Islandia Fixer Upper

[biffdotorg]

So I am shopping for an Islandia for some friends and may have run into a fixer upper. It's got a new 240 Merc power head recently installed and broke in with 15-20 hours on it.

The fuel guage is not working on it. Would it be safe to assume that the $210 baffle unit on the parts list may be the culprit? Or would that be a worst case scenario? I noticed in Tom's photos that the fuel tank sat behind the engine, like many of that vintage. Is that baffle hard to get at without removing the tank, or rather removing the engine and tank?

Same goes for the fresh water pump, where is that animal located on the boat. It may need to be replaced as well. This boat may be run on a lake that gets Swimmers Itch mid-season, so the shower on the stern would be handy to have.

Thanks for any help you can give me! I do appreciate it.

 

[Dr Honda]

Cool.

I happen to be the board Islandia expert right now. I did a rebuild on one last year.


Anyway... the fresh water pumps allways go bad. If they are left to freeze... water pushes past the seals, and rots the motor. The OEM replacemnt is $400. The same pump from Overton's is about $140. BUT... if you don't mind buying a few fittings.... here's the one I used:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G18959


Looks like the are a WHOPPING $13 right now. (lol) That's a surplus place... and that pump is the little brother to the one in the islandia. Basically... it doesn't have the quick fittings (that's why you will need some hose fittings) it's "Footprint" isn't as big... but as long as you can get one or two bolts in it... it will be fine.... and the flow is about half of the stock. BUT... it's still plenty to run the sink and the shower on the back. Honestly... the lower flow conserves water since you only have 20 gal on board. It is a little higher pressure... but you can remove the front cover, and loosen the screw on the pressure switch. It will settle in at 40psi just like the stock one.


The fuel gauge is Seadoo. So... all the regular fixes should work. It may need a new float... or the gauge could be bad. Unfortunately... off the top of my head... I don't remember how much room was around the back of the sender. (My boat is still covered) But... the engine buy is HUGE, and you can PROBABLY get to it, without too many issues.

FYI... there is a guy in Ohio, that just started posting on ebay. He said he will be parting out an entire Islandia. I tried to email him... but he just said to call the ph#.

 

[Dr Honda]

Sorry... forgot to tell you where the pump is at.


Of you look into the engine bay.... it's on the left side, between the left water box (muffler), and the oil tank.

 

[biffdotorg]

That is great info Tony, thank you!

After watching your project last year, I was jacked to find one with a new powerhead. Now only if I could be comfortable in the sellers ability to put it in right. I can only hope a trial run on the water will be good.

These two items (guage and pump) are not required, but would be nice to have working. The deal on the boat is good, so I may jump on it even if my friends don't want it. Fixing up the trailer and adding Hydroturf and this boat could pull NADA pricing this time of year. Boats are going nutty now that we are real close to ice-out. (it's late for MN)

Thanks for the help, I do appreciate it. If I fix it up, I may have to enjoy it for one season, then sell it.

Mark

 

[Dr Honda]

You didn't say what year it was... but a 2000~2002 will fetch $12k to $14k in good condition. A new power head may or may not bring that up. But every region is different.

 

[igneous]

Member 'RebuiltSeadoobaffle' will fix old baffle and ship back for ~$50

http://www.seadooforum.com/showthre...nit-Rebuild-Service&highlight=fuel+baffle+fix

I'm going to pm him to make sure he can do my 02 X20 unit. There's quite a few available on ebay, but he guarantees them for a year.

 

[Dr Honda]

any updates, or pics of the project??

 

[biffdotorg]

That's a great option to rebuild that baffle. Any option is better than buying a new one at full retail. I didn't search anywhere other than new as I wanted to get list pricing as a worst-case scenario on cost for the project.

Oh Tony, it's a 2001. So yes, $12-$14K has been what I am finding.

This deal was held up a while as the owner was out of pocket for a while. I had to urge him to give me his personal email address and phone number for me to research to be sure it was not a scammer. The price and situation wreaked of scam. I have done the homework, and had enough conversations to realize that this guy is a vehicle flipper and buys a fair amount of wheeled vehicles with salvage titles.

I'm sure that motor burnt up, the previous owner could not justify the cost to fix and was sitting outside for a while. The first things to fade and look like crap are the seats, steering wheel and speaker grills. All have been replaced or recovered. The hull shows little signs of staining. The trailer will need new tires and probably brake fluid if not a new master cylinder, and most of that would have come from neglect or non-use.

Goodyear Marathons at Sam's are under $80 each and I could have them shipped to the closest store for install before towing the rig back.

