Hello from Tulsa

[CLAYMORE]

Hi, Claymore here from Tulsa Ok. New to the Seadoo Jet Boat scene but not new to wrenching... I have an engineering degree and have worked professionally in many fields; Architectural, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Manufacturing as well as owning my own business. I currently work for an Architectural firm, check em out a www.ksqarchitects.com if you like, we do some nice work all around the country. I have rebuilt motorcycles, cars and jeeps in the past so my mechanical aptitude is getting better with time.

I bought a 1996 Seadoo challenger 800 off of Craigslist for a LowBall price. It needed everything of course. I was told it had 30 hours on the motor as it was rebuilt due to frozen water crack somewhere. Pistons looked good with a flashlight and nothing looked real bad so I purchased it. Head pressure is almost 150 in each cylinder and the plugs looked to be a good color (baked golden brownish).

I have a shop manual and have gone thru the 4 checklists I can find and have it water worthy now. We took it out last weekend and it ran as good as expected. I had to tighten a few clamps and bail the water with a cup as the bilge pump is dead. This test run proved that the boat was worthy of spending more money on. It runs 50 mph with me, 45mph with two adults and 40 mph with two adults and two kids...not to shabby. Hits about 7000 rpm without issue. High speed jets seem great but the low speed jets may need a poking to clean em up... Smokes like a 2 stroke should and overall ran great.
On our last run in the middle of the lake I apparently sucked up something and the wear ring delaminated, chunks came off of the leading edge. Due to massive cavitation I hobbled back to the dock going only 15 mph....Bummer. Now I will rebuild the jet pump, cause I can't just take it apart to replace the ring, that would not be me.

I have lurked here on this forum for months, learning from all the issues and recommended fixes and that is much appreciated. I am not new to forums and know there is always a guru in each bunch, you all seem to have a few here as well.

Anyway, I’m here now and will most likely have a few questions. I have taken pics and if you have a build section on the forum I will post my wrenching results.

Thanks for reading, look forward to future interaction.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

Welcome from the Sunshine State !
I owned the exact same boat for a spell and I really liked it.
Positives: Seadoo engine, vs an outboard which to me is like learning another language...
Negatives: Limited passenger capacity (600 lbs i think) so it's really only for 4 people and two of them better be Chicks, but it was fine for my family, Me and two women.
its amazing the difference in performance with no wear ring isn't it ? small stuff makes big differences.
Good Luck with the boat.

KCR357 is the man for the upholstery, but i'm assuming you know that already by now.
I found the cupholder replacements are available at wallyworld for like $2 each
i found the replacement clasp's for the cooler, hood, floor storage online very reasonable, no need to buy OEM, i think I paid $15 online each for a set of 3... if you need the link, i can dig it up (assuming your's are shot) its a standard clasp, I'd just have to research my purchase history on ebay.
also, check the cables close in the back, they have a tendency to get all rusted up from sitting in the back if the previous owner wasn't diligent about getting ALL the water out of the engine bay.
Also check closely at the exhaust outlet, the last three challenger's i've seen those little rubber jobbies were on their last legs and if they blow, its a big hole back there, it will sink the boat FAST.
I got lucky and found my turf on evay from a guy that bought it and never installed, so I only paid $125 or something crazy, but taking off the old turf was a major PITA.
the hull's clean up amazingly well...
I used soft scrub and a scrubby pad to clean up 90% of the gunk, wet sanded the rough spots with 1500 grit, then buffed the whole thing out and it came out really really nice, I could have gotten a mirror shine had I stuck with the buffing but I kind of did it half azzed.
also... watch out for that ski pole that pop's out... check it twice before using it, mine was hanging on by a thread.
ps.. did your's come with the storage tray in the back ? seems like those are always missing, and are very expensive to replace.
Enjoy the boat !

 

[CLAYMORE]

Thanks Tim....

It does indeed have the back tray and I will check the pole again. The pole seems kinda cheesy to me but from what I read it will pull a skier.

KCR357 will be getting an email soon, along with my order. I will be changing the color scheme from the hideous TEAL (90's colors) to a blue and gray setup.

Thanks again for the warm welcome and I will strive to be a positive contributor to this forum with all my posts. I will start my build / rebuild thread soon in order to document the process of a 96 challenger restore. Maybe someone can use it to their benifit in the future.