Leaving boat on the water???

[To2d]

I thought I read in a post that these boats "99 speedster SK" are not meant to be left on the water for long periods of time.

(If all seals are working as designed.) How long "many days" can you leave the boat on the lake before you need to pull it out?

 

[Dr Honda]

The driveshaft seals leak to keep themselves cool. SO... it's just a gamble. You may not have a real problem with it... or it could be sunk the next morning.

 

[To2d]

That’s scary!!! Anything you can do to help your odds???

 

[Dr Honda]

Put in a double battery, and wire in 2 auto bilge pumps. OR... get rid of the carbon seals, and install regular stuffing boxes. (seal and bearing pack) The down side to those is they can fail in a BIG way. Basicly, if you lose the rear seal, and the bearing rusts, and seizes... it will spin with the driveshaft, rip the boot... and leave a big 1-1/2" hole in the back of the boat. In turn... sinking the boat in about 20 seconds. This is exactly why Seadoo went to the carbon seal. They leak... but it's controllable. AND... it's virtually impossible for them to fail catastrophicly.

These boats simply weren't meant to be used this way. Think... Big jetski... not fishing boat.

Don't get me wrong... if you are camping, and want to leave it in overnight... just check on it every few hrs. But don't plan on leaving it at your local marina.

 

[To2d]

We take ours to the lake on weekends and we will leave it in the water from Friday night to Sunday morning. We are also using it all weekend long.

I’ll keep a better eye on how much bilge water there is. In the morning, lunch, and at the last ski of the day.

Knowing this now I’ll just keep a better eye on it before bed and when I get up.

 

[Bdk1282s]

I've left my 95 speedster in the water overnight after it failed me, it didn't take on any noticeable water

 

[justinsrad98]

I left mine in the water with a exhaust gasket leaking and it didn’t sunk. Was full of water after the night but both engine started and where fine after.

 

[Half Baked]

Had my 96 Speedster in the water overnight for 4 nights, I do have an after market Johnson bilge pump with float wired direct to one of the batteries. Never filled with water and battery never lost charge even though on day boat went unused so bilge was relied on for about 36 hours.

 

[matempl]

My 96 gti uses a carbon seal and we take it houseboating where it stays in the water for a week. It takes on zero water overnight. This summer it went two days not being used and was fine.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Obviously you CAN leave them in the water as long as they don't leak or fill with rain they'll be fine but if left unattended long enough they all will eventually sink.

If you do leave your boat in the water unattended, make sure the automatic bilge pump works properly. Check this by filling the bilge with water until the top of bilge pump is covered, The pump should automatically come on by itself at this level.

If the battery switch is turned off, the bilge pump MAY not work, depending on how it's wired. Some boats are wired this way so be certain not to overlook this possibility.

Many boats have dual pumps, solar cells, dual batteries and/or constant shore power or some combination.