2010 RXT nearly sank today

[strake]

Michael,

I read the entire thread end to end and I've had the concern for the past 2 years with our iS model GTX as to WHERE the water goes when the footwells fill up while our ski sits, COVERED on our lift? Obviously when the footwells fill up and the water spills out of the black base it goes into the lower hull.

Twice, I've gone back to the dealer with concern and they keep telling me it will go out the rear drains, even though they are screwed in. I keep telling them, yes I would agree when you are running the ski, but when it's just sitting there I don't see how any water can escape.

Just after reading about half of this thread, I went down to the dock and removed the cover and lifted the rear compartment. The fire ext well was totally dry, and then I removed that housing to look down past the battery into the bottom hull with a flashlight. I was greatfull to see it seemed dry, but again, I'm baffled as to where the rain water goes after it fills up the footwells and spills into the lower hull.

I would like to do as you have done and suggested by putting in a fully automatic bilge pump. I just can't figure out how to get into such tight quarters to install one. It is on the side with that fire ext and battery in that well, or the other side? I also pulled the seat and engine cover, and it is soooooooooo tight in there I couldn't fit an arm in if I tried.

thanks for everyone's suggestions.

 

[Michael211_2000]

Strake, wish I could help but I don't *have* an iS model so I don't know where you can mount an electric bilge pump inside it's hull. The auto-electric bilge pump I got from Academy Sports and Outdoors is made by SeaSense and is just a tiny bit larger than a 12 oz soda can (yet is rated at 660 gph, more flow than a wide open water faucet), the float switch is built-in vertically so it takes very little hull space to mount. Mine is epoxied to the inner hull on the right side of the jetpump housing, there was just enough space to get it in there after removing the air ventilation tube that my '06 RXT has.... I'm not sure if there's space back there on yours or not.

Even so an auto electric bilge pump is only going to pump until the battery runs down... I'm really NOT a fan of leaving a watercraft (boat or PWC) floating unattended, I'd much rather load it on a trailer and park it on dry land or have a lift system to get it up and out of the water when not being used for days or over the winter. Even on a lift, I've seen severe thunderstorms knock boats out of lift slings that were up as far as the boathouse roof would allow, and once such a storm starts it's too late to do anything other than watch and hope.

Finally I just do not care for the iS concept, wouldn't want one they're not worth it. Wish i could help more.

- Michael

 

[strake]

Michael,

thanks for the quick reply. Our GTXiS 215 is on an electric lift with wooden runners so it's completely out of the water by about 6 ft. In fact, the water has been so low this week, I lowered the ski down a bit and stood underneath the hull to wax it, since I can't get it off the lift due to the extreme low water on this dam controlled lake. But I really liked the idea of putting in a auto bilge pump. I'll be back here at our lake home in another 2 weeks and fool with it some more. I'm sure if I remove some of the rear storage compartments I can find an appropriate place for one. I was just looking online at pumps. I think I'll wait to see how much vertical height I have to work with prior to ordering anything.

 

[Michael211_2000]

It's a little cool here today so I just been messin around the house all day... if you have yours on lifts, why not go ahead and leave the drain cock's open in the stern then? Or are you thinking somebody will lower them back into the water to use them and forget to put the drain plugs back in?

If you remove the rear storage trays you may find there's more space in the back of the hull than you thought. Then the next question that comes up is where to put the water discharge fitting... mine's under my rear grab handle behind the back seat. I don't know if that's a good place on your model or not though.

It is a very VERY good thing to have an auto electric bilge pump in every watercraft though IMHO. I won't go boating without one.

- Michael

 

[strake]

Yes, ours stays on the lift when not running. Even when we are done for the day, it goes back on the lift knowing we are going to use it again the next day. I did leave both drain plugs out last winter. I opened both of them again today too. Nobody else uses it but me and my wife and she hasn't taken it off the lift before. So simple too.

I looked at your photos of your installation and I was wondering about the discharge spot too....... If I put the discharge fitting under the rear grab handle, it would discharge back into the footwell area. I'm afraid I would need to put one up high on the actual hull.

 

[Michael211_2000]

That's not a problem, my discharge location shoots water out thru the rear grab handle and completely over the side of the hull (not into my footwells at all, it's like having a water hose shooting a stream of water out back there). At 660gph, the water doesn't trickle out it doesn't pour out it shoots out in fact! Ergo, I'm pretty confident it would clear your footwells just fine... but 1st thing's 1st, see if you can find space to mount the pump in the back of the hull and then you can put some water in the hull (intentionally with a waterhose and the drain plugs in the back) and see how powerful the water discharge is before you decide on a final location for the discharge fitting.

