I set up a cheap 500 gph bilge pump with a 5 foot hose to flush my RXT with antifreeze for winter storage. After I was done with that, I bagged it up with the hose and put it in the storage compartment up front... if I were to find the hull filling with water for some reason, I can grab this pump out of the storage compartment and pull the seats off and drop it into the hull, hook it's leads to the battery and pump away. Seems simple enough to me, and doesn't require any drilling into the hull, and I can use it every fall to flush the cooling system with antifreeze to protect it for it's winter sleep. Win-Win, I think. And cheap too, less than $20.
I actually got a very good deal on this RXT after the previous owner had flooded the hull (intake grate front bolt came loose and fell out, and there was no silicone cap on the inside of the hull like was called for... that forward bolt goes ALL the way thru your hull!). When he realized it was sinking he jumped on and started the engine, then tried to turn around (I'm guessing to his right, since the air intake tunnel runs across that side of the hull beside the engine) to get back to the docks and in doing so submerged the air intake tunnel sucking in water and hydrolocking the #1 piston bending the connecting rod! Eeeek! SeaDoo dealership took the engine out and apart, but then wanted almost $5K to replace the connecting rod and re-assemble the engine... he sold it to me as was for $2100 on the trailer with the engine in pieces in boxes. I spent every free moment in the month of October working on that engine and putting everything back together per the service manual specs, and it runs great now (and I put a nice sized gob of silicone on top of that blasted intake grate bolt inside the hull before I put the engine back in!!!). Check your intake grate bolts and feel under the driveline for a big gob of silicone on the inside of the hull... there should be one, at least on this RXT model (I don't know if RXP's and other models are done the same way or not).
It took some effort on my part, but I have a nicely running 2006 RXT with only about $2800 in it total (gaskets, a connecting rod, connecting rod bearing set, and stretch bolts for the case and the head).
Point being, you DON'T want this to happen to your ride! If you do find the hull is full of water for any reason, best to pump the water out with an electric pump before starting it and getting back to the dock and on a trailer or lift!!! If the water level in the hull makes it up to the air intake system, you're screwed! If you turn the watercraft to your right and give it throttle, the hull will lean over in that direction and may well suck water into the engine thru the air intake tunnel that runs between the engine and the side of the hull (in the RXT and RXP models with supercharger and carb on the back end of the engine, at least).
If the previous owner of this RXT had run it straight and level for a ways 1st, the built in SeaDoo water extraction system would likely have sucked the water level down to a safe level where he could have turned around and gotten it back to the docks... but, hindsight is 20/20 I guess. His loss, my gain!
- Michael
And since the engine compartment is small, I got to get it out quick.
