A few questions from a newbie...

[suprajake]

Hello all. I'm new to these forums, been surfing around about a week now, looks like an awesome resource to have if you own a boat. I have a few questions and concerns regarding the 95 Sportster I recently bought. They are as follows...

The steering console is seperate from the floor. Looks like it was made 2 pieces, and held together with something from the inside, and a rubber trim piece was placed in the middle. My boss (who I bought the boat from) thought he was James Bond or something, and liked to take the boat to Lake Michigan and jump the waves. I can't see myself running it THAT hard, but would like to repair this problem with the trim piece and everything. I'll have to upload a pic to show what I'm talking about exactly, and I'll do that soon.

How good are these boats at running with no maintenance? Reason I ask is I'm unsure when if ever the maintenance was done on this boat. No hour meter, the only gauge is a gas gauge and a light for low oil, so I don't know how many hours on the boat. I've already gotten down and dirty with the jet, as it sucked up weeds while boating last week. I plan on doing a ton to it this winter, but don't want to do damage to it before then.

I have found a few people talking about wear rings, but haven't seen any way of telling really if it needs replacing or not. Is it one of those things to just do to avoid problems? Or is there something to look for specifically? And how hard is it to change one out? I know from experience working on cars that the book often tells you how to do something, but in practice it's nearly impossible. Books never tell you those nifty time saving methods.

And finally, for now, I'm taking on water. I noticed when I opened the floor storage area to grab an anchor that there was water in the lowest part, mostly covering the hole where the water goes through to go to the engine compartment. Bilge pump wasn't picking anything up really, so I didn't run it long. I found a white hose that was leaking a steady flow into the storage area. To put it into perspective, and I hate using the analogy, but it was like someone was taking a leak into the storage area. That's about the stream size and flow rate of water coming in. Are the 2 white hoses just drain hoses for the boat? And if so, what would be the harm in just sealing them from the back? The boat is garage kept and there's not a huge demand for much drainage due to not having gone in the water yet.

Thank you in advance for any help, I hate asking so much but I'd rather make only 1 new thread that may piss people off with my newbishness rather than 4 or 5 with 1 question each. This is my first boat I've ever owned, so far it's been nothing but work interrupted by short bursts of fun, but I did buy it not running (old gas and bad spark plugs) and now it runs (well, not currently, starter died). And yes, I seem to ramble, sorry about that!

 

[suprajake]

This is a pic of the corner, showing how it came apart and still is not right.

This is a pic of the connectors that used to connect top to bottom pieces. My boss tried some sort of epoxy or something, and it didn't work. Must not have been good stuff, I can peel chunks of it off the aluminum pieces.

 

[seadoosnipe]

uploading pix...

It's not unusual to see pix this big. A lot of people use Photobucket or Picasso, etc.....but, it is easier to scroll through your problem with them adjusted to a smaller size. I did not have to resize them.

If you want, you can attach directly to the forum by clicking "Manage Attachments". That button is directly below the one you click on for submitting your thread or post. When it opens, you'll see a choice of uploads and file sizes. When you click on browse, you can look in your computer for a pix, then click upload.....

You water sounds like it may be coming from one of your fuel tank vent lines. The normal area we usually see water is our "thru hull" fitting. In most of the boats, its a carbon ring seal.

I would not recommend you closing off your drains. When you wash the boat, get caught in a rain, etc...you could cause the boat to be overweight with water cause it can't drain. These boats are considered wet boats. A wave is suppose to be able to wash over the top rail and the boat pop right back up. They can also sink, be raised, cleaned out and restarted. I would not make changes to the hull to compromise that integrity.

Your console has seen the better days. I have yet to take one of these apart so really don't know what kind of fasteners is used to hold it in place. It is obvious, they broke and I'll bet, part of the molding that the fasterners attach to, is also broken. You will have to come up with a way to install some kind of threaded fasteners. Maybe, something that drops in through the top, all the way through to the bottom and bolted up. The problem is asthetics. You'll want to find a panel or some way to modify it so it looks nice too.

You can determine if the wearing ring is bad by your performance or measuring it. If you can get a long feeler gage and put between the impeller and the ring, you should have no more clearance than .040".......but for me, I just take a flashlight and have it shined in from the nozzle while I'm looking from the intake grate. If I see more than a small halo of light coming from around the ring, it gets replaced.

