Well, as it goes, in the early 90's I was temporarily laid off from a large Aerospace company in Washington. During that time I sought employment and found it through a connection I had as a very rabid, trigger pulling Seadoo customer. My many hours of effort and education through failures like wrist pin needle bearings, improper case sealing, improper pump sealing, taking the bilge pickup components for granted along with the O-ring that sealed the pump bearings and items like that made me an instant service technician while I waited to return to work. Oh yeah, my other favorite as a kid was not properly sealing the electrical box on the 93-97 models, you know, the one that sat on the floor next to the fuel tank. Pure laziness I admit, but costly laziness.
During that time I went to several Bombardier training schools, where English speaking French guys named "Jean-Claude" simply confirmed what I already knew by busting stuff up in my quest for knowledge. I built race engines, for both watercraft and snowmobiles, but really, I was more about the challenge of fixing broken stuff and doing it quickly while providing a quality product.
Working on Seadoo watercraft was not a job to me, it was like experiencing joy (as long as I didn't setup a new one and get a fresh fiberglass shard under my fingernails) I loved thinking up new ways to speed up time and do a quality job. I was however called back to my employer and life went on from there. Yeah, many people I knew still asked me to work their stuff, but I just didn't have time for it any more. So, I distanced myself from it, I had seen everything you can see on a Seadoo. I had jumped waves in the Ocean, rode around the Puget Sound in Salt water for hours on end on long adventures and occasionally went to the lake party and messed around on them. Lakes were kind of boring to me as they had limitations. The wide open Salt water was surely where it was at if you could handle it. I didn't miss it that much though, we have a boat and the family uses it often.
My son... Now 14 has been riding my friends 1994 GTX for a year. He of course loves it. All he cares about is Seadoo, nothing else. He has no other purpose in life. I made a deal that if he provided straight A's on his report cards, that I would buy another Seadoo, but not a new one, one that I KNEW inside and out. Real smart, the kid nailed the straight A's, then found a boat that needed work from my generation. He won. Unfortunately for me, the GSX limited in 1997 was delivered later than all of the other boats. I only saw a few of them and frankly, there were quite a few differences. I don't assume anything, so here I am. I need some of the guys here to get me up to speed on some things, I know the VTS setup from the 96 and 97 models, the computer re-location and such, but a few things make me ponder and hopefully I can get those questions answered.
In turn, I have the memory of a computer hard drive and can still tear down and build any pre 951 engine and have it assembled, waiting for loctite to cure in a matter of hours and running the next day once it is all dried. So hopefully I can also provide some ideas and share experiences for those unstable, 2 cylinder, 2 cycle, rotary valve grenades that people abused so badly with water and lack of maintenance. Chances are, if you are wondering about a pre 951 Rotax, I can help you with both water and snow. Tracks, pumps, props, gearing, starters and electrical. I couldn't forget if I tried.
It ought to be interesting, especially my first new project, the 951 limited. It runs (barely) but she needs some TLC before I let anyone ride it.
During that time I went to several Bombardier training schools, where English speaking French guys named "Jean-Claude" simply confirmed what I already knew by busting stuff up in my quest for knowledge. I built race engines, for both watercraft and snowmobiles, but really, I was more about the challenge of fixing broken stuff and doing it quickly while providing a quality product.
Working on Seadoo watercraft was not a job to me, it was like experiencing joy (as long as I didn't setup a new one and get a fresh fiberglass shard under my fingernails) I loved thinking up new ways to speed up time and do a quality job. I was however called back to my employer and life went on from there. Yeah, many people I knew still asked me to work their stuff, but I just didn't have time for it any more. So, I distanced myself from it, I had seen everything you can see on a Seadoo. I had jumped waves in the Ocean, rode around the Puget Sound in Salt water for hours on end on long adventures and occasionally went to the lake party and messed around on them. Lakes were kind of boring to me as they had limitations. The wide open Salt water was surely where it was at if you could handle it. I didn't miss it that much though, we have a boat and the family uses it often.
My son... Now 14 has been riding my friends 1994 GTX for a year. He of course loves it. All he cares about is Seadoo, nothing else. He has no other purpose in life. I made a deal that if he provided straight A's on his report cards, that I would buy another Seadoo, but not a new one, one that I KNEW inside and out. Real smart, the kid nailed the straight A's, then found a boat that needed work from my generation. He won. Unfortunately for me, the GSX limited in 1997 was delivered later than all of the other boats. I only saw a few of them and frankly, there were quite a few differences. I don't assume anything, so here I am. I need some of the guys here to get me up to speed on some things, I know the VTS setup from the 96 and 97 models, the computer re-location and such, but a few things make me ponder and hopefully I can get those questions answered.
In turn, I have the memory of a computer hard drive and can still tear down and build any pre 951 engine and have it assembled, waiting for loctite to cure in a matter of hours and running the next day once it is all dried. So hopefully I can also provide some ideas and share experiences for those unstable, 2 cylinder, 2 cycle, rotary valve grenades that people abused so badly with water and lack of maintenance. Chances are, if you are wondering about a pre 951 Rotax, I can help you with both water and snow. Tracks, pumps, props, gearing, starters and electrical. I couldn't forget if I tried.
It ought to be interesting, especially my first new project, the 951 limited. It runs (barely) but she needs some TLC before I let anyone ride it.
