OK. Got the new starter. Instantly fired up, glorious. Launched it, ran like new, idle, cruise, WOT, all perfect. Was out for about 1 hour, flawless, really made my day. That was Saturday. Took it out on Sunday, ran great at idle, cruise, WOT. After about 1/2 hour, was doing WOT for about 3 minutes and started hearing a weird knocking. Reduced speed to idle, weird knocking, but engine seemed to be running just fine. Headed back to the launch at a good speed, no sounds. Slowed down at launch and the knocking was there again, whether in gear or neutral. Then it died. Couldn't start it again unless I engaged the throttle a ways. (Before, it started in nuetral, no throttle, no choke, even cold. ) So I adjusted the idle UP. Started it, and the idle was way fast. Put the idle back where it was, runs great again with no knocking. Has me worried. What the heck is going on? By the way, powerhead is VERY low hours and 150lbs psi across the board. Maybe the gear case???? But that wouldn't explain the weird IDLE episode......