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Irritation level maxed this morning.

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Hawk388

Hawk388

Active Member
I have a brand new ski. A 2016 GTR 215. I usually do a quick start on the ramp before putting in, but the ramp was so busy, I failed to do this and caused myself some major issues.

I put the Ski in the water and pulled it by my tie up rope to the other side of the dock, tied it up and then moved my truck to parking. Jumped on the ski, put the DESS key on and got two beeps. Pushed away from the dock into a 1kt current heading West with a 10mpg wind blowing West. Tried to start the ski and in turned over twice then stopped. Then I heard some electrical popping noises. The battery wasn't going to start the Ski.

NO ONE asked if I needed help. I asked one guy for help and he said he had to be somewhere quick and he took off. So I connected my tow rope to the front, got in the water and swam the damned thing back to the dock. WHILE people were watching me. 75 meter swim with a 900lb Ski sucked. Was pretty glad to have gone through the military water training in the 90's.

When all was said and done, I noticed all the tags are from out of State. People too busy having their friggin vacation to tow a guy 75 meters to the damned dock!!!

Got home and found the negative lead to the engine was very loose. Positive lead on the battery was very loose. Now, after three hours of work, every damned clamp, hose and electrical wire is firmly attached. I have a great memory for faces. If I see those people out in the Bay tomorrow and they're in trouble, I'll tow them in and then remind them of how the F'ed me. Not that they would care most likely.
 
that sux....I HATE when people refuse to help with stuff like that, we're supposed to be out there helping each other.

I actually had the opposite experience about 10 weeks ago.

I was the last on in my group to launch and my entire group (6 ski's) had already idled towards the end of the no wake zone to clear dock space for incoming boats.... somehow my dock line had come unlooped from the post (no davits) started drifting away, already about 15 feet and heading north with the current.

Dude in the next boat backed down the ramp, let me hop up on the deck, idled me over so I could hop on.
 
Jet pump housing was lose as well. Not just the casing halves, but the mount to the Jetski itself. Every single hose I put a wrench on was lose. All the upper intake bolts were lose as well as the fuel rail bolts. I'll have to get the underneath ones after reoving the whole intake hose system. Fuel hose was also lose on the tank side. So I took that piece of crap off and put a SS Hose clamp on it. I don't have any more hose clamps to use, but you can be damned sure I'm buying some over the next few days before I refloat this Ski. The input shaft to the Impeller was fine. S/C to intake is stupid. I'll be buying some T-Clamps for those connections. Exhaust to waterbox was lose on the engine side, tight on the box side. They appear to be good clamps, so just tightened them down.

I've got to find the workshop manuals because while I'm good on clamp torque, the head cover also had 5 out of 8 bolts loose and I need to know what that torque value is. If the Premium member area had the manuals for the 2016's, I'd just sign up for that. But unless they've updated it recently, I'll have to find some other way of getting the shop manuals. I'm retired Army on a fixed income. So I have to be careful where I spend my money. T-Clamps are a no brainer though. This Ski WILL last me for the next 6-8 years no matter what. I guess I should complain though. I don't have the IS suspension to worry about. However, the unfinished fiberglass SUCKS. I'll be gluing some rubber trim around those areas.

BTW, these tension clamps SUCK! Repeated heat and cooling cycles are fine on the road where I can just pull over. But on the water, 20 miles from home, no freakin thanks!
 
Spimothy Leary said:
that sux....I HATE when people refuse to help with stuff like that, we're supposed to be out there helping each other.

I actually had the opposite experience about 10 weeks ago.

I was the last on in my group to launch and my entire group (6 ski's) had already idled towards the end of the no wake zone to clear dock space for incoming boats.... somehow my dock line had come unlooped from the post (no davits) started drifting away, already about 15 feet and heading north with the current.

Dude in the next boat backed down the ramp, let me hop up on the deck, idled me over so I could hop on.
Click to expand...

In the off season, or when locals are present, I don't have to worry about this. People stop what they're doing and help. It's the tourists who clog up the damned docks, getting their coolers and such out of their trucks WITH THEIR BOATS ON THE RAMP!!!! that makes things so difficult this time of year. That and the idiots who park in the handicap spots thinking they're so damned important they don't have to obey the law. I called it in to the Walton County Sheriff's Department this morning. They know me and when I say people are parked without a sticker/tag or placard, they just send out tow trucks. Watched two trucks/trailers get towed while I was trying to figure out what my issues were. Wish I could have been there when those assholes came back looking for their truck and trailer. It's a $250 fine plus $350 for towing their trucks/trailer. Happy vacation, asshole.

Sorry I'm so pissed. But I use a cane to get around and when some asshole parks in the handicapped spots so he doesn't have to walk as far to put his gear on his boat, I have an issue with that. Not to mention all the elderly people here that love to fish and need close access to the ramp.
 
BTW, last week I towed in a 24' Fish and Ski from about two miles off the ramp. I was very surprised how easy it was with my GTR 215. I made a triangle loop around my two lower tie down points and the ski loop on the back. Then towed them in doing 10mph without so much as a wiggle from the rear of the Ski. Just trimmed the VTS all the way down and it was a piece of cake.
 
Sorry you had trouble hawk. Makes for a bad day along with being irritated at the peanut gallery.

