Gonna fire my mechanic.

Note: This site contains eBay affiliate links for which SeaDooForum.com may be compensated
Status
Not open for further replies.

LouDoo

Premium Member
Premium Member
Well, we went to the lake yesterday, I was riding the 96GSX, my son was riding the 96GTI. We have a long no wake zone to get to the main lake. When we came out of the no wake zone, we both took off, I went around a bend in the lake and noticed Andrew was no longer behind me, I circled back, he was in the water, and the ski was sitting very low and the bilge pump was running full.

Since we weren't far from the dock we decided to go back and check out the problem, the ski started up and we headed back. We shut the ski off when the temp. alarm went off and towed it back to the dock. Once we shut the motor off the bilge pump, pumped the rest of the water out. When we got back to the dock we discovered the main hose from the pump to the motor had come off, probably because the mechanic forgot to tighten the hose clamp. So I cut about 1/2" off the end of the hose reinstalled the hose, took maybe 5 minutes. Then after that we had a pretty good day.

So that's why I'm firing my mechanic, but to his credit he's the same guy who had the foresight to install the bilge pump and also a new battery, without the bilge pump we would have been in deep doo-doo. BTW the mechanic is me.

Lou
 
we all make mistakes lol, I ran mine out of gas on the water yesterday and had to be towed back in, took nearly 2 hours from the time it died to the time I got back. And it gets better...I just left the marina when it started to give me fits but figured I can't be out of gas, it was full when we got here! But my fuel gauge doesn't work AND to sweeten the story better...I have had a bad habit of running on only reserve. So when it was out, it was OUT haha. But I learned some newbie lessons; never run on reserve, and FIX MY DAMN FUEL LEVEL GUAGE!!! but otherwise...this was also on a 96 GTi and I have had so much fun on this thing
 
Sounds familiar, I've never done anything similar (sarcasm).

I helped a buddy build his 383 striker in his boat. Got it out on the lake and he dropped the hammer. It came to a grinding halt a minute or two afterwards and he turned ghost white. That blocks last words from him were, I forgot to put oil in it.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk
 
It happens. We have all made "careless" mistakes and gotten away with it.

Most important, no injuries, ski didn't sink, you had a good day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Dang that mechanic, anyway!

Good that you were able to fix it and go back to playing!

That's similar to what I did last year with my boat. First trip out, anxious to get on the water. Fired it up, closed the engine bay hatch, let the fogging oil burn off in the cove and away we went. Stopped a couple of times and coved out, listened to some tunes, etc.
Decided to go visit my brother at his lake house so went to take off and the dang boat is sluggish as hell...struggles to get on plane, something it never does with the 454 powering it...lol! It is quickly apparent SOMETHING is wrong (of course my wife asks if I put the drain plug in, and I KNEW I had) so I pull into a cove and push the button to raise the sunpad/engine hatch. Was greeted by about 300 gallons of water, it was halfway up on the engine!
In my haste to get going, I'd forgotten to close the drain petcocks for the headers, block, oil and power steering coolers. So they were merrily filling up the engine bay while we were under way. My bilge pump is not automatic so all that water coming in had no way out!

Turned the bilge pump on, it ran for several minutes pumping all the water out. Spent some time going over things to make sure the water hadn't hurt anything, and then went to my brother's house with a heck of a story!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i should fire myself, i cant figure out why my seadoo wont start in the water!
any how the dumb thing i did was when i winterized my boat a few years ago, omc 350 engine, i removed one of the rubber drain plugs from the exhaust manifolds to drain the water, i forgot to tighten the hose clamp. it blew off the next summer and nearly melted the the bellows that holds the exhaust to the manifold and was smoking like crazy! my daughter and son in law bailed out in the middle of the lake and a few boaters asked if i needed help. had to be towed 5 miles to the ramp took a look at it a day later and found the plug at the bottom of the bilge.:facepalm:
 
I Ingested my tow rope on Ski 13. Clamped off the cooling intake hose and got towed back. Put it on the trailer and pulled the intake grate and cut out the rope. Launched it again and went 200 feet and over heat alarm went off! Dummy! Forgot to un-clamp the cooling intake hose! After everyone keeps saying: Put the key with the clamp.
 
