ok 242 experts....i've been having fuel pressure issues with my boat. i ended up pulling the fuel line and dunking it in a 5 gal gas can, and i now have fuel pressure. so i know i have a fuel pickup problem.

my question is...there are two fittings on my fuel tank. the starboard side fitting was where my fuel line was connected, and the other was plugged. does anyone know if the port side fitting is a return or a second pickup? i connected my barb and fuel line to the port side pickup and my boat starts and runs with good fuel pressure, so i'm assuming it is indeed a second pickup. the 242 with twins would need two pickups, so i'm also assuming that the second fitting is for the second engine (not the case in my boat with only one engine), but formula chose a standard fuel tank setup. the only doubt i have is that the tank is pretty full and the boat is leaning pretty far back on the trailer, so maybe its enough to let the pump pull through it. any enlightenment would be appreciated.

also, does anyone know what is on the bottom of the pickup? is there a stone type filter, or a screen, or something along those lines?? or is it a straight draw straw pickup?

Sounds like you've got it all figured out. That second fitting must be a second pick-up for a twin engine set-up. Evidently, the filter or screen or whatever on the bottom of the first pick-up must be clogged. If it runs good on the second pick-up, leave it.

my 242 had the same issue. It was a cracked pick up tube inside the tank.
I replaced it with an all metal pick up.

I had the same issue on my 292! The best thing to do is to empty the tank and get a sight scope and look into the tank. My boat sat for years and there was all sorts of scale in the bottom of the tank. It took me a while to track it down but thats what the problem was. I had to suck out the scale several times but after about month of use all was well.. As to your pick ups they're copper tubes that are angle cut at the bottom. My 292 had 4 pick ups but two of them were corroded off, the other two were fine.

Hope this helps.

the tank in my '79 233 had one plugged pickup too (i'm running a single modified 454 that has seen 5600 rpm at times.) i figured you can't have too much fuel supply, so i added a second pickup, hooked them both up to a remote tandem oil filter manifold modified to accept OMC spin- on fuel seperators and ran 1/2" line to the high- volume holley fuel pump. added a fuel pressure regulator, and no more fuel supply problems!

Just unscrew it and check. Ethanol does all kinds of stupid stuff. My pickups were plastic and the ethanol rotted and expanded the plastic. EZ fix though

The older pickups are welded in.

Oh!