run aground

[Dshriber]

good morning, i ran my fsh 210 sport aground. it was a muddy river bottom. It was at about 5 mph and about 1.2 feet. do you think i can try and get the mud out of the intake with a mask and go in the water or should i pull the boat out of the water? any other possible damage? the mask option would be much better if possible?

Thanks!

Doug

 

[ross l]

Can you pull the clean out plugs and use something like a toilet brush to clear the mud? Push it back down and out of the intake grate. Then hose it with water, if you have access to running water.

 

[Gunner]

I did same on a new waverunner with 4 hours on it. I now have a healthy respect for tides..lol. I actually had to pull the machine about 150 yards to the ramp by a bowline in thigh deep mud. Never realized how small sea shells cut you like razor wire till that day. I finally got to ramp, trailered it home and used a hose to completely clean out the intake, tunnel and impeller. I then gave it a good flushing on a hose. I thought I destroyed the ski but when it was over I had a couple of very minor nicks in the impeller which never effected performance. You may be able to do it in the water, but I would pull the boat to really clean and flush and get a good look at the impeller and tunnel. Good luck, get a chart plotter if you dont have one.

 

[Dixie Highway]

If it were me I’d also take the time to pull it out, hose it out clean. Chances are if you started it with even a little bit of mud in an impossible to clean area such as between the impeller and nozzle you’d get an overheat alarm. And unless you stopped the engines before even hitting the mud you likely have some in there already, so Flushing on the hose is a good idea too.

 

[Liveto99]

Clean it out with mask should be fine. Pull plugs and remove any mud, go in through Intake grate And remove any mud. With boat off push throddle forward and clean out any mud. If you look in there from the back with the gates up you’ll see a little white screen as long as that is clear you should be fine start your boat rev it up a little bit and make sure that you get water out of the P holes on the side of the boat. if you do your fine.

 

[Dshriber]

Can you pull the clean out plugs and use something like a toilet brush to clear the mud? Push it back down and out of the intake grate. Then hose it with water, if you have access to running water.

Thank you

 

[Liveto99]

It should not be that packed with mud. Is it?

 

[Liveto99]

Pic?
Doug I go over 1’ all the time.
I gas it before and keep going no problem it should not hit when it is on plane.
You said u were going slow, did you kill the engine when you noticed? There is a fine grate that keeps the large stuff out of the cooling passages of the motor. I have seen an A.R. 24 below mud out on the side of the boat but once we got him off of the Reef and got Clearwater going to the motor he was fine

 

[Dshriber]

Hi all, i ended up pulling it out of the water and taking in for service. I needed the 10 hour oil change as well. The impeller sucked up a small rock about 2"x 2". The mechanic fixed some nicks on the impeller but its completely fixed. It was two hours for $180. Thanks for your feedback! Doug

 

[Julian]

Hi all, i ended up pulling it out of the water and taking in for service. I needed the 10 hour oil change as well. The impeller sucked up a small rock about 2"x 2". The mechanic fixed some nicks on the impeller but its completely fixed. It was two hours for $180. Thanks for your feedback! Doug

Good move! Glad you were able to get into a mechanic so quickly!

If I'd been in your spot and had killed the engines quickly once aground, I would have refloated and then spent a much time as possible clearing anything from the intake. If mud was all the way back to the impellers I would likely have pulled her out before starting to inspect the intake filter for mud. If the mud wasn't back to the impellers I would have cleared it all and restarted it on the water. Point being....if there was mud into the water intake on the pump....you want to find out how far into the cooling system it has gone before you force water into the cooling system potentially packing that mud in harder.