Is it necessary to replace the water intake impellor every year?

"James Gemmill" gemmilljim@hotmail,com wrote in message
...
Is it necessary to replace the water intake impellor every year?

No. I would if you run in a sandy area. I would replace every 2 years at
the least. I ran one for 5 years, and was still good, but was a bugger to
get the leg off the engine. Now at 2 years and good anti-seize on the drive
shaft, is an easy job.
Bill

Thanks for the reply. That sounds pretty reasonable.

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 02:53:16 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"James Gemmill" gemmilljim@hotmail,com wrote in message
.. .
Is it necessary to replace the water intake impellor every year?

No. I would if you run in a sandy area. I would replace every 2 years at
the least. I ran one for 5 years, and was still good, but was a bugger to
get the leg off the engine. Now at 2 years and good anti-seize on the drive
shaft, is an easy job.
Bill

"James Gemmill" gemmilljim@hotmail,com wrote in message
...
Is it necessary to replace the water intake impellor every year?

Necessary? No.

A good idea? Maybe.

A lot depends on the type of engine you have, where you boat, and other
habits. For example, if you have a trailered boat and you routinely start
the engine while the boat is on the trailer then your impeller will need to
be replaced often. If you have an inboard and the boat is always in the
water (and therefore the pump rarely loses its prime) then the impeller can
last many years.

A real deciding factor can be the ramifications of it failing. If you are
twenty miles off shore in a boat with a single engine and the impeller is in
the outboard/outdrive lower unit having the impeller fail can be a serious
problem. On the other hand, my tournament ski boat has a center mounted
inboard and I can change the impeller in about 10 minutes using nothing but
a screwdriver. I carry a spare impeller with me so having one fail is no
big deal.

If you have a large boat that has to be hauled out of the water to change
the impeller then I wouldn't pass up any opportunity to do so. For a
typical runabout I would go two or three years before I changed it just
because.

Rod