Chuck Buck
Jet Boat Addict
- Messages
- 89
- Reaction score
- 98
- Points
- 97
- Location
- Lake St Clair
- Boat Make
- Sugar Sand
- Year
- 2004
- Boat Model
- Mirage
- Boat Length
- 18
Chapter 2: Is It Time Yet!?
Spring (or what passes for such in Michigan) arrives and it’s too wet/cold to uncover the boat. Ice and snow storms loom and prevent removing the heavy 16 mil tarps. Trying to be productive, and before the ground thaws and the trailer tires leave ruts in the lawn where it’s over-wintered, I move the boat from next to the garage to the driveway apron and set about bringing the trailer up to snuff. Known issues were the brake line broken off at the surge brake master cylinder (thereby ruining said cylinder) and inspecting the wiring, since this is always a trouble spot. Miraculously, my local Joe’s Trailer Sales had a master cylinder and brake hose in stock, and later both wheel cylinders (the right was oozing rust, the left was seized). The wheel bearings had water/corrosion in them, so they were relegated to the landfill too, along with their races. One trick I used from way back in the memory banks was how to deal with a grooved sealing surface. The right spindle had a deep groove at the inboard grease seal, so I took 600 grit cloth, then 1200 paper to clean it up to prevent damaging the new seal upon installation. Then, I installed the inboard bearing and new seal on the drum, but didn’t drive the seal down flush with the hub surface as is usually done. Instead, I left it up about .08-0.1 so the new seal can ride on an undamaged section of the spindle. Some old codger taught me that about 35 years ago pertaining to timing cover seals with grooved/worn harmonic balancer hubs. If that doesn’t fix it permanently, I’ll just put on a Speedi-Sleeve. SKF Speedi-Sleeve. I found a crap-ton of corrosion-prone Scotch-Lock™ connectors (can’t we just outlaw these damn things already?) littering the wiring inside the frame, and the stock left combination lamp full of water, even after I resealed it in the fall. Mind you, I hadn’t submerged the lamp since the sea trial, but moisture in the air condensed in the lens anyway. Good grief! The brakes were adjusted and bled, all wiring connections were sealed and tight, and new LED lights installed all-around. The surge brake controller was completely dissembled, inspected, lubed, and adjusted according to the PDF manual Attwood sent me for the asking. Working out in the wind and 40° weather, I soldiered on, not letting it stop me from the task at hand. Trying to button-up the trailer, the last task was to torque the lug nuts. My trusty Sears Best Craftsman Micro-Adjusting Torque wrench, ca. 1976, failed to “click” at the specified torque, and I realized too late I had probably over-stretched at least one stud. Over the course of a week, I disassembled, cleaned, inspected, and researched the internal mechanism of these types of torque wrenches. Unfortunately, the company that made these for Sears only wanted to sell me a new one and was of no help. Discovering the only flaw in mine was the dried-up lubricant, I reassembled it with the recommended grease (Super Lube® with PTFE), and tried to figure a way to accurately recalibrate it. I tried comparing it to a Snap-On wrench in the E4 lab by using the old double-socket method, since those wrenches have to be certified, but that only got me close. I finally homed in on determining the weight of several heavy objects (milk jugs filled with concrete) on the digital bathroom scale, then suspending them from the handle of the torque wrench at a distance of one foot, and clamping the wrench in a vise at the square drive and making it level. After including the weight of the handle, I knew it was calibrated when I turned the torque setting knob and the wrench “clicked” at exactly the calculated weight; not a pound more or less. Back to the trailer, I marked the stretched wheel stud with a paint pen, then torqued the rest of the lug nuts to spec. By this time, I was itching to get onto the main event and had no patience with removing the drum again to replace one stud and dealing with a hub filled to the brim with grease, so I back-burnered this job for later.
Chapter 3: Getting Down to Business.
