Surfing question ar240

[John Mcpartland]

So we have been trying to get the ballast right for surfing this year. We came from a Regal 2000 i/o so this is our first jet boat and first boat to surf behind. So the problem we are having is getting the boat up to speed.
I had a 750lb bag on the port seat and a 750lb bag on the swim deck, port side, with 3 adults and four kids in the boat. Th kids are all under 8 and stay in the bow area. I am using ride steady and set to 10.4 and when i take off it seems like the boat is struggling to get up to speed. The three tries with a friend surfing we only made it to the 10.4 speed once and when we reached that speed all the vibration stopped. Later we filled a 1180lb bag in the ski locker maybe 1/3 full with the same issue. The rpms ar pegged and it doesn't get passed 7-8 mph. The one time it did it took what seemed to be 3-4 min. Any help or ideas would be appreciated
Thanks
John

 

[haknslash]

Your boat shouldn't be struggling that hard with the amount of ballast. Do you notice any cavitation without any ballast? You mention vibration so it sounds like you are having severe cavitation issues. Check your pumps, jet tract, cleanout plugs, etc. You may be missing silicone around the jet intake and ride plate which can also cause cavitation.

 

[John Mcpartland]

No troubles without the ballast. Everything seems fine but this is my first jet boat so im not really sure what would be missing, such as silicone are the intake.

 

[jcyamaharider]

You will not notice it without ballast. I had to reseal the intakes on my brand new boat because it did the same thing.

 

[John Mcpartland]

You will not notice it without ballast. I had to reseal the intakes on my brand new boat because it did the same thing.

Thanks, do I remove the intake or just go over everything with silicone? I've found quite a few posts about that now
Thanks
John

 

[Blenderhead]

Interesting as I experienced a similar event while surfing with my 212x where it seemed to struggle to get up to speed. I will check my intake grates today.

 

[jcyamaharider]

I was able to get my hands up in there without pulling off the grate.

 

[John Mcpartland]

Here are a couple of pics i just took. Is silicon supposed to be in the gaps between the hull and the plate? Can i just run it in the gaps like caulking your tub or a window or do i need to remove the plate?
Thanks

 

[Bothomas]

Here are a couple of pics i just took. Is silicon supposed to be in the gaps between the hull and the plate? Can i just run it in the gaps like caulking your tub or a window or do i need to remove the plate?
Thanks

Hate to bring up old threads, but came across this one searching for another issue. Anyway, I think I may need to do something like this too. Did you end up just filling the gaps like in your pic, or something else? Anymore to it??? Thanks

 

[John Mcpartland]

I ended up taking the impellers out and filling all the gaps and then sanding everything smooth. I ended up having bent impellers so I'm not sure how much this actually helped

 

[Bothomas]

I ended up taking the impellers out and filling all the gaps and then sanding everything smooth. I ended up having bent impellers so I'm not sure how much this actually helped

I've never actually taken mine out.. I need to do it now so I know how for when I really NEED to, to clear an obstruction.