Finally got out on the water!

[tdonoughue]

...and I didn't even make it out of the no wake zone before suddenly the starboard engine was shuddering/cavitating/making a ruckus. So we 'pulled over' right outside the no wake zone out of the way. Reached to the cleanout ports and found a twig thingy. Pulled that out and prepared get going again. Shuddering and shaking again. Stopped again. This time, found a nice 1" piece of wood jammed in the impeller between the housing. In there tight. Worked on it for 45 min or so, but no dice. Finally limped back in, put it up on the trailer and wound up pulling the grating off to get to it. Turns out there were two at 1 o'clock and 6 o'clock. I got the 1 o'clock piece out using the hook from a bungee cord (after trying several implements). The 6 o'clock one I was able to break up some with a flat screwdriver. Still could not get that one out, so I started up the engine and gunned it. Broke it right up.

But then time was up for the day. So we came home. What a day boating. Er...

 

[pagekl]

The good thing about jet boats is if you can't remove the debris by hand through the clean out port, you can gun it until it finally comes out. The way the boat vibrates it does feel like damage is being done, but trust me, it won't hurt the engine one bit. As long as it is not a rope and only wood, gunning the engine will get it out. No need to ruin a good day of boating on a piece of wood getting stuck in the impeller. Believe me, been there, done that, with my first jet boat.