Almost Sank Today!

[ocod]

I have been building a fankenstein 96 GTI with parts I had lying around.
Ski started as empty shell that I got thanks to nammer's Florida's thread.
It was ski minus engine/white box/fuel baffle/stering cable and wear ring.
I had big $$ items with long block and white box.
The rest of the stuff I got from Jess(99spxxx)
So I made a friend ski.

So after a few closed lake/canal runs I said it was ready for ocean run.

I took a buddy to ride my 95 XP and we went out to put it through it paces.

We started at 10am from point A and went east to small island near point B where we stoped to check skis over.
I saw the XP had decided to leave me a puddle of oil :banghead:
I deteremined no hoses were disconnected/cut and there was oil in the tank/lines. I said all good and headed SE under bridge near B to open water.
We headed to sand bar near point C for another once over to ride down to point D Stiltsville:drool5:
It was few mile south from that point's tip.

http://www.google.com/images?rls=co...&oi=image_result_group&q=stiltsville&tbm=isch

After some sight seeing we headed back around Key Biscyane to point C.
When we get under bridge and hit the gas he tells me all of the sudden it rev's but no go??

I have him pop seat and I see the drive shaft splines. I now it wasn't good and I was at risk of sinking.
No auto bilge.
I tow him to sand bar where I see all 4 motor mounts are boken off.
I guess it didn't like me jumping and doing 360's.

I tell him to two up on the XP and I go as fast as I can towing GTI back after I pinched line.
I knew water would be pouring in through carbon seal.

As Im going its getting harder to tow b/c it was filling with water up to the battery by the time I got it back to the little island near B.
I try to lift nose up to drain but it's so heavy so I got to getting water out with my gatorade bottle.

Did as much as I could to get me back to dock A but with no wake zone it was going to be a challenge.

As I'm trying to make it back it starts stalling.
I ran out of GAS :banghead::banghead:.

I make to homeowners seawall and shes outside. I ask if I can dock b/c Im having problem.
I ended up swimming the last few feet to get there.

Home owner has someone come out and he helps me out with some pre mix in a 2 gal container.
Guy didn't want money and said not to worry he was glad to help.

(Link to map way points)
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=W...6776065,-80.15600107,1001.18,0,0,0&iwloc=ddw3

Needless to say we had a great 4 hr run.
Hoping to hit the water again on Sunday with other GTI and XP.

Sorry for the long post but it was a an adventurous day and thought of sharing.
Going to mak sig line saying "have you ordered your bilge yet"

 

[Spimothy Leary]

good story and glad you made it back.

a nice fresh reminder of how quickly good goes bad when out on the water on a ski, its not like an outboard where if the motor breaks your drifting, a ski can sink very quickly.

glad you didn't go out in the big water alone, you could have been floating out there 5 minutes after the problem started.

remember that the starter probably got good and saturated, try to crank it a few times over the next few days, since rust can form inside there very quickly, i've seen a few times where people forget about that and a week later the starter won't budge.

and yes, the bilge might have saved you just enough fuel to make it all the way.

ps.. isn't riding two up on an xp with a ski in tow just sooo much fun ? i've done that twice and it feels like your going to tip over any second the whole way

 

[ocod]

good story and glad you made it back.

a nice fresh reminder of how quickly good goes bad when out on the water on a ski, its not like an outboard where if the motor breaks your drifting, a ski can sink very quickly.

glad you didn't go out in the big water alone, you could have been floating out there 5 minutes after the problem started.

remember that the starter probably got good and saturated, try to crank it a few times over the next few days, since rust can form inside there very quickly, i've seen a few times where people forget about that and a week later the starter won't budge.

and yes, the bilge might have saved you just enough fuel to make it all the way.

ps.. isn't riding two up on an xp with a ski in tow just sooo much fun ? i've done that twice and it feels like your going to tip over any second the whole way

hahaha

At the seawall and the dock I was stop leaning!!!!

