97 GSX semi-sank at the dock..

[Ryan331]

Hello all, I'm still pretty new to the site, not new to skis but this one has me stumped - Had quite an adventure this weekend.. I do have a tech question, and I did a search I apologize if this has been discussed.. Short story is my boat 'sank' day 1, but day 2 it was fine

This weekend, I went up to lake Nacimiento for 3 days on the lake.. ended up adding 12 hours to the 97 (2 and 3/4 tanks of gas), +10 hours to the 96, both performed almost perfectly, my ONLY problem was the 97 (now at 260 hours) was floating really low at the dock when we got there the second day..

Popped the seat, and it was filled with water, up to ~4" under the factory flame arrestor inlet.. I pulled the spark plugs, cranked it over, no water shot out, so reinstalled plugs, fired it up.. It ran.. Scooped out what we could, got the water level below the intake under the seat..

Took it out, trying to lean it to the left so water didn't get near the factory arrestor.. Got out of the no wake zone, up on a plane and 2-3 minutes later, stopped it, popped the seat, already noticed it was riding higher.. Very little water in the hull at that point..

Couldn't see water coming in anywhere... Tied it up overnight again, but in a shallow slip, so if it did sink it'd just end up in the sand ~5 inches down.. It was still floating high the next morning

The only thing I can think of, is we had 3 skis tied in one slip, and this one had the aft starboard corner under the water, the way we tied it off.. Not too far under, but we had it tied so neither ski hit each other, and neither ski hit the dock, lots of wake coming in/roughing them up.. Any chance where the two hulls meet are leaking? Any thoughts on how I can check this/repair this? Should I not worry, as it ran fine, and didn't sink again?

And the high hour 97 still pulls several MPH higher at the same engine RPM than the 96.. That one still has me stumped

 

[donkey]

im thinkin the carbon seal was leakin a bit,maybe had some debris between the carbon ring n the stainless collar,possible,but only a maybe.
i havnt had a hull seam leak,nor seen one,atleast that wasnt visibly damaged.

 

[Ryan331]

im thinkin the carbon seal was leakin a bit,maybe had some debris between the carbon ring n the stainless collar,possible,but only a maybe.
i havnt had a hull seam leak,nor seen one,atleast that wasnt visibly damaged.

Hmm that's possible, thanks for the feedback - not too much debris on this lake but possible.. The hull may have been damaged before, the bumper in that area had been replaced by the previous owner (but I haven't run across this problem in 3+ years now) Externally it all looks normal

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Yeah, you really just need to strap it down to the trailer, dunk it down a little bit. And see if you can see where some water is coming it at. That is really all you can do

 

[Coastiejoe]

Once you try the trailer suggestion, do it with the ski running and not running as some seals leak when not in use and others leak when in use...

Just make sure you have no straps or lines floating around once you back down the ramp...

 

[Ryan331]

Excellent suggestion on the trailer I will have to try that out.. Thanks for the input!

 

[RebuiltSeadooBaffles]

FWIW, my 95 SP when backed down into the water still strapped up (fully dipping the rear under water) made it leak where the 2 hulls meet, I pulled it out siliconed the crap out of it inside and outside and it slowed down, when were at the beach and off the ski the back end is a good 2" out of the water so I am not really worried about it as it only starts to leak a bit when someone is on it or at the dock.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Excellent suggestion on the trailer I will have to try that out.. Thanks for the input!

Trailer option is nice as it holds the ski a bit lower in the water and actually helps to find the leak as it is not moving around and the displaced water is greater as compared to just sitting in the water (aka more water pressure against the hull).

 

[DA080682]

Is the battery vent hose hooked up to the battery, or laying in bottom of the hull? If you submerge the vent port that is just below the bond line of the hull while the other end is open in the bottom of the hull it will leak water into the hull.

 

[Seadoobuddy]

1.Is the battery vent hose hooked up to the battery, or laying in bottom of the hull?
2.If you submerge the vent port that is just below the bond line of the hull while the other end is open in the bottom of the hull it will leak water into the hull.

1. if you have a sealed battery then NO NEED to connect it....actually there is no place to connect it except on a "open cell" type battery. the ones that you can unscrew a plug to fill w/ water/acid.

2. the vents have a one way check valve in them so they can't leak water back into the hull.

 

[DA080682]

1. if you have a sealed battery then NO NEED to connect it....actually there is no place to connect it except on a "open cell" type battery. the ones that you can unscrew a plug to fill w/ water/acid.

2. the vents have a one way check valve in them so they can't leak water back into the hull.

You are correct. The reason I thought of the vent line is exactly because if you go to a sealed battery there is no place to connect it. I forgot about the check valve as it should keep water from coming back in IF it is working.

 

[Ryan331]

Thanks for everyone's input - I'm just glad it didn't put a damper on the weekend, and now I have a few weeks to figure out where it's leaking from.. That, or I put the limited back on the trailer in it's place.. Has an issue with the bendix but it runs great once it starts..