One late-April Friday evening, as the weekend forecast looked worse by the minute, and seeing the sun going down, I put on a heavier jacket and cursed the building breeze coming off nearby ice-cold Lake St. Clair. Finally coming to my senses doh! and realizing I specifically bought a smaller boat (than my monstrous Crownline) so I could pull it into my heated, dry, luxurious Garage Mahall, I jumped in the van and pulled it down the driveway with the Accord quickly following after. I giddily uncovered the boat, threw off my home-made supporting structure, pushed the boat in by hand, and closed the big door, leaving the car and van outside to fend for themselves in the inclement weather. In the following three weekends, I removed the dashboard and organized all the wiring, remounted the depth transducer down into the slipstream where it belonged, replaced the broken speedo pitot tube, installed a battery box (farther away from the engine) and a main power shut-off, and performed a major service on the jet. I found a fantastic step-by-step manual on Sport Jet drive maintenance online [https://www.jetboaters.net/threads/winterizing-a-two-stroke-merc-jet-engine.19712/ wink, wink]. It’s MUCH more detailed than merc publishes, and although it doesn’t show my factory Hydro-Surge grate, the rest is spot-on. So I flushed the stator with mineral spirits and found just some accumulated silt, but no shavings and the bronze sleeve bearings looked good. The vanes are a little worn, but IMO its not worth having rebuilt just yet.
The impeller shaft has some miniscule scratches, but not deep enough to feel with a finger nail, so I’ll clean it up with some 1200 paper for grins. I got a hunch the stator oil was never changed. It’s spoda be done after every season, but it’s a PIA taking everything apart. I’ll fashion a bent piece of copper pipe to suck it out with the suction gun when I winterize in the fall. That’ll tell me the most important thing I need to know – if water got in. If not, the ounce or two of oil left behind ain’t gonna hurt nothing. If it was in salt (God forbid!) or left in the water all season, perhaps I’d do the full monte every year, but for being trailered and dipped a few times a year that would be overkill, even for me. My striped buddy wanted to be with me (of course) so I put his Coleman “Bone Lounger” and a Costco bed next to the boat and he climbed on. I covered him with his blankie, and he snuggled in like a bug in a rug. Only his needle-nose stuck out and he didn’t move a muscle for hours. What a life!
Overall, the jet showed little wear; no metal in the gear oil, no water intrusion past the seals, and no damage common to jets that have ingested sand/rocks. The impeller-to-wear ring clearance wasn't bad, so as long as the performance is acceptable, I'll leave them for now. The grate had a few scratches, as did the ride plate and jet housing, but nothing serious. I think I coulda done a lot worse! Along the way, during the extended sojourn in the garage, and at a comfortable 68°, I also documented other interesting repairs…
Spring (or what passes for such in Michigan) arrives and it’s too wet/cold to uncover the boat. Ice and snow storms loom and prevent removing the heavy 16 mil tarps. Trying to be productive, and before the ground thaws and the trailer tires leave ruts in the lawn where it’s over-wintered, I move the boat from next to the garage to the driveway apron and set about bringing the trailer up to snuff. Known issues were the brake line broken off at the surge brake master cylinder (thereby ruining said cylinder) and inspecting the wiring, since this is always a trouble spot. Miraculously, my local Joe’s Trailer Sales had a master cylinder and brake hose in stock, and later both wheel cylinders (the right was oozing rust, the left was seized). The wheel bearings had water/corrosion in them, so they were relegated to the landfill too, along with their races. One trick I used from way back in the memory banks was how to deal with a grooved sealing surface. The right spindle had a deep groove at the inboard grease seal, so I took 600 grit cloth, then 1200 paper to clean it up to prevent damaging the new seal upon installation. Then, I installed the inboard bearing and new seal on the drum, but didn’t drive the seal down flush with the hub surface as is usually done. Instead, I left it up about .08-0.1 so the new seal can ride on an undamaged section of the spindle. Some old codger taught me that about 35 years ago pertaining to timing cover seals with grooved/worn harmonic balancer hubs. If that doesn’t fix it permanently, I’ll just put on a Speedi-Sleeve. SKF Speedi-Sleeve. I found a crap-ton of corrosion-prone Scotch-Lock™ connectors (can’t we just outlaw these damn things already?) littering the wiring inside the frame, and the stock left combination lamp full of water, even after I resealed it in the fall. Mind you, I hadn’t submerged the lamp since the sea trial, but moisture in the air condensed in the lens anyway. Good grief! The brakes were adjusted and bled, all wiring connections were