Curiosity

[93SkiNautique]

Wow, i didnt realize the extent of winterizing. I'll definatley get it done this winter though. I'm jellous of all of you who live in warm winter climates, especially California because you have mountains to board on as well. I dont test fire my boat, i know of people who do though thats why i was curious. Thanks for the tips guys.

[ag4ever]

I had my starter give me trouble recently. i would not have know it would not start at the lake if I had not bumped the starter to test it. I have also had a battery that was dead enough to not start the boat, but still have enough of a charge to run all accessories.

In essence, it just make launching that much smoother if you know the boat will start, and not just expect it to. BTW, I got in that habbit with my dad's old outboard. With those you never know if it will truly start or not.

[SGY]

I guess it just scares me to start the motor like that. I understand though and guess that if I were ever stranded at the lake, I would be bumping the starter too. I also don't have that far to go to the lake in the event something prevents my boat from starting. If I had to drive several hours, I'd be sure the boat runs.

[davidr]

Once installed between the water intake and the strainer, I think this is more convenient than the "Fake a Lake" plunger -
http://www.skidim.com/prodinfo.asp?number=DP6

[M3Fan]

Firing the boat for a few secs won't hurt a thing. The impeller is literally soaking in water as your boat sits on the trailer. If you pull off the bottom hose from the sherwood pump notice all the water drains out from the hose above it. Gravity keeps it there since the hose goes up (to the water strainer) before going down to the inlet fitting on the hull. So there is enough lubrication there for 10 seconds of running or so. It's not dry unless you actually pull that hose and drain the pump first! I've seen hot dock lauches where the boat is started on the way down to the ramp and as soon as the boat hits the water they are off the trailer. Quite impressive.

[93SkiNautique]

How long does the water stay in there for? does it ever drain out?

[91nautique]

I fire mine up,before towing to the lake,shut it down within 5 secs never had a problem,here is what I do with the old impeller-changed every two years or 200 hours.

(zipped tied to heat exchanger hose)

PS
If you ever need to swap back to the old impeller just fold newspaper over a couple of times and use in place of a gasket( if you havnt got one) it will get you home.