Waverunner and PWC trailer upgrades (oic

[Ronnie]

My wife and I recently sold our 03 and 06 FX Waverunners and replaced them with 2021 models. After spending about $35k on them I decided to refurbish our pwc trailer with the the goal of making it accommodate the new waverunners better for many years to come. What follows are some before and after pics of the process so far. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many pics as time was often short and I often in a rush against night fall.

first I installed all new ubolts, mounting plates (not stands) and 7’ bunks with slides on them. I had to reposition both sets of bunks and one of the bow stops since the new FX is longer and a little bit wider than the GP 1800 and our old FXs. Not an easy task because I had to go to the water to get the skis off the trailer and some of the nuts were rusted on the ubolts so I brought a cutoff wheel/grinder with me along with a generator to power it. In all it took about three hours to do this but I am very happy with the results.

I’m currently in the process of removing the truck bed liner paint from the locker so that my wife and I can customize / decorate it with decals.

Previous upgrades include, a new axle and “D” rated/high load bearing tires, including the spare, boat buddies (self retracting transom straps) welded in place, F2 winches (with upgraded straps so the hook does not directly contact the ski) welded to their bow stops, F2 trailer Jack, safety chains with spring loaded hooks, led lights, truck bed liner paint over the galvanized finish and some hydro turf here and there.

 

[Ronnie]

More trailer upgrade pics:

As for Waverunner upgrades, not many yet or possible but keel guards for both skis, my wife got two blue tooth speakers that fit in the cup holder spots and adapters so she can have two cup holders or speaker/camera mounts. I just purchased a cup holder to mount on a ram ball mount on my dash. I will probably mijnt my cell phone or camera on the other side. Of course we also got stock covers for each ski and my wife just put a decal on her cover to distinguish it from mine (I don’t think it will last long but she was happy to participate and proud of her work so I didn’t bust her bubble about it).


I ended up going overboard and buying new matching vests, wetsuits, water shoes, gloves and even socks but I won’t bother with posting pics of that stuff.

Now that the skis are almost squared away it’s time to prep the boat for this coming season. The fun seems finite but the work and expense of boating never seems to end.

 

[biffdotorg]

Ronnie, you are the king. Fulton's on a waverunner trailer! The easiest 4" of winching any man will ever have!

Nice work.

 

[Ronnie]

Ronnie, you are the king. Fulton's on a waverunner trailer! The easiest 4" of winching any man will ever have!

Nice work.

Thanks for the compliment. Ironically I rarely use the winches to recover the skis at all since I usually power load onto the trailer all the way to the bow stop. This may be changing because the last time out was my first with the bunk slides installed. Whenever I turned the FX off it would slide back away from the bow stop about a foot. After three failed attempts I just left the engine on while I secured the bow hook. If I remember, I will just not drop the trailer in as far anymore.

 

[biffdotorg]

Ya, back in the old waverunner days from the 90's, all of them had a bow eye instead of a hook below. So our trailers just had a Stoltz yoke style connector and now winch. We just ran them up and then shimmy'ed them until we could put the bow pin in place. I put my first winch on after buying my first GPR in 2000. No bow eye.

 

[captainhook]

Let us know how you like the bunk slides. I built a cart for my WaveRunner to store in the garage without the trailer so I considered them, but I’m concerned they will scratch the hull or provide an easy way to slide right off of the trailer when I don’t want it to.

 

[Ronnie]

I forgot about the small onboard chargers I installed. Actually, placed on top of the batteries. The chargers are held in place by the rubber straps which secure the batteries to their trays.

 

[Liveto99]

Waiting for my new FX, never had a Ski before.

 

[Ronnie]

Finally got a pic of the bunk slides after they have been installed. Do they work? No clue but they should keep the carpet from wearing prematurely.

Interestingly, the black sets take longer to be delivered which is why I went with white on this trailer. I have one set of black slides that I plan to install on the forward bunks of my boat trailer when I take it to the water the first time this year. I may add a set to the rear bunks but want to see if just doing the front bunks will be sufficient as I think it should be. The boat does mint even touch the rear bunks until the bunks are already hugging the hull on recovery and the rear of the boat is floating on launch.

 

[ZGhost]

@Ronnie how are the bunk slides secured? It looks like from the pictures what appear to be screw heads on top of the slides? If that’s the case, would you not be worried that some may loosen up over time, back out, and scratch the bottom hull? You have 60 screws per ski?

 

[Ronnie]

The slides are held in place by stainless steel flat head screws which the slides came with. The screws are installed I the troughs and are flush with the slide material. I have not though about them screws backing out and scratching the hull and didn’t read any reviews reflecting this as an issue but will try to take a look at the slides from time to time to see if this is going to be a problem for me in the future.

 

[ZGhost]

The slides are held in place by stainless steel flat head screws which the slides came with. The screws are installed I the troughs and are flush with the slide material. I have not though about them screws backing out and scratching the hull and didn’t read any reviews reflecting this as an issue but will try to take a look at the slides from time to time to see if this is going to be a problem for me in the future.

I would keep a close eye on those as from vibrations (say when your parking the trailer after launch) some could work themselves loose over time. Skis look great, I have two myself, a turbo Aquatrax and a GP1800. They are a blast, happy riding!

