jdonalds
Jetboaters Commander
- Messages
- 609
- Reaction score
- 375
- Points
- 197
- Location
- Redding, CA
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2006
- Boat Model
- SX
- Boat Length
- 21
Thanks for your response. Good to hear from you too. I haven't been on the jet boat forums much. Frankly it has a lot to do with the boat simply running when we want to take it out, and sitting untouched in the side yard the rest of the time. These Yamaha engines and pumps are so very reliable, and cheap to maintain. Any upgrades I may do this year might be to add a second tow tube.
At the beginning of 2016 I ordered oil, filters, and spark plugs. After they all arrived only then did I check my maintenance calendar written on the garage wall. I like to replace the oil every 25 hours of engine use, and hope plugs will last a season or two. Iridiums usually make it through two seasons for me. Sadly when I checked the maintenance schedule I found I only put 10 engine hours on the engines in 2015. I was determined not to let that happen again. Still based on that I simply took the boat to the lake and it ran pretty well, not 100% but good enough.
About a month into boating in 2016 I decided to change the plugs in the port engine. The port engine has always had an idle-speed shake, whereas the starboard engine has always run smoother. But changing only the port plugs didn't solve any problems. I don't care much about the engines being in sync, in fact I count on them being slightly out of sync to keep the engines from beating against each other, causing that rolling drone. But last summer I had a dickens of a time trying to keep them anywhere near sync. I rode the boat through the rest of the season (many more hours this time), parked it in the side yard, and waited for warm rainless winter days, to pull the pumps.
As you can see from these pre-refurbished impeller pictures they certainly DID need to be cleaned up. But this is an 11 year old boat, on factory impellers that have never been rebuilt, yet they look amazingly good. I had a Honda ski with a stock impeller that looked worse than these after just one year. Consider this too. I never pull bow into the shore, I always back in. None of my friends on the beach know how to handle the stern line when I've already dropped the Anchor Buddy bow anchor. So I typlically leave at least one engine running in reverse, holding the boat in place, while I jump off and sink the Slide Anchor Shore Spike and tie off the boat. All the while my impeller is being pinged by little stones that line the shore. Over the years I kept checking the impellers but they were always in good condition.
What I'm going to try in 2017 is to back up to the shore without dropping the bow anchor. Then let out stern line so I can pull the boat forward to drop the bow anchor. That will require some practice sessions to get it down pat.
Those are typical of five of the blades.
The two worst photos are creating the cavitation I'm sure. This one's pretty bad and must have happened in 2016.
Same with this one. It must have happened in 2016 because it wasn't there at the beginning of the season. Part of what's going on here is my wife invites friends to the beach. I launch and drive around to the beach and back into it. We did a lot more of that style of boating in 2016. The impeller damage must come from those beach events. In 2016 I didn't buy an annual pass for Shasta Lake because nobody expected the lake to fill. When we launch at Shasta we never touch the shore which is not very inviting at that lake.
I didn't take any photos of the rebuilt impellers but trust me Impros did a super job, super quick, and they came back looking like new. they are evenly finished over the entire surface. Impros has a couple of options, one called Stage 2 leaves the impeller shiny. That sounds good but if I really wanted to upgrade my impellers I'd buy new Solas versions. I put a Solas on my ski and they looked like new after 8 years when I sold the ski.
Your suggestion of taking the boat out for a drive before taking it to Yamaha is a good one. Who wouldn't want an excuse to take a ride? I'm also anxious to try out the camera I installed on the 4Runner to view the hitch ball as I hitch up. For several years I've been using a Swift Hitch https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZEON90/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1. The Swift Hitch works fine but I have to magnetically stick it on the tailgate, and keep both the camera and remote viewing screen batteries charged. I did a number of upgrades to the 4Runner, including that camera. It does make sense for me to change the oil, plugs, and filter before I take it for a ride. I'll wait until the air temp is going to hit at least 75 before taking a boating trip. That should happen in the next month or so.
I trust the local Yamaha dealer. My son works there and I know pretty much the whole staff. The maintenance shop helped me out by removing the impellers from the pump shafts, and reinstalling them a few days later.
