1st time out 2018 Vortex VRX 243, impeller problems+

[Yvonne & Ian]

We were thrilled to FINALLY get our new 2018 Vortex VRX 243 after 5 months!

1st day out... upon launching - could barely move boat. Felt tied down, difficult to control and when accelerating, boat would not move faster but would vibrate and create loud noise not allowing us to go faster than 7 mph. It appears we might have been a top a large mud bank and in trying to move the boat... mud stirred up and small stones and vegetation. We think this as the lake we went on just had water rise and Officer there went over the whole launching area reporting that he found a large mud bank just in from the dock that was about 1 1/2 feet deep.

1) impeller destroyed
2) bottom of boat all scratched up
3) in trying to get repaired, nobody can seem to find parts
4) seems like very few people understand these boats, we haven’t found any yet.

**
1) where can we find parts, even Chaparral seems to be lacking?
2) how can we find experienced boat repair when we haven’t found anybody that works on these boats? (dealer not an option - hours away and never worked in boats before - we are their first sell. Primarily a motorcycle type place).
3) we are almost at the point of watching you tube repair videos to repair ourselves!
4) is there a resource to call (that is reachable) so we can get proper guidance?

Please advise, very disappointed.

 

[swatski]

@Ron@Scarab @ScarabMike @JetTech72

--

 

[Beachbummer]

Where are you at? Even damaged impeller and wear ring mostly reduce performance. Once you remove whatever is lodged in there, boat should somewhat work OK for the time being.

Impeller can be repaired by impros or sbt.

One time i removed rocks bigger than a fist from a pump. Same symptoms.

Try to find the shop manual for your boat, or a jetski with the same motor, so you can see how to pull the pump and inspect.

Best of luck, other than the scratches, you can probably fix this yourself faster and better than any dealer of you are mechanically motivated.

 

[Beachbummer]

All the rocks on the right were stuck in the pump, and we are hammering in to get another rock unstuck.

I had already sold this boat, but the new owner had some difficulties running aground in a rocky area. We replaced the Wear rings and went out that same Afternoon. The impellers got really beat up, but boat was still doing well.

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Where are you at? Even damaged impeller and wear ring mostly reduce performance. Once you remove whatever is lodged in there, boat should somewhat work OK for the time being.

Impeller can be repaired by impros or sbt.

One time i removed rocks bigger than a fist from a pump. Same symptoms.

Try to find the shop manual for your boat, or a jetski with the same motor, so you can see how to pull the pump and inspect.

Best of luck, other than the scratches, you can probably fix this yourself faster and better than any dealer of you are mechanically motivated.

Thank you so much for your reply and guidance We are located in Santa Clarita, CA (by Magic Mountain). We have purchased the boat manual. My husband found the parts on his own and had delivered to repair shop. They found large walnut sized stone. Hopefully this won’t hapoen again but if it does, my husband can certainly do it. (He is a master mechanic so he is thankfully mechanically inclined)
Again, thank you very much!

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

All the rocks on the right were stuck in the pump, and we are hammering in to get another rock unstuck.

I had already sold this boat, but the new owner had some difficulties running aground in a rocky area. We replaced the Wear rings and went out that same Afternoon. The impellers got really beat up, but boat was still doing well.

Wow. Glad boat is doing well.

Thanks again!

 

[Ronnie]

Master mechanic, I don’t think you need our help. Santa Clarita is not far from castaic, in the future consider taking it to the pwc shop there right off interstate 5, on the eastern side of it. They don’t sell boats but if they maintain pwcs which I think they do they should be able to help you with any engine or pump related problems you may experience. You may also want to think about sending your impellers in to be repaired (impros is good for that and they are in “nearby” Colton or replaced, sbt (small block technologies) has an exchange program, or so I’ve read, in which you turn in your old impelwers and they ship you refurbished stock units for a small fee. What is nice about the latter is that it is almost immediate whereas you would be hard pressed to get impros on the phone at this time of year.

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Master mechanic, I don’t think you need our help. Santa Clarita is not far from castaic, in the future consider taking it to the pwc shop there right off interstate 5, on the eastern side of it. They don’t sell boats but if they maintain pwcs which I think they do they should be able to help you with any engine or pump related problems you may experience. You may also want to think about sending your impellers in to be repaired (impros is good for that and they are in “nearby” Colton or replaced, sbt (small block technologies) has an exchange program, or so I’ve read, in which you turn in your old impelwers and they ship you refurbished stock units for a small fee. What is nice about the latter is that it is almost immediate whereas you would be hard pressed to get impros on the phone at this time of year.

