Took a pretty hard hit.

[AllOutdoors]

Took a pretty hard hit on the Buffalo river today in Tn. It was low and didn't judge my line just right. I blame it on laughing family as we were running very skinny. Lol! I was not looking forward to the damage but to my suprise it was just just a scratch!! Maybe I hit just right? I don't know but the boat handles and performs like it did when it was new.

 

[redrum]

Took a pretty hard hit on the Buffalo river today in Tn. It was low and didn't judge my line just right. I blame it on laughing family as we were running very skinny. Lol! I was not looking forward to the damage but to my suprise it was just just a scratch!! Maybe I hit just right? I don't know but the boat handles and performs like it did when it was new.

ostpics:

 

[AllOutdoors]

There's nothing really to take a pic of. The river pro holds up well!

 

[Kevin Turner]

There's nothing really to take a pic of. The river pro holds up well!

Glad she held up / The funny thing is how one hit seems like the end of the world...and low and behold...no damage...nothing. Then, ya hit and think little about it...and low and behold...she's whacked pretty hard.

I learned a long time ago that if ya whack and she's still running, keep running until you get close to the trailer.

 

[AllOutdoors]

There's nothing really to take a pic of. The river pro holds up well!

Glad she held up / The funny thing is how one hit seems like the end of the world...and low and behold...no damage...nothing. Then, ya hit and think little about it...and low and behold...she's whacked pretty hard.

I learned a long time ago that if ya whack and she's still running, keep running until you get close to the trailer.

Thanks kevin! This was not my first time touching bottom. But still my hardest hit. And no dent. Just what I consider a scratch. Thanks for building such a fine boat! It fishes great and the family loves taking it on "thrill seeker rides." Lol

 

[BigTerp]

The funny thing is how one hit seems like the end of the world...and low and behold...no damage...nothing. Then, ya hit and think little about it...and low and behold...she's whacked pretty hard.

This couldn't be more true!!!

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Well today was quite an adventure! Low water level combined with lower sun angle & I missed seeing the shallow water (1/2 hr upstream).

Darn top loader grate scooped up gravel & fed it to the pump. Then wouldn't pump beyond idle. Idled back downstream to the nearest sandbar. God placed a railroad tie in just the right position for us to use. We pulled the boat up & over it so the stern was out of water. I was able to climb underneath & find the rock stuck in between impeller blades. I couldn't pry it out with my screwdriver & gave up. Must have loosened it some, as it finally came loose 5 minutes later & we were able to get back on plane & get back to ramp in timely fashion.

Lesson learned, I think I will keep the tools needed to pull pump onboard from now on. Also, toploader grate is history!

 

[PSG-1]

If you're running where there are rocks, you definitely don't want a top loader grate.

This is what you need:




I have the spacing set so that the joint of my ring finger cannot pass between any of the tines.

Also, mine is set up with a push-pull cable, so it's a weedless grate.....this is an older picture of it before I added 2 more tines to the grate

Building it was fairly simple. I took the top loader grate, and cut out the mid section, only utilizing the shoe at the edge of the intake duct, and the block on the forward end where it bolts to the pump housing. On that forward block, I TIG welded 3 large lugs for my pivot point. The tines are made of 3/4" x 1/4" stainless steel flat bar, with the bottom edge ground to a knife edge (seems to help reduce weed fouling a little bit) and the top edges radiused.

At the forward pivot point, all the tines are joined together by a 1/4" stainless bolt that goes through the 3 lugs of the mounting block. A couple of inches back, I have another 1/4" cross bolt, to keep all the tines straight with each other. These cross bolts were TIG welded to the tines. As you can see in the last photo, at the rear end of the tines, the top side of each tine has a step machined into it. This step rests against the underside of the intake shoe. Set up in this manner, it prevents a strike from an underwater object from letting the tines swing upward, bending the control cable, and possibly letting rocks and other debris go into the pump.
Sea Doo jet boat weedless grates (at least on the '97 speedster I used to own) weren't like this, the rear end free-floated, unlike my design, which is more solid. My weedless grate design was inspired by the sea doo design, (and actually uses a few of their OEM parts!) but I improved on it somewhat.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Cool grate design! I'm just going to re-install the OEM grate, which has the tine spacing closer together. There are no weeds in my part of the country, water is too muddy to grow anything.

