Ski Boat Overheating and Cooling 101 

"Yup my elbow says 7.5 lbs of torque" Great video , please keep them coming! Very comprehensive 🤙🤙

The symptom that my boat had before encountering this problem was that it was emitting white smoke from the exhausts. White smoke can be mistaken for condensation, but if it comes out when it's sunny or after a while, this might be the problem. Thank you very much, Ron, for the great explanation.

Fantastic video Ron. Thanks

It is always a pleasure to listen to a guy who has obviously actually done, for decades I suspect, what he is talking about. Keep it up! Thanks

Great video applies to boating in general, not just ski boats.

Many thanks , you are a very good teacher. A ton 23:00 of valuable information.

Excelente gracias Ron! 🇲🇽 Mazatlán Sinaloa México!

Very good info here, thanks for putting together a stellar video! That’s coming from a guy who doesn’t even own an inboard ski boat. All the same info applies to performance BBC - Bravo Drive I/O applications, with a few minor differences.

Thanks for the comprehensive procedures for trouble shooting cooling systems, your expereience is invalueble.

Thank you! Awesome video!

Ron, you are fantastic! I’m a total noice owner of an 89’ Nautique 2001. Got in one season (about 12 days out last summer) with my boat and changed battery terminal leads, oil and the impeller once with minimal issues. Had the boat Winterized by a expert dealer here in Nashville and went to take her out the other day to blow out winterizing fluid (impeller was “new” from end of last season) and promptly overheated at the dock while idling. (Went up to 200 on thermostat within 2-3 minutes before I noticed as I was parking the truck and trailer.) 😫 Hoping I haven’t done a bunch of damage to the motor. Immediately shut it down and am now beginning the process of going back through the coming system to see what might be the issue from pulley bearings/impeller assembly, sea water strainer intake etc. Your thorough, thoughtful and incredibly informative approach gives me some semblance of hope that there’s hope for my neophyte ignorance yet. 🤪

Thank you for sharing amazing knowledge to a new boat owner.

I really enjoy your videos. I love the older 70s and 80s ski boats. I plan on buying and restoring one in the future and your videos are very informative. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

One of the best investments a boat owner can have is a “boat wet exhaust temperature alarm”. When a strainer becomes clogged you still have a problem but now you can stop and correct it before it becomes expensive and wrecks the weekend. This alarm goes off way before any other symptoms or alarm. It’s save me and others several times. It’s a must for yucky water. The hardest part of the installation is mounting the indicator in the helm. One other thing, the through hull scoop you showed is the most common, but what really helps in some areas is the though hull that’s shaped like a wedge or door stop that has a plate with many little holes. It keeps the big stuff out and what does pile up on it is scrubbed off by the rushing water when the boat gets under way. You would figure theses things would be standard equipment for how much people pay for these boats.

Thanks Ron, I ordered a strainer and fittings from you today! I'm restoring a Ski Supreme and it was removed and replaced with a hose fitting I'll feel better with this on. Maybe a video of the ventilation of owning an inboard ski boat. Thanks again Neil

Great Video. I have had my boat over heat and melt the exhaust and rubber. Learned the hard way. I have replaced everything in this video. :( Where I kept my boat I change the pump every year do to sand getting in the intake. Love your videos. thanks.

Finally a video that helped

Thank you for the lesson

Another great video. Having a sea water strainer is a good idea. Now to add one to my boat.

Very informative as always! Thanks Ron!

Great knowledge! Thanks for the video

Really great video, good job!

Fantastic video, thank you

Would have been interested to know what you found with the power steering cooler and the missing impeller rubber....hopefully not lodged in the hose en route....thank you for the strainer advice and it secures the one you use as the one that is better than the cheaper designs that people are having the cap blow off when hooking up garden hose and turning the water on for starting.