sealed and tight, and new LED lights installed all-around. The surge brake controller was completely dissembled, inspected, lubed, and adjusted according to the PDF manual Attwood sent me for the asking. Working out in the wind and 40° weather, I soldiered on, not letting it stop me from the task at hand. Trying to button-up the trailer, the last task was to torque the lug nuts. My trusty Sears Best Craftsman Micro-Adjusting Torque wrench, ca. 1976, failed to “click” at the specified torque, and I realized too late I had probably over-stretched at least one stud. Over the course of a week, I disassembled, cleaned, inspected, and researched the internal mechanism of these types of torque wrenches. Unfortunately, the company that made these for Sears only wanted to sell me a new one and was of no help. Discovering the only flaw in mine was the dried-up lubricant, I reassembled it with the recommended grease (Super Lube® with PTFE), and tried to figure a way to accurately recalibrate it. I tried comparing it to a Snap-On wrench in the E4 lab by using the old double-socket method, since those wrenches have to be certified, but that only got me close. I finally homed in on determining the weight of several heavy objects (milk jugs filled with concrete) on the digital bathroom scale, then suspending them from the handle of the torque wrench at a distance of one foot, and clamping the wrench in a vise at the square drive and making it level. After including the weight of the handle, I knew it was calibrated when I turned the torque setting knob and the wrench “clicked” at exactly the calculated weight; not a pound more or less. Back to the trailer, I marked the stretched wheel stud with a paint pen, then torqued the rest of the lug nuts to spec. By this time, I was itching to get onto the main event and had no patience with removing the drum again to replace one stud and dealing with a hub filled to the brim with grease, so I back-burnered this job for later.
Chapter 3: Getting Down to Business.
One late-April Friday evening, as the weekend forecast looked worse by the minute, and seeing the sun going down, I put on a heavier jacket and cursed the building breeze coming off nearby ice-cold Lake St. Clair. Finally coming to my senses doh! and realizing I specifically bought a smaller boat (than my monstrous Crownline) so I could pull it into my heated, dry, luxurious Garage Mahall, I jumped in the van and pulled it down the driveway with the Accord quickly following after. I giddily uncovered the boat, threw off my home-made supporting structure, pushed the boat in by hand, and closed the big door, leaving the car and van outside to fend for themselves in the inclement weather. In the following three weekends, I removed the dashboard and organized all the wiring, remounted the depth transducer down into the slipstream where it belonged, replaced the broken speedo pitot tube, installed a battery box (farther away from the engine) and a main power shut-off, and performed a major service on the jet. I found a fantastic step-by-step manual on Sport Jet drive maintenance online [https://www.jetboaters.net/threads/winterizing-a-two-stroke-merc-jet-engine.19712/ wink, wink]. It’s MUCH more detailed than merc publishes, and although it doesn’t show my factory Hydro-Surge grate, the rest is spot-on. So I flushed the stator with mineral spirits and found just some accumulated silt, but no shavings and the bronze sleeve bearings looked good. The vanes are a little worn, but IMO its not worth having rebuilt just yet.
The impeller shaft has some miniscule scratches, but not deep enough to feel with a finger nail, so I’ll clean it up with some 1200 paper for grins. I got a hunch the stator oil was never changed. It’s spoda be done after every season, but it’s a PIA taking everything apart. I’ll fashion a bent piece of copper pipe to suck it out with the suction gun when I winterize in the fall. That’ll tell me the most important thing I need to know – if water got in. If not, the ounce or two of oil left behind ain’t gonna hurt nothing. If it was in salt (God forbid!) or left in the water all season, perhaps I’d do the full monte every year, but for being trailered and dipped a few times a year that would be overkill, even for me. My striped buddy wanted to be with me (of course) so I put his Coleman “Bone Lounger” and a Costco bed next to the boat and he climbed on. I covered him with his blankie, and he snuggled in like a bug in a rug. Only his needle-nose stuck out and he didn’t move a muscle for hours. What a life!
Overall, the jet showed little wear; no metal in the gear oil, no water intrusion past the seals, and no damage common to jets that have ingested sand/rocks. The impeller-to-wear ring clearance wasn't bad, so as long as the performance is acceptable, I'll leave them for now. The grate had a few scratches, as did the ride plate and jet housing, but nothing serious. I think I coulda done a lot worse! Along the way, during the extended sojourn in the garage, and at a comfortable 68°, I also documented other interesting repairs…
