On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 19:30:41 GMT, "Roger Long"
wrote:


Nice thing about raw water and wet exhaust is that there is only one pump.
If something interrupts the water flow, you are alerted by the smoke and
smell of burning rubber hose before you overheat and ruin your engine

Don't count on that, as I wrecked a raw water Atomic 4 back when I was
a newbie by forgetting to open the raw water seacock. The impeller
will shred rapidly, clogging your block, which is to be avoided. My
solution was two-fold: put the engine key on a carbiner and hang on
the seacock handle (I keep it closed because I've seen two boat sink
at dock from hose failure). The other method is to install a hot-water
alarm that goes off if the manifold water gets above a certain point.
Same idea as a low-pressure oil circuit: a screeching BEEP will make
you switch off the engine first, and figure out what's died on you.

Oh, yeah, I watch my dials and stick my head over the transom now a
LOT more. Expensive and time-consuming mistake, but I was too new then
to avoid it.

R.