96 Challenger won't accelerate/plane

[Maciej]

Hello all

I've read as many posts as I could find but I thought I'd ask about my issue anyway. I have the 96 Challenger, single 787, which was decent enough for towing tubes/skiiers but I wanted better pull for the inexperienced riders or choppy water so after much research I bought the Swirl 14.5/22.5 impeller. I had it installed this past weekend but when I put it in the water for the first time this year I had horrible response. The takeoff was uninspiring, perhaps worse then before and the boat would just rev to 7k and sit there with the nose up in the air, at a slow speed. I tried for 10-15 seconds and no luck getting it to plane. I'm figuring even if it did plane something is wrong because it's certainly not the takeoff I was expecting with the Swirl.
From my reading I'm going to suggest the guy take another look at the carbon seal, reverse gate and wear ring. He said the wear ring was in good shape and didn't need changing, but you never know. Any other suggestions or ideas? He's going to test it on the water himself, try to find the issue and possibly replace the stock impeller and test in case it has something to do with the impeller, but I assured him this was the right one for the application and my purpose. It sounds, from my research on here, that I'm getting cavitation or a leak somewhere and the pump isn't moving water properly. Please chime in and help, thanks guys and sorry for the long winded message.

Maciej

 

[seadooya]

yup, right impellor. Have anutha look at the wearring andalso the carbon ring.

Also, install a neoprene ring, between pump and hull.

 

[craigy]

seal the shoe

i have a 97[single] and once I sealed the shoe/replaced wear ring/added neo ring[was missing]added a solas XO, the boat performed as intended. None of these tasks are hard or time consuming.Good Luck [56mph gps/good acceleration]:drool5:

 

[Maciej]

1996 Challenger, Skat Trak, no planing update

So I handed the guy the suggestions from here regarding the neoprene ring, new wear ring, he did as he was told and now the boat seems fine. Hard to gauge the new impeller because the water was pretty rough but she seemed to get up on the water fairly well with 3 people, probably around 525 lbs total. On the rough water and windy we were getting 44 mph on the factory speedo. I'm thinking the neo ring helped seal things up and there was a leak somewhere, wear ring I had wanted done before anyway since it was apart but he had insisted it was in fine shape. Last issue was with battery which is a year old. He insisted it wasn't holding a charge, and was dead yesterday when he wanted to take it out for a test on the water. I took it in to the store today, they tested and said it was fine and fully charged. Put it back in and boat started. Hmmm, maybe I won't be going back to this guy next time, wish I'd just saved some money and done the impeller myself, I'm getting tired of people who are supposed to know not knowing :banghead:


Thanks for the help guys.

Maciej

 

[craigy]

Rough water

I`ve noticed in rough water I cavitate more then in smooth/ lite chop.I believe the top water aireates[sp?].They say the skat-trak` are better in chop but the solas`have a better top end.Also I`ve noticed on mine that I had about a half to a full gallon of water after loading on trailer[pulling plug].The carrier bearing[thru hull@shaft] is the kind that does not have a grease zurt,I guess mine is a carbon seal type[lots of topics which type is better] anyway back to what I`ve seen.The pto flywheel does have a zurt,when I greased mine I thought I noticed the shaft move forward just a little never thought much about it until I stopped having that water in hull after I loaded.Also the carrier bearing/seal can let air get ingested directly into mouth of pump.Whats cool about these boats is a slight adjustment or cleaning benfits big in its performance,its a hobby,your on the right track enjoy and keep posting.If you grease the pto becareful not to over do it,the boot will fill with one to two good pumps

 

[shockerfd]

i have a 97[single] and once I sealed the shoe/replaced wear ring/added neo ring[was missing]added a solas XO, the boat performed as intended. None of these tasks are hard or time consuming.Good Luck [56mph gps/good acceleration]:drool5:

56mph on gps? Wow. That's unusual with the single 787 Challenger. I have the same boat. I'm going to do the impeller change next season and debating what to go with. I'm thinking of maybe the Skat Trak 14.5/22.5 or Solas. What pitch with the Solas did you go with? My boat pulls a tube fine now with stock impeller and I'd like to keep my top end.

 

[craigy]

Solas xo

I had it out yesterday morning and got every bit of 54mph per the speedo on boat,this time I was by myself in lite chop,doing a mid-season check while out on lake.I was having trouble keeping it at or above 7k.rpms.Don`t know if it was the heat of the summer or not.The solas XO is 26.5/16.5 it really blows a lot of water.Also I put my vts linkage at the hand controls in the next hole lower,It gives the nozzle more travel especially in the up position.couldn`t tell by manuel which hole so I lowered it[had controls out while cleaning fuel selector below] I`ve noticed there is alot of difference in top-end speed when you can get 7k or alittle better and say 6,800 rpm`s.Can`t go wrong with either impeller,skats hook up better in chop.

 

[Maciej]

A little disappointed yesterday, went out to take the kids tubing and I don't know if they're getting heavier and/or I'm expecting too much. The first time I overloaded the boat I think, it was 3 people with about 520-540 lbs of weight in the boat and two kids on the tube with 300-310 lbs, no go, pulling with nose up in air but no go. Got rid of 1 person, probably 230 lbs, otherwise same scenario and still no go, now I'm pissed. So I took the boat for a spin with two of us in it, about 300 lbs and no problems, the boat popped out of the water like it was nothing. So I hook tube back up, put 2 kids, 240 lbs, and 2 in boat, 370 lbs, and we got the tube up fairly easily. Switched kids so 280 lbs in tube and 320 lbs in boat and still got up fairly easily. So I'm wondering, are the kids growing too fast and I'm overloading and expecting too much or am I still getting some cavitation somewhere? Revs seem to be at 7000 RPM, only other issue is having to jam it a little harder into forward for the flap at the back to lock properly.

Thoughts and weights you guys have pulled? I'm worried I won't be able to get heavier skiiers up if I still have issues and don't want to spoil the only week we will have at the cottage this year.

Thanks

Maciej

PS - I'm doing my bit by losing weight