Just had Port engine begin Cavitation

[rkluck]

Ok I finally got her out and yes it is running great! My theory that whatever was stuck there got discharged which caused the reverse bucket to not work briefly as I was lining up to get on the trailer seems to be correct. yeah!!!! The lift is installed next week to keep her out of the water. One thing I noticed while cleaning the bottom was the gel coat right along the front of the center bottom (I will call it the keel) has scrapped off. I never beach her and don't know why this happened but I am guessing I must have hit something. I will look at this closer later when it warms up more. But the good news is that she is running great!!!!!

 

[itsdgm]

@rkluck glad you got it all figured out. Usually cavitation is a simple fix that takes a while just to figure out what's causing it.

 

[rkluck]

Agreed. It would have been faster but with all this crap we call winter going on it took longer! HA!

 

[Trm1765]

If I was a betting jetboater, I would bet on something that is or was stuck in the impeller. I boat in the Mississippi river, which has tons of debris. I have had several very small pieces of "stuff" stuck and have always been able to get them free through the plugs,, well, except for the first time and that was a lesson learned the hard way...I have never been able to see the object from looking through the plug holes, but if I stick my hand down in the hole and feel around the edge of the blades I will find something,, and then to get it out is the trick. I now carry a small piece of hard metal that will fit in my hand and I can reach down into the hole. It gives more support to push the object out but is not sharp to scratch the tube. Once I feel the object, I use the small hard object in my hand to push it towards the lowering edge of the blade. This is all by feel, you will not be able to see it. Once I had a very small piece of fishing line, probably less than 1/4 inch long and clear. You would never be able to see it but feeling around I finally could feel it. Sometimes I am not able to feel something and end up turning the engine over a few different times to get the blades in different positions. I begin to doubt that something is in there,, but low and behold, I have found something everytime.
I attached a couple pics I took looking up through the grate after my maiden voyag,, first trip out, first object stuck in the impeller. You can see which direction to push the object, pushing towards the side of the blade the drops away from the tube wall and it falls right out.

Thanks for another blog for saving these pics for me.....

 

[rkluck]

I am guessing something like that was going on as well. I do see small scratches around the impeller blade on that one side. It is just the picture or did the one blade get from that piece of wood?

 

[Trm1765]

It is just the picture, when the chunk of wood was out the blade was perfect.

 

[rkluck]

Good to hear!

 

[Geoff Cooper]

Thought i would make a comment maybe of some help, I have had my boat in the sea for 2 weeks and just taken it out and about to give it a real good sort out including the jet pumps being removed and checked, When i removed the jet pump on the port side after close inspection i found the remains of a plastic bag behind the bearing cone, luckily it unwound easily and i was able to remove it but it couldn't be seen or felt as only a small part was visible when the pump was removed, There was no clues by looking and feeling under the plugs and down the tube and also it could not be felt by following the shaft along, I enclose a Photo for you maybe worth a look, I am refreshing my Bangkok post and showing what 2 weeks in the Sea in Thailand can do to a Boat, I don't ever leave it in more than a couple of days but had friends over so it was used a lot, Maybe something like this could cause your cavitation as i feel sure it would cause in balance, Hope it helps you.

This was nearly out i just spotted about a quarter of an inch.

 

[rkluck]

Thanks for sharing.