Crook?....
Ok never mind.... I have a guy that's going to weld the pipe for me.
This XP has been a money pit. Nothing major yet but all the small things that can go wrong have. Boy did I get ripped on this deal. So people please know what your buying and dont end up getting taken by a crook like I did!!:rant:
I don't think you got taken. As Karl said, you bought a ski that was old.
The water leak your talking about is normal. I've had to repair mine and I've helped many other members fix theirs. I bet the water started leaking at the round knob looking piece. Thats where they weld the cap on for the water jacket that pre-heats the water before entering the engine.
When I had the leak, when I took it off, I prodded around the pipe and found weak sports on the other cap. The white powdery stuff is built up calcium deposits that eat away at the metal.
I used aluminum JB weld on mine (1997 Challenger) and it hasn't leaked again since. That was three years ago. The trick is to make sure you grind all the weak spots out, clean it really well to get a good surface to adhere to, then use the two part "tootsie roll" type. It's a nice pliable compound, easy to use.
As for knowing what you got. I just bought a 1997 GTX this past June. Got a great deal. It only had 100 hours on it. The ski sat up a lot in a work shop up in the country. The shop had his tractors in it and was climate controlled. The ski looked like it came off the showroom floor. The bilge so clean, you could have eaten off the bottom of the hull.
When I bought it, the first thing was to get rid of the grey fuel lines. But, since then, I've had a lot of things that had to be done. Not because of abuse, only because of old age and sitting.
So, if you take the chance to buy the older skis, expect a certain amount of work. The only real thing you can do is check the compression. If you got a good motor, then you can go from there. But, don't expect to buy a 10+ year older ski and not expect it to be in perfect riding condition. It's work keeping these things up.
I have the Challenger boat and the GTX, both from 1997. The work on them only stops long enough for me to take them out and have fun. The next day, their back in my shop being tinkered with.............:cheers:
