Patent ID: 8876487

Claim:
A water pump control system for a marine internal combustion engine, comprising: a water pump in a watercraft, the pump having an inlet, an outlet, and a rotatable impeller, said water pump operable to receive water at the inlet of the water pump and to move that water to the outlet of the water pump, said outlet fluidly coupled to a cooling circuit of the internal combustion engine; a clutch having a driven portion mechanically coupled to the internal combustion engine, a driving portion connected with the water pump, and an engaging portion activatable to mechanically couple the driven and driving portions; a sensor operable to sense the presence of water and generate a water presence signal indicating the presence or absence of water which is indicative of whether the watercraft is in or out of the water; and a switch connected to the clutch, said switch operable to be set to an activation mode in which power is provided to the engaging portion to mechanically couple the driven and driving portions if said sensor senses the presence of water indicative of the watercraft is being positioned in water, and said switch operable to be set to a deactivation mode in which power is not provided to the engaging portion to mechanically decouple the driven and driving portions if said sensor does not sense the presence of water indicative of the watercraft being positioned out of water.