Yeah, I figured it all out pretty quick. Hopefully no damage done! I pulled all the plugs, spun the engine several times (with the starter..hopefully didn't bend anything) pumped out a lot water. Put the plugs back in, got it to start...ran rough. pulled the plugs again, spun in a few more times, looked like I got all the water out. plugs back in and it fired up pretty quick. still sounds a little rough, but the boat has been sitting for years, it was only last month, when I put on a used carb that I picked up of craigslist to see if it was even going to try to start. So it could be several things causing it to run rough right now.

So lesson learned! Start the motor first, then get the water flowing! I think somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that from years ago! Just was in a hurry to get it up and running again.

Thanks for the help and comments

So, after looking at it closer this morning. I think there may have been a slight chance that, had I know that the through hole pipe for the steering cable was threaded on both side, I would have tried to remove it from the engine compartment side, AND....that might have created enough of a gap around the cable to get a little angle on it to pull it out, without removing the jet drive?

So if anyone else comes across this configuration, I would recommend trying that first before pulling the Jet Pump of the back of the boat. It can save you hours of time and swearing!

I talked with a couple of friends locally who all say the same thing..I'm going to have to either remove the jset drive or pull the motor...just not enough room to position the rod end of the cable through the transom and through the hole in the jet drive base.

So looks like I'm having to pull the jet drive..Not having fun with this!