'94 130HP Yamaha sputters when planing; fine otherwise

Hey everyone,

it's great to find a forum of other outbound owners out there. Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this issue.

I'm the original owner of a 1994 130HP Yamaha outboard engine that is used in saltwater. It's been well maintained and we've had no issues with it over the years, except at one point we had to replace a blown head (this was perhaps 8 years ago).

This season, the engine is working fine except when the boat is planing. Once planing, the engine intermittently loses power, resulting in a jerky motion of the boat, until it completely sputters out, the boat de-planes, and then the power picks back up again. The engine works perfectly at all speeds below planing.

Summary: engine loses power while planing

Does anyone have any ideas what this might be?

Thanks very much.
Matt

Look for water in fuel.--Look for blockages in filters.--------------What happens when the manual fuel pump is operated when engine falters / slows down ??

Thanks very much for the reply. I'll try operating the manual fuel pump while planing and see what happens. How do I look for blockages in the filters?