[Kinetic]

I'm on a freshwater lake. Thought that parking my seadoo on top of a dock would be better than leaving it in the water all summer.


I've searched the internet for a floating PWC dock. they seem to be $1200 - $1500. Is that the going rate? I'm new to the sport, but that seems about double what I thought it might cost.


Is there any harm to leaving a PWC in lake water for the season?

 

[Sparticus]

There is no harm leaving your ski in freshwater besides waves. The only thing that the floating dock will do is prevent it from being scratched against the side of your real dock and for that you can find some little fenders to strap to the side of your dock and you should be fine. I think that it is just to expensive too get little docks for your PWC's.

 

[Kinetic]

I think that it is just to expensive too get little docks for your PWC's.

Thanks for the advice. I thought it was a little steep. I have some bumpers for when I dock, and I can add others to my dock for 1/500th of the price of a floating dock.

 

[peeler01]

The main problem with leaving your PWC floating in the water rather than on some sort of dock is if it the PWC decides to start leaking. Unless you have a bilge pump (or if you do and the battery dies), you'll go out there and find your ski under water. Found that one out the hard way...

If you're going to be docking the ski all summer, I'd opt for some kind of dock that keeps the ski out of the water. The floating PWC dock is a great option as is the interlocking floating cube dock but I definitely agree that they both seem way too expensive. They are super-convenient though.

 

[KellyM]

Some freshwater lakes have zebra mussels. They will get inside any open ports. Exhaust impeller or anything else. If storing in a lake with ZM. Better keep it up out of the water.

 

[David Tuerk]

I have left my spark in the north channel of lake Huron for pretty much all summer, The only problem I have had is algae starting to grow on the Hull and some kind of white crust forming on the jet, I would assume it would be zebra mussels though and not corrosion since the jet has a anode. I would invest in a bilge pump though, and try to ride it at least once a week.

 

[Cormacs]

Here in the St.Lawrence there are a huge amount of zebra mussels and lots of seadoos that spend their summer tied to a dock. I have never seen an issue with zebra mussels so far.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DWA]

Drive-on Dock

I've searched the internet for a floating PWC dock. they seem to be $1200 - $1500. Is that the going rate? I'm new to the sport, but that seems about double what I thought it might cost.

I've got the Wheely Dock from this place:
http://www.carolinafloats.com/

I have two attached to my dock and have run 3-seater GTX's onto them with no problem - five years on. Now the Spark sits there with a friend's RX.

They have weathered some pretty rough water and work very well.

At the end of the day, I put the covers on the skis and run a 4" tie-down strap under the float and over the skis and tighten it. This keeps them from rolling off in rough weather.

If anyone wants to go this route, PM me and I'll send details of how I attached these to my dock in a more permanent fashion than the dealer suggests.

 

[DWA]

After reading more posts on this site about the hulls getting damaged I think running them up onto a floating dock under power might not be advisable. (not to say that there's any manufacturers defect, or that I agree or disagree with any cracks being reported, but we all know that ramming the dock can crack ANY hull)

I've run mine up on the floating dock about 5 times now (only had it a week w/ 2 hours) and I'm seeing scratches along the keel line and in a few spots along the bottom where it hits the plastic ramp part before you get to the rollers. They are just scratches but I can see a possible issue.

If you get it to go right up the middle of the slide part and onto the rollers I'm sure you're fine. But there are some hard plastic ridges along the side of the slides and along the rollers, and if you go up a little off center you could contact those with a fairly good impact. It's likely that I could do it right every time but what if one of my friends hits it wrong and cracks the hull? I have had friends run my big GTX up onto the dock and knock the sponson off because they came up tilted to one side.

As a fix, I've installed a winch to my floating dock so that I can crank them up on it instead of going on under power. Now I push off the dock like normal, use the dock as a floating platform when switching riders, then winch it back up on the dock at the end of the day.

The winch may be total overkill and it may be that there's not an issue with running up onto a floating dock, but it's easy and simple insurance.

One last thought ... the convenience of the floating docks is GREAT! I undo the tie down strap and in 30 seconds I'm in the water having fun. It's also great for refueling because I can stand on the stable platform and handle gas cans easily. My house has a regular dock that goes out 80 feet, but no boathouse. So adding these floating docks has been WORTH EVERY PENNY! I'll try to get some good pictures to post.

 

[JoeZ]

EZ Dock is pretty good but expensive.

 

[marion]

Hello DWA,

I bought a glide n ride dock from the same supplier, the one with no rollers ... do you drive the spark on it with throttle or you manually pull it on ? after reading in a few places that you may damage the hull putting her on i want to make sure i am not doing something dangerous ....

 

[QuackDoc]

Leaving your ski in the water all the time is a bad option, IMO. All the junk you see "growing" on the outside of your hull, sinking risk aside, is also growing on your driveshaft, impeller, wear ring, iBR system, nozzle, lower water intake lines etc. As far as longevity and maintenance costs are concerned, you're better off going with a way to get it out of the water. I lived in a lakeside rental property for a while, and the inconvenience of trailering 1/4 mile outweighed the risk of leaving my Spark floating overnight. Think about the way lower units of outboards look when people are too lazy to tilt look after a summer of submersion. For what it's worth.

 

[DWA]

Hello DWA,

I bought a glide n ride dock from the same supplier, the one with no rollers ... do you drive the spark on it with throttle or you manually pull it on ? after reading in a few places that you may damage the hull putting her on i want to make sure i am not doing something dangerous ....

My fiberglass hull RX - I drive it on.
My plastic hull Spark - I winch it on.


Now I have from time to time driven the Spark on with no issues. Put it in Sport mode, idle up to the lift, and when the front touches give it a little gas and it'll hop right on. But typically I step off the Spark onto the lift (turn it off), then connect the winch strap to the Spark and crank it up. I had to rig up my own winch mount so it's not perfect, but it does the trick.

 

[DWA]

Update on my earlier dock posts. My 2016 and now my 2018 Sparks both live on the floating docks full time. When I first got the 2016 (and posted the note above) I was worried about driving up onto the dock, and I think just a little over cautious with my new toy. But now I've done it thousands of times with both skis and there have no issues whatsoever. I will idle to the dock, lining the front up with the ramp, then goose the throttle and it jumps right up onto the rollers. And as stated before, parking on these bears no more weight on the hill than parking on a trailer.