How well does the sleeved shaft work against weeds?

[d_coyne1984]

Rotax peoples, I am extremely curious if the sleeved shaft works well to protect for the jet clogging? I live on a weedy lake and have to stop to clean out pretty much every time I get away from shore. Do the weeds just get chopped up by the impeller and spit out or do you still have issues with the jet clogging too?

 

[itsdgm]

My previous sea Doo had those. I don't know how they worked in weeds. But ski roles would still end up in the pump, twisting that plastic sleeve in half and sending it into the pump along with the rope. I know I'm not alone in this one because the boat was missing them when I bought it, I replaced them back to stock set up, only to suck one up myself .

 

[ScarabMike]

The sleeve is now 304 stainless. Very thick! I was going full blast, and a bungee cord net got sucked up in there. I didn't even know until I felt some loss in power. As soon as I saw it, I was able to pull it right out since it didn't bind around a spinning shaft. I was free, and on my way in less than 3 minutes.

 

[itsdgm]

The sleeve is now 304 stainless. Very thick! I was going full blast, and a bungee cord net got sucked up in there. I didn't even know until I felt some loss in power. As soon as I saw it, I was able to pull it right out since it didn't bind around a spinning shaft. I was free, and on my way in less than 3 minutes.

That would make a big difference!!! my SeaDoo also had an intake grate that could be lowered from inside the boat to help clear out the pump. I wonder if the newer one still have that feature too. It could be helpful in warm water. But I was very nervous going under there to clear anything out while on the water. I was afraid of getting my hand stuck in there. But it did make it useful on the trailer for sure.

 

[Julian]

The sleeve is now 304 stainless. Very thick! I was going full blast, and a bungee cord net got sucked up in there. I didn't even know until I felt some loss in power. As soon as I saw it, I was able to pull it right out since it didn't bind around a spinning shaft. I was free, and on my way in less than 3 minutes.

How did you get it out?

 

[ScarabMike]

@Julian
The boat was stopped and shut off. Some of it just started to drop and float to the rear. I climbed into the dive platform, and pulled it out. Then, I keep a mask in the boat, i put it on, and saw it pulled out completely. I may have been lucky, but I know it would have been worse if that sleeve wasn't there. I can also tell you, I could have made it to a dock with no other issue other than loss of power because nothing wrapped itself onto the impeller.

 

[ScarabMike]

Its hard to get stuff all the way in there. The splines are close together.

That would make a big difference!!! my SeaDoo also had an intake grate that could be lowered from inside the boat to help clear out the pump. I wonder if the newer one still have that feature too. It could be helpful in warm water. But I was very nervous going under there to clear anything out while on the water. I was afraid of getting my hand stuck in there. But it did make it useful on the trailer for sure.

 

[d_coyne1984]

This is one area where I wish both manufacturers would combine their ideas. A sleeved shaft and a clean out plug would be awesome! The sleeved shaft would obviously prevent things from getting wrapped around the shaft and getting stuck inside, but having the clean-out port would prevent you from having to fish around underneath your boat when something does get sucked in like a bungee or rope that isn't going to get spit out. I'm guessing there are patent issues preventing that from ever happening though.

 

[txav8r]

If I was Yamaha, I would definitely add a sleeve. Seems like an easy add-on to prevent catastrophic issues...but it would be a big design change.

 

[itsdgm]

The sleeve doesn't prevent the rope from getting into the impeller though. Once it's sucked into the impeller it will still wind up on the sleeve. At least that's what it did on my old boat. Then the rope would tighten up like a boa constrictor and shatter the sleeve (since it was plastic) sending it into the impeller. Then the motor would stop. So clearing the rope required putting the boat on the trailer and pulling everything out from underneath. Or pulling the pump from behind.

I could see how the newer metal sleeves would be better if they don't break loose. But the rope can still get wound up on it.

 

[d_coyne1984]

That's where the clean out port becomes an invaluable thing. I had the same thing happen and luckily I had a knife because with my single engine dead on a calm weekday I would have had a lot of paddling to do. I was able to get it all cleared through the clean out port and motor back to shore to inspect the impeller for damage.

 

[DieselCamel]

I suck up some weeds/sea grass last year in the intercoastal in Fort Lauderdale. On the bimini trip weeds clogged the exhaust cooling system. I had melted the exhaust water box which is made out of plastic. I wouldn't worry so much about the impeller. Weeds aren't going to hurt it.

 

[ScarabMike]

The impeller isnt going to get hurt with anything. It would take the grate to completely fail to allow anything that big to get caught up in there.

Like Ive said before. I had a complete net sucked up. The shaft cover kept it from getting twisted, and prevented it from getting ripped into the chamber. Only the thinnest part entered the intake chamber, and never made it into the impeller. When we stopped, it just dropped, and floated to the point we could just pull it out. The impeller on the Scarab sits far to the end of the jet pump. I believe in the Yamaha it sits a little further to the center of the boat. This is why you can have clean out ports. It would be impossible for us to have one. But, that's how is harder for any debris to reach it in my opinion.

The worst thing that happened is loss of power due to the lack of water going through the water chamber, and out of the jet.

Also, with any other boat this would have caused it to overheat because of their use of raw water to cool the engine. But the rotax is closed loop cooling, so it didnt hurt anything.

The only part of the cooling system that uses raw water is the exhaust, and heat exchanger that are made of aluminum. Ill get down there and show you guys some detailed pictures in a few.

I think the Yamaha, and new Rotax setups use their clogging countermeasures effectively. It would be awesome to have them share that tech with each other as a safety feature for the jet boating industry to the consumer, and not a brand trademark. It would benefit everyone, and provide worry free operation that would help them compete more effectively with the prop boats. Most of the people that choose to go other routes when buying a runabout, is the fear of a clogged jet regardless to the manufacturer .

 

[Robert Sands]

Interesting to read your comments. I just sucked up a thick rope we use for tubing. The boat's in the water and we ended up needing a tow back. I'm not sure what's happening right now, but we can't pull the rope out and it's preventing the engine from turning over, it starts and immediately turns itself off. Do you think this means it's wrapped around the impeller?

 

[smashedheadcat]

It is probably wrapped around the shaft. A sleeve on the shaft does not make it impossible for things to wrap around it. If it's stuck in the impeller, it is going to wrap. No jetboat is going to just eat a rope and keep going. The sleeve will reduce the likelihood of weeds wrapping providing the impeller can cut/eat them, but it won't eat a ski rope.

 

[Robert Sands]

You got it right. We got the boat to the dock the next day and I went underneeth with a flashlight and scuba mask. There was about 15ft of thick ski rope wrapped around the sleeve with one wrap tucked in behind where the sleeve ends as it joins the impeller. It took quite a while to untie it and pull it back out of the grate. I ended up getting it all out with no visible damage to anything. The boat started up like normal and we got our regular performance out of it. On the way home I stopped off at the dealer and they verified there was no damage. Pretty impressed with the protection the boat has for something like that actually. Would have been nice for the grate to have an easy access feature, but I got around that with a few long fork like tools.

 

[Jpseph296]

i sucked up some weeds twice this weekend the first time i had total loss of power and had to get in reach under and pull a ton out. the second time i had a pretty good reduction in power and a vibration but it was able to clear itself out pretty quickly. both times i was idling threw the weeds when going at speed i haven't had a problem.