Frustrated Chapparal Jet Boat Owner

[Jessica]

Hey everyone!! I'm happy to have found this site and hope you all are able to help my husband I start to enjoy our new jet boat. We recently purchased a 2016 Chapparral Vortex and have been so frustrated with it. We keep it docked during the season, and we are 3 for 3 with getting debris sucked in before we even start our trip!!! We get out of the no wake zone and that's that! Once we were able to 'rev' whatever was stuck out, but the other two times we have had to take the boat out of the water and take the jet drive apart!! We are beyond frustrated because we have yet to enjoy a trip on the boat!! We had an i/o bowrider before this so its all new to us. Any advice or suggestions are very welcome! Thanks in advance!

 

[njmr2fan]

Welcome to the boards @Jessica, Glad you found us!

Sorry to hear youre having trouble on your new boat. We have several Chapp owners on the board and I'm sure they'll chime in soon, or as soon as the MDW bbqs are over.

In the meantime you may want to use the search bar for the reverse clearing technique. Someone have a good explanation of it?

Hope to hear that things get better, and again

 

[subysti]

What type of things are getting sucked on? Rope and such, well you just have to avoid, plant matter should be chewed up and spit out. The reverse trick will get a lot of debris out. Get the boat moving backwards safely, the cut the engines and put the throttles back in forward. This will move the buckets out of the way and hopefully water will flush the debris back out the grates. The other option is a Yamaha with clean out ports

 

[buckbuck]

Welcome Jessica. The reverse move does clear most things but unfortunately jets are inherently prone to sucking up weeds and sticks if they are in abundance. Usually, once you get on plane it is a rare occurrence.
Where are you boating and what kind of water conditions do you have?

 

[McMark]

Our river is particularly stick-y, especially getting through a lock. I feel like I won the lottery if I get through a lock without sucking up debris. I've said a few times "never again", then I saw a guy in a bass boat hit a submerged log and crunch his lower unit. I've only not been able to clear wood jammed between the impeller and housing once where I had to pull the boat and it was the first ingestion and had to figure it out. I use a pair of needle nose and pull or push the debris in the direction that the impeller spins and if you can get it to move a little, it will release.

 

[OCMD]

Here is further detail on the "reverse trick."

https://jetboaters.net/threads/easy-way-to-clean-debris-out-of-your-jet-pump-without-pulling-plugs.16/

 

[Jessica]

What type of things are getting sucked on? Rope and such, well you just have to avoid, plant matter should be chewed up and spit out. The reverse trick will get a lot of debris out. Get the boat moving backwards safely, the cut the engines and put the throttles back in forward. This will move the buckets out of the way and hopefully water will flush the debris back out the grates. The other option is a Yamaha with clean out ports

The first time it was bark from a tree, about 1" x 3". Tree debris is by far the most popular in our river. We will definitely be trying out the reverse trick -- is there a chance of ruining anything on the boat with that trick!? I read somewhere that putting it in reverse when something is stuck could mess the boat up more. It seems like that's a popular method, so I'm guessing no?

After investing as much as we did on a 2016 brand new boat, a Yamaha is not in our near future!

 

[Jessica]

Welcome Jessica. The reverse move does clear most things but unfortunately jets are inherently prone to sucking up weeds and sticks if they are in abundance. Usually, once you get on plane it is a rare occurrence.
Where are you boating and what kind of water conditions do you have?

We are boating in the delaware river -- our slip is at an inlet marina about 5 minutes off the river.

 

[swatski]

then I saw a guy in a bass boat hit a submerged log and crunch his lower unit.

That is exactly a problem with boating in small rivers! I had a year few years back in which I destroyed 2 lower units in an outboard. Going fast in the channel. Never saw what I hit.
Puts things in perspective, I tell you! I don't even curse nowadays when I have to clean out the pump.

 

[Bennie]

We keep it docked during the season, and we are 3 for 3 with getting debris sucked in before we even start our trip!!! We get out of the no wake zone and that's that!

@Jessica - am I reading this correctly?... you aren't getting these items sucked into your jet while moving but rather as soon as you get going. It seems like this may be due to an accumulation while your boat is docked and those small sticks are stuck under your boat. Once you get out of the low RPM "no-wake" zone you may be sucking those sticks up and then clogging your jets. Am I right on this?

You may want to try to "clean" the grills before starting up. Perhaps a truck wash brush that can get under your boat and clear the area free of any debris? Worth a shot. I'm sorry to hear about your experience. We looked at the Chaps as well, but it was the Yamaha clean-out ports that were part of the reason we went with a Yam instead.

I hope you get this all cleared up.... no pun intended.

 

[arew~SX230]

To borrow from the realestate people...
Location, Location, Location. Hopefully as things start to dry out you will see less debris, and better boating. Maybe next year you relocate.

 

[Jessica]

@Bennie -- sounds exactly right!! My husband finally went to clean out yesterday and found a tiny piece of bark AND the smallest piece of hard plastic something that was wedged between the blade (?) and the side, basically not allowing it to be dislodged. Seriously, just our luck. How does that even happen!!! We are definitely trying to think of ways that we can work on cleaning the area before starting the boat. For now we are keeping it out of the slip and hoping that our trips become more positive ones!!

Thanks @arew~SX230 , definitely true.

 

[Gym]

We have to travel 1.5 miles at no wake to access open water. During July & August there are plumes of seaweed we have to maneuver around to prevent ingesting them. You do, always have to watch where you're going though. Out on the open water there are lobster pots and ocassionally floating debris.

Stick with it @Jessica. You will enjoy your boat as you learn some tips and tricks. This forum was born for the purpose of sharing our failures and successes so that others would benefit from them.

 

[Topper232]

hi @Jessica. I also boat on the Delaware River and it always has some level of debris in it. The problem that you're having, and I think that you already know this, is that a lot of the river debris finds its way into the marinas and just kind of floats there. Often times under the boats, so when you fire up the engine(s), what's floating under the boat gets sucked up.

I trailer my boat and rarely have issues on the river, most likely because where I put the boat in (Burlington City ramp), there's a fairly good current running past the ramp, so that stuff doesn't stay there. I'm usually on plane buzzing down to Philly or back when I suck up a piece of trash.

As others have pointed out, the reverse maneuver almost always does the trick for me, if not, then I use the clean out ports.

I might suggest as you're leaving the marina, and before you ever engage the throttle more than idle, or no wake speed, that you use the reverse maneuver once you're away from the slip and other boats. Hopefully this may clear anything out before you have a chance to throttle up.

Jet boats are different, and I had my share of frustrations the first year that I had it, but in my 9th summer now, I can tell you I really enjoy the differentiators of the jets and enjoy the boat on the water.

Not sure where you live, but the jersey shore is a lot of fun with the jet boats as well.

Keep us posted