Tidal Moorings

[lyttlea]

Hi Guys,

I have been fixing up a challenger 2000 over the winter and its almost time to get her in the water.

I have been searching with no luck for someone who keeps their boat on a tidal mooring.

I have a pontoon at the back of my house that i was planning on keeping the boat on all summer. it has water about 2 hours ether side of high tide and the rest of the time its silt, the kind that you sink in up to your waist.

is that going to be ok with the jet drive?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Alan

 

[Coastiejoe]

Seadoo boats are not designed to remain in the water. The carbon seal can fail and the boat will sink. In fact, the manual even states not to keep the boat in the water long term. You should get a bilge pump at the very least.

I could see silt being an issue. Even if it didn't hurt the pump, it could easily plug up cooling lines from the pump to the exhaust and what not.

If you are set on keeping the boat there, I would get a tarp that you can slide along the hull when docked. When the boat hits the silt, the tarp will keep things clear. Or, maybe plywood you could anchor below where the boat will be floating. Maybe hold the plywood down with sandbags..

 

[lyttlea]

Thanks, I can keep it on the driveway but obviously for convenience the pontoon would be preferred. The tarp is a great idea!

 

[Coastiejoe]

I fully agree,, keeping it on the water would be much easier.. You just have some considerations in order to do so in the case of both being a Seadoo boat and the silt it will be sitting on..

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

If you have constant shore power then a small battery maintainer might help keep things alive such as the bilge pump. I'm not sure if your bilge pump operates with the battery switch turned off but I generally like to leave my switch off when left unattended and especially while connected to my shore charger.

I like the tarp idea Coastie, hopefully that'll help keep mud and muck such as mussels out of the pump! My pump worked much better without that big mussel stuck in the intake grate.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Anything in the pump creates issues,,, I'm sure a muscle darn near stopped you... After all, Muscles are very strong..

 

[Seadoobuddy]

How about a hoist for the boat and ski. They will be out of the water 100% of the time.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

sitting a jet boat hull in 3 feet of muck is not a good idea.

Actually its a really bad idea.

You could get away with an outboard since you could trim it up, but besides the tarp idea (still trying to picture that) your going to have that intake filling up with mud.