[IslandRunner]

Rainmaker, that sound just like what was happening to me. I bought a 1988 20' Seacraft sometime in June. The guy I bought it from fill up the tank (50 or 60 gals. tank) and only ran about 15 miles last time he used it LAST SUMMER (over a year) and DID'T add any fuel additives and hadn't used it since. So after I purchased the boat my first thing on the list was running that fuel out of the tanks. I add some Star Tron Fuel additives. Boat run great the first 30 miles until he got in to some ruff water, then just like you say the bulb was sucked flat and the motor was not getting enough fuel to run above idle. So we start trouble shooting, changed bulb, went run it again, nope not it, changed, in-line fuel filter, nope not it. So end result I pulled out both pickup tubes, (one a spare or for second motor I guess.) I looked through it but could not see light, like i could with the the spare one. I unscrewed the ninety from the tube and there was a skinny stainless steel filter that slides into the pick up tube, it was all cogged with settlement and trash. Looked into the tanks and could see a little bit of trash sitting on the bottom of the tank, so I left the filter out of the pick up tube so the trash could be caught by the in-line filter. I have run approximately 75 to 100 gallons trough it without any problems, glad it’s over.
May want to check your pick up tube again cause at first glaze of mine I also thought they were welded in but it was because they were screwed down so far. Hope this helps.