Well 5hit - Big Duck Thermostat

I asked Bud about Big Duck's running temp. He said it was too low. I guess I knew it all along, I was just not anxious to undo the thermostat bolts. But/so, I ordered the thermostat for the SBC marine Chevy that fits all. 

I'd stopped at two of the pseudo auto parts stores and asked for a SBC marine thermostat, giving them the number that I found on-line. Neither could help me without a make/model/year of car - no boats allowed. Then I went to NAPA. They knew right away what I was talking about and would have it the next morning.

Then I extracted the thermostat from the boat. Only two easy bolts, but 4 hoses to wring off. When I got the housing into the shop it was clear that the thermostat was suspect. What I hadn't figured tho, was that the thermostat is held in the housing with an "O" ring - which was not consistent with the one I ordered.

4 hoses removed from thermostat housing

Old thermostat

Old thermostat with rubber "O" ring removed

So today I picked up the wrong thermostat from NAPA, to see if I could make it work - but got discouraged when I needed to trim it down to 1 1/2" diameter which would interfere with the workings. So I ordered the correct one from Amazon and it will take two days to get here -- meaning I'll need to postpone my trip to the lake this week.

Thermostat housing without hoses or thermostat

Thermostat sits on inner ring. Outer ring is grooved for "O" ring to keep thermostat in place.

Fits all SBC thermostat on top. Remainder of old thermostat opn bottom.

Thermostat gasket - I need two.