Blown Head Gasket?

[1Wake2Wake3]

Put the boat in the water yesterday for the first time this year. When it started up, I noticed a little excessive steam coming from the exhaust. The lake water was super cold, so I figured it was normal (as I've read on a few threads on this site). When I opened her up for the first time, there was a pretty large amount of what I would consider white smoke in a cloud left behind me. After about 15 seconds it stopped, so I figured it was just clearing itself out (?)

I'm not noticing any more than the normal steam that dissipates coming from the exhaust, but I do feel a loss in power out of the hole. Also, at lower RPMs, the engine is running rough. She seems to run super rough on a tight turn as well. Top end seems fine once I get on plane, but I've never had a problem pulling a rider out of the water until the other day. The oil looks normal, no abnormal coloring, so I don't think I've blown a head gasket or cracked the block. I've read a couple of similar problems on here, but nothing exactly like what I'm experiencing.

I did have plugs and wires replaced last year, could there be something faulty there? What else should I check before I drag her 60 miles to the nearest trusted mechanic? Could the initial smoke from earlier in the day be connected to this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[eseybold]

2 years witha bad plug

..............in 2007 I tuned up (plugs and wires) my 2000 SNOB up prior to winterization. I did it for maintenance only - it was working just fine. The following spring I had poor performance issues from the start. I chased all fuel issues - pumps, relays, caps, rotors, filters, timing, etc for 2 seasons and no luck. One day in July 2009 I decided to start the boat at night and look at the engine.....sure enough spark plug #2 (which I replaced in 2007) had a crack in the porcelain and was spilling volts. 69cents later I replaced the plug and the boat has been great since ! For 2 seasons I assumed it couldn't be a plug because I had just replaced it........wrong

[1Wake2Wake3]

Thanks. I'm glad you got that figured out. Hopefully it's something small like that for me as well. I'll pull the plugs this weekend and take a look. A loss in power like this is very disturbing.