I have a nice set of polished Glenwood logs and snails. I can try to get pics tomorrow. What condition are your Bassett's in? I currently have some, but they are in poor shape. Could be interested in trading.

Thanks for the reply Tom.
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet. $$$$ is always a limiting factor. I know I want a diverter and will probably just get that to save all the headaches. The pump is still fairly strong even with the existing bowl. Takes off great even with 6 people and a cooler.

Check to see if your trailer has the plate on it.
I borrowed a buddy's trailer a few years ago and some f*cker stole the PTI plate off of the trailer. I don't remember if my buddy ever got a new plate or not. It was just a POS 3 rail dirtbike trailer.

I take the 10 to Rice Road to get to Parker.

If you are looking for a cable, you might want to try Minnie's Marine in Costa Mesa/ Newport Beach. Its right next to Hoag hospital. They sell a whole bunch used marine parts and had lots of cables when I was there today. I know my buddy bought his cable there. Everything is very reasonably priced too. The have all the brass fittings you could ever want for $3/ pound. Stainless Steel bolts by the pound. Most of the stuff there is from salt water boats, but I've found many things are fairly universal.

I guess he sold it then. You can call the number to confirm. The pics of it were on the ad, and it was a blue bimini.

Starters nose cones break for: misalignment, not being secured or braced ,wrong type sholdered bolts (GM) , high compression (especially with timing advanced too far,causing "kick back") ,mis routed plug wires etc also "kick back" . Gm starters particularly rebuilts (due to case re -machining) must be checked for starter pinion tooth to ring gear tooth engagment . The little tool they give you is a "guage" designed to be inserted between the pinion tooth and the "crotch" of a pair of ring gear teeth . Trial and error ,shim, shim , remove shim etc etc the "listen" is a pain in the a$$ ,unscientific and can actually cause problems in the process. A loud "clang" on cranking typically signals need for shims because the starter pinion is coming out and "striking" the edge of the ring gear (not to mention bilge sparks !!) , also starters "sticking" engaged need shims or have low battery voltage , high pitched rotational grinding and growling could be  due to too much shim (or not enough) or ... the old high pitched GM squeal/grind (pinion is missing engaging the teeth altogether). On Blower motors and very High compression we sometimes crank the motor ,then "throw" the power to it with a seperate switch secondarily . Enough for now heres a pic Hope starter 101 hasn't overwhelmed you. By the way to properly check the depth you need to pull the motor ,then use a pick to physically pull the starter pinion forward to check the engagement ,see pic (shim as neccesary) Tom

Thanks for all the responses from everyone.
I put the new one on, and ran into more problems. My buddy had rebuilt my Holley 3310 750 carb. He obviously messed up somewhere because the vent tubes or for marine applications "J" tubes were flowing gas. So I grabbed my buddies old Holley 750 and put that on instead of messing with mine. I got upgraded to mechanical secondaries in the process but lost the electric choke that I don't really need.
So we started it a few times and tried to mess with the water valve for the headers. So the starter did not make any weird sounds while cranking and was working fine. Then on maybe the 7th time starting it. My buddy saw the whole starter jolt. Then the grounding sound started. I thought for sure it was another cracked cone. It would not engage properly after that. We took the starter out and to my surprise it wasn't cracked.

So I think I will find that rear mount. Not sure where to start. The dealer?

I don't have a good way to remove the engine to check for clearance, so I am thinking about drilling a hole in the bellhousing cover to run the little rod/gauge to check for clearance. Any suggestions? I need to have the boat dialed in by tomorrow night to leave at 5 am Sat morning.

I am also having the suspicion that my flywheel mis be off. So after I remove the starter, I will check for that, too.

After the whole starter nightmare, I still need to lay one final piece of fiberglass on the bottom and do some sanding.

My Howard has the garden hose end.

Hey BeaverRetreiver, I'm in Lake Forest, you can cruise by and take a look at my set up if you want.

damn, I knew my buddy was BSing me with the WD40. He said it was better for the engine than starter fluid because it lubes the sidewalls and it will fire because he says its made with propane. I knew he was full of it. 

So I am getting the boat ready for Big River for Memorial. Its a Howard with a 454 BBC. Just rebuilt the carb and installed new fuel lines, fuel filter, and Bassett's. I go to start the boat and the thing cranks for a good 30 seconds or so on off. I know its not gonna start immediately because the fuel needs to prime. I am cranking and spraying WD-40 in the carb ( no starter fluid can't find it), and then it sound like it was about to start then it sounded kinda like a backfire too a little pop sound. Now all I hear is grinding from the starter. Took the starter out to find the nose cone cracked. Its probably the 3rd starter that has cracked in 3 years. I have had 2 that took a sh*t but didn't crack. The last one that cracked was also after a long period of cranking. I just don't know what the problem is. They seem to work well for a while. I have a feeling the little backfire thing caused it to crack but it doesn't really make sense. I have never used any shims because it always seemed to work properly. Oh the thing was hot too when I took it out. Its a reman one from Napa. I just traded it in for one from AutoZone.

Thanks in advance.