 

[PSG-1]

While the spacing may be closer together on the OEM grates, the downside is that they are made of cast aluminum, which means they are brittle. I have seen quite a few jet skis with broken tines in the intake grates.

I'd hate to think of what could happen if I were to glide across an underwater object or rock, and have one of those tines break off and get sucked through the pump. :shock: :shock: That's why I made mine out of stainless, and made them longer than the intake opening, with the step cut on the back end.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Good idea on the stainless grate, but I think I will stick with this one. If it is brittle then the stainless prop should have no problem cutting into small pcs. It digested that rock for sure. I took the pump apart today & the impeller has burrs & a couple dings but is otherwise OK.

 

[PSG-1]

Good to know that a PWC pump can handle a rock, but it's still got to be an un-nerving sound to hear a rock go through it.

I don't do a lot of running in rivers where there are rocks, but every once in a while we take it to a river like that. Mostly it's in saltwater. I've ground a few oyster shells in mine, and it was a horrible sound. I'm not really worried about damaging the stator assembly, or the impeller, what I worry most about is that thin cast aluminum intake duct..... having a rock bust a hole in it and the boat taking on water.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

what I worry most about is that thin cast aluminum intake duct..... having a rock bust a hole in it and the boat taking on water.

Good point! Never though of that failure mode. At least your intake is alum, mine is SMC, even worse. I actually had thought of keeping a float & compressor (e.g. inner tube) on board, because if I ever have to work on the pump in cold water, I wouldn't have to get wet (it was 90F the other day, not so bad). A float could also be handy if there was a major breach like you described. Where I boat there isn't anyone coming by to rescue you.

I have a trolling motor for backup propulsion. Not very fast but I would at least keep directional control in the current. Boating upstream is a hard & fast rule.

 

[PSG-1]

what I worry most about is that thin cast aluminum intake duct..... having a rock bust a hole in it and the boat taking on water.

Good point! Never though of that failure mode. At least your intake is alum, mine is SMC, even worse. I actually had thought of keeping a float & compressor (e.g. inner tube) on board, because if I ever have to work on the pump in cold water, I wouldn't have to get wet (it was 90F the other day, not so bad). A float could also be handy if there was a major breach like you described. Where I boat there isn't anyone coming by to rescue you.

I have a trolling motor for backup propulsion. Not very fast but I would at least keep directional control in the current. Boating upstream is a hard & fast rule.

Yes, there's a saying somewhere in jet boating that only those wishing for bad things to happen travel downstream. I haven't done any jet boating in rapids or rock gardens....but.....From my experience kayaking, I can see where that would be true for powerboats, as those submerged rocks downstream are hard to spot, until you're on top of them. The lateral steps and rock ledges are much easier to see as you are approaching from downstream.
But even on flat water, traveling upstream is a good rule.

A dead fish, like a dead boat, can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream, to paraphrase a famous quote from W C Fields. That being said, where possible, I always travel upstream of my launch point.

As for a hole in the cast aluminum duct.....in hindsight, I should have fabricated a secondary box/tunnel on the inside of the hull.... from some 3/16" or 1/4" around the intake duct, with a bearing for the shaft on the forward end. This would assure that even if the entire intake duct was compromised, the water would be contained by the secondary tunnel and prevent the boat from sinking.
But as it stands, if I had to deal with such an emergency, I suppose jamming some flotation from the life jackets into the breach would slow it down enough that my 2,500 GPH worth of bilge pumps could keep up with it.