Great info guys I really appreciate the help..... where is the schrader valves on these? Thinking first step should be check fuel pressure. About half the fuel in the tank is from last year (stabilizer added) and half is fresh. Ran perfect on this fuel last time out but can water develop in gas like it does in diesel tanks? That's what I'm use to working on lol. The fuel filter change seemed pretty idiot proof don't think I coulda messed anything up there. First step tomorrow I will check fuel pressure, wire around kill switch, and clean and check battery connections.

Clicking when you try and start is a classic sign of low voltage to the starter.
Low voltage to starter = low voltage to everything else = strange issues that are hard to detect.

or loose connection(s) or corrosion at the connection(s) or bad cables or improper sized cables. Or bad or weak cell(s) in the battery. Prob old batteries - Prob needs new batteries as well.

All positive and negitive cables and wiring needs to have proper connections -- tight and corrosion free.

Also NO WING NUT connections. See this all the time for the loose connections causing voltage issues. ALL Marine engine OEM's spell it out ever year to dealers NO WING NUT connections period.

well guess i have a lot to learn on boats. I cleaned all battery connections and it runs perfect! they were more corroded than they first appeared. simple enough fix i guess. On a side note do these motors ever build heat on the muffs at idle? let it idle a good while and guage never moved. checked to make sure water was flowing and it was. But i guess its still pretty cool out and the water going in from the hose was cool, checked with a infrared thermo and nothing under there was getting even remotely hot.

Man I should work on boats for a living. could not have said it enough here.

It takes my engines 5 or so minutes on the hose to build temp, then it goes up and down for a while.

10 min on the hose my guage never moved. I grounded the temp wire and guage maxed out so maybe thermostat stuck? I have a new therm but didn't get the plastic retainer piece so haven't installed.