to the anti syphon valve. I swapped out the old anti syphon valve (the ball was seized and covered in 'stuff') and the gas line was completely dry, for a new anti syphon valve and gas line from tank to motor, and thought I was all set. I also changed the fuel water separator at the same time. I attempted to start the engine for about an hour and it would turn over but not start. I checked the carburetor and it was bone dry. I immediately thought that the fuel pump may be bad (not making noise), so I checked the fuel/water separator and it was about half full of fresh fuel. I filled the fuel/water separator with a little more gas, in hopes of the engine would be able to suck it out easier. Still no luck, and no gas going into the carburetor. With the engine being 'new,' I dont think that the fuel pump would go bad so quick, not to mention that there is fuel the in separator indicating that the fuel pump WAS working after installing the separator....so I am leaning towards a blown fuse or something that I may be overlooking. I am unsure of which fuse or wire color on the panel that I should be looking for. Since I am basically working through process of elimination, any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated! Sorry that this is so long, but I wanted to give the history. Short recap:

-Drained tank and put in fresh gas (2011)
-Replaced external gas tank vent (2011)
-Replaced fuel/water separator numerous times (2010-2014)
-New Engine (due to prior owners negligence) (2014)
-Changed Anti Syphon Valve and gas line from gas tank to engine. (2014)

Thanks Everyone!