[NJspark33]

Well i used ours for the first time today! It was a blast out on the river in NJ, nearly flat as glass except for a few boats going past and a little wave hopping.

After about 3 hours, i believe something was sucked into the impeller as it started to feel like it was stalling "or sucking air", 3/4 throttle about 40mph going straight, no waves around, in the channel or about 50-60ft of water. I slowed down, tried to take off again and it vibrates now anything over maybe half throttle. Since i was about a mile from the dock, i pulled off to the muddy shore until i could jump off, reached underneath into the intake grate and couldn't feel anything.

I limped it back to the dock at about 25-30mph half throttle, and seemed normal until you get on it any more rpms... took it out on the trailer, and can't see anything in back of the impeller either.

Do i need to remove the bolts to remove the grate? they look like 1/2" or 12-13mm bolts, 4 of them?

I'm assuming a plastic bag maybe wrapped around the impeller shaft or fishing line? There were a few sticks in the water at that time, nothing that i heard bump though.

Ive tried reversing, turning it off, lifting up the back of the unit multiple times to try to surge some water manually in and out of the back of the unit, pulling it backwards near the dock while it was not running.. nothing seems to release whatever is in there. help :/

 

[spark-orion]

Do not try to take the intake grate off unless you want to take the top off. There not screws but bolts so you need to hold the nut on the inside of the hull. You may not have anything there yet damage has been done. Your wear ring may need replacing. Pull the pump...

 

[NJspark33]

Do not try to take the intake grate off unless you want to take the top off. There not screws but bolts so you need to hold the nut on the inside of the hull. You may not have anything there yet damage has been done. Your wear ring may need replacing. Pull the pump...

Thanks, so its not common practice to ever need to remove the intake grate to clean or if it sucks in something? I didn't hear anything hit or clank or any type of noise, it just lost power or thrust like it was sucking in some air and vibrates when going above 3000rpms.

I don't know whats considered riding it hard like some guys say, i was toying around with it but nothing crazy, at the time i was just driving leisurely less than full throttle when it happened. Will this happen any time it sucks something in off the surface like that and require dealer service and repair? I read on here some guys go into some shallow areas and suck up rocks and damage impellers and such, i was out in 50+ feet of water. The impeller from the back looks brand new.

 

[spark-orion]

Thanks, so its not common practice to ever need to remove the intake grate to clean or if it sucks in something? I didn't hear anything hit or clank or any type of noise, it just lost power or thrust like it was sucking in some air and vibrates when going above 3000rpms.

I don't know whats considered riding it hard like some guys say, i was toying around with it but nothing crazy, at the time i was just driving leisurely less than full throttle when it happened. Will this happen any time it sucks something in off the surface like that and require dealer service and repair? I read on here some guys go into some shallow areas and suck up rocks and damage impellers and such, i was out in 50+ feet of water. The impeller from the back looks brand new.

The only thing I can think of is a stick or bark floating went through your pump and messed up the wear ring. Do you have iBR? If so, I made a how to for pump removal with iBR in the how to section. If not iBR, it is jus 3 bolts that hold the pump in.

 

[NJspark33]

well i flipped it on its side for a minute and here are the pictures of whats stuck in there.. you can see whatever it is, wore between the impeller and the wear ring.. thats what the wear ring is right?

Looks like one of those soybean field "weeds" a burr, the brown thing the size of a bean with a ton of spikes that sticks to your socks, holding a very small knot of fishing line together with some very tiny piece of plastic. I'm shocked this would make it vibrate and hardly go more than half speed...

Should the impeller look that dinged up after just a few hours on it ?

the 2 year old really wants to go on it, shes crazy in love with water!

 

[spark-orion]

That will definitely affect your speed and yes your impeller is dinged up pretty good. I would pull your pump to get that burr out and maybe clean up the impeller.

 

[NJspark33]

That will definitely affect your speed and yes your impeller is dinged up pretty good. I would pull your pump to get that burr out and maybe clean up the impeller.

Could floating debris do that? we only used it this one outting, never in shallow water besides taking off from the dock, which is just sandy even where its too shallow.

I got it knocked out today..was a little fishing line and a piece of really hard cork! started up and no vibration so seems like its good to go again.

 

[DWA]

Reminds me of the time a snake got sucked up in mine.