Originally Posted by
cadunkle
You removed the choke and are wondering why it doesn't run great right after a cold start? You answered your own question.
When you had the choke on the carb it was not adjusted properly if you get getting flooding issues on hot starts. My advice is to rebuild the carb, since it has never been rebuilt, and put the choke back on.
It can take a few days of using the boat and cold/warm starts to get the choke dialed in perfect. Also, there are 3 aspects to adjusting a Holley electric choke. Twisting the large choke knob adjsuts the duration of the choke... How long before it is fully open. Bending the linkage to the choke butterfly adjusts how open/closed the choke is at cold start. Adjusting the high idle screw adjusts the high idle throttle opening. All of these must be adjusted together to get a perfect cold start. There's no reason from stone cold you shouldn't be able to fire it up and drive away after 5-10 seconds (though I advise you stay at idle or off idle until your oil gets up to temp).
If you need more details on how to adjust the choke let me know and I'll give some tips.