How often does it really, really happen?

[Floridaman79]

I boat predominantly on the indian river in brevard county and 50 hours on the boat got some fishing line wrapped around the impeller once. Took the pump off and took about 45 minutes all in all to clear it. Scalloping on florida west coast the sea grass in the bay is kind of a pain. One trip I'd have to clear the grates every time I got into the water, second trip they would self clear with a little throttle. I think its going to depend on where you boat but the indian river shouldn't give you any problems.

 

[Tyguy]

Twice in 11 years. Once when my dad drove straight over the top of the anchor rope, and once when a stick was sucked in.

 

[Inthrustwetrust]

Knock on wood nothing yet in the water. I’ve pulled some seaweed out after a couple outings. Do all my boating in the ICW in very shallow water. If we are towing I make someone the rope “guy” there sole responsibility is keeping the rope clear. I hand them the knife and tell them if they let the rope go under the boat they are cutting it out while I enjoy a cold beer and they are buying a new rope. Has worked pretty well.

FYI ropes and props don’t mix either.

Pick your poison, clean out ports on jets for debris, which usually seems to be a easy fix, or dragging a lower unit on a I/O which is pricy. Pulling the jet pumps is pretty easy if it’s real bad, I’m pretty new to boat ownership, I haven’t done it but it looks really simple, couple bolts. Lower unit, ya way above my level of skills.

 

[2kwik4u]

145hrs in 4 seasons. Had the plug out twice to clear debris, never sucked a rope.

Each time the plug was pulled for debris it was after being docked at Captains Quarters just north of Louisville, KY on the Ohio River. Debris was a small chunk of drift wood each time. Their dock seems to like to attract debris as it floats out of Harrods Creek into the river. Sucked up a plastic bag once, but it floated back out as soon as I stopped the engine.

I spend most of my time on inland lakes run by the Army Corps of Engineers, spring poses the most risk with rain runoff bringing debris, but it's never an issue.

 

[McMark]

Having had both jets and outboards, I much prefer the jet for not hanging below the hull. Our river found me in the cleanout plugs most trips but nothing gives you that sinking feeling like smacking a submerged log with an outboard.

 

[tdonoughue]

Lessee... 8 years, probably 4 ropes (none ever needed to be cut, tho), one chunk of wood serious enough to need to get from below with a pliers, and then maybe once or twice a season I get fishing line, plastic bag, or wood chunk... never had any weeds. Basically lakes only.

 

[merlinjet]

Transiting the Colorado River to and from Lake Havasu I always encounter shallow areas of submerged grasses that can sometimes get wrapped around the drive shaft. It's easy to pull off after I trailer the boat and really does not seem to affect performance. Other than that, I've had no issues with the boat ingesting stuff. As others have noted, keep your eye on that rope at all times when towing...but that would be the case with prop or jet propulsion.

 

[Gump1976]

It's partly where you boat, as others have said. Part of it is just luck, or lack thereof. I have had my first boat for a month now. The first time out, 10 minutes in, a sudden loud chainsaw noise scared the hell out of me. Starboard engine wedged the smallest little stick between the impeller and the housing. Limped it back to the ramp on one engine basically. My buddy who's had his for years has never had anything like that happen. Since then I've only had to clean out sea grass from time to time as its everywhere in the bay, which is just a way of life if you operate a yamaha around here.

 

[AZMark]

In 1 year of jet boating:
1 rope (mine)
1 ungodly long run of fishing line - I just left it in there for a while and eventually cut it out, didn't seem to affect performance
1 large chunk of wood that I just lifted out through the cleanout plug
1 tiny stick that I had to pull out with pliers, exactly like @Gump1976 above

None were a big deal. I used to have a prop boat and had about $400 in prop repairs over 7 years.

 

[El Comandante]

Thanks guys! Much appreciated.

 

[OrangeTJ]

The only issue that keeps me from committing to a jet boat is the issue of sucking up debris, wood chunks, rocks, sand, etc. Seems from reading here its a bit common. Not something I'm really looking to deal with. Buddy of mine works at a boat dealer (not jets) and says he has 2 or 3 per week coming in with dock line wrapped around the impeller/shaft.

How often do you find yourself having to clear your jet?

I'll be boating on the Indian River ( Bay ) in Treasure Coast Florida, hanging on the spoil islands, sandbars, light water sports for the kids, bars and restaurants.

Thank you.

How often does your buddy see I/Os coming in needing repairs or service to trim systems, gimbals, bellows, prop repair, etc.? It is hard for me to imagine many people taking a jet drive in to a dealer to have a rope removed. It is just not hard at all to fix that yourself with a sharp knife.

If you boat in very debris or vegetation-rich waters, you'll get junk in the pumps with some regularity. If not, it will likely rarely be an issue. I would not personally choose a jet if my most frequented waters had a ton of surface vegetation or floating debris just as I wouldn't choose a jet if the water had a lot of sub-surface stumps and rocks to hit. Other than that, it's really a non-issue.

