my 283 in my 18' stevens is getting hot, not just the gauge, you can hear the water boiling.
I've backflushed the entire system. Checked every hose. Checked every fitting. Backflushed every component. I got 2 pieces of previous water pump impeller out of the vdrive, and lots of gravel/rust out of the engine block.
I assume it's time to do a leakdown and compression check on the engine.
water is pumping completely through the system, it does seem a little slower than what I remember it being before new small neovane impeller.
am I on the right track or am I forgetting to keep it simple, stupid.

Sounds like you're doing the right stuff, but need more info to be of additional help. At what rpm is the engine overheating? At full throttle, idle speed, or any speed? Have you checked your oil or pulled the valve covers? What's it look like? If the oil appears milky you probably have a blown head gasket which will promote overheating. What kind of exhaust do you have? Regular log-type water cooled manifolds or headers? If the volume of water appears lower than normal, keep looking for an obstruction in the system, or perhaps your new water pump impeller just isn't doing the job -- you might have to try another impeller kit. Any additional info you can supply would help.

it will get above normal operating temp at idle. Cruising + will peg the temp gauge in about 3 minutes from being dead cold.
exhaust, edelbrock m1 water cooled logs. I had the cap with the water fittings off on one side, dirty corroded but no blockage that I could see.
water runs from lake, pump, vdrive, top of exhaust manifolds, out bottom of manifolds, into block where sbc waterpump mounts. Out of front of intake manifold like where you'd run lines to a heater core, out through the back of the exhaust manifolds and out of the exhaust.

thanks for the help and thanks for viewing. I'm getting pretty frustrated.

From your description, it's most likely a lack of water flow (volume) and it sounds like you've done a pretty thorough check of all the places where you might have an obstruction or a blockage. I'm assuming that you don't have a thermostat and are running an open system. If you do have a thermostat, that's the place I'd most likely check. Also, you say you're bringing the water in to the water pump, then routing it all the way up to the V-Drive and then back to the exhaust manifolds and then into the engine. Unless you're running some large water lines with big fittings to the V-drive and back again, that might also be your problem. The V-drive needs a lot less cooling water than your engine. You could test this by going directly from the water pump to the manifolds and into the engine, bypassing the V-Drive altogether. If that solves the engine overheat problem, then add a separate thru-hull intake or another external pick-up on the cav plate to cool the V-drive (isolating it from the rest of the cooling system) by simply force-feeding the water through the lines as the boat moves at speed. Check this out and see if it helps.

I just caught that he is passing all the water through the V-Drive thne to the engine. I don't think you can get enough water through the V-Drive to keep an engine cool. The V-Drive doesn't need much, if any at all. I know people that don't run water through it and some others that have cut the water chamber out to put larger gears in. Water route should be, Lake to pump, pump to manifolds, manifolds to front of block (automotive water pump mount), out front of intake manifold around T'stat housing , to exhaust snails or pipes. Whatever you are using for a dump. I then use some of that dump water to run through the V-Drive.

my day keeps getting better. Since I had the valve covers off to do the leakdown test I thought I should adjust the valves while I was there. Ran the boat for about 1 min and not one drop of oil came through the pushrods.
so I gotta check all of the pushrods, maybe clean the lifters, or an oil passage is blocked. Hopefully I didn't wipe my cam out to.

ordered a new impeller for the water pump. All else fails, throw parts at it.

Sorry to hear about all the problems. Maybe your new impeller will be the answer, but if not, seriously think about eliminating the V-drive cooling ahead of the engine cooling, That problem might just be a lack of water volume since the V-drive isn't designed to pass that much water. As for your oil woes, I'm sure you checked your oil pressure gauge to make sure you had pressure when you noticed the pushrods were dry. If you are way low on oil pressure it usually shows up first in the top end of the motor -- that's normally a weak pump or oil pick-up problem. What weight oil are you using? I would think something like a straight 30 wt would be good if you're not running the engine too hard.

its a 190hp 283 from a 1964 chevelle. im running 20-50 and oil pressure goes up to around 50psi on the gage. im stealing my moms seadoo jetboat for the weekend that thing sucks and blows at the same time.

flushed the oil, got oil to all of the rockers, put in the new waterpump impeller. Ran the boat in the driveway and adjusted the valves.

took the boat to the lake today (1 hour drive) and didn't even make it out of the no wake zone. My brand new fuel pump quit, I've ran less than 5 gallons of gas through it.

already replaced the fuel pump, should have it on the lake sunday to see if I fixed my overheating prolem.

Sounds like it's not an oil issue -- your 20/50 wt. should be okay if you're not trying to run too hard. 50 psi is more than enough pressure. Once you get the fuel pump problem solved, let us know if the water pump impeller corrected the problem. If the new impeller doesn't change things, consider re-routing your water lines and by-pass the V-drive cooling for a test.