SERIOUS DESIGN FLAW: JET BOAT CLEAN OUT COMPARTMENT

[MikeyL]

I was gonna suggest that we oughta exert DEMOCRACY (kidding, folks) and "lock" this thread ........ As it quite apparently either 1) A total jerk (Yeah ... I SAID it.....Sue me !) or 2) SPAM from a competitor, who doesn't have an ounce of sense when it comes to jamming competitor's products.

But then I read @jcyamaharider 's comment above.....and I started laughing, then I farted, and finally I calmed down and went and drank a cup of coffee to calm my nerves .......... LOL !

Guess we all needed sumptin' like this to help us appreciate COLD WEATHER !

That's it ! GLOBAL WARMING caused this thread to be started !!!!!!!!!!! Yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK ........ Now...... Y"all play nicely out there, y'hear ? !!!!!!!
Mikey Lulejian - Where it's gonna get soooooooooo cold in the next 3 days, we'll see freezing temps in the 50's ! - Lake Oconee, GA

 

[txav8r]

Ok, I'll take the bait too. But a disclaimer...we have had a number of guys have a big issue both on this forum and the previous. That came in like gangbusters, slinging mud, wanting to discredit/defame Yamaha because of their experience. Bad approach and in every case I can remember, it showed a lack of understanding of their boats. And this one is no exception. Clearly doesn't know the boat. If you don't know the boat, you don't know how to operate it.

That tray that you describe as plexiglass, does not separate the engine compartment from the clean out compartment. It is a wet storage tray and water gets into it even if the clean out plugs do not ever dislodge. Cleanout plug dislodgment or in more common terms, a clean out plug blowout, can result in flooding the engine compartment, but it is rare. In most instances, you would notice some very unusual behavior from the boat as in, something is wrong! And would stop to investigate. In several of the flooded compartment scenarios I have read about, it was a continuing to run the boat beyond a blowout the cause an increasing water level. Because if you just stop, the water intrusion stops. You can remove both of the plugs while on the water and it will not flood.

You are correct, cleanout plug blowouts are well known and you can find info on them here and other places. They are so well known that many owners choose to avoid the possibility of them altogether, so they add either the Cobra Steering EZ Locks, or the Jetboatpilot TruLocks, to their clean out plugs. Some call it a poor design, it isn't IMO, but the fact that they can be installed in a manner that could allow them to unlock or even a simple vibration could unlock them, is a fault IMO. But for a mere $35, you can prevent it totally.

In closing, @Yamapain , you have to work at it to flood the engine compartment. It sounds like you forced Yamaha to take your boat back or sell it for you. I hope it all worked out for you in the end. But if you buy another boat, a boating course and reading the manual thoroughly is a good idea no matter what you take on in life. We are here to help you, and you can even vent, but lets assume some responsibility and ownership for what we do too. Good luck to you.

 

[MikeyL]

 

[MikeyL]

Forgive me, for I have sinned ...........

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

This is all pretty interesting, I know first hand how upsetting it is for someone to malign your product with false information in an attempt to lead people astray.
Cleanout plugs are known to fail and it makes no difference new or used 2000 to the latest push button style, they can release without warning two different ways.
One is the partial dislodging allowing water to enter the boat and the other is the violent total blow out.
Any competent operator of a boat has the responsibility to pay attention to things that do not appear to be working correctly.
If a plug allows water to enter the engine compartment to the level sufficient to cause the engine to ingest water, it went way past the undetectable part and moved in to the obvious issue and negligent operation part.
Any person operating a boat with that much water in the bilge and no clue that something was amiss may want to give up boating totally .
The clean out port is a good feature, it just needs a little backup , I call it very inexpensive INSURANCE.
Imagine the danger of diving under a boat to dislodge some weeds or other trash from your pump or sitting dead in the water disabled.
Worse yet in a single engine boat you don't have the luxury of using one engine if the other is fouled.
This person has done his research since he referenced the huge number of threads referring to the failure of the clean out plugs posted on the internet.
So why didn't he add a lock to his clean out plugs?
Anyone who does not believe a clean out plug can dislodge even if you put it in correctly may want to watch this video to understand the internal workings of the plug.

I can tell you that I agree with Yamaha not covering an engine in this situation as it is obviously the responsibility of the operator to insure the boat is functioning correctly.
When the nose starts to rise way up like using a fat sack and the boat is operating very sluggish something is wrong! Just my opinion on the post. And I also agree that the inconsistencies are obvious leading people to believe it was not a legitimate post.

 

[OCMD]

To think I just wasted 6 minutes of my life reading this line.....

 

[Speedling]

Just competition trying to bash. I mean, this would lead some to say no to a yamaha?