On the positive side it made you check everything on your ski, as well as, possibly saving yourself another headache later. Failure can be a positive, but I don't have to tell you that you know from being in the military.
 
I feel your pain Hawk388, I'm in Pensacola and tow kids with my old Seadoo, and you have to watch out for the tourists on rental skis. I'm towing at Quietwater and they are following me in my wake behind the tube. If a kid falls off they can get run over so I usually stop and stare at them until they leave. They don't understand how to operate them and are usually out of control. It would also be nice if they knew how to back a jet ski trailer.

Ted
 
On my lake, you stay still on your boat/ski for not long and someone comes for help. Different place I guess.

Benji.
 
Hawk, the few times I've had to move a ski w/o power, I've found it much more comfortable pushing from behind with a breast stroke kick.
 
red2blue said:
Hawk, the few times I've had to move a ski w/o power, I've found it much more comfortable pushing from behind with a breast stroke kick.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I had a 25' rope with a D-Ring on each end. Then did a crawl stroke to the dock so I could see where people were. One guy put his boat in and started fishing right off the dock, so wanted to be sure I didn't get hooked.

Yesterday was the absolute worst I've ever seen it. I don't know what it is about tourists, but they act like they've left their brains at home or something. If any local had been there, I'd of been helped instead of stared at.
 
I'm a little disappointed to hear that you had to tighten so much stuff on a brand new ski, that's the second time i've heard that here.
 
Spimothy Leary said:
I'm a little disappointed to hear that you had to tighten so much stuff on a brand new ski, that's the second time i've heard that here.
Click to expand...

It only has 17 hours on it too. It has run very well the entire time. I'm just glad this happened because it made me go through the whole ski.
 
Hawk, sorry to hear this. People suck anymore. I just bought 2 GTX s 155 and $3k in sea doo accessories and I'm fighting with brp to get my free camera. One per purchase, what if I had took the 500 rebate, do I just get one on two crafts? Same thing, people suck and do not do the right thing. I just helped a boater yesterday who motor stopped. I towed him to dock and I had a 8 hour drive I had to make. I Did not have time, but made it to help someone out.
 
My boat broke down on its maiden voyage. Nobody to tow me. Had to call a tow service. Way out in the bay I was.
 
Good for you Brian. There are still good people like you out there. Some years back my wife was stranded on the old Waverunner we had at the time , and a fisherman went clear out of his way to tow her to safety.
 
Today was totally different. I was out in the ICW and I shut down to take some pictures of an alligator and the striations in the sand cliffs. Two different boats and a Jetski stopped to ask if I was in need of help. All three had local registrations on their hulls.

As I was heading back in, I saw a 28' Pontoon boat with a seriously smoking engine. They were in a bad way. Towed them the one mile back to their dock in the back water off the ICW. Tore up my tow rope since they weren't paying attention and the guy gave me $50 to go buy a new one. Also invited me up for their pig roast and a few beers. It was a great day.

After tightening up all my hose clamps, the GTR 215 had a noticeable better hole shot from 0-60 earlier in the morning. Didn't heat soak as much either while jumping wakes behind this guys $130k Master Craft X25 Wake/Ski boat. I did manage to flip the damned ski, AGAIN, while doing this. Before I could swim back to my ski, the dude was already in the water flipping it back over correctly. He then offered to let me run his Master Craft while he ran on my Jetski. THAT was a sight to behold. This dude did stuff on my ski I'd never thought of doing and driving that MasterCraft was outrageous! Found all the right people today while seeing the worst in people yesterday.

My grand daughters mother is in town for the next week. Then my son will be in town a week after that before my grand daughter goes back to Fort Hood to live with them. Just from meeting the Pontoon guys and the MasterCraft guys, I have two new sets of friends to hang out with on the Bay. Should be a fun few weeks. And the MasterCraft dude owns a flippin mansion off the Bay and asked me to bring over my guns to shoot on his property. So yeah. Today turned out much better than yesterday.
 
Another awesome morning on the Chactowatchee Bay! I got permission from a dude who was running an airboat around the Bay to play in his wake. He had three paying customers onboard who loved what I was doing in his wake. Gotta be careful getting too close to the rear of one of those things though! Puts out an impressive amount of wind! But the wake from all that engine and prop in the back was AWESOME! Even had one lady on the air boat ask the Captain if I was part of the ride along. He stopped the boat and motioned me up alongside. Since I have my other two vests in the front compartment, I told the lady to hop onboard and we would ride around a bit.

This woman had to of been 60 at least. But she has some serious muscle on her. She hit me upside the head, lightly and playfully, and told me to jump the wake of the air boat like I had been doing. I told her I wasn't responsible if she fell off. She says, "I do Crossfit four days a week and lift on three of those days. You can't throw me off young man! Now drive this F'ing thing!" After I stopped laughing, I put that GTR through its paces with this lady holding onto me for dear life and her cackling like crazy. I've thrown 30 year old men off the back of the ski who couldn't hold on but this lady was planted and leaned every time she should have. Once we were done, she said it was just like riding her Honda VTX1800C! That lady was AWESOME! LOL!
 
That's a great story, she was a trooper for sure. I had a great aunt who was like that, ready for anything!
 
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