So...I ran my boat about 350 feet into 3" deep water on saturday. It killed the motor and all, and took the usuall effort of pushing a 3000lb boat off of a sandbar. After cleaning out the sand from the controls, and as much as I could from the pump, and a very hard start-up the boat seemd to run pretty much like normal...for about a mile or two.  Then, it started getting "hot", and started to lose enough thrust to come off of plane. I pulled over, and pulled what looked like a bunch of tire tube, or some other rubber of some sort out of the pump. After that, it ran pretty decent, and was no longer overheating. Decided to take it home for the day. Took it out again two days later, and it just did not take off as well as it should have, and was also running about 2-300 RPM higher than normal at all speeds. Also was told by onlookers that it was not shooting as big of a rooster tail as normal. Took it apart tonight, and found that the wear ring was fused to the impeller, and the insulator was totally missing. I guess the sand jammed tight enough in the gap to lock the two pieces together, and spin the wear ring in the insulator...destroying it. That would also expain the very hard start after the crash. I am suprised the boat ran as well as it did in this condition! So... I dont have a new insulator, but I do have an old one that seems to be in usable condition, so I am planning to just put that one back in, and try it. I want the boat running this weekend pretty bad because my 9 year old has her heart set on learning to ski this weekend. There is absolutly no place here in Wisconsin to get a new insulator that soon, so I am crossing my fingers that the old one will work!

Took it apart tonight, and found that the wear ring was fused to the impeller, and the insulator was totally missing.

You didn't recently have that pump rebuilt by a certain performance jet boat (words not necessarily in that order) shop?....cuz that's what happened to the pump they built me within an hour of run time....in deep water.

I rebuilt the pump myself...it had about 10 hours on it running very well before this. The gap was pretty tight----like I wanted it. The ring was just stuck to the impeller by sand...not melted to it. After cleaning both, they have the gap they should again. I DO think I will need a new insulator because the used one I tried to put in does not hold the ring very tightly....I was able to push the wear ring all the way in with just my fingers...So, I guess the boat will be down until next week when I get one one mailed to me.