leeatmg
Jetboaters Lieutenant
- Messages
- 421
- Reaction score
- 141
- Points
- 152
- Location
- Chandler, AZ 85249
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2009
- Boat Model
- SX
- Boat Length
- 23
I never bothered to document this repair I did last year, so I'll offer it here in case someone runs into this rather odd (and hopefully rare) repair. Tools needed: replacement clamps, a hex driver or socket set, a sheet of plywood or other item to use as a plank, and something to use as a bench (all are explained below.)
Last spring, when reconnecting my batteries, I discovered that the two stainless steel hose clamps that secure the gas filler hose had rusted through. If you aren't familiar with the gas filler hose, it runs through the port compartment near the rear in the narrower space behind the seat, and runs from the gas tank out the upper port side of the boat. I assumed that the loss of those clamps, and the potential for gas leaks into the battery compartment, was a bad thing.
I'm claustrophobic and couldn't fit into that compartment even if I tried, so I resolved to find a way to fix it without crawling in, and without removing the batteries and on board charger. Ignore this if you are tiny and not claustrophobic and like removing all your batteries.
I did a couple of things that might be helpful to others. First - even though it seems that it will be easier, trying to access the hose via the access panel in the port side of the engine compartment is a fools errand unless you have arms of superhuman length. The angle just doesn't work. You need to find a way to do the work from within the battery compartment. I used two tricks to reach the hose. First - I cut a piece of 3/4" plywood that I laid across the edge of the open engine compartment and (go ahead and cringe) across the tops of the two engines. (There was minimal pressure applied to the engines - most of the weight is on the edge of the compartment. The tops of the engines served more to stabilize the platform.) Second - a cheap weight bench (the kind without a rack) placed in the aisle as close to the battery compartment as possible. You need to be able to lay down on your stomach at the level of the seats and curve your arm into the back of that compartment to reach the high point where the hose meets the hull fitting (where the clamps are supposed to be) The platform across the engine compartment is to get the clamps on the hose in the first place.
Assuming you have already removed the hose clamps (mine were rusted and had fallen right off) you need the proper size clamps. I can't be sure the sizes aren't different for each boat, but any clamp that fits the diameter of the hose within about a half inch should work. I believe the one I used for the SX230 was the 1 9/16 - 2 1/2" clamp. The size of the clamp is stamped on the clamp somewhere, so you can match the size if you take the bad one to the store with you (I got mine at West Marine.) The key is to make sure the clamp is the kind that can be tightened with either a screw driver or a hex socket, because you will need to use the hex socket for this job.
First, you open both clamps completely so they are no longer connected, and slip them around the hose where the hose is close to the compartment floor. Laying on the board over the engine compartment, you need to reassemble the clamp (making sure that the side you tighten from faces the front of the battery compartment) and tighten it about halfway. Slide the clamp up the hose to the hull fitting, and if it slides up easily, slide it back down and tighten some more. The key is to tighten each clamp just enough to still be able to slide it up the hose to the top, but not leave it loose enough that it can slide back down easily.
Once you do each clamp this way, slide them up to their proper place near the hull one at a time, and move to the bench. Use a hex nut driver (or similar tool - I used one of those screwdrivers with the interchangeable head because it happened to fit the clamp perfectly) to tighten each clamp the rest of the way. You will find it is much easier to tighten them from the bench at the higher position near the hull; the angle is bad trying to reach it the other way.
This one shows the two clamps on the hose, and tightened enough to hold their position as you slide them up towards the fitting but still loose enough to make it past the bends in the hose. You can see the fitting in the background on the top of the photo.
Here is one of the clamps, tightened and in its proper place.
Hope you never need to do this, but if you do, hope this helps.
NOTE - this post was edited by me to correct the title and content to reflect the gas filler hose, and not the vent hose, being the hose in question.
Last spring, when reconnecting my batteries, I discovered that the two stainless steel hose clamps that secure the gas filler hose had rusted through. If you aren't familiar with the gas filler hose, it runs through the port compartment near the rear in the narrower space behind the seat, and runs from the gas tank out the upper port side of the boat. I assumed that the loss of those clamps, and the potential for gas leaks into the battery compartment, was a bad thing.
I'm claustrophobic and couldn't fit into that compartment even if I tried, so I resolved to find a way to fix it without crawling in, and without removing the batteries and on board charger. Ignore this if you are tiny and not claustrophobic and like removing all your batteries.
I did a couple of things that might be helpful to others. First - even though it seems that it will be easier, trying to access the hose via the access panel in the port side of the engine compartment is a fools errand unless you have arms of superhuman length. The angle just doesn't work. You need to find a way to do the work from within the battery compartment. I used two tricks to reach the hose. First - I cut a piece of 3/4" plywood that I laid across the edge of the open engine compartment and (go ahead and cringe) across the tops of the two engines. (There was minimal pressure applied to the engines - most of the weight is on the edge of the compartment. The tops of the engines served more to stabilize the platform.) Second - a cheap weight bench (the kind without a rack) placed in the aisle as close to the battery compartment as possible. You need to be able to lay down on your stomach at the level of the seats and curve your arm into the back of that compartment to reach the high point where the hose meets the hull fitting (where the clamps are supposed to be) The platform across the engine compartment is to get the clamps on the hose in the first place.
Assuming you have already removed the hose clamps (mine were rusted and had fallen right off) you need the proper size clamps. I can't be sure the sizes aren't different for each boat, but any clamp that fits the diameter of the hose within about a half inch should work. I believe the one I used for the SX230 was the 1 9/16 - 2 1/2" clamp. The size of the clamp is stamped on the clamp somewhere, so you can match the size if you take the bad one to the store with you (I got mine at West Marine.) The key is to make sure the clamp is the kind that can be tightened with either a screw driver or a hex socket, because you will need to use the hex socket for this job.
First, you open both clamps completely so they are no longer connected, and slip them around the hose where the hose is close to the compartment floor. Laying on the board over the engine compartment, you need to reassemble the clamp (making sure that the side you tighten from faces the front of the battery compartment) and tighten it about halfway. Slide the clamp up the hose to the hull fitting, and if it slides up easily, slide it back down and tighten some more. The key is to tighten each clamp just enough to still be able to slide it up the hose to the top, but not leave it loose enough that it can slide back down easily.
Once you do each clamp this way, slide them up to their proper place near the hull one at a time, and move to the bench. Use a hex nut driver (or similar tool - I used one of those screwdrivers with the interchangeable head because it happened to fit the clamp perfectly) to tighten each clamp the rest of the way. You will find it is much easier to tighten them from the bench at the higher position near the hull; the angle is bad trying to reach it the other way.
This one shows the two clamps on the hose, and tightened enough to hold their position as you slide them up towards the fitting but still loose enough to make it past the bends in the hose. You can see the fitting in the background on the top of the photo.
Here is one of the clamps, tightened and in its proper place.
Hope you never need to do this, but if you do, hope this helps.
NOTE - this post was edited by me to correct the title and content to reflect the gas filler hose, and not the vent hose, being the hose in question.
Last edited:
My body aches just thinking about it...