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New Member
New guy here. (I posted a hello in the Meet and Greet forum.)
Yesterday (Saturday) I bought a '94 SP.:thumbsup:
I've been casually looking for an older PWC to knock around on. My brother called me Friday night and said that he had a line on a Sea-Doo for cheap. How cheap? He thought $200. He had the phone number of the guy (a customer of his in his tree-service business) and got more info and set up a meeting for us. The asking price was actually $250.
I went up yesterday (Saturday) to look at it. It was in the back yard under a Sea-Doo-branded cover, the trailer hub deep in pine needles. We pulled the cover off. The little boat looked good -- especially for something that had been sitting out in the weather for a lot of years. That cover really helped.
As you can see from the picture, the registration ran out in 2003. Yep, she's been idle for a while.
We pulled the seat off and found a very clean engine and a very clean hull interior.:hurray:
The seller (a gentleman named Ovid; how cool is that!) said that he had bought the SP in '94 for his son. His son went off to college in '98, and they used the boat very, very little over the next few years until it got used for the last time and parked in the yard under its cover in '03. He estimated less than 50 hours total use. He was "pretty sure" that he had had it winterized before he parked it that last time since, he said, "I always did. I don't know why I wouldn't have that time." The condition of engine and engine compartment certainly seem to suggest that it had been put away correctly.
I offered him $200 (hey, ya gotta try, right?:blush
. He thought a second and said, "How about we stay at $250, and if the engine is shot, I'll give you your money back." I took the deal.
We pumped up the tires (the trailer's gonna need some new ones), I paid him, we did the paperwork, and we pulled it to my brother's house about two miles away. The tires stayed up for the trip.:hurray: (I live about 35 miles away. I left it with my brother.)
My brother, his neighbor and I started messing with it. We pulled the plugs, greased the shaft, sprayed some lube down the cylinders and turned the shaft. So far, so good. We stripped off the air cleaner and cleaned the little bit of varnish off everything. We hooked up a battery and turned it over. Compression seemed good. (We didn't do an actual compression test.)
We cleaned the plugs and put them back in, put in some fresh gas and started it up. It took a couple of tries spraying carb cleaner up into the airbox, but pretty soon it was starting up without it. We only ran it for a few seconds at a time because we didn't have any water hooked up and running through it, but it was a joy to hear it run. It sounded good and strong.:hurray:
It still is going to need some work and a good bath, but I am really pleased with the purchase. We have been doing a family camping weekend over Memorial weekend for the past five or six years, and we get a lot of use out of my brother's old Waverunners. I'm looking forward to adding this Sea-Doo to the mix.
All the best,
Chris
Yesterday (Saturday) I bought a '94 SP.:thumbsup:
I've been casually looking for an older PWC to knock around on. My brother called me Friday night and said that he had a line on a Sea-Doo for cheap. How cheap? He thought $200. He had the phone number of the guy (a customer of his in his tree-service business) and got more info and set up a meeting for us. The asking price was actually $250.
I went up yesterday (Saturday) to look at it. It was in the back yard under a Sea-Doo-branded cover, the trailer hub deep in pine needles. We pulled the cover off. The little boat looked good -- especially for something that had been sitting out in the weather for a lot of years. That cover really helped.
As you can see from the picture, the registration ran out in 2003. Yep, she's been idle for a while.
We pulled the seat off and found a very clean engine and a very clean hull interior.:hurray:
The seller (a gentleman named Ovid; how cool is that!) said that he had bought the SP in '94 for his son. His son went off to college in '98, and they used the boat very, very little over the next few years until it got used for the last time and parked in the yard under its cover in '03. He estimated less than 50 hours total use. He was "pretty sure" that he had had it winterized before he parked it that last time since, he said, "I always did. I don't know why I wouldn't have that time." The condition of engine and engine compartment certainly seem to suggest that it had been put away correctly.
I offered him $200 (hey, ya gotta try, right?:blush
. He thought a second and said, "How about we stay at $250, and if the engine is shot, I'll give you your money back." I took the deal.We pumped up the tires (the trailer's gonna need some new ones), I paid him, we did the paperwork, and we pulled it to my brother's house about two miles away. The tires stayed up for the trip.:hurray: (I live about 35 miles away. I left it with my brother.)
My brother, his neighbor and I started messing with it. We pulled the plugs, greased the shaft, sprayed some lube down the cylinders and turned the shaft. So far, so good. We stripped off the air cleaner and cleaned the little bit of varnish off everything. We hooked up a battery and turned it over. Compression seemed good. (We didn't do an actual compression test.)
We cleaned the plugs and put them back in, put in some fresh gas and started it up. It took a couple of tries spraying carb cleaner up into the airbox, but pretty soon it was starting up without it. We only ran it for a few seconds at a time because we didn't have any water hooked up and running through it, but it was a joy to hear it run. It sounded good and strong.:hurray:
It still is going to need some work and a good bath, but I am really pleased with the purchase. We have been doing a family camping weekend over Memorial weekend for the past five or six years, and we get a lot of use out of my brother's old Waverunners. I'm looking forward to adding this Sea-Doo to the mix.
All the best,
Chris
