I have a 2016 Yamaha 250 SHO on a skeeter FX21 that just turned 200hrs. I bought the boat used last fall and have put about 40hrs on it. For the first time this weekend the hole shot was horrible. I started the day with two completely full fuel tanks. I very rarely top off both tanks so I initially thought maybe it was just a combo of fuel heavy and warmer humid weather. Ran it down to both tanks right at half full and it really didn't seem to help the hole shot at all. Also noticed that the boat was a little off on top end speed, but seemed to run fine once on plane and at idle (no missing, rough idle, etc). I keep a spare fuel/water separator so I changed that, but it really didn't change anything. Does this sound like a fuel / filter issue to you or potentially a sign of another issue? I've ran an F series Yamaha for years, but this is my first SHO. Thanks for the input.

What prop? Any noticeable prop damage?

Warmer humid weather usually causes loss of rpms / performance to drop a bit.

No additional weight has been added to the boat since you had good hole shot? Water logged hull, leaking plumbing etc?

No prop damage whatsoever. Had good hole shot Sunday before last. Boat sat Monday through Friday. First thing Saturday morning it was a dog out of the hole. The only thing that has changed on the boat is new fuel and I replaced my graphs at the console and put a different transducer on the atlas hydraulic jack plate. The new transducer is a few inches longer and the L bracket I used to mount if from transducer shield saver is a little larger than my old graph. We are talking maybe 1 inch longer and 1/2in wider than my old transducer setup. I even wondered if I might have kinked a fuel vent line or got a throttle cable out of adjustment while pulling the new transducer cable. I can't see anything obvious though.

Come to find out my motor is making oil, causing back pressure due to high oil level. Thus the poor hole shot. I knew this was an issue with the SHO,but though is was primarily at break in. Dealership I purchased the boat from is telling me I am idling the boat to much and not running it hard enough. They are also telling me that this will have no long term effect on the engine and is something I should expect if I fish lakes where I have to idle a bunch. Are they being straight with me? An engine making oil at 200 hrs just doesn't seem right. Makes me really worried about the longevity of this engine.

Question, do you run the engine hard or idle and baby the throttle? I have read that those rings are hard to set. With summer time heat coming it will help along with running it hard.