Looking at them right now. Found one w/o stainer base for 10 bucks.
Need to find part but will probably be more than buying complete bilge

Sparyed everthing down with some fluid film and I'll keeping starting it jik as well.

 

[nammer]

yikes, glad you're good oscar!

thanks for sharing your story

 

[manolocross]

Where are you guys that your riding late oct? Sounds like fun...

 

[Strizzo]

Where are you guys that your riding late oct? Sounds like fun...

his profile says hes in miami, as are stiltsville and key biscayne

 

[Minnetonka4me]

WWMD??

In this case I would have put the motor back in position...then jammed whatever I could find on shore between the motor, battery, and gas tank so it couldnt slide forward. I would have drained as much water out on shore before basically idling it back.

Hopefully my bro didnt sell you those motor mounts!! LOL I think its a florida thing...I rarely see broken mounts up here.

 

[ocod]

Where are you guys that your riding late oct? Sounds like fun...

his profile says hes in miami, as are stiltsville and key biscayne

Yup, It's a wonderful thing.

WWMD??

In this case I would have put the motor back in position...then jammed whatever I could find on shore between the motor, battery, and gas tank so it couldnt slide forward. I would have drained as much water out on shore before basically idling it back.

Hopefully my bro didnt sell you those motor mounts!! LOL I think its a florida thing...I rarely see broken mounts up here.

x2. Pretty much what I did with exception of jamming something to keep engine from moving.

I've got replacement mounts coming from him though.


I finding it hard to believe you don't go through dozens of mounts jumping waves like you do.
I look forward to choppy weather when I ride w/o family.

 

[Minnetonka4me]

LOL I wonder too...I broke like 3 batteries and 6 battery boxes....but only had one front mount let loose.

I upgraded to Rhass AWESOME urethane motor mounts....They are approx $50 ea. I sell them so let if anyone is interested let me know. guaranteed for life!

 

[ocod]

LOL I wonder too...I broke like 3 batteries and 6 battery boxes....but only had one front mount let loose.
I upgraded to Rhass AWESOME urethane motor mounts....They are approx $50 ea. I sell them so let if anyone is interested let me know. guaranteed for life!

I knew it. There's no way your not busting them left and right.
I've seen those before and definitely and upgrade from stock.

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Haha i have a story about almost sinking as well...a couple of weeks ago, i was helping my buddy get ready to take his ski off the lift at Lake of the Ozarks and take it out to put it on the trailer for winter. The lift they have seems to loose pressure over a month or so, so they put the ski (97 spx) on the lift backwards so the jet pump wont sit in the water if it drops from nobody using it.

So we go to start it up, of course it has a dead battery, so we go over to the Chris Craft and get the battery out of it and jump it the ski. Battery was on the SPX was so dead it finally turned over once and we get it started. We dont want to kill the ski because we had been fiddling with the battery for a good 10 minutes before we started, but after about 15 seconds we realize oh shit the ski is out of the water and we need to get it on the water...

So here's where the brilliance starts, instead of putting the seat on the ski and going out and putting around in the cove for a few seconds to let it get water through it, he pulls the ski off the lift as it is still running, with no seat on it and tries to turn it around by holding the handlebars while he is sitting on the dock (he said he does this all the time)...

Im standing here watching, I notice he is loosing control of the ski, (seemed to be idling a little high) and all of the sudden the ski slips out of his hand and the DESS key is still on the ski :banghead:. He proceeds to jump about 4 feet off the end of the ramp, LANDS ON THE SKI (mind you still no seat on) grabs the key, and the SPX proceeds to flip over. Now it is an unseasonably cold early October day in mid missouri (48 degrees with the sun setting) and Im standing on the dock watching in awe as his ski is upside down about to go down like the titanic and i dont know weather i should laugh or get in the freezing water. He finally got it tipped back upward about 3 feet from the dock and all that is out of the water is about the hood mirrors and up. I take off my Nike's, safely place my smartphone and wallet to the side, and get on the lift to help him pull in on the lift. Finally, get it up. It is like 80% full of water, and then we proceed to let 60 gallons of water drain through ONE DRAIN PLUG!!! (Cmon seadoo, everybody else has two, it was painful to watch). Eventually, mostly drained we break out the shop vac to get out water from the rest of the hull and the rear black ebox.

