Ok, after all winter of getting the box installed and issues with the mechanic I finally get the boat back today (hoping and crossing my fingers there would be no issue) wrong. I put the boat in water and check the bilge for leaks....problem 1.....water flowing in at an alarming rate so I assume it is a very bad seal around box and transom. I still wanted to take it out to see if there were any other issues and just keep the bilge pump on. I get engine up to temp and take off....it does fine till about 2700-3000 RPM's and feels like it is starving for fuel...sputters a bit and almost wants to stall. I did this several times and varied the rpm's, slow take off, fast take off, mixture of both with same results. I then put the boat in neutral and no issues at any RPM all the way to 4500. So........I have heard the stellings shaft can set off the knock sensor? Would an alarm sound if this was true as no alarm sounded. Anything else I can check for?
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maybe its the water splashing around hitting the coil or dis cap the faster you turn drive shaft the wetter it gets, also what height is the box set at hope you went up 3''. over seas a couple yrs ago a guy put a imco 3'' raised box on a 25ol with a 525 went from 74 to 81 gps he then went to a merc 600 plus another 1'' higher with a imco shortie was testing at 89 last I heard. using a tq wrench I would think you would tq to 50 or 60 lbs, I just put a konrad ace drive and box on but my hull is composite so only 32lbs TQ hoping no leaks. good luck keep us posted and I raised my baja24ol 2'' up with a shortie got mid 80s out of it back in 06. the baja Xis too deep.