WOT in gear with the boat moving, not tied to the dock, we get 2900 --which, again, I'm told by the prop folks at Campbell Sailor Prop is OK b/c it's within 10% of max. RPMs for the engine, which is 3200 --they said, correctly or not?!, that this means the prop is basically sized closely enough. So, I've essentially ruled the prop out as the problem (but I'd love to have a slightly lower pitch prop of the same type to slap on in order to compare performance under load!! If none of the other myriad things fixes the problem, I'm going to go back to the prop.)

Thanks for the reference to the raw water pump --I had no idea you could find such pumps on line for less than Volvo...no way I'd spend $400 for one of them! I suppose it's a matter of finding what brand (Johnson, etc.?) it is and buying it as an after-market...you're right: a spare is not a bad idea. Is that what you mean about finding one for sale on line for less, i.e., find out what brand it is, instead of buying direct from Volvo?

Once I have the Permatex, I'm going to flush/clean out the freshwater cooling circuit tomorrow a.m. The suspense is killing me I think I'm going to pop off the raw water pump this afternoon and have it looked at, b/c I really want to have this assessed to eliminate it as a possibility...would be nice to go out for a Xmas cruise...don't want the boat laid up then, I need my cold weather sailing fix