Water got in my engine compartment, I'm new here btw.

[ProtoSpeed]

Well, first off my name is George and I'm in Houston. I am completely new to the boating world being my first ride, 2008 Seadoo speedster sc 215. I absolutely love this little boat and am glad I made this choice so much fun....

After this being the second day of taking her out with my dad on the way back to shore the motor started bogging down. I couldn't quite figure it out at first until I start look around into the engine compartment to find water half way the motor..... Not know what was going on I call the seller to find out the drain plugs on the back end were open I jump in to close them up and we start bailing the water out of the compartment. Once done getting all the water out or as much as we could to the bottom we make our journey back to shore hoping it would quit bogging down... But it doesn't of course to my luck... I am really new to this so can some one please help, I want this to be only a minor bump in the water.

What are some the possible damages or things the could have happen with this event?

Where is an highly recommend place to take it with great work and honest people that won't try taking advantage of my situation?

Btw for sure the water did not get in the intake... I just don't know what other things are susceptible to water damage.

Again thanks for any ones help with my situation.

 

[xintersecty]

If you pull your boat in/out with a trailer develop a checklist before putting it in the water. Pilots use checklist for good reasons.

Most likely you should be OK if you feel confident you did not get water into the exhaust system (other than the cooling loop). Good save and a great lesson on NOT taking boating too casual.

 

[devonte007]

First off, welcome to the forum and congrats on the new boat. Sorry one of the first voyages turned out this way but just about all boaters have been in your shoes at least once, for some reason putting the plug in the boat is a lesson we like to learn the hard way!

Based on what you described you probably did not do any serious damage to the engine, but I would check a few things anyway to be sure. It may be best to do this out of water and on the trailer. Check the oil and make sure the level is good (half way between the bends on the stick) and that the level has not gone up which could indicate water intrusion. Then also check to make sure there is no water in the oil itself. Take the spark plugs out and turn the engine over a few times but have someone hold open the throttle from the engine bay all the way open as you crank, this puts the engine in 'drown mode' and cuts spark and fuel. See if anything comes out of the spark plug holes. I would also go ahead and put in new plugs while you are in there.

If everything looks good up to this point, then start crawling around the boat to check all fuses. There are many fuses, in-line, fuse boxes, etc. Take each one out and check it, if it is wet then dry out the connector and re-coat everything with a water displacing spray.

Try the engine again and see how she runs, if on trailer out of water make sure to hook up to a hose and do not run for more than a few minutes at a time. Make sure to start engine, turn on water, turn off water, shut down engine in this order only or you could flood the engine with garden hose water - very important.

Also, describe your issue in more detail, what do you mean by 'bogging'? when you open the throttle what does the engine do? What rpm's are you getting exactly? The more info you provide to us the better we can help you, and hopefully it is something simple. Are you getting any engine alarms, or codes that indicate something is wrong? The bogging may be the engine entering limp mode due to something wrong or an electrical issue do to the water flood. After everything dries out it may go away on its own. If it was salt water, make sure to hose everything down and coat everything with a water displacing and/or anti-corosion spray or you will have bad luck down the road.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Being new, let me throw a few things your way...

The starters in Seadoos are BIG money to replace with OEM starters. That said, if you ever need one, do NOT buy an aftermarket starter as generally speaking they do NOT hold up. The fact that yours was likely submerged, you will shorten the life for sure. Though it is a hassle, I would remove the starter and dry it out VERY well. As long as you have it torn apart, I would replace the brushes as they are cheap and easy to do and they are what fail in many cases.

If you do run the boat on the trailer, you need to do so in this fashion. Hook the hose up, do NOT turn it on. It goes like this, engine one, water one, water off, engine off. If you turn the water on first, it can make its way through the exhaust and into the engine and cause at a minimum a locked up engine to a maximum of destroying the engine.

Almost any boat/ski will run pretty well on the trailer, it is not until you get it into the water and get a load on the impeller that you can really tell if there is an issue.

Due to the level of water you got into the hull, you need to look at EVERY electrical connection that could have been touched by the water. Unbolt, unplug open the electrical boxes, pull fuses ect ect.. You need to make certain these are dry as the water will create a poor connection and you will fight this issue forever it seems.

Open the engine hatch and get a fan in the area and get quality air movement in there as this will help tremendously in drying out the engine bay.

So in a nutshell, pull the starter and dry it out. Dry all electrical connections and put them back together with dielectric grease, if you start it on the trailer, follow the engine on-water on-water off-engine off procedure, get a fan in the engine bay area.

Once you get through this frustration, you should be good to go and have a good time out on the water...

 

[ProtoSpeed]

Devonte007 thank you very much for your response... well I decided on this one to take it to the experts first thing in the morning, which the came up with a piece log in the pump... supercharger is bad, and going to do a boil out procedure inn the motor. So those are the basics for now. I'm trying to give this one to the insurance if I can but more than likely this may be an expensive out of pocket expense. Sad to say... but I'm not going to give up on this by any means and one big lesson learned in boating. I'll update when more information comes along.