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I get it, it's a major concern here in MN as well as other places. Just not in the waters I boat in, so I consider myself lucky. But the reason I say they monitor it, as the fact that albeit slow, Yamaha does address many of the concerns we have with features, function or safety over time. The cleanouts were always the hot topic on the Seadoo forum, as Yamaha had them, and seadoo did not. And Yamaha has used the same intake on boats and PWC for years.
And yes, the hinged fingers are what caused it. They would slap down so hard they would break off. I had two break off tips and that was all it took for me to pull it for a cast grate. There is no true right or wrong, as the idea was there for a reason. But it was never to return after SeaDoo dumped Mercury for their new four stroke rotax engines.
I too had one break off. I was fortunate, did not ingest it, and mercury covered me replacing it with a fixed grate after reading the other horror stories. With the finger grate, I had never clogged up. After switching to the fixed grate, I started having clogs. Not scientific by any means, but based on how the clogs I see are the grass wrapping around the tines and getting pushed to the back and building up, and with the finger design they just slide off, I can understand why the finger design clogs less. If only they wouldn't break...
Could you not just wire a small onboard compressor and have a small area of holes into the pump tunnel.. push a button and the compressor blasts air forward/down to clear grass and never have to stop boat?
Could you not just wire a small onboard compressor and have a small area of holes into the pump tunnel.. push a button and the compressor blasts air forward/down to clear grass and never have to stop boat?
That would have to be a pretty strong burst of air to reach down and free large weeds tangled in the intake grate. Also, having holes in the pump tunnel might disrupt the flow if water to the impeller causing either cavitation or a loss in power. Plus the obvious more holes = more ways for water to get in.
Could you not just wire a small onboard compressor and have a small area of holes into the pump tunnel.. push a button and the compressor blasts air forward/down to clear grass and never have to stop boat?
4-stroke engines cannot reverse (run backwards) like a 2-stroke can. This is a very simple transmission that reverses the driveshaft, not the engine itself.
So instead a complicated transmission, they are using a simple transmission, which is why the engine has to shut off each time.
Right now Vortex has not implemented this system as they say it is not available from BRP. I am assuming BRP wants to prove it (durability) in the marketplace before expanding it to the boats.
Neat simple design though so lets hope it does work well and is added to the boat lineup in the near future.
