Jetboaters worst nightmare!!!!

[Floored]

omega had no bilge pumps. not a good thing. lotta bailing.hard to look cool on beach bailing. first thing i looked at when i bought my Bies was that hose and for pumps and valve. Don't tell my WIFE that i can learn or I'm done for.

[checkmate76]

You don't really notice it with your foot on the throttle, but when you let off all the water shoots up past your feet. OH SH!T eek!
I had a freeze plug come out of the block. major water!! I was a couple miles down river before I found out. turned on the bilge pump and when it was dry I headed back, stopped about three more times to empty the hull before I made it back to the dock.
of course the freeze plug had to be behind the motor mount! having to pull the motor for a freeze plug is B.S.
[ June 29, 2003, 09:54 AM: Message edited by: checkmate76 ]

[Mohavekid]

Been there, done that, sank the boat and broke the trailer.
When I bought my Challenger, my buddy and I took it out to Piru for a shake down run.
We backed in the water and I took the trailer up and parked it. As I was walking down to the ramp, I see my buddy jumping up and down and waving his hands. eek! eek! I ran down there and he say's the boat is sinking. I go take a look and it's got and ton of water in it. eek! I turned on the bilge pump and ran up to get the trailer.
I was in a hurry, and the parking lot at Piru was dirt and very rough. As I was rushing to the ramp, the trailer bouncing all over the place, the bunks bounced right off the trailer. Crap!!! I gathered up the bunks and stuffed them in the truck and rushed down to the boat.
By this time the boat was barely floating and my buddy is standing there trying to hold it up by the pump to keep it from sinking. Fortunatly I had my tool box with me and I dug up some nails to put the bunks back on with. I got them on and the trailer backed in just in time because the rear end was just starting to go under.
After we pulled it out and drained water, I found that the prior owner had left the intake hose off the jet. I was so pissed. I learned then that 1 500GPH bilge pump is not enough. Now I always run 2. One automatic and one manual, just in case. I won't get into the sory behind the auto pump. wink

[bp]

forgot to put the center plug in once. either forgot, or it was sabotage (i like the sabotage story better).
anyway, i was pulling out on the rope and realized my right foot was feeling a little damp. looked down to see the whole center sponson full. pushed off the rope, and yelled for wendy.
i have an 1100gpm bilge pump in the center sponson, two 500s (one in each outer sponson). with all three on, water out was vastly exceeding water in, and by the time it was back at the ramp, the water was almost all gone. found another plug, chokers installed it, went back out to the rope and won the round.
it was nice to know the three bilge pumps would exceed that amount of leakage.

[cave]

I had a Hose burst in my brand new Bies. I was in the middle of the lake looked back and saw water fliging from the front of the motor. I hauled a$$ back to the beach right thru the no wake zone. Only time the sheriff deputies were understanding. Oversite on the mechanic who preped the boat. Wrong type hose for the intake.
I got 3 bilge pumps and a bucket in my Kachina.

[Tahiti Owner]

OK I have one for you...picture this...girlfriend's first ride, I have my 2 daughters with me and her 2 kids too. We head out on the lake get a mile down or so and all of a sudden the motor starts to go slower and slower until finally it stalls. Then it doesn't even turn over. Next thing the wind kicks up and the waves start getting bigger...picture ocean waves. A little panic starts to set in and finally after about 30 boats pass us 1 stops to ask if we could use some help. Well we got a tow back to the launch where she sees a pontoon boat and asks me with a serious look on her face "Why can't we just have one of those?" Of course I just laughed and told her if "We" wanted one of those she could buy one over there as I pointed toward the marina. Now all I have to do is discover why the oil pan is full of water, lets hope for something simple like a head gasket or an exhaust system that has seen much better days!

[dgie]

I finally downloaded the video, took for ever. When he gained speed it sounded like the motor blew up,,3 times,,What Happened?????????

[Kamakazi Ken]

After a long wait!!!
At least the boy had a life jacket on!!!
I was on the lake yesterday and I saw at least 3 boats with kids and no life jackets on.
GOOD JOB.
K.K.
[ June 29, 2003, 10:58 PM: Message edited by: Kamakazi Ken ]

[Infomaniac]

dgie:
I finally downloaded the video, took for ever. When he gained speed it sounded like the motor blew up,,3 times,,What Happened????????? Very sensitive throttle. You have to drive it back down when going that fast. It never finished winding out. Nothing wrong.
I only ease into the throttle and do not wind it out the last few hundred RPM with Jr. on board.

[76 Sleekcraft]

Seems like that has happened to just about everyone. I blew a line off mine last week. Probably was not on tight enough. Same thing happened, when the boat wasnt running very well, I slowed down to take a look, low and behold, water rushed up around the gas pedal. It was so deep in the boat by that time, I couldnt tell where it was coming from. I blasted back to the ramp and beached it.
A new hose clamp, and unfortunately a new starter and I was going again.
It could have been way worse.
Ah, the joys of jet boating!!!