Water coming out of bottom of engine area?

[CLi87]

Hey all, i'm helping my buddy with his 2000 Johnson 70hp outboard on his fishing boat, he started it up this year and noticed the pee stream was very weak, so I put in a new water impeller, then when I started it up I noticed the pee stream was still weak and also noticed water coming from around the cover area of the upper midcase, I took the cover off and i'm seeing a ton of water and I believe some exhaust smoke coming from underneath the engine, has anyone run into this before? Just trying to get some possible ideas of what could be wrong before I yank the engine off which I figure i'm gonna have to do anyway to find the root cause.

 

[jimmbo]

Pull the Cowl, and the Rear Housing Cover off, and look for a leak with the Motor Running, you might need a Flashlight. Look at the Head Gasket, the Exhaust Cover Gaskets, any hoses coming from the Motor, and the Gaskets between the Block, the Exhaust Adapter, and the Megaphone