Wear ring question

[Jeb911]

When I removed the pump, I noticed there was some black sealant where the pump goes into the transom to connect to the hose. What type of sealant goes there?



My 98 sportster would only do around 32 MPH. Will this cause an 8 to 10 MPH loss? I'm ready to put the boat back in the water.

 

[Dr Honda]

The sealant is just black RTV silicone. Put a little around the cooling hose fitting.

As far as speed loss... I can't tell just from the ring. What was the clearance? Also, what was your max RPM. If you had a 10 mph loss because of a pump issue... you would be bouncing off the rev-limiter.

Last thing... how were you measuring the speed? The factory speedo's SUCK, and will tell you different speeds all the time.

 

[Jeb911]

I was using a GPS to measure the speed. I don't have a RPM gauge as of now. My take-off was very sluggish. I had to move the wheel to the right or the left to get the boat to plane off quicker. When I would turn the wheel, the boat seemed to have better get up and go...

Once the boat was up to speed, it seemed to run OK. I can't spin the boat or anything like that. I think my max speed was around 32MPH. I was under the impression this boat (98 sportster, single rotax) should run around 42 MPH... Is that correct? The old ring was gouged very bad in some places. I can tell you I could fit a few pieces of paper between the prop and old wear ring. As for the new ring, the clearance isn't even comparable to the old ring.

I have noticed my shaft has some corrosion on it. I have not ordered a shaft yet. However, I plan to order one within the next 6 months.

 

[RFoster130]

How's your impeller look? Make sure none of the blades are bent or the edges aren't torn up. To me, that ring looks like its gouged up from one side to the other. Not just in a typical wear pattern.

 

[Jeb911]

 

[RFoster130]

Well that looks brand new. Have you ran it since you put the new ring in? IF that didn't fix it, i would be looking into the engine. But without a good tachometer its hard to know whats going on.

 

[Jeb911]

I havent put it in the water yet. I was just curious to know if a really worn out wear ring would cause my issues... I will post an update Saturday.

 

[Dr Honda]

I had mine running into the mid 40's. (with 2 people and the top back) I would loose about 5 mph with the top up and 3 people.

RPM is going to give us the real info here.