The Sea-Doo "IS" (RXT and GTX) models that came out in 2009/10/11 will sink if your not aware of their design flaw, when you know of it you can prevent it. But Sea-doo to this date doesn't want to educate anyone of this issue because then they would have admitted or accepted some responsibility. There have been about 5 of them brought in to the local shop in Houston TX that have sunk. Here is their issue... it is a two part craft where the top with the seat and controls sits over top of the bottom boat hull and the two pieces are connected by the suspension, allowing the bottom hull and the shocks or suspension to take most of the rough ride and then your on the top part of the hull so you get a smoother ride. In order to have enough travel with the shocks Sea-doo had to make the footwells extra deep. But then they made the engine compartment wall (under the seat) about an inch and a half shorter than the footwell wall outer part of the craft. Their thought was the craft would always sit in a way that the water in the footwells will exit the back channel as it does when riding it. When riding the craft there is no issue, but if you park it on a watercraft type floating dock or your trailer, somewhere where the craft can sit level and not allowing the rear to be slightly down, and the footwells fill up with water from wakes, waves, or rain, the water will flood into your engine compartment. Ours sat on a hydro-port floating dock in a marina while on vacation and it rained over night, we went down to ride it and the footwells had some water in them, so we splashed it out started it up and back it off the dock, and then the engine died.... this is where it starts..., no boat ramp around, sides of lake are like cliffs no where to dock it, the water in the engine compartment shifts to the back of the craft changing the draft of the craft so that the fire extinguisher compartment is slightly now under water, and in case you read your owners manual which says the Fire extinguisher compartment is water tight when closed..., it is not, and sea-doo has written me and admitted that, but they said it should never be underwater. And they also said if you allow the footwells to fill up with water they will hold a great deal of water, but it will not flood into the engine compartment. Well..., my local dealer and I no better, I even filmed it occurring as I'm getting ready to take on Sea-doo. I own (2) Sea-doo RXT IS units and I have tested both and the engine compartment will flood both of them when water fills the footwells and they sit level, not tilting backwards. If they would have just made the engine compartment 1 1/2" taller they would not have this issue. I plan to put my video out on Youtube to help educate owners since Sea-doo is being hush hush about it leaving owners unsafe and at risk of having their unit sink if circumstances are right, resulting in thousands of dollars in damage. So two things resulted in the uniting sinking with my wife sitting on it in the marina. First when unit sits level and does not tilt back if footwells fill up with water (when parked) it will go into your engine compartment, then when the draft of the craft makes the fire extinguisher compartment slightly under water it is not water tight and will take on water pretty rapidly, especially once water is in the engine compartment pushing up on the FE tray like a boat making the very poor seal less effective. I have heard of 6 units sinking now, due to this issue. So if you know of it, consider a auto bilge pump, always when parked or stored outdoors put cover on it, take plugs out and and make sure it sits with the rear slightly tilted down. In my case it was parked on a hydro-port while on vacation and sat very level, plugs where in because the dock sits slightly in the water in the marina, so when the footwells filled up with water it continued flooding into the engine compartment. And then Sea-doo admits their manual says the FE compartment is a water tight seal, but they now say it is only water resistant, but should never be under water.... If anyone else has experienced this issue email me
clinerp20@yahoo.com, we can join forces to take on BRP (Sea-Doo). They and the US Coast Guard need to be warning people of this little mis calculation in design . Hope this helps you, and if you like I can send you a video I filmed duplicating the footwells in my driveway on the trailer.
Ron[/QUOTE] Here let me add to this.... My local dealer in Houston told me they took this up with Sea-doo and Sea-doo wanting to take no responsibility for an error in their design, so the local dealer not wanting to hide it from potential customers that were wanting to buy this IS model, so they started suggesting anyone buying this model spring for the auto bilge pump option. Then I'm going to guess Sea-doo got on to them about that.... so this year they told me they didn't even order any of this model for their showroom floor. Interesting huh....! I'm working on contacting the US coast guard as well, because they put their stamp of approval on any water vessel such as a boat or watercraft. So they need to know of this hidden flaw, that Sea-doo is aware of but they are treating it like most recalls, nothing done until a large enough percentage of owners complain. And most watercraft owners put on the water and ride and then take off the water, so will only happen in certain circumstances such as my where we were on vacation, only time we ever left our craft on a hydro-port watercraft dock. Normally we put in and ride and take out, and then there is no issue. (just don't leave outdoors with plugs in on a trailer, unless you make sure crafts are slightly tilted backwards). Trust me I'm pissed, My wife and I have bought 7 brand new Sea-doo watercrafts over the years starting back in 1996, and "we" will buy no more Sea-doos, after seeing them play the denial game. I have in writing from a sea-doo design engineer saying the exact opposite that I and my local dealer are aware of is a design issue. Like I mentioned above, and it pissed me off such much I filmed it occurring in my own driveway on both of the 09 RXT IS models I own. Next steps Youtube film, Local News Station, and US Coastguard.
