smthng
Jetboaters Lieutenant
- Messages
- 415
- Reaction score
- 242
- Points
- 167
- Location
- Fruit Cove, FL 32259
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2008
- Boat Model
- X
- Boat Length
- 21
Just got back two night ago from our week in the Keys. It got cut short a couple days due to a funeral we had to attend, which pretty much meant I towed the boat all over the state that week (Jacksonville to Miami to Marathon Key to Sarasota and back to Jacksonville).
First day, we drop her in the marina and go out for a short cruise. I went under the 7 mile bridge headed for Sombrero Reef, but it got a bit choppier than we were comfortable with, so we turned back and headed to East Bahia Honda Key instead. The entire time we noticed a TON of floating sea grass everywhere. I sucked up a lot and eventually the vibes started so I stopped to clean the impellers. I pulled out gobs of the stuff and decided to do some snorkeling to see how much was in the intakes. They were completely clogged. Imagine a rag mop stuffed in both intakes. :S I cleaned that out and headed straight back to Marathon. We made it 90% of the way back before she started slowing again.
I limped her back to the slip and tied her up with enough slack for tides.
Went diving again and pulled out just as much of the stuff. Hoped we wouldn't be dealing with it all week. Noticed the bilge running, but seemed to be a reasonable amount, so I just plugged in the charger and left her. Checked back in a few hours and all seemed okay, although an itch in my mind said the pump was still running a bit more than I would have liked. Still, it was cutting off and it wasn't running constant.
The next morning, I checked her again and the pump was running constantly. I suspected there was a lot more water in the hull, but it was in the fore portion, so me and my brother-in-law sat on the swim platform to get the water to shift back. About 10 minutes later the pump still hadn't kicked off, so I checked the engine compartment. Water up to the bottom of the engines! I start looking for options (leaks) and find none of note. I check again and it's almost to the wall carpets. Time for drastic measures... I'm afraid to start her with that much water in the compartment, so I hustle the trailer onto the ramp and me and the bro-in-law throw on life jackets and swim her across the marina to the ramp. I get her on the trailer and lifted out just enough to clear the drain plug. Water is coming out of the scupper, but there's none on the deck to drain into it. I poke the scupper and the whole assembly goes into the bilge and water starts gushing. The flange on the outside of the scupper had broken off completely!
I let her drain and pulled her out. She got a hose down, an emergency call out for a replacement scupper (thanks for those who offered) and we decide to just leave her on the trailer for the rest of the short week.
That's the tale of woe for the boat... in spite of that, it turned out to be a great trip. More on that later, I've droned on enough. I think I got it out in time and there's no additional issues I can find so far, but I have a lot of cleaning to do.
BTW... I checked the scupper a few weeks ago and again immediately before the trip... seemed rock solid both times. Moral to the story... if you have a sub-surface scupper from Yamaha, replace it. It's old enough that it's probably degraded even if it wasn't cracked when it was installed. We were a couple of hours short of a destroyed boat because of a $50 part. Don't risk it if you haven't done it already. I know, I know... I thought mine was fine too.
I'll post pics of everything (including the weed carpet stuck to the bottom of the boat) later.
First day, we drop her in the marina and go out for a short cruise. I went under the 7 mile bridge headed for Sombrero Reef, but it got a bit choppier than we were comfortable with, so we turned back and headed to East Bahia Honda Key instead. The entire time we noticed a TON of floating sea grass everywhere. I sucked up a lot and eventually the vibes started so I stopped to clean the impellers. I pulled out gobs of the stuff and decided to do some snorkeling to see how much was in the intakes. They were completely clogged. Imagine a rag mop stuffed in both intakes. :S I cleaned that out and headed straight back to Marathon. We made it 90% of the way back before she started slowing again.
I limped her back to the slip and tied her up with enough slack for tides.
Went diving again and pulled out just as much of the stuff. Hoped we wouldn't be dealing with it all week. Noticed the bilge running, but seemed to be a reasonable amount, so I just plugged in the charger and left her. Checked back in a few hours and all seemed okay, although an itch in my mind said the pump was still running a bit more than I would have liked. Still, it was cutting off and it wasn't running constant.
The next morning, I checked her again and the pump was running constantly. I suspected there was a lot more water in the hull, but it was in the fore portion, so me and my brother-in-law sat on the swim platform to get the water to shift back. About 10 minutes later the pump still hadn't kicked off, so I checked the engine compartment. Water up to the bottom of the engines! I start looking for options (leaks) and find none of note. I check again and it's almost to the wall carpets. Time for drastic measures... I'm afraid to start her with that much water in the compartment, so I hustle the trailer onto the ramp and me and the bro-in-law throw on life jackets and swim her across the marina to the ramp. I get her on the trailer and lifted out just enough to clear the drain plug. Water is coming out of the scupper, but there's none on the deck to drain into it. I poke the scupper and the whole assembly goes into the bilge and water starts gushing. The flange on the outside of the scupper had broken off completely!
I let her drain and pulled her out. She got a hose down, an emergency call out for a replacement scupper (thanks for those who offered) and we decide to just leave her on the trailer for the rest of the short week.
That's the tale of woe for the boat... in spite of that, it turned out to be a great trip. More on that later, I've droned on enough. I think I got it out in time and there's no additional issues I can find so far, but I have a lot of cleaning to do.
BTW... I checked the scupper a few weeks ago and again immediately before the trip... seemed rock solid both times. Moral to the story... if you have a sub-surface scupper from Yamaha, replace it. It's old enough that it's probably degraded even if it wasn't cracked when it was installed. We were a couple of hours short of a destroyed boat because of a $50 part. Don't risk it if you haven't done it already. I know, I know... I thought mine was fine too.
I'll post pics of everything (including the weed carpet stuck to the bottom of the boat) later.
