Gen set problem...

our Westerbeke 5kw BCDB gen set ran fine on the first three days of our Memorial Day raft-up but failed on the last day. The gen set engine would just start up and die. The last time it happened it was due to a faulty oil pressure switch which I changed out. I'm thinking this time it might be the water temp switch that took a dump. While looking over the engine after it refused to keep running, I happened to touch the water temp sending unit and it was hot even though the engine was cold. Am I on to something?

Yep, that is a good hint. Unplug the two wires from it. Jump the two wires together and try a start.

Never seen one get thermally hot, but seen a bunch that were failed.