Temp of water exiting engine, water bypass

[bhatch21]

Hi. My Islandia has the 250 Optimax. I'm not getting any overheat alarms, but the water coming out of the hull exit (pee hole) is very hot. Mercury calls this the water bypass and I've read where it is used to help cool the engine at lower rpm. The water coming out of mine is so hot that you can't keep your fingers in it for more than a second. Does this seem right? Is there a thermostat that could be bad?

 

[Dr Honda]

Sounds a little hot to me... but if your engine has the thermostats installed... then that's about right.