2001 seadoo challenger 1800 struggling to get on plane

[BinLadam]

Hey sea doo forum, this is my 2nd year with this boat, so far it’s been running great for the 150 hours I’ve used it. I was out on the water this week with some family from out of town, showing them around the lake and after driving around for about 40 minutes we slowed down/stopped at our 3rd or 4th scenic spot and when it was time to go, the boat was really struggling to get on plane, so much that it I didn’t really want to try anymore.

I must have been giving around 4000 rpm and all I would get is an abnormal vibrating and louder than usual Engine noise. We probably had between 1000-1050 lbs of weight (which is the most ive ever had on-board) one guy weighs over 250 lbs, I moved him to the bow and still the same result. The boat was still idling fine so we just went back to the boat launch.

the engine is a 2009 mercury v6 210 jet drive. The only real maintenance I’ve done Is stator gear lube Change at hour 100, one thing to maybe note is we drove through a shallow canal to get to the 2nd lake so maybe some sand or seaweed got sucked in the cooling system? I flushed it when I got home but haven’t been out again yet

 

[rusty nail]

you may have cleared the problem on your slow ride back like you said.....or cavitation is happening. Many threads on this subject.

 

[rusty nail]

sorry....you said you flush the cooling system. That is not where the problem would be. check the driveshaft and impeller. that is where seaweed would wrap around everything and cause an imbalance.

 

[POPPS]

Rusty may have hit it right on the nail.

 

[rusty nail]

good one.

 

[BinLadam]

sorry....you said you flush the cooling system. That is not where the problem would be. check the driveshaft and impeller. that is where seaweed would wrap around everything and cause an imbalance.

Ok thanks, that gives me somewhere to start. Looking in my mercury service manual.. Can’t find drive shaft, Would the driveshaft also be called impeller shaft?

 

[rusty nail]

no....the impellar shaft is the short shaft inside the jet drive that the impellar rides on. The drive shaft is the long shaft that connects the impeller to the engine and goes through the hull.

 

[BinLadam]

Ahhh, so before I start taking stuff apart I decided to take it to the lake today to test it with just me on board to see if it will keep struggling.

at first when I started throttling up it made the same noises and vibration for maybe 1 second then got on plane and engine noise smoother out back to normal and I was easily getting on plane every time.

so maybe I was able to blow something out that was stuck? Maybe because this boats equipped with bennet trim tabs and I had the bow all the way up a lot of the time with the large majority of the weight already in the back causing a ventilation issue?

 

[rusty nail]

I am a rotax speedster guy and do not have trim . Maybe you could move that question to the mercury forum for help on that. Sounds like the problem cleared itself. Have a good rest of the summer.