Fall riding and leaves in the water

[Shark Tooth]

Took a ride yesterday in the river and was wondering about sucking up leaves in the intake. A couple times the ski was sluggish to take off but seemed fine after a couple seconds. At the end of the day once they were on the trailer I started them up and a bunch of leaves came out of the back. Should I be concerned at all?

 

[Coastiejoe]

Look up into the intake grate and make sure it is clear.

 

[Hawk388]

This happens to me all year long in some of the places I ride, but with Pine needles. It will usually clear out on it's own with a couple of hard hits on the throttle. However, sometimes the Pine Needles are floating all over the place right up to the ramp. So as soon as I get home, I'll use my hose to spray the intake grate out and fairly often, Pine Needles will fall out. I'll then start it up and shoot water into the grate as well as do my regular flush.

Once I'm done, and everything has dried up, I'll use a flashlight to look into the grate. 9/10, it has been cleared out by just doing my regular after use maintenance.

 

[Shark Tooth]

Everything looked clear from underneath, thanks for the info.

 

[gti 130 wow]

I have a big problem with pine needles right now to the point I might have to start paddling away from shore .
No the pine needs at times will not come out no matter what you do.
Their V shaped configuration gets trapped on the output vain and is about as big a pain as landing on a fence post with the post between your legs.
I have to go through the day with a 2+ mph loss of top speed .

My best solution now is to use my 1800 psi pressure washer with the red tip .
Its red cuz its so powerful I am pretty sure it could bore a hole through your arm !
I use the washer to blast the needles . Then after turning the engine over a couple of time some hiding behind the impeller come out and I blast again .
I am thinking about trying to make some straw shaped attachment to put on the vac with the hope it could grab it .
I am also looking around for some grabber tool sort of like what is used to pick up screws for use at the dock .