I have a OMC Stern drive, after storage for winter started engine, but overheated, removed thermostat, tried again still overheating, can the engine run without a thermostat or do I have another problem???
You can run without the thermostat, but the engine is likely to run cool and hence inefficiently. Hardly a problem at this moment from the sounds of it!
The first thing I'd want to check here is the water circulation. Did your impellor come out for the winter? Or was it left in situ to go hard and then fall apart when you started her up again? Has the raw water filter filled up with winter debris?
Start with getting the cooling system functioning before you start looking for more complex problems.
They don't always fall apart Mervyn! It's just that it doesn't do them any good to sit in one position, with one side highly compressed and in the cold for a few months at a time. Imagine a car with a flat tyre that is left over winter. You may well get away with re-inflating the thing and forcing it back into shape but I wouldn't fancy belting down the motorway on it!
If you don't take them out and check them at least make sure that you have some spares on board. You can be sure that if yours are going to disintegrate they will not do it as you are coming alongside the chandlers.