 

[captainhook]

Interesting I didn’t realize those slides were multiple pieces. I considered them because I pull my VX Cruiser HO off of the trailer and put it on a cart I built to put it in the garage and store the trailer in the yard away from the house for the winter. It’s a real pain to get off of the trailer so I have to make use of my other toys. I used the winch on my ATV to pull it. The slides would make this easier but I was worried they’d scratch the hull.

 

[Ronnie]

I sealed and painted the storage locker on the pwc trailer today, or at least I hope I did. Also painted the bow stop for my ski.

 

[Ronnie]

My wife and I added some decals to our waverunners and their trailer.

I also upgraded my ram mount to hold my phone in a good camera position.

 

[tpspeier]

I forgot about the small onboard chargers I installed. Actually, placed on top of the batteries. The chargers are held in place by the rubber straps which secure the batteries to their trays.

I recently installed onboard chargers in our skis. I'm considering adding a charging port to avoid having to pull the seat and storage bucket to charge (minor hassle). I see several people add the port on their boats, but not seen one on a ski. The most convenient place to add the port would be at the rear below the cleat (just above the deck). My concern is that this would weaken the structure of the ski especially given impact the ski takes when jumping waves. Any thoughts on adding a charging port and whether or not it would create a structural issue?

 

[biffdotorg]

I recently installed onboard chargers in our skis. I'm considering adding a charging port to avoid having to pull the seat and storage bucket to charge (minor hassle). I see several people add the port on their boats, but not seen one on a ski. The most convenient place to add the port would be at the rear below the cleat (just above the deck). My concern is that this would weaken the structure of the ski especially given impact the ski takes when jumping waves. Any thoughts on adding a charging port and whether or not it would create a structural issue?

The reason we have onboard chargers (not maintainers) on our boats with outlets is that we are depleting banks of deep cycle batteries on a regular basis that our engines cannot recharge.

Are you guys really burning down your waverunner batteries that often that you have to put them on a charger all the time? I honestly charge my waverunners once in the spring when I pull the batteries out of storage, and they are good for the year. Literally, unless that battery needs to be replaced we have had no need to touch them. These engines are so small, they take no juice to turn over.

I have a feeling you have something putting a drain on them that you may want to look into. Or do yourself a favor and install a battery shut off switch, that may serve the same purpose for way less money and hassle.

 

[tpspeier]

I have a feeling you have something putting a drain on them that you may want to look into. Or do yourself a favor and install a battery shut off switch, that may serve the same purpose for way less money and hassle.

One of my skis currently has a battery charging issue in that it won't charge (don't think it's the rectifier since it was just replaced in the spring). I know this needs to be resolved but haven't had time to deal with it. The workaround is to charge the battery after ever use.

The longer-term issue is inconsistent use of the skis, especially since we now have a boat too. Our skis sometimes sit unused for several weeks. I have had batteries drain while sitting such that the ski wouldn't start. You're correct that a battery shut off switch would probably do the trick, but it seems to me that a maintainer would result in more battery life than a simple switch.

 

[biffdotorg]

One of my skis currently has a battery charging issue in that it won't charge (don't think it's the rectifier since it was just replaced in the spring). I know this needs to be resolved but haven't had time to deal with it. The workaround is to charge the battery after ever use.

The longer-term issue is inconsistent use of the skis, especially since we now have a boat too. Our skis sometimes sit unused for several weeks. I have had batteries drain while sitting such that the ski wouldn't start. You're correct that a battery shut off switch would probably do the trick, but it seems to me that a maintainer would result in more battery life than a simple switch.

Nothing wrong with bandaids if it gets the job done.

Might want to get a voltage reading on that stator. A bad stator can take out a voltage regulator/rectifier. And of course a bad stator will not provide enough voltage to charge the battery..

Good luck!

 

[Ronnie]

I recently installed onboard chargers in our skis. I'm considering adding a charging port to avoid having to pull the seat and storage bucket to charge (minor hassle). I see several people add the port on their boats, but not seen one on a ski. The most convenient place to add the port would be at the rear below the cleat (just above the deck). My concern is that this would weaken the structure of the ski especially given impact the ski takes when jumping waves. Any thoughts on adding a charging port and whether or not it would create a structural issue?

I’m not ready to drill any holes in the skis yet but if was was I would install charging ports they would be either opposite the fuel fill cap or on the bulkhead / wall that supports the last seating position. The latter is a little more difficult on the gp because of the modular design. See pics. At this point I don’t think I will ever install such ports since I don’t use the skis enough to consider removing the seat and bucket to be a hassle but I’m may install some fender mounting points on each ski because getting the fenders on and off in the right place, right length and the ends secured under the seat is a PITA.

I do agree with @biffdotorg on not keeping the batteries on a charger all the time so I use charger maintainers. Harbor Freight sells generic versions for about $20 but having two of these fail on me over the years (I found out when I went to use the skis the first time during the season, another reason to fire up the engines before I leave my driveway) I’ve since switched to name brand charger/maintainers for less than $50 each. Now my ski batteries are always ready to go since they are plugged in whenever They are in storage.