88 Johnson bogging down

[thebottomfish]

So I finally got my boat in the water after the worst water pump experience ever. Great pee stream so at least I got that right!
Idle out of the no wake zone, hit about 8mph and then start pushing the throttle up...motor just shakes, violently and bogs down, rpms won't increase(can't tell you what rpm because I don't have a tach but I would say maybe 2k)
I have three trains of thought if you could let me know if these make sense I would greatly appreciate it!
1. Trying to align the drive shaft I spun the fly wheel an awful lot could I have messed up the timing by spinning the fly wheel? Sorry if this sounds stupid I just don't know enough about outboard motors and I figured because you set the timing on the fly wheel i could have easily screwed it up
2. Carbs are clogged...makes enough sense would pushing in my fuel enrichment switch(pushing the key in) help remedy this and pin point the problem?
3. Water in my gas. I topped off before I laid the boat up for winter but I only had to put in about ten gallons, the rest of the gas no idea how long it had been in there, this year I burned it down to about five gallons and that's what I ran with today, got gas but problem persists...checked fuel water separator didn't seem like anything in there but who knows
Spark plugs all new, gapped and looked slightly wet
Hopefully someone can help me out

[bradford]

The experts will chime in hopefully, but I'll bet it's fuel/carb related.

[phatdaddy]

check fire on all cylinders, probably not it, but eliminates one of the big 3

[THEFERMANATOR]

If i had to guess it's most likely carb related. Could also be the timing arm isn't advancing. If this is the engine in your sig, be VERY careful working on the carbs on it. They are made of plastic and VERY UNFORGIVING if you don't know what your doing with them. They can easily warp, or even worse melt away to nothing if you use the wrong cleaners on them.

[mawshj]

check fuel line at tank exit valve dirt likes to pile up in there and starve engine at wot

[thebottomfish]

Thanks for the ideas, timing arm looks like it's advancing, spark at all 4 cylinders, I'll have to check the fuel line at the valve good idea!
When you say the carbs are very delicate, what kind of solution should I soak them in? Or should I just clean with carb cleaner and blow them out with compressed air?
I guess I couldn't have messed up the timing by spinning the flywheel then right?

[THEFERMANATOR]

No, spinning the flywheel will not hurt the timing. And carb cleaner is a HUGE NO NO with plastic carbs. You need an ultrasonic with a water based cleaner, or a MILD solvent used for decarboning.

[Destroyer]

If you feel you "must" use something to clean your carbs other than what THEFERMANATOR just mentioned, go to an electrical supply place and get a few cans of plastic safe solvent. It comes in spray cans and is used on circuit boards, switches, etc. Just make sure it says it's safe for plastics.

[smokeonthewater]

When engine bogs down have a helper pump the primer ball.... If it picks up it indicates a fuel pump OR air leak problem