I Ingested my tow rope on Ski 13. Clamped off the cooling intake hose and got towed back. Put it on the trailer and pulled the intake grate and cut out the rope. Launched it again and went 200 feet and over heat alarm went off! Dummy! Forgot to un-clamp the cooling intake hose! After everyone keeps saying: Put the key with the clamp.

You have probably suggested to others to put the lanyard on the valve,,, Thats what makes this worth it.. LOL
 
I forgot to tighten the RAVE screws in my sportster last summer. And after running nicely at 40mph for a while, I heard some metal jumping sound from the back. So I stopped flying and open the engine hood, found both raves were jumped out but still in the holes and ALL screws were still there. Luckily I had the RIGHT Allen key with me, Luckily the screw didn't fall into the bottom of the bilge or into the engine!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That was one of those DUHHH moments!
Like last trip out. Anybody screw in the bilge drain plugs?
Sitting mighty low in the water. They thought it was just the two big women on it.
 
I forgot to tighten the RAVE screws in my sportster last summer. And after running nicely at 40mph for a while, I heard some metal jumping sound from the back. So I stopped flying and open the engine hood, found both raves were jumped out but still in the holes and ALL screws were still there. Luckily I had the RIGHT Allen key with me, Luckily the screw didn't fall into the bottom of the bilge or into the engine!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did that when I replaced the rave bellows right before a long trip to Arkansas. First day out and it's not getting up to rpm, I'm thinking "ok, the bellows are stiffer than the old ones, I might need to back off on the cap" that was until the motor started choking out from the exhaust fumes inside. Limped it back to the ramp and ran up to the trailer to grab some tools, and was back on my way. I had hand tightened the screws but not tightened them down all the way.
 
I was on a long weekend style trip with three buddies a few weeks ago. We stopped for the day at the 1st lake and rode and then went on to our ultimate destination where
we had scored beachfront hotel rooms with a dock right in front of us. We got there around dinner time, and went out for a quick ride then moored the doo's. Next morning
off we go for a few hour ride. Being so easy to dock we were on and off the water all day and evening. Next morning another ride before we all loaded up.

As we were leaving the town following the other 2 guys I noticed a lot of water coming out of their seadoos. We stopped at a McD's for some crap and coffee. It was at that point that our two
buddies realized they had been riding for that first evening, all the next day and this morning with...yes you guessed it...the plugs out. They had unscrewed them after the
1st lake we were at and not put them back in.

So they were out numerous times, and sat moored for 2 days and still never sank. I'm attributing it to maybe enough water being in the hulls (4 tec) that the little "pea" that acts
as a safety had enough water pressure from inside the hull to keep it up against the opening - that or it was stuck up against it....either way D'OH :facepalm:

I've done it myself but realized it at the launch at least. I now check for water by taking the seat off after coming out of the water and leave the darn things alone!
 
Installed an engine in the ski. Drove to the lake, launched the ski and drove it to the lake cabin... Noticed that it didn't have much get up and go and it was sitting low in the water. Got it to the lift and pulled the plugs immediately, but not before the engine ingested water. I've forgot to hook the cooling line back up to the pump after installing the motor...It was pumping water into the hull at a crazy rate. :facepalm:

Needless to say I learned from my mistake and am a lot more patient and won't rush a job now. I also run it on the trailer while it's in the water looking for problems after doing work on skis.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is why a bilge pump is so important, it really bailed me out of what could have been a bad situation (excuse the pun).

Lou
 
Leak Question

could water leaking in (and out lol) from around the drive shaft come from not enough grease in the boot to put pressure on the float ring against the carbon ring?
 
could water leaking in (and out lol) from around the drive shaft come from not enough grease in the boot to put pressure on the float ring against the carbon ring?

This was not the case with my ski, water flooded the hull because the main hose from the pump to the motor came loose. If you are asking a question about your ski, please start a new thread.

Lou
 
Got dragged in :), Ordered this pump:

pump.JPG

750GPM.

I don't like to put the outlet above the tow hook at the back. Doesn't look right to me LoL. Just me LoL.
Where else could be the 2nd good location?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top