Thank you so much. Will check it out. We are close to Castaic. That’s where our boat currently is awaiting repair.

Much appreciated.

 

[Beachbummer]

Do you know what parts he ended up delivering? When I had a SeaDoo boat (same engine manufacturer as yours, but mine was much older) I purchased Wear rings on sale/ebay/etc and would keep on hand. If something ever happened and I needed to swap one, they were on hand. Maybe I ended up replacing every other year or so as needed. The draft of the boat is so low sometimes you get too adventurous not worrying about how deep it is, and you might get something that causes some damage. It's not a bad idea to keep some wear rings on hand. On that picture I posted, we did all that at the ramp and got out again the same afternoon, so in that case it was the difference between a bust disappointing afternoon and grins all around once we had it working.

Hang in there, it will be fun soon hopefully.

 

[BobJohnson]

sounds like you have things moving in the right direction. for future needs, below are some videos on the pump which I found online. also link to a place which sells parts online.

Good luck with your repairs...

http://www.crowleymarine.com/johnson-evinrude/E4W4QT.cfm

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Thank you so very much!!

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Do you know what parts he ended up delivering? When I had a SeaDoo boat (same engine manufacturer as yours, but mine was much older) I purchased Wear rings on sale/ebay/etc and would keep on hand. If something ever happened and I needed to swap one, they were on hand. Maybe I ended up replacing every other year or so as needed. The draft of the boat is so low sometimes you get too adventurous not worrying about how deep it is, and you might get something that causes some damage. It's not a bad idea to keep some wear rings on hand. On that picture I posted, we did all that at the ramp and got out again the same afternoon, so in that case it was the difference between a bust disappointing afternoon and grins all around once we had it working.

Hang in there, it will be fun soon hopefully.

Thanks. Yes, he ordered the wear ring and impeller (blade). Since there are apparently 2 sizes and the boat repair guy only measured with “inches” and not mm.... we are hoping it is the right fit. Great idea to order in advance and have. Thank you so much.

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Adding pics. Trying to be positive. Impeller being fixed. Waiting for quote on scratches. Sigh. All this from apparently trying to move boat off mud bank. I’m hearing “cha-ching”
again. We already heard “cha-ching” when we purchased the boat but now after first 5 min of use? Grateful for all the support and help on this forum. Thanks so much!

We were thrilled to FINALLY get our new 2018 Vortex VRX 243 after 5 months!

1st day out... upon launching - could barely move boat. Felt tied down, difficult to control and when accelerating, boat would not move faster but would vibrate and create loud noise not allowing us to go faster than 7 mph. It appears we might have been a top a large mud bank and in trying to move the boat... mud stirred up and small stones and vegetation. We think this as the lake we went on just had water rise and Officer there went over the whole launching area reporting that he found a large mud bank just in from the dock that was about 1 1/2 feet deep.

1) impeller destroyed
2) bottom of boat all scratched up
3) in trying to get repaired, nobody can seem to find parts
4) seems like very few people understand these boats, we haven’t found any yet.

**
1) where can we find parts, even Chaparral seems to be lacking?
2) how can we find experienced boat repair when we haven’t found anybody that works on these boats? (dealer not an option - hours away and never worked in boats before - we are their first sell. Primarily a motorcycle type place).
3) we are almost at the point of watching you tube repair videos to repair ourselves!
4) is there a resource to call (that is reachable) so we can get proper guidance?

Please advise, very disappointed.

 

[Ronnie]

I realize it is a new boat but I suggest that you use and get familiar with it over this summer before you have the scratches repaired. If you are like many of us and other boaters your boat will be scratched up more over the first season maybe not so much on the bottom but dock rash is common.

Before I forget, if stainless steel wear rings are available for your boat (i believe they are) consider purchasing those as spares instead as they are a lot tougher than the oem fiberglass reinforced plastic units. At the same time if your pump takes in a rock something has to give, the impeller, wear ring and or impeller shaft/splines.

 

[Ron@Scarab]

If anybody needs parts, you contact me. We do a decent job in stocking the common things. IE: wear rings, impellers, filters, driveline parts, engine parts, etc. Just as an fyi here since there seems to be a problem with people finding parts. Not sure why since we have dealers everywhere that can help.

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Thank you so much!