Hi Ron... Thanks for the video, it was super informative. I have a 1991 Ski Supreme 19 ft medalist with a 260 HP 5.7 Mercruiser engine and have been having an issue with the boat when it gets warmed up. The first three skiers, the boat runs great and has plenty of power. However after pulling skiers for about a half hour, the boat will lose power when trying to pull a skier up. It will pop and sputter through the carburetor an will not get up to speed. Sometimes if you can get the boat to plane out it will run fine for awhile but eventually will lose power. However it will idle just fine, even in gear. (we have had to get back to the landing that way a number of times.) The temp gauge shows about 160F all of this time so it seems like the engine is not overheating? However I was interested to find our that the the exhaust water is split off before it reaches the thermostat. I have not smelled any of the burning rubber or fiberglass like you described in the video ( am a familiar with both of this e smells) I will be checking some of the things that you pointed out in this video so see if they might be related to the problem. It does not have the inlet screen that you installed in this video so I will need to be adding it. I have a rebuild kit for the seawater pump on order and will be replacing it this week. Also, I will be checking the inlet to the trans cooler. (on my boat, the water goes through the seawater pump first and then to the trans cooler) My question is if you have run into anything like this in the past and may have some ideas on things I might be able to check out. Thanks in advance for your help. Joe

Great video

Nice video

On closed cooling stern drive boats if you put to much concentrated antifreeze in will it overheat? All passages are clean new pump risers manifolds but temp is 170 this year ntead of 160. Stat is new too. 80 ocean. Thta`s the only thing i can think of. Also guage and sensor new too.

I need to check if my boat has one. If not I will order one

pulling my hair out on my 4.3 Penta. Replaced impeller, checked water pump. still overheats , wont seem to pull from sea water intake. backflushed the hose and it doesnt appear to have a hole or crack.

Great video!! One question for you. Would this strainer help with filtering sand? I sucked about a half gallon of sand into my ski boat this past weekend trashing the Johnson impeller and plugging every hose from the thermostat to the water pickup.

New boat owner. You are awesome thanks. I have a 1990 Sanger. Doesn’t have the salt water filter and looks like the water goes first through the impeller and then into the oil cooler. Is that normal?

Love this video! I have been having a horrible time with my pcm Chevy 350 direct drive motor. I ordered a strainer from you guys yesterday. Thinking about trying the raw water pump and impeller as a start. It won’t over heat until i am driving fast or pulling someone. Thoughts? Has a new circulating water pump installed last year. Keeps burning off belts like crazy.

Thanks for explain the system and showing how to do an impeller. Mine is leaking water, so I need to do the rebuild kit or order a new one on a Northstar 6.0L Engine. BTW do you know where the oil sending unit is on this Cadillac engine. It's not like the tradition Oil sending units.

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Question for you about sucking up sand please. What's the best way to get sand out of the engine block on a 502. Backflushed everything but can't get it all out of the block.....Thanks

My boat has the raw water strainer installed just like you said it should be. What are your thoughts on installing a second strainer after the raw water pump and before the next cooler? It seems like it would make it easier to locate broken impeller veins should they travel down stream. …or would it be better to just let the cooler catch broken pieces?

My boyfriend has a 496 mag bravo outdrive. I have had to remove debris from my motor more than once. I’m now looking at installing a thru hull with a strainer. My question is my stock raw water pump is a pain to change the impeller. Has anyone ever changed the pump to a type on this boat (PCM)?

Great video. Any possibility of you doing one on vapor lock? About ready to kill my Mercruiser 6.2

Hello Ron I got a mercruiser 4.3 and water is coming into my power steering pump I see they have a power steering cooler can I just change that out and that will be fixed

Can you help me find a correct Impeller...1990 Mercruiser. 5.7 liter .. bluewater inboard

Hello. Maybe you can help me out. I have the indmar 6.2 raptor 440 engine. I shredded an impeller to pieces and there are no pieces to be found in the impeller housing. How can I find or possibly back flush the pieces out. Thank you 🙏

Ron, how did you get the engine filled back up with water? Thanks.

Would this be the same install and service for a Marlin ski boat with a 5.7 mercruiser direct drive as well.

I have a 2001 Indmar ltr 330 overheating issue. Strainer is clean, I replaced a good impeller with a brand new one, installed a new thermostat and the boat is still overheating. I'm thinking the only thing left is the circulating pump which does have a squeaking noise, am I correct or am I missing something? Thanks.

what about a stern drive in salt water? should I add a Strainer?

Hello, is it possible to back wash cooling system on MerCruiser 350?

Hello, I accidentally left the intake and exit hoses off the impeller housing and ran the engine for a short while with dog ears on the out drive. smelled and saw a little smoke and that putrid smell. should I now change the muffler and hoses from the riser?

How can i have comunication with you for see some prives about Water pump??

Hello, I am a friend from China. I hope to get in touch with you by email so that we can exchange some questions about water boating. Looking forward to your reply

Hey Ron! What happens when you purchase a ski boat and there's NO impeller blades left to measure the "diameter" haha asking for a friend 🫣