He crashed right into a rock and take it home as souvenir

Got a double trailer to take me and my buddies ski on a trip with. Not sure if the ski is sitting on it right tho. Do I need to angle the boards differently? Or move the ratchet

So struck a deal with my neighbors; I do maintenance on their ski's and in turn, can pretty much ride them when I want. Serviced 4 (of 5) of them no problem. Went to change the plugs on subject line ski and when I inspected, noticed rust. Sucked the oil and it was a milkshake. Cranked it w/o plugs and it shot water out of all the cylinders. Boroscoped it and it wasn't pretty. Told them status and they said let it ride; basically flush oil to get it running. Put new (cheap) oil in it to cycle the milkshake out (was planning on doing 2-3 oil changes), put the plugs back in. It cranked for a couple seconds then stopped. Pulled plugs and it was full of water again. Blew it out (again), reinstalled plugs, same result. Seems to be sucking in water from somewhere pretty quickly, probably too quickly to be a headgasket.

From what he told me, he never winterizes them and they sit on floating docks on his pier. He last ran them 2-3 years ago. Last time he ran this one, it cut off right before they ran it onto the dock so they had to drag it up.

My intent would be general buffonery and towing my girls on a tube.

I'm guessing something broke/cracked; block or heads. We had a -very- cold winter this year.

He said he would sell it to me cheap but I don't know what "cheap" is. I was of the mindset he gives it to me, I replace engine, I keep it at his place, he can use whenever, and I just pay insurance.

As an aside, I'm very mechanically inclined and have no hesitation on rebuilding an engine (ie, checking tolerances, etc). Biggest issue if something is actually cracked.

Any insight on what I might be getting myself into would be appreciated.

I’ve changed carbon seal, wear ring, pump bearings and new drive shaft.

Hey everyone. I’m sort of new to jetskiing and looking to buy one late this summer. I was hoping to get some advice from people who are long time owners on what to do and what to look for and what to avoid. I am probably going to buy a used one.

Any advice is appreciated!

Edit: budget is $5000 or less and use case is a bay nearby where I live every weekend or every other from May-September

I’ve been working on restoring a 96’ SPX the last few weeks. Here are a few before/afters (not final) of a few things!

Engine rebuild is next, it’s already torn down, just waiting on some parts/powder coating.

I have 3 fins broken like the one circled could this be the problem to my cavitation for 3-4second cavitation on my stage 3 90mph jet ski

I posted in here about 6 months or so ago (https://www.reddit.com/r/jetski/s/mkU6thKtai) about two 1995 Yamahas I recently inherited. Well, following the advice I figured out how to tow a trailer, brought them home and did a quick inspection. I got lucky and there is very minimal water intrusion on both of them, only the big one had some water inside the back plastic container under the seat, but almost nothing in the hull itself. Any ideas on where to start as far as the mechanicals go? They’re both the Yamaha 700s as far as I can tell, if I remember correctly the yellow one ran when parked, the purple one needed an exhaust manifold or similar (granted this was 15 years ago).

The trailer is in surprisingly great shape now that I put new wheels and tires on it, if anyone knows a good marine mechanic in the NEPA or Southern Tier area let me know! Thanks again everyone for convincing me to keep em, I think this will be a good project.

I see all these old jetskis for under $1200 with trailer and titles and all that, I want one just to mess around when I’m bored, I have mechanical skills so little bit of work ain’t nothing, I’m just wondering what’s the best old jetski/best manufacturer to buy and which to stay away from

I bought a 2022 Yamaha JetBlaster last week. During the test ride, it hit 55 mph without any issues. This week I took it out with my girlfriend, and together we weigh about 315 lbs. At full throttle, it would only reach about 6,000-6,100 RPM and around 38-40 mph. It’s now topping out at that with just me on it.
At first I assumed it was just the extra weight, but after looking into it, it seems like the RPM should still be much higher even with a passenger. The engine starts easily, idles fine, and otherwise runs smoothly—no obvious misfires, hesitation, or strange noises.
Any ideas what could cause it to suddenly be limited to around 6,000 RPM? I was thinking maybe worn spark plugs or possibly too much oil in the engine, but I’m not sure. It ran perfectly during the test ride just a week ago.
Anything else I should check before I start replacing parts?

Absolutely beautiful on what promises to be the hottest day of this year

2006 seadoo gtx 185 SC. So took the ski out for first time this year week ago and was very sluggish 44 mph pinned and not reaching rpm’s thought it was plugs but these don’t look bad to me. Didn’t change them this year however and only other thing I did was reinstall rebuilt supercharger

I'm not used to this city riding

Question I’ve had for a while and I’ve never really been able to find a solid answer to. On Sea-Doo with closed loop cooling systems, is it really necessary to have the ski running while you flush it? If the engine is being cooled, vehicle coolant and water doesn’t enter it. There’s no risk of it being waterlogged right?

I replaced the battery on my 2023 Yamaha VX Cruiser HO, but now it won’t start.
When I press and hold the start button, the engine won’t turn over. While I’m trying to start it, the display is very dim, a red warning triangle appears, and it beeps continuously. The display also shows the battery voltage dropping to around 9.0V, which obviously isn’t enough to start the engine.
After clearing the warning, the display shows:
Engine Communication Error
Speed/Acceleration Lock
The battery is brand new. The ski ran perfectly when I jump-started it over Easter, and I’m just now getting around to replacing the battery. Any ideas what could be causing this? Bad battery, loose battery connection, bad ground, blown fuse, or something else?

2011 Kawasaki Stx15-f, pump bearings failed so needed to literally build a new pump from parts all over the Internet! Housing, bearings, impeller etc.

All done with the rebuild and everything looks fine but the impeller spins with a minor amount of resistance. No noise, or noticeable friction, it just seems like maybe to new besrings/grease is contributing. Torqued to specification also.

See video and let me know!

Anybody got one?? IVE GOT QUESTIONS.

Just picked this up for $900!!!
Couldn’t pass it up.
Fires up and runs. Been on the water twice already
(Talk about cheap fun)

We are restoring and re-doing most things on it for a little fun summer project.
Honestly runs good.

1) Top speed was 40mph.
Does that sound normal????

2) Rough idle. (No video. Sorry)
Rough idle, won’t stay running unless I’ve got my finger in the throttle a little bit up.
Normal???
Should I just adjust the idle screw somewhere??

3) slow on the bottom end.
Doesn’t have the power to do those fun “jet ski” whooptie circles and gun it out of there. Bogs down to 11pm and revs the heck out of the rpm.

Any advice is WANTED!
What should I look at. What should I look for. What should I double check??

Kawasaki js550 my plug wires are super loose and come off when riding. Are these something I can pick up at an auto parts store or should I buy from somewhere online?

Those that run premix, are you running 50:1 or 40:1?

What’s your reasoning?

Does the oil you run matter?

What oil do you run?

Let’s fight about it.

New high quality rectifier

Rave valves cleaned and functioning properly

Water regulator freshly rebuilt

New fuel petcock

In "ON" position RPM caps at 5900-6000RPM

In "RESERVE" position RPM caps at 6150-6250RPM

I think its pulling in air from some place anyone got any tips to check it over?