Sucking up Debris

[jdefonseka]

Is it me or does anyone else notice this...
My 2013 GTI SE 130 constantly sucks up stuff from the river and then doesn't accelerate pass 5-7Mph. Anymore acceleration shakes the ski violently. I exclusively ride on the Delaware river and sometimes depending on storms, there can be some debris on the river. I have got stuck at least 6 times with stuff getting stuck in the prop/ intake. Now when I ride, I'm exclusively concentrating on avoiding whatever is in the river. No matter how small the object is.

Usually when this happens, I first shut off the ski, rock it back and forth trying to free whatever is stuck. That almost never works. So I ether have to jump out and clear it or ride around 5mph to the boat ramp if that fails. Most of the time, it's something like a small piece of tree branch that's stuck. Free it and it's back in business. So far nothing has done any damage to the wear ring/ impeller or anything around it.

My comparison is to my Honda Aquatrax which I used to ride in the same river through all kinds of stuff and it never got stuck.
I mostly ride long distance (Sometimes 30 - 40 miles) and is frustrating. Is there any solution to this (Other than finding another river that's free of debris) ? Any tricks to free up debris from the intake grate/ prop area?

Cheers!
Jeff

 

[Spimothy Leary]

that is pretty strange to have that bad of luck,,, I've probably put 500 hours in on my two ski's over the last 3 years and i've ridden over everything you can imagine, with 5 different ski's in that time, and haven't been stuck once.

 

[Coastiejoe]

It is clearly an issue due to where you ride. Can't stop it if you don't change your location...

I have read where others have put some chicken wire over their grate.

 

[AircraftDoc]

Chicken wire, huh. Or Hardware cloth, maybe.

I know some people have added skegs to boats and seadoo's. You could mount three in a triangle formation forward of the grate. Maybe it would push the debris to the side. You would get great stability at least.

 

[brutal]

The only advice I can offer in addition to the chickenwire is DO NOT run over a snake.

Hard to get that wet leather out from the prop shaft.

Pretty gross too.

 

[Coastiejoe]

The only advice I can offer in addition to the chickenwire is DO NOT run over a snake.

Hard to get that wet leather out from the prop shaft.

Pretty gross too.

And if you do,, make SURE it is dead. If not it will be pissed..

 

[jdefonseka]

lol... that'll be pretty scary.

Great idea about the chicken wire... maybe something to consider.

What I have had clogged in there was never anything big. Mostly little tree branches and such. One time I had a small piece of wire rapped around... I guess it threw the balance of the shaft out. It was shaking quite a bit.

 

[racerxxx]

I run the Delaware North of the Philly and never run into anything. Gotta watch the Lily pads, plastic bags and bodies. Back in the Rancocas even where it's tight I've never sucked anything up. I assume Moorestown you hit the Rancocas too then.

 

[jdefonseka]

I use the ramp at Curtin Marina right by the Burlington Island. Sometimes I travel up north to where the 295 overpass is and sometimes further (Couple of miles depending on tide). Some days I will ride south of the Marina pass Philly down to the Commodore Barry bridge.
I have never got stuck north of the Marina. Once it happen near the Marina (Under the 413 Bridge) and mostly I have got stuck close to Philly. Never had a problem in the Rancocas creek.

Problem is, there isn't many places to pull over in the Delaware river. So I have no choice but to jump out and fix it.

Last Saturday I next to the battleship when something got stuck again. I had to limp at 7mph for about 1/2 hr to find a place safe enough to stop.

I guess the configuration of the intake is different in the Seadoo compared to my Aquatrax since I used to run the Honda in this river and never had a issue.

 

[greggebhardt]

Only thing I sucked up was a wooden cigar tip that got between the prop and the wall of the tunnel. I had to remove the bike from the water and get it dislodged.

If it is debris, like leaves or green slime, I have found that getting the bike up to 5-10 mph and turning hard to the right or left while turning the engine off will almost always get rid of anything outside the intake grate. It has worked over and over and by turning the motor off you stop all suction and turning side ways pushes the debris off the grate sideways.

Try it next time.

 

[red2blue]

No offense meant here...to anyone.

Don't like getting stuff stuck in your ski?...don't run through garbage.

Wanna put chicken wire over your grate?...good luck.

Wanna put something even more restrictive across the front?....enjoy the new found freedom...at slower speeds....with still no guarantee that you won't suck up the protection...heh. You gotta understand the forces involved....they're pretty...severe.

Skegs to channel crap away from/past the intake? With skegs...alignment with center line of hull is critical and I'm gonna disagree re handling. I think turning would suck...especially at speed.