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Thread: What to do, leaky jet

  1. #1
    thatguy
    Need some advice.
    I have a 79 Miller 19.5' Ski-Jet. Bought it this fall and drove it once. Boat is in beautiful condition. Really flawless inside and out. This is my second 79' Miller and this boat is twice the condition as my last one. My problem is this.
    I pulled the 454 and am almost done w/ the rebuild. Last week I put the hull in the water for about 30 minutes to fix a board that was loose on the trailer. When I loaded the boat back up, I had about 3" of water in the back, all the way up to the front motor plate mounts when sitting at angle on the ramp. I inspected the bottom and can see no leak point around the intake. The paint is perfect all around the grate. I think the leak is at the back of the intake adapter where it is hard to see. I am going to pull the jet and transom plate, but I have never done it before. My bowl does not have an O-ring, just silicone and it is sealed tight. What silicone do I use to reseal and what is the best way to do it? It looks professionally done now. It is a Berk 12-JC or JG, can't really tell from the tag. If I find that it needs re-sealed at the hull (grate) I would rather pay a good shop to do it. I am not a glass man and have limited time to work on it.
    I read the Berk re-build section at CP, but it is not detailed enough. I am capable, having been a machinist and building race cars for 2 decades, but have never done this.
    Any help or reassurance is appreciated. Also, any shop recommendations in Sacramento or Redding? I live in Redding and drove by the couple shops that would do it, but they looked like backyard operations and I was uncomfortable leaving my baby there. So, is it easy to do?

  2. #2
    Goad
    since you have the motor out....i would park it on a dry surface and fill the bildge up with a few inches of water.....that way you can find out where its leaking from.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    1,863
    Unless you have a set back pump, never use silicone to
    seal a transom adapter to the boat or bowl. It's just the lazy mans way of doing things. If you have a set back pump, set back far enough to render the o ring useless, then you have to use the crap.
    If it's a stock set up, take the rubber gasket that goes in between the TA (transom adapter) and the transom and silicone it to the TA, making sure it bonds nice and flat. Let it dry. Then install the O ring on the bowl, slather it with white grease, coat the flang on the TA where the o ring seats with white grease, and also coat the now dried flat rubber gasket that you bonded to the TA earlier with the same white grease. If you've read the installation instructions, go ahead and install. It's kinda idiot proof when it comes to installing it, but one tip is to get a 3 foot long chunk of 2X6 and wrap one end of it with some scrap carpet. With your buddy sitting on the ground holding the reverse gate with his hands and his feet placed on the lower corners of the TA have him push with his legs while you hold the board at the top of the TA and pound it with a good size hammer, until it slides on to the rubber o ring.
    Install the ss bolts and sinch every thing down, using NO silicone. When you install the two wood type ss screw in the bottom of the TA go ahead and use a little silicone here over the heads of them once you've screwed them in nice and tight.
    That's all there is, and you'll be able to take it off and on for years and it'll never leak. Never.
    You can also use a little of the white greas when installing the seal on the steering tube between the large 2 nuts that compress the seal. It'll help it from tearing and ...leaking.
    If you have a JG berk, it'll have a round circle of nuts and studs at the rear of the bowl rendering it a split bowl. A JC is just a one piece bowl. Good luck ad remember no silocone.

  4. #4
    b's sanger
    Float the boat again on the trailer for a few minutes and make sure your loose plumbing is above the water line. I had a similar problem when I float checked the hull. Water was pooring in from the water inlet on the pump intake line.

  5. #5
    Devilman
    Another thing you can check before you start tearing things apart, is make sure your drain plug is in tight & sealing properly. Sounds stupid, but its free & takes all of 10 minutes or so. One weekend at the lake, I notice my bilge pump running way more often than usual while tied off. Went & checked on it later in the day to find the bilge nearly full enough for water to go over the stringers. Worried the rest of the weekend that I had some sort of upcoming repair job. Did the trick that Goad described when I got home and found my leak was the plug wasn't tight.....
    Just a thought.

  6. #6
    Mr. Crusader 83
    i have the same problem.... mpd just did the pum and it still brought on water. come to find out. its back flowing through the bilge pump hole on the side of my boat when its on shore.

  7. #7
    thatguy
    Thanks Guys,
    I will fill the hull before I disassemble. I should have mentioned that I had the plumbing shut in, I re-plumbed the system w/ hardline off of the bowl. I have several "shut-in" valves, one a short distance from bowl , another one at the T before the header water switch. Then a flow control on engine inlet line. The only hoses are from T to header metering switch that is mounted at drivers seat, and one short run to engine inlet manifold. (The manifold is the one from CP) I almost sank my last Miller when a hose came off with out me noticing!
    If I ever get home again I will post a pic.
    The bilge pump hole is high on the rear of transom, but I will certainly take a look at that. Plug is a likely candidate, I had to put it in from the rear, is that wrong? The last boat had a lever type that had been shortened to fit down in from the inside.
    If I am reading the replies right, you are saying to seat the bowl O-ring before attaching assembly to hull, correct?
    Thanks again for all the help.
    PS- I have some pics of boat, how the hell do I put them on here?

  8. #8
    Devilman
    This is the plug my boat has:
    http://i9.ebayimg.com/01/i/06/cb/1c/18_2.JPG
    The problem was I just didn't tighten it enough before flipping the lever. The plug is on the outside on my boat as well, I just position it so the lever is pointing up so nothing can accidently trip it & let it leak.
    And you don't have to put much water in there to check for leaks either. When I did it, I let it get maybe 4, maybe 5 inches deep in the bilge & it was probably more than enough.
    Far as pics of your boat, prolly the fastest way is to just add them as an attachment to your post. They will show up as a link to be clicked on & somebody almost always will post them up from there for you, LOL.

  9. #9
    thatguy
    Thanks, Here are some pics.
    The pan is just for cover, got the 10 qt. Milidon jet pan on it now. If them damn Brodix 280cc square ports were just a little cheaper, they would be on it already.

  10. #10
    Devilman
    Thanks, Here are some pics.
    The pan is just for cover, got the 10 qt. Milidon jet pan on it now. If them damn Brodix 280cc square ports were just a little cheaper, they would be on it already.
    Here ya go. Nice lookin boat BTW!
    http://www.***boat.com/forums/attach...0&d=1166125263
    http://www.***boat.com/forums/attach...1&d=1166125291
    http://www.***boat.com/forums/attach...2&d=1166125320
    http://www.***boat.com/forums/attach...3&d=1166125346

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