I would do a compression test of the engine this winter to see how fit your engine is. This will also tell you how long you can expect to run before having cylinder and piston problems......

Now, who rambles better, me or you?............:cheers:

 

[suprajake]

I wouldn't consider it rambling if it's informative. Sounds like a good idea to do a compression test this winter, so I'll do that. Also I'll do the flashlight halo looking trick when my wife is free.

The second pic is of the fasteners, I might have to do something drastic to fix this problem, and that's what I was worried about. I'm sure I'll think of something this winter to fix it.

The water coming in is from a white hose/tube, there's a total of 2 of them in the boat. They both go out the back under the deck, one goes to (I'm pretty sure) the right rear corner of the floor, right by the driver's right foot, as a drain (I think). The other looks like it might have had a nut connecting it to the cargo area. The nut area is broke, and that hose just hangs under there. Just about impossible to photograph, but if I can get a good one I'll snap it and post it. But those are the 2 hoses in question. I understand the wet boat concern, and suppose that I should leave them open, but if while on the water they're leaking, something can't be right about that. That's why I asked on that.

Thank you for your reply though, I'll take the advice to heart and hopefully figure something out soon! Once the starter is repaired/replaced I'm putting it in the water again, hopefully I'll get a pic or 2 of it in its intended environment!

 

[suprajake]

Your console has seen the better days. I have yet to take one of these apart so really don't know what kind of fasteners is used to hold it in place. It is obvious, they broke and I'll bet, part of the molding that the fasterners attach to, is also broken. You will have to come up with a way to install some kind of threaded fasteners. Maybe, something that drops in through the top, all the way through to the bottom and bolted up. The problem is asthetics. You'll want to find a panel or some way to modify it so it looks nice too.

I got to looking at it last night while reinstalling my repaired starter, and I like the idea of something going top to bottom, and I can do it in the same purple area as the bilge switch, lights switch, fan switch area. I think what I'll do is get a bolt thru top to bottom, have the head on top and hope it's a low profile head, and paint it purple to match the sticker. That should keep it neat looking there, and then on the bottom cut off any and all excess to keep from cutting myself wide deep and frequent.

And go figure, I thought of more questions. The radio in there, might work and might not. No fuse, so I don't know. The antenna is broke off and it's a tape player, and I don't have any tapes anymore. If I were to turn the mount 90 degrees to face me, and install a cd player (non-marine) do you think that might be a problem? I have yet to get even a small splash while on the water, so that's why I'm even considering it. I mean if need be I could make some sort of wrap around shield out of clear plexiglass too.

And then there's the caulk. While looking at the busted console, I got to noticing there's a lot of give in the caulk, and I don't know that there's supposed to be that much. A lot of it just plain looks broken. What caulk would be recommended to re-do a lot of it? I don't know if they make a marine caulk, or if it even matters.

Finally, the starter. I found one on Ebay for $58 + $12shipping, says it replaces my starter. Should I go with exact SeaDoo parts, or can I get this and just be done with it? Starter is dead for the second time, and just to fix it I'm looking at $50 with parts from here.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[phough5757]

I'd like to suggest.

I made some repairs to My vette and used some stuff that sticks to anything.
It's made by Duracoat - panel adhesive and filler. You could find it at an
autobody supply store. I put an aluminum angle to a fiberglass panel.

It looks like the weight of the Radio caused the separation. Most radio installs
I've seen were mounted on the side of the storage compartment with a remote
mounted near the driver.

I believe if You move the radio to get the weight of that panel, You could
easily return Your Helm to original. The other Owner had the right Idea just
the wrong stuff.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[suprajake]

I'll be looking for it soon, once the season is over I'm tearing it down this winter and going to try to make it a pretty boat again. The seats will be the largest hangup, as my wife won't let me spend much money. They desperately need re-covering but no immediate hope in sight. For the armrests for the left and right riders, and the pad in the front, it's like a foam sponge, is that what all the seats are like too? Or is it just those 3 pads are like that? The seats look like vinyl and are cracking, where the sponge covering is just tearing apart.