Just thinking out loud here-

A merc 302 ferd type t-stat housing?

Daniel

can you block off the thermostat housing hole and then tap threads into that area with a  90* 1/2" fitting? 

pat made me a sweet little thermostat plug with no holes in it.

Is it necessary to run a water pump in ur set up?

I don't know who all sells these,, but Teague has a bunch of different ones similar to this one.  http://teaguecustommarine.com/index.php/stainless-steel-thermostat-housing-18.html

Why not a remote Tstat housing? Then you could use that housing cover you have

www.moroso.com/catalog/images/63426_inst.pdf

Ray

Thanks for that guys. Yea it would be nice to bolt something directly on and keep it tidy. TJS Nordic how long have you run your system for and do you run your boat for long periods at a time? What temp does it run at and does the temp fluctuate much? My running is an hour or so one way normally in braided shingle rivers.

Are you using the boat for ski racing or something?

If you are running the engine hard for extended periods of time, it's common over here to run as much water through the engine as possible.  I personally ran blown and turbo engines in a Schiada ski race boat, with a large cam driven water pump.  The turbo engine had all -12 water lines.  Hottest I ever recall it getting was a weekend when I pulled an Aussie skier at Lake Mead in Men's Open class,, air temp was about 115 degrees, and at the end of the race after I dropped the skier off I saw 190 degrees on the gauge, that quickly came back down as I let the engine continue to idle to cool the turbos and normalize temperatures.

PS... I also build engines for a living, so there is more than one school of thought on cooling.  My 1000 HP turbo engine was in the boat 6 years, and still in good shape when I took it apart for inspection after selling the boat without the engine.

Thanks obnoxious. The boat is purely for recreation but I do like to run reasonably hard. So did the 1000hp engine you had run a water pump system? If you were me what set up would you use? Water pump or non water pump?

Barry's talking about a V-Drive style pump driven off the camshaft, which I think would be another great way to go! No longer need the regular water pump or belt, much smaller and could probably run that apparatus off the front of that Weiand intake with room to spare! 

This is a fuel pump on this timing cover, a water pump is much smaller (Can't find a pic of one at the moment), but you'd need a new timing cover, the water pump and the drive spud obviously.



Ray

i run a cam driven water pump on mine only because with my panther jet pump i cant seem to get enough water/cooling at low rpm's.  i then run my water thru my exhaust manifolds first to pre-heat and then into the block, out of the block and into the exhaust riser and out the back of the boat. i see a nice steady 160-190 temp at all rpms without a thermostat kit. 

Is your water pre heated in any way before it goes into the block?