In the picture, the short hose on the left side, is that your exhaust
cooling line????
If so, It's on the wrong side. It should be on the downward side and not the upward side. If it was like that before the
rebuild that could how the
water got in the
motor. The
cooling line is suppose to cool the exhaust outlet, only. Water spraying into the direct heat would cause steam.
Another thing too! There should not be a rubber hose so close to the outlet like on the right side. There should be more metal (to be cooled) leading down to an oulet tube. It looks like a bad set up to me!
As for a riser, that depends on where the
motor is in relation to the waterline.