8hp Evinrude 1984

[Cameron266]

My motor lurches while attached to the boat under “high” speed. It is not the engine cutting out and I cannot replicate the issue when testing in a water drum, everything works fine.

Backstory- bent the prop shaft last fall. Rebuilt and inspected lower end and the water pump last winter. The prop was damaged (big chunk) in the same incident. I patched the issue with JB weld with plans to test the motor and purchase new after it was fixed.

Could the lurching be caused by cavitation? The motor is too big for my boat. I have a 12ft Meyers Aluminum. When I get going at high speed for the boat the lurching happens. It feels like it is hitting something and the motor actually moves.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[boats.net]

May be jumping in and out of gear, clutch dog or forward gear damaged inside gearcase, change lower unit oil and look for metal particles on drain screw magnet(metal would signs of internal damage. Cavitation or ventilation usually results in over rev(prop loosing it's bite)

[Cameron266]

I swapped out the clutch dog, very little wear on the old one. Still doing it. There was no metal on the plug magnet.