We will see if we can schedule a water trial this next weekend. They don't have ice where the boat is located. We may have an ice-fishing walleye opener here in our part of MN!! So boat shopping is at a near stand-still.

Thanks guys.

 

[Dr Honda]

When I got my boat... the trailer brakes were toast. The thing that pissed me off was that I told the guy to make sure that they were functional before I arrived. Well... they weren't. So... I drove +500 miles hone without the trailer brakes. My truck was able to handle it... but if I would have gotten into a bind... I would have gotten crushed.

Anyway... after looking inside... I decided to just remove the surge brake... and I installed an electric system, with a swing tongue. It only swings about 2' of the tongue... but it's nice to have that extra room in the driveway. Also... the electric brakes are WAY better than a surge. PA is full of hills, and there are times that a surge will drag going down hill. That kills the pads. Not to mention... backing down a very steep ramp... the electric brakes will still work... but if you want to turn them off... you can do that too. (From the cab)

 

[igneous]

Well, I pulled the fuel baffle out and fixed it myself. PITA was getting a small piece of copper wire to bridge gap, but it worked.
As far as brakes go, my surge system was trash so I removed it all and welded tongue. Don't need it since the boat & trlr is only ~3000 lbs. The EXPY pulls it effortlessly and stops well--which is what's important. When I get a bigger boat I'll upgrade to electric brakes.

 

[biffdotorg]

I was in the same boat (pun intended) when we bought our boat. My X20 trailer's master cylinder was dried up and then the brake line was crushed by the spare tire holder. So brakes are non functional. The size of the boat is at the limit of what I would want to tow without brakes.

Tony, I watched your thread on the electric brake conversion and I think I even commented a few times. I will watch for your updates on how they are working. Since most new boat trailers come with surge brakes, I am still under the impression that electric brakes were not meant to be dipped. But I am all open ears on your experience after a few seasons.

We are pretty flat around here so hills are not a huge issue. Or at least we have no real hills that would collapse a surge brake system. The only time I even feel that collapse are at stop signs and backing uphill. Of course the electric lockout solves that issue. Of course those times that the hills do effect them, it would be nice to be able to adjust them with a brake controller like you would have with electric brakes.

We will see how this pans out.

Thanks for the help guys.

PS: Tony, did you get a pattern cut into your HydroTurf? It looks pretty flat. I was looking at a blue like yours, but with a diamond cut. We love our molded diamond now.

 

[Dr Honda]

My Hydro-Turf is smooth. As far as I know... they don't offer it with a cut pattern anymore for the Islandia. But... you may be able to request it special.


Now that I think about it... you did comment on my trailer brake thread.

Mechanically... they are the same as the surge brake. So, the drums, pads, hardware, etc is the same as far as corrosion is concerned. The magnet is potted in a hunk of plastic, and is sealed/waterproof. So... that shouldn't be a prob.

Now... where you wire the drums to the main harness could be a prob, if you do the normal, crappy trailer wiring. (lol) I think the instructions wanted me to use a wire nut. I soldered all the connections, and put heat shrink over it. (water proof type) Then... I used a 2 pin weather pack plug on it, so I could remove parts, without needing to cut wires. (the weather-pack connectors are like what your a seadoo is full of)


And finally... the voltage, and current are both low. But... if you want to be safe... you can reach down, and turn your controller down to ZERO when you hit the water.

I love the conversion, and the fact that I have control over them, makes it even better. In hilly, curvy roads... I can turn up the power a little... on the open highway... I can turn it down. I can turn it off backing into my driveway... and they work both forward and backward. I'm glad I did the conversion, and I'm not looking back.

With that said... I will keep you guys up to date this season.

I wonder how the break-away battery did over the winter?? (there is an emergency brake battery on the trailer)


FYI... surge brakes were never made legal by the Fed DOT. But, trailer compnais, and rental shops pushed for them, so it was easier for the end user. (since it's self contained)

 

[buckeye_paul]

I've been considering electric brakes on my boat trailer as well. I'm stopping approx. 2200 lbs. and I can smell my brakes when I've got the windows down. I've got A full size Ram 1500. I already have the brake controller for our travel trailer so all I have to buy is the brake kit.

 

[Dr Honda]

I've been considering electric brakes on my boat trailer as well. I'm stopping approx. 2200 lbs. and I can smell my brakes when I've got the windows down. I've got A full size Ram 1500. I already have the brake controller for our travel trailer so all I have to buy is the brake kit.

I got my "Kit" from a place off of ebay. If you want... I can look up who it was from. But it was $188 for the kit... and it was about $210 with shipping.

Here's the thread for the people who would like to see it.

http://www.seadooforum.com/showthread.php?55058-Converted-to-Electric-Brakes-and-a-swing-Tongue