Overheat/ base gaket

[holata]

I recently rebuilt a 98 225 3.0... the water pressure has been to low... I took the lower unit off and attached the Garden hose to the copper tube. You can see water blowing by into the exhaust can... Anyway, what causes a base gasket to fail? And what is the best way to ensure that it doesn't happen again? any suggestions for sealing the gasket surfaces better?

thanks for any suggestions

[holata]

Ok, after several phone calls and a lot of searching I think I've figured it out. The book calls for the old paper gasket, which is what I ordered and installed... evidently Mercury has upgraded the gasket to a beefier metal reinforced gasket due to failure (wish i had known that). anyway, attached is an image showing the differences... I hope this helps someone before they make the same mistake that i did.

Any Suggestions on what type of gasket sealer/ RTV would be best when I put it back together?