I did a really bonehead thing yesterday. I launched my boat by myself and then pulled onto the bank while I parked my trailer. I usually leave the jet running at slow idle while I park and I did the same yesterday. The problem is that the river had dropped quite a bit and the launch was much shallower than usual. I came back to the boat to see that it had sucked up a good bit of muddy water forming a nice brown cloud around the stern. I hoped for the best and headed out to fish.
I idled through a large group of kayakers for about 5 minutes with no problems and once passed I dropped the hammer. The engine revved high like it was sucking in a lot air, but I was in clean water with the motor down all the way. I lifted the motor, checked the intake and it was clear, dropped the motor and had the same result.
Once I got the boat back on the trailer, I was able to get a good look under her skirt. From what I could see, the impeller looked in very good shape with an even, tight clearance the whole way around the housing.
I'm planning on taking the impeller out today to get a better look at it, but I was hoping for some advice on what to look for once I get it out. I would gladly take it to a marina for professional service, but there are none near me that I would trust to know anything about jets.
I'd appreciate any opinions, thoughts, advice...
I got the impeller off without much difficulty. I don't think the 4 blade edges look bad at all, but I'm going to file them down and file off the one small burr I have, then maybe drop the impeller down into the liner one shim and see if it still clears. The jet housing was free of debris. I'm just going to try this, put it back together and hope for the best!
After some reading, I found out my blades were blunted to a thickness of about 1/16". That's double the recommended leading edge thickness. I filed them down to just under 1/32". I'll probably have to shim the impeller down into the sleeve a bit now from what I've read.
BTW... this is a great link for jet motor maintenance and includes a .pdf for instruction on how to sharpen your impeller blades.
I don't think that little bit of "blunting" is your problem. I'm no outboard jet expert but I think your problem is else were, maybe pump. You should give Wiegel Brothers a call in Franklin. 814-437-2077. Let us know what you find out. Gary
I think I can claim success here!
I took my dad out for a boat ride for fathers day on the Maxwell pool of the Mon River. I kept my fingers crossed when I hit the throttle the first time. It definitely gets on step even faster now. It's amazing how something so little can make such a big impact.
If you have a Facebook account, you can click on this link and use your own login to view a short video I took of a holeshot...
Jet problems
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