 

[Wayloncle]

This person has done his research since he referenced the huge number of threads referring to the failure of the clean out plugs posted on the internet.

I bet he didn't do any research until after the fact...

 

[Julian]

I bet he didn't do any research until after the fact...

Yup....not everyone researches things like many of us do. IF the guy is real, I can see him buying a boat on a whim, taking it out not knowing anything about it, how it handles, what the risks are of water intrusion, what that would feel like etc.

I do agree that the cleanouts are poorly designed and would be EASY to make safer and less prone to dislodging. Also, the clean out tube could be easily modified to control water intrusion better (replace the rubber exhaust hose with a metal or fiberglass tube that is fixed and won't dislodge). And if they don't want to do any of the above, add a simple bilge alarm to alert the driver to water ASAP.

 

[SoFla David]

I wonder what the other reasons are?

I think he was having also some trouble getting it on plane :

 

[Julian]

I think he was having also some trouble getting it on plane :

I'd like to read the story behind that photo!!!

 

[rkluck]

I think he was having also some trouble getting it on plane :

This picture is so funny! I do agree with everyone's comments about the original post. I am not as smart as most people here. I had several boats before buying my Yamaha and didn't really research all the problems. I knew about steering but was sold on the boat layout and looks. My thinking is that every product has problems and as most of you know I love our boat! I don't like the plugs but the bottom line I have never had water come into the engine compartment when I had problems. The boat is so very different immediately when a plug goes that you have to stop right away!

 

[txav8r]

My thinking is that they would change this if they could. I suspect that the torque from the motor revving misaligns the pump and intake housing with other areas of the boat, and that all connections can't be solid. So a metal clean out tube is probably out of the question. And anything that is removable may come loose at some point. So while it may not be perfect, there may not be a perfect solution to it. My vote is on having clean out ports vs not having them. Maybe a bilge alarm? I am in the camp that says water won't rise in your boat without you knowing it from other clues. But maybe that is just because it hasn't happened to me. We all learn from each other. I have had several plug incidents, and never a violent blowout. But you instantly lose thrust when you have one of those, and water will rise fast at speed, so you know! You stop anyway, the violent blowout probably killed the motors when the hatch raised, otherwise, the loss of the plug caused you to bog. Even a partial dislodge is apparent. This is one of those long time debates as to who has it and what responsibility they have.

 

[txav8r]

I think he was having also some trouble getting it on plane :

And they said it couldn't be done! lol

 

[BigN8]

This guy is a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

These guys do this shit and make wagers on how many post counts they can get to. It would be best to just lock this thread.

 

[Gthunter5]

Cool story bro....tell it again

 

[dancathy]

I had a 2013 LS and now a 2015 LS and I never had any problems with the plugs except when I forgot to put them back in LOL. It seems to me that the plugs are up stream from the impellers and there wouldn't be pressure at the port.
More that water would be pulled past them unless power was cut while the boat is moving. I know that when I started mine and tried to take off with them out it didn't force any water up into the wet storage area it just didn't move much.

 

[Zarrella]

In his defense:
I have had the same thing happen to me in my 2016 Yamaha 280LXZ Turbo HO. I just buy new engines after each use!

 

[Julian]

I had a 2013 LS and now a 2015 LS and I never had any problems with the plugs except when I forgot to put them back in LOL. It seems to me that the plugs are up stream from the impellers and there wouldn't be pressure at the port.
More that water would be pulled past them unless power was cut while the boat is moving. I know that when I started mine and tried to take off with them out it didn't force any water up into the wet storage area it just didn't move much.

You are partially correct.

The worst case scenario is when a plug blows out at high speed and lodges in the clean out tube vs hitting the hatch cover (and often breaking it and killing the engines). When this happens the force of the water in the intake gets partially directed into the cleanout tube, blows off the rubber hose that connects the pump to the clean out tray and starts flooding the boat VERY quickly. The driver will feel some reduced thrust when this happens, and if he stops the engine, the pressure in the intake will increase as the pump isn't pulling the water through any more. This increases the water flow through the disconnected clean out tube into the bilge. Most people have only seen a slight disconnect of the clean out tube, but imagine if it blew off completely! You'd have an approx 5" hole in the bottom of your boat, connected to a scoop that is driving water at it HARD. In that scenario, I could imagine a boat going 50MPH with a 5" hole connected to the intake could fill the bilge and engine compartment COMPLETELY before the boat came to a halt (so not even my bilge alarm solution would help you). Fortunately not one has ever said that the hose disconnected completely (but perhaps that is what happened to the OP here)? I've reached out to him and will update us if he responds.

 

[ScarabMike]

LOL........ This thread was fun to read. Someone sure stirred up the hornet's nest.