techman

I use the brass Merc Pump front housing with the composite back for the back water outlet/inlet. Then I use the replaceable wear plates on both sides. Seems to work just fine and the wear plates are super cheap to replace even if done once a year.

ThisIsLivin

I always had issues with the plastic pump housing getting grooves in it and chewing up the impellers. I switched to stainless about 10 years ago and it's still like brand new. I did go through it with a die grinder and smooth edges and did some basic porting to improve flow. Best part is my impellers last forever as well. I take it apart every winter and pull the impeller and by spring any set in the impeller is gone. I still change it every couple of years. I have a shelf full of good used spares now. Maintenance is much easier and cheaper than the plastic. Guess I've more than got my money out of it.

F14A water jet

Okay, now I have more to consider.

TomZ

Tom, you could convert to a crank-driven pump like mine and never really have to touch it unless you run it dry. I hear of people running the same impeller for years.

You have room in front of your engines so it would be really easy.

I really dislike the Merc-style pumps especially in my boat (hence being gone).

BBYSTWY

My experience with the stainless hardin was not a good one....installed it and within the first 3 mins on a hose it smoked the impellor...replaced and it was fine for a few times out but even at WOT I was only seeing 5-8 lbs on my water pressure gauges. Winterized last winter and this spring pulled it out and fired on a hose it was barely pumping water. Figured it would be ok and didn't really have time to change it as I had a tuning appointment for the EFI on the boat, I drove almost 2 hours away, dumped the boat in, and guess what...wouldn't pump water. Pulled it apart and the impellor was smoked. Had to drive an hour further to find a plastic kit at a marina, drive all the way back to the boat, and install. In the meantime, my buddy and the tuner were sitting at the dock waiting for me and no I didn't expect the tuner to sit there for free however he is an awesome dude and didn't charge me for the extra 2 1/2 hours he was sitting there. So basically after that I left the stainless one off and run the plastic one and now see minimum 15 psi on my pressure gauge with that being the only change.

I have the stainless kit that you can have if you pay shipping...it's just sitting in my garage. I read so many great things about them which is why I bought one but it didn't work out for me. Although I will say that even after 2 smoked impellors the inside of the housing looks brand new still so there's that hahaha

PM me if you want it

F14A water jet

I have been thinking about what you did. Now that the trail is blazed I might consider. Right now its just part of my annual/late (off) season maintenance.

SB

that was funny as fuk. Even after your painful story. That musta sucked.

seafordguy

I have the Hardin ones. Had them about 4 years. There are a couple generations of these pumps and mine are the newer ones.

My only disappointment was that originally I had the clamp style mounts and Hardin didn't tell me that you can't used those mounts. Ruined bearings in both pumps. Hardin rebuilt them (to the tune of about 180 bucks each)

My take is they are nice pieces

IGetWet

Did you have the wear plate in the pump behind the impeller? I know others have missed that when installing and haven’t had good experiences.