- Michael

 

[fxsho]

VISIT IN FACEBOOK http://www.facebook.com/SeaDooSinkingHundidasClub 200 SEA DOO RXT RXP 2012 2011 2010 2009 SINK CARBOR RING PROBLEM

 

[fxsho]

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 xrough 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]
VISIT IN FACEBOOK http://www.facebook.com/SeaDooSinkingHundidasClub rxt 2012 2011 2010 rxp 2012 2011 sinking

 

[dendee]

were 2012 models redesigned to fix the sinking problem?

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 xrough 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

VISIT IN FACEBOOK http://www.facebook.com/SeaDooSinkingHundidasClub rxt 2012 2011 2010 rxp 2012 2011 sinking[/QUOTE]

 

[rasselzahid]

How is your RXT running is that sank yet?

 

[jamica joe]

Michael, will you please detail how you wired your pump directly to the battery? I have a Rule pump that has 2 wires coming out of the pump (one black, one brown). How did you connect the wires?

Thanks for the help,

Joe

 

[GTX185]

I cannot begin to describe the peace of mind a good automatic electric bilge pump gives me when going boating, either with my big jetboat or my RXT SeaDoo! I spent all of $60 on the electric bilge pump for my Seadoo, and maybe 2 1/2 hours getting it installed and wired up for operation. I also put a manual lighted rocker switch inside my glove box so I can test for pump operation (or override the auto) if desired. I flip it on for a few seconds and listen for the pump running before launching. Mine's 600 gph (Seasense auto bilge pump from Academy) and testing it it's about twice as powerful as my home's water hose... it drains the hull almost dry, even with the water hose running wide open inside my hull!

It's the best $$$ you'll spend on your machine.

- Michael

Michael- is there a DIY write up on the bilge install? Its something I've been thinking about doing as I continue to hear stories like this..

Thanks!

 

[Michael211_2000]

[MENTION=14079]GTX185[/MENTION], yes there is but the thread is about 2 years old now... you're going to have to search this forum to find it.

[MENTION=1980]Joe[/MENTION], I don't have a Rule pump I went with a 660gph Automatic SeaSense pump from Academy Sports and Outdoors... it has 3 wires, 1 ground wire (black, of course) 1 manual wire (goes to a rocker switch I put in the glove box) and 1 automatic wire (went straight to the battery hot + post with it, with an inline 15amp fuse of course). You're going to have to refer to your Rule's instructions to find out which wire does what, but it doesn't sound like an automatic pump with only 2 wires coming out of it (and the "automatic" part is what you need the most, since you cannot see water filling up the inside of your hull). You don't want a pump that "senses" water presense by activating itself every 30 seconds as that will gradually drain your battery, the SeaSense pump I bought and installed uses a small vertical float switch to turn itself on if needed... to date it has never had to turn itself on the OEM water extraction system has been sufficient, so I just check it occassionally by flipping it on Manual with the rocker switch in my glove box so I can "hear" the pump running for a few seconds... it's in Auto mode though 100% of the time, even with the lanyard off (I orginally tested it works by using a water hose to intentionally fill the hull with water and saw that it kicked on when the water got to be about 3 inches deep inside the hull and shot water out over the side thru the thru-hull fitting I put under the rear grab handle). This is what you want, IMO!

- Michael

 

[mcnameez]

2011 RXT nearly sank too

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]

 

[mcnameez]

Ron,

I live in Virginia and have a 2011 RXT. My jet ski stays on a lift during the summer months on my dock. We have not operated the ski in the past month, had a lot going on and not to mention a solid week of rain.(9+ inches)

My son (15) got on the ski the other day and took off down the river. he stopped to talk to his friend and realized that the ski was sinking. He thought maybe the plugs were out so he got it up on plane and headed back, thinking like a boat, the water would run out of the ski.

When he returned to our dock as he was slowing he felt like the ski was going to flip so as he pulled up to the dock he bailed off the ski onto the dock. The ski did not flip. My dad was on the dock and confirmed that it did not flip and also my son is in a cast with a broken foot and he was not wet.

The dealership immediately told me to call my insurance company because the damage was caused by the ski being flipped. When I told them that it did not flip they insisted that due to the water dripping from underneath the seat that it had been flipped. They are good guys and I am sure that they have heard every story in the book about damaged skis and mine is still under warranty but I still notified my insurance company.

I am thinking that the rain water filled the foot well and then spilled into the engine compartment. I do not have a bilge pump, did not think I needed one because it is stored on a lift??

Can you please give me the contact number for the dealer in Houston so I can have my dealer contact them.

I will keep you posted, please let me know if you have any more information.

Kevin

 

[Coastiejoe]

There was an issue with the earlier iS skis.

Footwell flooded into the engine compartment.

The newer versions this is no longer an issue.