Fuel pumps are priming and running

Spark is present

7 of 8 plugs were nice and clean.  #3 cyl plug was fouled (dirty).  

Swapped out the 1 and 3 plugs to see if it would fire.  It didn't and when I pulled the #3 plug (which was originally the #1 plug) it noticably dirty.  Checked compression in #3 and it was around the 150 range so it has compression.  The cap and rotor had a little corrosion but nothing that I believe would cause the boat to die and only affect the #3 cylinder.  I have a new cap, rotor and plugs on the way.  Will also check the wires.  I am OK with the regular maintenance stuff but get a little out of my element if the valve covers need to be pulled which may need to be done. I am thinking it may be a lifter issue or something along those lines.  I have it scheduled to be looked at but the local marina is 2 weeks out.  Any ideas?  Some more info on boat below.  

2003 Excal 330. - owned for 5 years going into 6 summer.  

New plugs, wires, cap rotor, fuel filter 4 years ago

Fuel filter, impeller changed this year

New circulation pump installed this year (drain plug issue on old pump)

Haven't had any issues besides a couple blown hoses on the boat since I have owned it.  Put around 30 hours or so on this year so far.  445 total for the boat.  Only had 175 on it when I bought it.  Thanks.

Mark

FYI:  Fluid does not compress so cranking the engine over even with the starter can bend a connecting rod trying to compress fluid.  That would force a total engine tear down to repair so be careful.
 

I think me and MrMcD............we agree, you got some excess liquid in that cylinder whether it's gas or water.

It sounds like gas from your description of the spark plug.

maybe you'll get lucky and just need a new injector

Here's a link to some reading that might scare you, leaky injector, bent rod, big bucks, I don't think you're there. yet.

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=47436&KW=ZR6&title=what-would-you-do" rel="nofollow - link

I don't believe it is water as there doesn't appear to be any signs of that and when we did pull the plug and fired it over there was a slight puff of black smoke out of the #3 cylinder.  Hopefully the injector is the culprit and nothing else was bent/damaged.  We plan to pull the valve cover to take a look as well and make sure there isn't something going on with the rocker arms or valves.      

The RA087007 has an updated version RA087007A.

For about the price of one injector from PCM you can buy a set of 8 from Bosch and other outfits if you do a little searching with either of the PCM part numbers 

Here's one example in the link below

http://www.ebay.com/itm/223693107890?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D8cc72209831946e2aeee76965cb3d86e%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D223693107890%26itm%3D223693107890%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DBosch&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Aae724126-fdf9-11ec-960a-ae48835c8dcc%7Cparentrq%3Ad8df82d91810a6e7cc1437f2fff80458%7Ciid%3A1" rel="nofollow - link

PS don't trust me, do some verification of your own before ordering anything.

It's the same situation as people needing gt40 injectors, pay through the nose from PCM or they get the 8 for 1 deal with places like Ford Performance Parts, Bosch etc.

You might try GM Performance Parts using the number on the side of the injector for reference

I wanna hear more about this power steering setup on a Nautique 200 that cuts in and out and how it works or maybe doesn't work.

I put on my thinking cap and wrote down a few things

The normal rotation SBC firing order is  1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2

The only cylinder plug wire that could crossfire with 3 at a time which would affect it enough by making it fire way early in the compression stroke is #4 since it's just before #3 in the firing order

The flat Vortec cap does some funny routing inside to get the wires arranged so that one side is  1 3 7 5 and the other is  8 2 4 6. so maybe 3 and 4 get in close proximity inside the cap and an issue with the cap cracking, having tracking of spark from one terminal to another could cause this.

So...........here's an upside down picture of a Vortec cap with the plug towers labeled on the paper and the first 4 contacts in the firing order have little stick on numbers near them.

Since the cap is upside down, the clockwise rotation of the firing order around the cap looks counterclockwise from underneath.

The blue line shows the spark path from #4 inner terminal to the tower for it's spark plug.

The green line shows the path for #3 from inner to outer.

The red circle shows how close the paths are (like really  close) and a breakdown of the cap material (whether it's visible or it's internal) that the cap is made of will cause that misfire

I think that's a plausible explanation for how #3 cylinder could keep your engine from running in your situation strange as it might seem 

 The previous owner of my 07 Excalibur engine replaced his dist cap annually b/c it was always an issue. I replaced it my first year after a backfire and have another waiting on the shelf for year 2.  The GT 40 round dizzy cap lasted much longer.

As far as the steering issue she had to take it to the dealer to have it looked at.  They are going to plug it in to the computer and see what is going on.  Hopefully she isn't down for too long as we don't have a very long summer here in Iowa.  The reliance on computers/software for everything in the new boats definitely has me questioning an upgrade (oh and the sky high prices).  

The big barges have the thruster system for maneuvering at slow speeds around docks etc.