Knocking noise when pulling Skier out of water

We used our '81 Ski Nautique this week and when my wife hit the throttle to pull me up, the boat hesitated and stalled a few times...... the boat made a "knocking" sound a few times that honestly sounded like metal on metal....I couldn't hear where it was coming from. When we were to pulling anyone, the boat was completely fine. I just had the carb rebuilt and was thinking the hesitation could be tuning related, but was more concerned about the "knocking"....any feedback, or suggestions regarding how and what to investigate would be greatly appreciated!

I did eventually get pulled out, but it wasn't smooth....at all!

Once we planed out it was great!

If you just had your carb rebuilt, check for play in the accelerator pump linkage. Make sure it's properly adjusted.

Look at 1:20 specifically in this video:


It wouldn't knock per se, but it would definitely hesitate if it's out of spec.

I was in the water in the first instance. We did make it happen while I was onboard and it sounded like it came from the aft. The more I read about dampers, it appears to be the most plausible answer. The engine has 530 hrs, and supposedly the transmission was "recently" rebuilt. Like I said this only happened while trying to get my chunky 200lb butt out of the water or when we really got on the throttle from low rpm. What to do now? Thinking about doing the stringers in the future, so just wait until then and just not hammer it?

The trans may of been worked on without the damper plate being replaced which would of been a big short cut ( JMO). The damper is between the trans and the engine so it is not too big of a deal to fix while leaving the engine in the boat. Accel Pump Adjust would also be an even easier bridge to cross first. Both repairs could be easily done before tackling a stringer job.