Prop IS GONE … At bottom of KY Lake

Much thanks to Marty and to the replies already received … at this point I am most concerned about the plumbing (see the response from SKIDIM in bold below) and then compare that to both Paul's reply (above) and also this from my contact at Nautiqueparts.com (thanks Townsend!): "I have confirmed that it is 1'' hose. I have checked with everyone here and we all agree that where you have it should not affect the engine temp if you have a fully functioning pump. We have seen it in that location before with no problems. You should be good to go. Of course, as always just watch your gauges. (I would tell you that even without installing anything lol)."

Guys, I really apologize for the redundancy but thought some of you might enjoy the whole story … I had been sitting on the sideline without being able to post anything for the last several days … Keith fixed the database issue and I can finally participate! Here it goes … the original post that I had intended is set out below:

Guys, I need your help. We are once again getting ready to de-winterize our ol'94 Ski Nautique in anticipation of our annual ski vacation in KY. I had our boat repaired as part of the winterization and have set out some images of the results below. I have been corresponding a bit with our mutual pal Marty on some of my questions/concerns and he suggested that I post this up for some clarification. I replaced the drive shaft (w/ A.R.E. double taper), "upgraded" to a dripless system (PSS seal), and, of course, a new prop … I tried to get my boat mechanic to replace the castle bearing (I even ordered a new one as part of my order from SKIDIM), but he indicated that he did not replace castle bearings … only struts along with new bearings and he further indicated that my bearing and strut were in excellent shape and he could not justify replacing them. As I told Marty, I kind of had to go with it … (I really like my boat mechanic and he has been consistently working on ski boats in the Denver area for over 25 years … a kind of delicate situation for me, at least in my opinion).

Here are my questions: 1) is the dripless system plumbed correctly?—although I had hoped to wet-test this prior to our vacation, the Colorado weather and reservoir levels may prevent me from doing so—I want to ensure that it is at least rigged correctly, 2) do I need to add a two-piece safety collar ahead of the PSS system or does the "collar"/stainless steel rotor suffice? I sent along a similar e-mail to SKIDIM earlier this week and received the following response:

"The rotor can act as a safety collar. The placement of the T-fitting concerns us. It should be plumed to the port side exhaust manifold feed hose, by putting it before the thermostat housing. You may not get enough water to maintain proper engine temperature."

So, at the very least, it looks like I need to have the T-fitting moved to the port side exhaust manifold feed hose. Alright, I know that enough is enough … however, can someone please clarify what size what hoses are our on our Ford power plant (351 HO Pro Boss w/Pro Tec Ignition), the PCM number on the hoses are P/N R045004—I want to ensure that I have the correct hoses to make the necessary correction(s)? Here are the post-repair images for you guys to review. I hope that they are self-explanatory and know that I greatly appreciate your help!




My mechanic assures me that the alignment is perfect …







Our new Acme 422 (from Delta Prop Co):





For those who might be interested (Marty was seeking some clarification as to whether or not the PSS stainless steel rotor spins and rubs on the carbon graphite flange ahead of the nitrile bellow), I have posted the PSS instructions: Instruction Set 1 and Instruction Set 2