Mercruiser 57L Hard to cold start

I've got a '97 Mercrui

I've got a '97 Mercruiser 5.7L with Thunderbolt ignition. Just bought the boat. Had it fully inspected and it passed well. I find it very hard to cold start. No manual came with the boat (although I've ordered one from Merc). I can't seem to find a choke (is it automatic)? Engine is hard to cold start but once warmed up it runs (and restarts) with no problem at all. Any suggestions on what to check?

Have you tried pumping the thr

Have you tried pumping the throttle a couple of times before cranking it over?

"Jim, Thanks for the advice.

"Jim, Thanks for the advice. No I haven't tried that, but I will when I get back to the lake next weekend and see if that makes a difference. I had tried starting with throttle at idle (i.e neutral) and with throttle in numerous other positions (still w/out the drive engaged). Never did try pumping. All of experience was on outboards when I was a teenager (25 yrs ago)and this is my first i/o and first boat in 25 yrs. Since it's got a carb, in the back of my mind I was thinking that it should be chocked or primed (but no primer ball as in my old outboards). I'll let you know what happens next week after I try it out. Tnx"

"If you ever tried to start a

"If you ever tried to start a car from that long-ago time before fuel injection, you should remember that you needed to pump the gas pedal if the car had been sitting for any length of time and a carbureted boat motor is no different. The gas in the bowl evaporates (slowly) and when you first move the throttle, the choke plate is closed, so more gas is drawn into the venturies by the vacuum from the cylinders. If the bowl is dry it takes more cranking to get it started. There's no primer bulb and no choke activation by pushing the key in but pump it once or twice and it should be a lot easier to start.. Your choke is electric and once the coil is hot enough, the choke opens so it's not running rich. This means that if you leave the key ON for too long before cranking when it's cold, it'll be hard to start because the choke plate needs to be closed at that time."

"Great thanks. Yes my first c

"Great thanks. Yes my first car was a '78 Volare. I rebuilt the carb on it but have had fuel injected cars since. I do remember the old days having to pump the gas.... The marina that inspected the boat during my pre-buy said the engine and systems were in great shape, so I assumed it was operator error(my naivety) causing this problem. I'll post next weekend after I've had a chance to try your recommendation. Other than that the boat is a peach...9 yrs old with only 166 hrs on it."

"Jim,
Just wanted to say than

"Jim,
Just wanted to say thanks. Finally had the chance a few weeks ago and what you stated worked fine. Been enjoying the boat for the past few weeks and yesterday started taking on water. Had it put on the wash rack (I have it dry docked at a local marina) and found the shift cable bellow cracked open. Also noticed the other bellows are old and showing signs of wear. The boat's still good and as predicted, they're all "holes in the water to pour money into"... Hope to have all the bellows changed as soon as I can find a mechanic that doesn't have a backlog thru August!!
Thanks."