Seadoo Sportster LE (951) Top Speed

[Seadoosam]

Hi all,
We have a 2002 Sportster LE with a 951 engine. On this forum I have been hearing that the boat should do 50-55 mph. Ours manages to do 48 mph with 1 person (170 lbs). HOWEVER, we have installed a GPS (Candoo) speedometer, so could this rather large discrepancy be due to the inaccuracy of the stock speedometer?

Thanks for your thoughts

 

[lurtz]

I have a sporty LE as well. I have a rebuilt engine from S.E.S. that has just started its second season. This month I installed the following: Brand new jet pump housing from SBT w/ new wear ring. New neoprene seal. Rebuilt Stock OEM impeller, new carbon ring and drive shaft bushings/bellows etc. All new motor mounts. Basically everything mechanical is new or rebuilt. This weekend I used my phone GPS and my top speed was 46.6mph. There were very high constant winds on my small lake all weekend creating pretty turbulent white cap conditions. That being said I think with perfect conditions I would most likely only get 48 maybe 49 with a tail wind. I think as long as you are not experiencing any cavitation and the engine revs up to 6500-6700 rpms then you have a healthy drivetrain.

 

[lurtz]

I have been really curious about the candoo gps unit. Where did you purchase and how hard was it to install? Is there any lag with the satellite linking?

 

[Seadoosam]

I have a sporty LE as well. I have a rebuilt engine from S.E.S. that has just started its second season. This month I installed the following: Brand new jet pump housing from SBT w/ new wear ring. New neoprene seal. Rebuilt Stock OEM impeller, new carbon ring and drive shaft bushings/bellows etc. All new motor mounts. Basically everything mechanical is new or rebuilt. This weekend I used my phone GPS and my top speed was 46.6mph. There were very high constant winds on my small lake all weekend creating pretty turbulent white cap conditions. That being said I think with perfect conditions I would most likely only get 48 maybe 49 with a tail wind. I think as long as you are not experiencing any cavitation and the engine revs up to 6500-6700 rpms then you have a healthy drivetrain.

Ok thanks. That's good to hear. Yes, revs are about that-maybe even slightly higher.

 

[Seadoosam]

I have been really curious about the candoo gps unit. Where did you purchase and how hard was it to install? Is there any lag with the satellite linking?

If I remember correctly I bought it from their website (Candoopro.com). We couldn't get the paddle wheel to work correctly so, we installed this. Pretty simple to install-if you are able to install a stereo then you could install it no problem. There is never any gps lag when you are using it. However, when the boat first starts up, it takes maybe 15-30 seconds to get the signal. Other than that, it has been working perfect for the past 3 seasons

 

[Lumps]

I think a lot of people may be a little enthusiastic when they report their top speed. not everyone but some. When I got my 98 challenger, it had brand new wear rings. the engines we able to get up to full rpm at WoT and in perfect calm with a clean hull and one person on board, I was never able to go any where near as fast as the "top" numbers people where saying (with GPS). I was smack in the middle of where most people said their top end was.

anyway maybe some boats are just faster all things considered? either way, I think 48 MPH is probably good enough! if you want more speed you could replace your ware ring and prop and get a little bit faster but this wont last for ever wither way. I am now not too fussed about it. I think my new boat goes a little slower then that and I don't ever go at full throttle

 

[Seadoosam]

I think a lot of people may be a little enthusiastic when they report their top speed. not everyone but some. When I got my 98 challenger, it had brand new wear rings. the engines we able to get up to full rpm at WoT and in perfect calm with a clean hull and one person on board, I was never able to go any where near as fast as the "top" numbers people where saying (with GPS). I was smack in the middle of where most people said their top end was.

anyway maybe some boats are just faster all things considered? either way, I think 48 MPH is probably good enough! if you want more speed you could replace your ware ring and prop and get a little bit faster but this wont last for ever wither way. I am now not too fussed about it. I think my new boat goes a little slower then that and I don't ever go at full throttle

Makes complete sense that people sometimes exagerate a bit- no one wants to have the "slowest" one lol. We are perfectly happy-48 is smoking fast on the water anyway! Just was not sure if there was any mechanical problems!