Impeller on the rocks :(

[Paul B. Henson]

So last weekend my uncle was riding; he's got bad knees and balance issues and needs to be helped on and off. I was walking to the shore where he was waiting but he wasn't paying attention and backed up all the way to the point where he beached the rear end while the engine was running 8-/. I started screaming at him to shut it off, he did but gave me a look like why was I over reacting. After I pushed it back out and tried to start it only to have it sound like a blender crushing ice he realized I wasn't kidding when I said never to run it unless it was it at least 3 feet of water <sigh>.

I took it home and extracted a good dozen big ass rocks, including two that had gotten jammed in between the impeller blades and needed quite a bit of convincing to come out. How can I tell if the impeller or wear ring are damaged to the point of needing to be replaced? The wear ring has some good scratches on it, but I don't think any big gouges. The impeller blades are pretty dinged up with some chunks missing at the tips. I took it back out after I cleaned it out and I don't notice any cavitation or acceleration/top speed decrease. As long as it's working ok can I let it be for a while? It's a brand new 2021 unit... Or will other damage start to snowball even if it feels ok?

I'm attaching some pictures of what it looks like, thanks...

 

[Milehighguy303]

I will give you my opinion - I think you are very fortunate and OK. the rock seems to have dinged up the impeller, but didn’t really damage the wear ring, so you still have good performance. As long as you don’t have unusual vibration from impeller imbalance, and your ski still has the same top end speed and no cavitation, I would count my blessings and enjoy your ski. The dings to the impeller don’t appear to be significant enough to cause balance issues. At the high rpm that these engines run, slight imbalances are sometimes felt, if present. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Paul B. Henson]

I will give you my opinion - I think you are very fortunate and OK. the rock seems to have dinged up the impeller, but didn’t really damage the wear ring, so you still have good performance. As long as you don’t have unusual vibration from impeller imbalance, and your ski still has the same top end speed and no cavitation, I would count my blessings and enjoy your ski. The dings to the impeller don’t appear to be significant enough to cause balance issues. At the high rpm that these engines run, slight imbalances are sometimes felt, if present. Just my 2 cents.

Cool, thanks for the opinion. I don't think my wife or other riders would notice, but I'll be sure to hop on it myself at least once every time we go out and make sure it feels ok.

 

[nfdmedic]

If you notice cavitation or a loss of speed replace the impeller and wear ring. I put in a solas impeller and stainless steel wear ring and have not regretted it!!

 

[Paul B. Henson]

If you notice cavitation or a loss of speed replace the impeller and wear ring. I put in a solas impeller and stainless steel wear ring and have not regretted it!!

Took it out yesterday and it seemed fine, same power as when we first rode it, no cavitation or vibration. It's only 6 months old 8-/, I'd hate to tear it apart so young. As soon as it needs maintenance requiring a tear down I'm definitely going to replace those parts.

 

[nfdmedic]

I dont blame you. If its not causing an issue leave it alone till it does!!

 

[POPPS]

If it is not cavitating or vibrating...just keep riding...