No Thermostat? What...

[Oaktown27]

Hi all, new to the forum, and so happy to have found it. I picked up a '72 Santana 27 during Covid to keep my sanity. The Atomic Four was running and a bit of a mystery to me on how it operated (first A4). Fast forward to November, taking it out of the dock I realized that when increasing power the engine bogged down and sputtered. I returned to the dock and started the process of figuring out the A4.

So, did a tune up, new plugs/points/distributor. Fired it up, and still had the same problem. The engine started to blow white smoke, which I think was steam based on several other posts. Shut it down.

Returned with a compression tester to see if I had a valve problem. I started the engine (started right up) and the smoking was gone. shut it off, and realized that the motor was running hot. I could not due the compression test, but noticed a leak on the Thermostat cover. Started up the engine and didn't seem to see any raw water cooling coming out.

Now am assuming I have a cooling problem. Think my intake might be clogged, but also wanted to replace the gasket on the thermostat cover. Took off the cover and whoa, not thermostat. I do see that some run with out one, but I do not think there is a bypass valve set up. Not sure if I know one if I saw one.

Since I had this apart, decided to pull the impeller as well. No water came out when I pulled the plate and pulled the impeller.

So, should I put a thermostat back into this?
Do you think the lack of cooling was a cause of power loss?
I hate to think I was running it with out cooling.

Looking for some guidance/ideas.

Also, it does have a Sierra 18-7844 fuel filter. I picked up a replacement, but have yet to install it. Figured I need to solve my cooling first.

And the gauges don't work (another project)