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John H.

On Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:58:49 -0400, "JimH" ask wrote:

wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:43:50 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

Nothing wrong with that if you use the motor a lot, overkill for
others. Operating time is a better guage, probably somewhere around
300 to 400 hours unless you run a lot in shallow water.

Install a water pressue gauge. They you get a real time indication of
impeller and water delivery system performance. You really can't tell
much from the "pee" stream. 3 PSI looks pretty much like 17 PSI. 3
will not provide enough water to cool your engine.
I bet one of the most over replaced item on an outboard is the
impeller. Bonita Boat Center (fat Cappy) tried to tell me I needed one
every 100 hours ... but they were the same ones who couldn't fix the
"known problem" on big foot mercs that caused overheating. They sold
me TWO impellers within the first 300 hours of running. I still have
the second one in my box of spare parts. The next time I swap out an
impeller that will be the one I use. It is pristine. I have 1700 hours
on the last one they installed. My water pressure is still doing fine
but I am going to swap the impeller the next time I get up on the
trailer. I will post pictures of the old one if you want.
BTW is there anything BUT shallow water? Not around here ;-)

You can run in clear shallow water with rock or clay bottom and never have a
problem. I run in shallow sandy water when heading to the beach, which is
normally every weekend during the summer.

YMMV, but I will stick to my schedule of every 2 years. Heck, I am even
changing out the boots this Fall.

Wearing suspenders and a belt? Maybe. But I want to make sure that what
happened to me last year will not happen to me again.

When you're in water shallow enough to kick up sand, why not jump out and
pull the boat in? You shouldn't have any problems standing in 2 feet of
water!