'67 sea ray 305 chevy 800 stringer electric shift

hello gents , after the fuel con sumption and choke issues i previously experienced i had my carb rebuilt and reinstalled it friday. i fired her up in the backyard and she purred like a kitten. saturday i headed for the water to do some fishin....she fired right up and purred out through the no wake zone,i gave her some gas , maybe 1/2 throttle and had chokin and pukin goin on again. this time i got more speed out of her , but somethin just not right, one of my passengers said it acted like it not running on all cylinders . after fishing awhile i went to start her up and she wouldnt fire .i fired up the kicker and was letting it warm up preparing to limp in and hit the ignition one more time and it fired right up .i headed into the dock and she ran but the chokin pukin thing persisted... the next day i was gonna try and run her , but she wouldt start at the dock so i bagged it figuring i would do some troubleshooting when i got home. later that day i hooked up the hose and tried to start.... cranks over well , but , no fire. so i was gonna lift the drive and head home . when i went to raise toe leg it woulnt go up .i could hear a click but that was all..no movement.i looked in the engine compartment and checked the trim solenoids. i found a positive terminal with loose wires on it. i grabbed a wrench and tightened it up and the drive raised right up. my buddy asked me if that was why it wouldnt start. i said i dunno. i lowered the drive , hooked the hose back up , and cranked it over...she fired right up...could the loose wires cause the engine to run crappy and not start???...being new at boats im confused . thanx in advance...dimitri

Yes it will mess you up.

Your lucky a few other things could have gone wrong.

A way to check a weird problem is to use a timing light.Yo can hook it up to any wire and shine it down the carb and watch the fuel flow.Keep your face away from the carb in case it back fires.You should see a nice fan of fuel no drops.
It can also be hooked up to each wire and watch the spark.If you have bad spark on a cylinder you can see it.You can also watch the timing advance. It should give you an idea what is going on.

thanx for your help guys....ill repost results after i go through and double check my wiring and ignition system...dimitri

ok heres the update.... the boat is running way better...still not perfect , but , much better. i still have either an ignition or a timing issue but ill get it sooner or later. i really appreciate the help you guys have given me...i couldnt have gotten this far without it ....dimitri