What is this gauge for?

[Srollf79@gmail.com]

We recently acquired a 97 sun treker 21 ft party barge. It's in great shape with just a little Cosmetics needing done but in the steering console there is a gauge that is broken and it says water on it. Does anyone know what that guage is for and do we need to replace it?

 

[HotTommy]

If the gauge goes up to about 30, it is a water pressure gauge to tell you the water pump (impeller) is working. If it goes to 150-200, it is water temperature. If you can't easily see the water telltale from your boat, you'll want the gauge to warn you of impending overheat condtions due to impeller failure.

P.S. On my old motor, the water pressure gauge was fed by a plastic hose that ran from the gauge to a fitting on the engine near the thermostat. If that hose is broken or missing, you may be able to fix it by installing a new hose.