Reply To: 1948 Gale Hiawatha 5HP

[Ed@deathwish-outboards]

My first outboard back around 1964 was a maroon and silver Wards 5hp Sea King about the same vintage and basically the same as yours and with the same problem. I tried to order new parts for the pump with no luck and just as I was about to give up I tried one more thing. Mine had a plate or shim about 1/32″ thick with the same profile as the pump rubber. It installed between the rubber and the cover plate #22. This plate had a lot of wear around the prop shaft so I laid it on a piece of steel and peined it with a hammer around the shaft hole until it no longer fit. Then with a file and emery cloth wrapped around a drill bit I started reforming the hole until it fit nice and snug. That did the trick and it ran all summer long until I traded it. At that time I had no diagrams or manuals to go by so the plate I described may have been someone else’s quick fix.
You won’t see this pissing a steady stream it more like spits water and mist out the exhaust. I have since picked up two of those sea kings as well as a Sea Bee and about a 1952 Sea King. The 1952 version has the pump with an impeller on the driveshaft. The others I have not had apart yet to see exactly what they have in the pump department but I do expect them to have water problems.