255 Open ID goes forward when put into reverse

[cooper8747]

I have a 2019 Open ID with twin 300's that I purchased from Cycle Springs Power Sports in Clearwater, FL. At about 25 hours I experienced a scary defect. I will docked up bow-first at the St. Pete City Marina. When attempting to back out of the slip, I started both engines, clicked it into reverse and the boat lunged forward into the cement seal wall, damaging the hull. Cycle Springs picked up the boat and concluded that it was a bad house battery. Huh? Everything else hooked up to the house battery was working fine. And, how is can this be an acceptable signal of a failing battery? Nevertheless, they brought the boat back to me. As I went to back it off of their trailer, the same thing happened! The boat went forward when put into reverse. Fortunately, one of the Cycle Springs employees was there to witness the issue. This time the blamed it on the brand new house battery not being fully charged. C'mon!! They must've had their fingers crossed behind their backs when telling me this. They also went on to say that Scarab screwed up the wiring of the boat and the INR should be wired to the Starting Battery, not the House Battery. Okay, fine... so they deliver it back to me. It backed up off of the trailer okay so i took it back to my dock. The very next time I go to use the boat, the SAME THING happened. WTF? Again, they picked up the boat and are now blaming it on a different wiring issue. They said they're able to replicate the issue when starting the motors in a specific sequence. Starboard, Port instead of Port Starboard. I purchased this 100K+ boat exactly 1 year ago and have been without it due to this issues 6 months.

Have any of you seen or heard of anything like this?

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

I haven't heard of this. But "lunging forward" definitely means the reverse bucket not being in the correct position. Nothing else controls the boat going forward. The reverse bucket needs to be properly positioned behind the jet nozzle and should be blocking the nozzle perfectly to get 100% reverse thrust. The easiest thing to do is to simply test this out outside of the water. Just put the boat in neutral, forward and reverse and watch the bucket. Full forward, the bucket should be all the up and out of the way of the nozzle. It should clear it completely but just a bit past it. Reverse should have the bucket perfectly aligned with the nozzle. Neutral is harder to judge but it needs to partially cover the nozzle. Neutral is best tested in the water of course since you'll know if you're creeping forward/backward. Most jet boats creep forward slightly in neutral.

I don't see how this is battery or wiring. It would be the reverse bucket cable, or adjustments to the bucket/iNR.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

I should add, make sure your nozzle has no damage of course too. In case it's missing a bolt.... the nozzle should not be able to move up/down. Left/right only. If there's up/down movement, something is wrong and this could also explain temporary issue.

 

[255IDTwin300s]

UGHHH -- ok - here is the deal.. From someone that has the same boat and experienced the same thing. It is NOT a wiring problem or battery problem.. Your bucket that moves up and down to either let the jet nozzles spray our freely ( forward ) or the bucket comes down a little where it is causing the water coming out of the jet nozzles to have SOME of the water diverted by the bucket making some water go straight out the nozzle out the back and the rest of the water coming out of the nozzles diverted forward toward the front of the boat ( NUETRAL) . OR the bucket lowering down more where basically all the water coming out of the nozzles are being diverted by the bucket to shoot the water/thrust towards front of the boat causing the boat to back up ( reverse).

There is a hydraulic motor ( in engine compartment way in the back on NON driver side ) that has a beefy rod attached to the motor that controls the position of the bucket.. That rod has most likely been BENT due to something may have got caught in between the bucket when you went in reverse ( perhaps a pc of floating wood or something that stopped the bucket from lowering ) OR like mine -- a tiny roll pin designed to allow smooth movement on the bucket got stuck and caused the rod to bend -- bending the actuator rod causing the rod ( which was say 10 inches long - ) now to be 6 inches long because of the bending ( think of a 10 inch long pc of metal from end to end -- that length is CRUCIAL to the proper operation of the bucket being that the hydraulic motor only knows the be moved a certain length , so when that rod is bent like a V, it is now way shorter than the 10 inches it WAS - so the actuator still does it 's job and moves that rod the distance it is supposed to - but now it's technically and effectively only moving the bucket it is attached to only say 3 inches instead of the rod usually moving the bucket assembly 6 inches - and now when you go to put boat in REVERSE - the actuator doesn't push the bucket down far enough because the rod is bent.. Make sense?? So -- you THINK your boat is in reverse - the display shows you it is in reverse - it IS in reverse - BUT - what is reverse in these boats?? It's a bucket coming down far enough to catch the flow of water going out the back and divert that water to go the opposite direction to go towards the front of the boat - causing the boat to back up.. Simply put - your bucket is no longer going down far enough to capture the water flow coming out of the nozzles and reverse that water flow back towards the front of the boat..

There is only 1 other possibility and it is almost impossible. That would be that the throttle control is backwards - which I find nearly impossible -- I mean that would mean that the boat whenever it was built was never tested - AND that the boat has always done that from day one. No chance. This is a bucket issue -- and by the way - to have a dealership tell you that it could be a battery?? baby jesus.. that is scary. They are a huge dealership too.. If you put the boat in reverse while on the trailer - and the bucket goes UP -- then the wiring is backwards on the throttle control.. I don't know how that hell that could happen - but I guess it's possible. But - if while on trialer you put the boat in Reverse and the bucket goes down--- then it's simply not going down ENOUGH . Which leads me to believe that the rod got bent on the actuator that controls the bucket. All you have to do is lift up the engine compartment while the boat is on and on trailer , and have someone put throttle in reverse and neutral etc. You will HEAR the actuator and then you will SEE the actuator and see the rod I am speaking of.

The rod should be Straight.. not bent.. All fo this happened to my boat because of a tiny pc of titanium ( a small roll pin ) designed to allow movement of the bucket and I guess mine got stuck - causing the rod to bend. I think the rod itself is titanium as well -- it's super strong and needs to be for safety purposes. But the electric motor is stronger.. and it WILL bend the rod causing effectively - no more reverse..

Don't think this doesn't happen to other jet boats -- it does. Also - things like this happen in outboards as well. I know of multiple people who have had a broken gear in an outboard in the foot causing NO REVERSE. Always check when coming into a harbour or a landing , dock, etc to make sure you have reverse.. Hope this helps.. My fingers hurt.. BTW Scarab was great about fixing mine - of course all for free. When you think about it- when you THINK you are in reverse and you go to give throttle while thinking you are n reverse -- you still shoot forward... that can be BADDDDD