Of course the engine is full of water, so we crank it over get most of the water out and figure we need to take it out to burn the rest of the water out and we still need to get it off the water to take it back to my buddy's house an hour and a half away. I put my hand on the exhaust as i am looking things over and notice the engine rocks violently, as one of the bolts on the rear support have sheared out. So now we dont want to run the damn thing on the water in fear of messing up the PTO/ Driveshaft/ Pump...Luckily we handn't winterized the boat yet, so I capped off the water lines and he has to tow the SPX FOUR MILES to the boat ramp. Finally, an hour later he shows up and it is on the trailer. Luckily he finally got it started back at home after charging the battery on a trickle charger, seemed to be just clicking before. (Also, we had it "Fully Charged" up at O' Reiley's on their charger, I call bullshit how can you fully charge a battery that was at 11% in 30 minutes, took it back to put on the ski and it still wouldnt start, thats when we got the boat battery. and yes the ski has a new sealed battery)

And i thought it would just be a simple day pulling the ski out and winterizing the boat, turned out to be an all day project and had to come back the day later to still winterize the boat! Moral of the story, plan for the unexpected...here's a pic of my buddy and how he felt about me laughing at him as i watched him shiver

 

[Strizzo]

the way the x4 (and earlier 2 seat skis too) rotate in the air, they land pretty soft on their tail. the 97-up xp hull, on the other hand, doesn't so much, and it lands pretty hard compared to the x4.

 

[Minnetonka4me]

The landings a violent if you hit some cross chop...Typically thats how my batteries used to get loose. That and jumping wind wake and getting the timing off.

CR I hope that guy got that thing running that night and ran the hell out of it to get the motor dry...or hes in for a rude awakening next spring.

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

well with the motor loose like that we figured it would be more harm than good to try and run it with out fixing it. I think he took it home, took the pump and driveshaft off and ran it on the hose for like a half hour so it could get as dry as possible...but honestly i think he is secretly hoping it blows up so he can buy a brand new one lol

 

[Spimothy Leary]

well with the motor loose like that we figured it would be more harm than good to try and run it with out fixing it. I think he took it home, took the pump and driveshaft off and ran it on the hose for like a half hour so it could get as dry as possible...but honestly i think he is secretly hoping it blows up so he can buy a brand new one lol

wouldn't that burn up the carbon seal ?

 

[ocod]

well with the motor loose like that we figured it would be more harm than good to try and run it with out fixing it. I think he took it home, took the pump and driveshaft off and ran it on the hose for like a half hour so it could get as dry as possible...but honestly i think he is secretly hoping it blows up so he can buy a brand new one lol

wouldn't that burn up the carbon seal ?

Nope, sounds like driveline was removed so no carbon ring in place.

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

yup, with no driveshaft in place you can really run it as long as you want to on the trailer, kind of a nifty way so you dont have to take it back to the lake to get the water out of the ski. The fact that i can take the jet pump and driveshaft off in about 10 minutes makes it alot easier than driving back to the lake, paying 15 bucks dock, and being cold in the october water. Not worth it to me..

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Also, another tip for people who have to get a tow in. If you take out the sparkplugs and you take off the cooling hoses, you can put the spark plugs in the cooling hoses and tighten them back down with that worm clamp and you can tow as fast as you want without getting water in your engine. The plugs fit perfectly in there, just make sure they are really tightened down, dont want it to come out and it sink your ski...

 

[Spimothy Leary]

yup, with no driveshaft in place you can really run it as long as you want to on the trailer, kind of a nifty way so you dont have to take it back to the lake to get the water out of the ski. The fact that i can take the jet pump and driveshaft off in about 10 minutes makes it alot easier than driving back to the lake, paying 15 bucks dock, and being cold in the october water. Not worth it to me..

duh, sorry, missed that part...