New to floaty toys

[Revo]

As someone that grew up with PWCs, then didn't ride one for about 8 years before buying one, this is what I would suggest:

Find a place where you can practice slow speed maneuvering. It'll be nice to know exactly how to get the craft to do exactly what you want to do before you NEED to be precise.

Practice connecting the key and getting it started (you'll be surprised how often this might help).

Work up your speed slowly. Practice collision avoidance. Practice the difference when you let off and turn, turn while holding throttle, and turning while giving it even more gas. Practice what it's like to turn and let off half way through a hard turn.

In 20 minutes, you can get a very good feel for the ski, and it could very well save your life.

Lastly, when you ride, look far ahead and ride defensively. Give people tons of space. I pretty much avoid people I don't know like the plague when I'm on the water. If I'm not near them, I can't get into an accident with them.

Lastly, mind the depth below you. Don't floor it in shallow water as it's a quick way to make a quick day on the water an expensive one.

 

[sampuppy1]

As someone that grew up with PWCs, then didn't ride one for about 8 years before buying one, this is what I would suggest:

Find a place where you can practice slow speed maneuvering. It'll be nice to know exactly how to get the craft to do exactly what you want to do before you NEED to be precise.

Practice connecting the key and getting it started (you'll be surprised how often this might help).

Work up your speed slowly. Practice collision avoidance. Practice the difference when you let off and turn, turn while holding throttle, and turning while giving it even more gas. Practice what it's like to turn and let off half way through a hard turn.

In 20 minutes, you can get a very good feel for the ski, and it could very well save your life.

Lastly, when you ride, look far ahead and ride defensively. Give people tons of space. I pretty much avoid people I don't know like the plague when I'm on the water. If I'm not near them, I can't get into an accident with them.

Lastly, mind the depth below you. Don't floor it in shallow water as it's a quick way to make a quick day on the water an expensive one.

I appreciate the advice. But I'm a little past the first time rider stage. I'm by no means a seasoned expert, that takes a fair bit of time and even the most seasoned veterans make mistakes. I've read a few stories of some expert guys skipping across the water because of a minor misjudgement.

I've taken to this machine pretty well. I started slow with it but I picked up how it rides and reacts pretty well. And I realize that this thing has more than enough capability to end my life if I abuse it.

I'm on to the winterizing phase of the process now.

 

[jammin777]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCEVRg0zr80

good video on winterizing your ski.

 

[sampuppy1]

I'll be sure to watch that on Wi-Fi later.

 

[sampuppy1]

Finally got my own trailer. All lit up too which is unusual but I like it. Lights and wiring are a couple of my favorite things.

 

[sampuppy1]

Gonna be converting the trailer to all LEDs this winter. It'll be set up very well for low light loading and towing will be a breeze. Haven't even gotten the seadoo on it yet and I'm already liking where this is going.

 

[sampuppy1]

Dropped it off to get winterized. Still debating on getting the turbo serviced.

Also swapped the taillights to LEDs and ran new wiring on the trailer.

 

[Coastiejoe]

How many hours are on the SC?

 

[sampuppy1]

I'm not sure. I'd like to start doing my own service work.

 

[Coastiejoe]

SC rebuilds require special tools. You can buy a kit from eBay but they are cheaply built. Will last for two rebuilds in most cases. The SC is one of the items I recommend sending out to PWCMuscle. One day service in most cases, all new and updated OEM parts, and return freight. I think it is $435 but believe it was going to raise a few dollars.

 

[sampuppy1]

That's pricy as hell.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

no its not.... I bought my own kit from Riva and including labor it still cost me $600 total although we did do some other stuff at the time, if it was SC only I would have been in the $550 range and I thought I did very well on price, would have cost $900+ if I had just walked into a shop and dropped it off.

my SC is kind of buried under stuff due to my riva pipes so I let my guy remove/rebuild/reinstall for me, and it still took him quite a bit of time to do the remove/reinstall. i'm getting gradually better at noticing/diagnosing issues as I now know the difference between running spot on and not quite spot on, but i'm still mechanically a 4tec idiot at this stage, I've had my ski under a year so i'm not quite ready to tackle 4tec projects that I didn't think twice about doing on my 2 strokes.

 

[sampuppy1]

no its not.... I bought my own kit from Riva and including labor it still cost me $600 total although we did do some other stuff at the time, if it was SC only I would have been in the $550 range and I thought I did very well on price, would have cost $900+ if I had just walked into a shop and dropped it off.

my SC is kind of buried under stuff due to my riva pipes so I let my guy remove/rebuild/reinstall for me, and it still took him quite a bit of time to do the remove/reinstall. i'm getting gradually better at noticing/diagnosing issues as I now know the difference between running spot on and not quite spot on, but i'm still mechanically a 4tec idiot at this stage, I've had my ski under a year so i'm not quite ready to tackle 4tec projects that I didn't think twice about doing on my 2 strokes.

I figure if I can rebuild a 4t65e in a garage with zero knowledge of how an automatic transmission functions and have it work flawlessly, I should be able to tackle a supercharger on a seadoo. I'm really mechanically inclined.

If I can access quality parts and proper tools and get some sort of guidance in the form of a service manual or similar (paper or PDF), even documented threads on a forum, I can handle damn near anything.
I was way out of my element on that trans. But I checked, double, triple, and quadruple checked everything and had an ATSG manual to help me along the way. I pulled it apart three times and assembled it four times. Just to make sure I had it right. And I did every time. I'm very patient and methodical when it comes to working on stuff.
I ripped the top half of the engine apart on my truck, and reassembled it with almost no guidance aside from physical memory and torque specs from a Haynes manual.

 

[sampuppy1]

Alright so the winterizing has been completed. I also pulled the seats back off, and stripped most of the upper plastics off to clean the years of nasty that have built up. Gave the inside a good wash again before storage. I took the engine beauty covers off, cleaned and waxed them, filled the tank with 93, added marine sta-bil, cleaned all the storage buckets, yanked the battery, did a final oxidation removal and wax. Put everything back in place exterior wise. Swapped the rest of the trailer lights to LEDs and ran new wires for the extra lights on the frame. Cleaned up a couple rust spots, washed the trailer, touched up some paint. Added a little reflective tape. I haven't got any recent pics cause it's tucked in the garage til it goes to storage and the weather has been dreary.

I did find the supercharger and it looks to be easy enough to access. Also pulled the spark plugs and they look like I'll be replacing them in the spring along with coil packs.

I bought a replacement winter beater for the Grand Prix that got totalled. Although It was one heck of an upgrade and I only paid 60 bucks out of pocket, the insurance payout went into my winter savings and I took it back to get it. So it worn factory cover will stay, the supercharger rebuild will wait and a few trucks items are going to wait as well.

 

[sampuppy1]

The seadoo has moved to it's permanent winter home. My neighbor's barn. My truck has it's garage spot back.

 

[sampuppy1]

Almost that time of year again. Got my three year stickers taken care of, need a couple small odds and ends for the trailer and it should be good to hit the water in a month or so I think. Anything notable to do before first fire up aside from checking fluids and filling with fresh fuel? What about the first time out?

 

[sampuppy1]

Well. It was destined to happen. I got tossed. Bruised my ass pretty good. I'll be sore for a few days. I was tossing it back and forth and it hooked a bit harder on a left turn than I expected. I went for a ride. Sans Seadoo.