 

[WetWillie]

No rope but this guy lodged on the metal spline inside the lure and into my impeller and couldn’t pass it without removing the pump... Our local fishermen put more trash in the water than any other group unfortunately...

 

[Dixie Highway]

I’m on my second season, about 80 hours. I sucked up 1 rope (wasn’t mine...then the bastard had the gall to demand I buy him a new dock line), it came out easy enough with a box cutter. The only time I’ve had actual debris was the two times I’ve been to downtown Milwaukee from Lake Michigan. That river is full of garbage, tough to avoid.

 

[Canuckjetboater]

The only issue that keeps me from committing to a jet boat is the issue of sucking up debris, wood chunks, rocks, sand, etc. Seems from reading here its a bit common. Not something I'm really looking to deal with. Buddy of mine works at a boat dealer (not jets) and says he has 2 or 3 per week coming in with dock line wrapped around the impeller/shaft.

How often do you find yourself having to clear your jet?

I'll be boating on the Indian River ( Bay ) in Treasure Coast Florida, hanging on the spoil islands, sandbars, light water sports for the kids, bars and restaurants.

Thank you.

@El Comandante .....so far in 6 weeks I have had to stop once to clean weeds. That took less than 10 minutes start to finish. Now ask me how many times I have had to repair skegs and props due to underwater strikes. One memorable event for me was doing 65+ MPH and hitting a submerged tree floating just below the surface in the middle of a marked channel. My guess was it was an old sunken log that had risen due to off-gassing from decay and after I struck it I saw it sink out of sight. The biggest hit was to my wallet. I was running a blue printed SS prop ($1,800.00) which, of course, was badly damaged but unlike a cheap aluminum prop did not disintegrate but transferred the shock to my Bravo I drive with nose cone, another $8,000.00. yes, I like jets!

 

[ripler]

I suck up stuff pretty often, I boat 100% on the Monongahela river. Most of the time it can be cleared by the reverse maneuver, but there has been plenty of times where I had to open the cleanouts to remove a stick wedged between the impeller and the wear ring. I had a friend on my boat a few weeks ago that has a Yamaha boat and boats on a lake and we sucked something up and got cavitation. He just looked at me like what he hell was that, so I asked you never sucked something up and he said no. That's the beauty of clean out ports, you can remove debris easily and safely.

 

[Daren and Heather]

In my 1st year sucked a dock line once and learned my lesson (always have a sharp knife on board) and I've had to open the clean out plugs at least 1-3 times every outing to remove some weeds. It's not a big deal, they pull right out. I would never buy a jet boat that didn't have the clean out plugs though. I boat in Minnesota lakes and we have lots of weeds in our lakes here. I'd still deal with the clean out inconvenience over a different boat with a prop.

 

[212s]

The only issue that keeps me from committing to a jet boat is the issue of sucking up debris, wood chunks, rocks, sand, etc.

That was a concern for me too, but if you maintain 3 feet or more of water and keep the rpms low you won't suck of sand or rocks.

As mentioned, I think it's a big part of where you boat and water conditions. We have lots of weeds in some areas but the jets chew it up and I've yet to have to pull the plugs on the water. In the spring we get some floating debris from the rain run off into the rivers, so we'll have to watch out for that next spring - brought the jetboat home the beginning of June so the waterways were cleared by then. We have about 29 hours on the boat now and no real issues. Found some fishing line on one of the impeller shafts one day without knowing it was there, but it was easy to remove in the driveway after doing a visual inspection.

Don't let this be a deterrent. Jetboats are a lot of fun to drive, easier to handle around docks once you learn how they react to input, and low maintenance. We haven't regretted the purchase at all - it's a great boat.

 

[919Cummins]

Ha. Just sucked up our own rope on Sunday. Had a non-boat person taking care of the rope when his son somehow got the tube on the port side of the boat. I was at idle, all of a sudden one of the engines shut down.

It briefly put me in a panic, but I looked back and seen the rope was under. Pulled the plug and it didn't even cut the rope. Was able to free it very easily and resume tubing.

 

[Theryan]

I boat on fresh water lakes, and this season the lake has been crazy with vegetation. I usually pull the plug and clean it out a couple of time while being out. Most of the time it's only a little bit in there, but occasionally it'll be more. Tends to be if I'm going slow through a big patch of stuff by docks and whatnot. Going faster tends to just chop it up or skim over it.

There really is no concrete answer to this one. If you boat in cleaner waterways you will barely have to ever pull and clean. If you boat in areas with a lot of veg or garbage, you will.

Your mileage will vary.

 

[BlkGS]

For me, I boat in a small lake. In 3 years I sucked up a piece of rope that I'm pretty sure was under my boat in its spot at the marina. I did have a bit of cavitation after that I couldn't clear, but a decent application of throttle solved that.