I trailer my boat to and from the water every time. So most, if not all, of the maintenance that needs to be done to my boat happens in my garage. The need to run my engine out of the water has arisen on multiple occasions. This is where the question came from.
So can you start a boat without water? Starting a boat without water is not recommended. Most outboard and inboard engines use impellers (rubber pumps) to run water to the boat’s cooling system. Without water to cool off and lubricate, the impeller will heat up super fast and possibly damage.
Although you shouldn’t run your engine without water, that doesn’t mean you can’t run your engine out of the water. There are multiple reasons to fire up your engine out of the water, but it is essential for the health of the engine that you do it the right way. In this article, I want to share with you what I have learned through research and trial and error.
How To Run Boat Engine Out Of The Water 6 easy steps
- Determine how to get water to the engine. Read the owner’s manual and figure out if the engine is equipped with a garden hose attachment point. If not, the next best option is to use flush muffs.
- Get water to the engine, connect a garden hose to the attachment point or place flush muffs over water intake if the engine not equipped with the hose attachment point. If you don’t have flush muffs, you can get those almost anywhere, even in Walmart, and they are super inexpensive.
- Turn on the water hose to get water to the engine before starting it. Never fire up your boat’s engine without running water to it first to avoid overheating and possibly damaging the impeller.
- Make sure the gear shift or throttle is set on the neutral position and check no one is around or close to the propeller.
- Now you are ready to fire up the engine. Remember to keep the water flowing to the engine to avoid heat damage
- Once the engine is fired up, make sure that water is flowing out through the propeller and “pee hole” if equipped with it. This will let you know that the water is flowing through the engine’s cooling system properly.
Accidentally Started Boat Out Of Water
Fiering your boat’s engine out of the water and with no other source of water running through the cooling system could be fatal for the impeller. There have been many cases were a quick 10 seconds of your boat’s engine running without water has damaged the impeller. And there have been some cases where the engine runs without water for just a few seconds with no damage done to the impeller or motor.
If it happens to you, and believe me, it can happen to anyone. I have seen people get their boats on the boat trailer and pull the boat out of the water without realizing that the engine was still running. I also noticed some other people trim up the engine and forget to trim it back down before firing up the engine. Remember, we are all human, and we all make mistakes, and it can definitely happen to you as well.
I ran my engine without water by mistake once. As soon as I realized what I had done, I ran to the ignition and turned it off. The engine ran for about 3 to 5 seconds before I got to it. After I checked everything for a sign of problems, we put the boat on the water and fire it up and verify that everything was working correctly. To my surprise, everything was ok, and no problems were found. After that, I have used my boat many more times with no issues.
So if it happens to you, the first thing to remember is, don’t panic. As soon as you possibly can, turn the engine off. Remember, the quicker you shut off the engine, the bigger the chance of the impeller surviving.
Get your engine in the water and fire it up. The fastest way of checking if there is any damage to your engine is getting it on the water and fire it up. If you are not close to the water, use the garden hose attachment or the flush muffs to get water to the engine. Once the engine is running with a water supply, Monitor your gauges and alarms for any out of the ordinary behavior and keep a closed eye on the heat gauge. Check the “pee hole” if equipped with it and check for water coming out of it.
If anything appears suspicious, turn the engine off right away and have your engine checked by a professional. There is a possibility that your impeller is damaged and needs to be replaced.
If after running engine in the water or with a water source hucked up to it, you can’t seem to find anything wrong, that is you have no alarms, the temperature gauge is behaving normal, water is flowing in and out of the engine normally. Then you might be in luck, and nothing happened to your impeller.
How Long Can You Run A Boat Motor Without Water?
You are not supposed to run your boat motor without water, but if for some reason you must, between 2 and 10 seconds is the max time. I know it can seem like a very short time, but believe me, running your engine without water even for short periods of tymes can damage the impeller really quick. If the impeller doesn’t get water to lubricate and cool off, it will heat up super fast and get damaged.
There are other factors in play such as
- How hot or cold the ambient temperature is?
- Is there some water left in the water pump from previous use?
- How old is the impeller?
- How many times has the engine been started without water?
- Quality of the impeller (original part or aftermarket)
Related Questions
How often should a boat impeller be replaced? Every 100 hours or 3 years, whichever comes first. This is what most marine mechanics recommend. Still, you should keep in mind that there are hundreds of different types of engines out there (brand, horsepower, fuel type, year, etc.) and is almost impossible to generalize, read your engine’s manual and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations. Your boating environment also has an impact on the impeller. For example, if your boat mostly on shallow waters, there us a chance that some sand got mixed with water and ran through the impeller weaken it faster.
Boat impeller replacement cost. Depending on the engine and difficulty level, an impeller replacement job can cost you between $100 and $300, including labor and parts. If you are a handy person and want to go the DIY route, just the parts can cost you between $20 and $60 depending on your engine. There are very good DIY guides on YouTube.
