1984 35hp Johnson Start and surge problem

I recently bought a boat, it was sitting for about 4 years. I rebuilt the carb,fuel pump and replaced all the hoses. Took to the lake, primed the bulb. it filled the cylinders up with fuel making it vapor lock. Pulled plugs spun over got all fuel out. Put plugs back in cranked and idled fine. (This has happened 2 lake trips now) Out to the big water, wide open the little engine sings. about 3/4 throttle it will surge up and down now and again. wide open, no surge at all. It has some kind of electric primer solenoid with a red arrow on it. Should I not have to pump the bulb up if this solenoid is working and I leave the fuel line hooked up to the engine between trips to the lake?
when you pump the bulb you can actually hear gas going into the intake manifold, bypassing the carb. Could it be bypassing the solenoid? It starts right up after it warmed up and idles perfectly, and runs fantastic wide open, but at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle its like a roller coaster ride. Any Ideas anyone?

The red lever must be in the correct position for electric operation ( in line with valve body ) if not it will leak internally.------The red lever is for manual operation.

The primer bulb gets hard, but then it wont start. But if pump the bulb again you can actually hear gas bypassing the carb and spraying directly into the cyclinders.

racerone said:

The red lever must be in the correct position for electric operation ( in line with valve body ) if not it will leak internally.------The red lever is for manual operation.

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The red lever is in the same position it was when i bought the boat, and i have moved it while running down the lake and it runs best inline with the solenoid valve

That is the correct position when the motor is running.-----Moving the red lever opens the valve the same way that it would when you push in the key / operate the primer electrically.------Your motor will run with a dead battery and that is why they thoughtfully made that so it can be operated manually to start the motor with an old fashioned rope.