It happens to everyone sooner or later. Your ski sunk and the motor is flooded with water. Here's what to do.
Realize that time is critical, much more so with saltwater. The water will immediately start to corrode your crank bearings, your wrist pin bearings, and the bores. The longer you wait, the more likely latent motor damage is going to become. You need to get it running where it happened, as soon as you're back on land.
Do not put it on the trailer.
Do not think you're going to do it at home.
Do it now.
It's pretty simple. You need to get water out of that motor.
1. Remove the spark plugs and put them back into the spark plug boots.
2. Turn the ski upside down as much as you can (you can do this even by yourself).
I find the best way is to stand the ski on its nose, then lower it to almost horizontal, upside down. Obviously, you want two or more people for this.
3. Let as much water as possible drain out before hitting that start button. You risk breaking reeds if you don't.
4. BEFORE you hit the start button, move both plugs (still connected to plug wires) somewhere in the engine compartment where they touch the metal of the engine. You want the plugs to spark or you risk blowing the coil.
5. Crank until most water is out. When you're getting close to done, put a thumb over one plug hole for a few seconds while cranking. The open hole should spew some added water out. Alternate a few times.
6. Set the ski back down. If you think there may be water in the tank, there are extra steps
6a. Let the ski sit for about a half hour.
6b. Disconnect the fuel line reaching furthest to the bottom of the tank from the/a carb(s). On a stock setup, that'd be the reserve line. (and you'd disconnect it at the reserve switch) On dual feed line setups, just use one of the two lines.
6c. Hold that line overboard and blow into the tank vent valve. You want to pressurize the tank. This will force whatever is at the bottom of the tank to come out the disconnected line.
6d. Watch what comes out. It's pretty easy to tell if you're getting water. Stop when the water stops. Done.
7. Clean and dry the plugs.
8. Pour just a little bit of premix into the plug holes and install plugs. (If you've got a well working primer, you might skip this. It doesn't hurt though and usually gets it started a whole lot sooner.)
9. Rock the ski slightly on it's side so that the exhaust sits lower. This is in case any water remains in the exhaust. You don't want that to get back in the engine.
10. Now start it. Should start within a couple of cranks if you did everything right.
11. Get on the throttle and blow it out.
12. Once you're confident that it will stay running, get it back in the water and run it hard for a while.
Some folks have some variations of the basic procedure, and I've used most of them. I find the procedure I described to reliably start the ski within seconds of cranking every time.
Realize that time is critical, much more so with saltwater. The water will immediately start to corrode your crank bearings, your wrist pin bearings, and the bores. The longer you wait, the more likely latent motor damage is going to become. You need to get it running where it happened, as soon as you're back on land.
Do not put it on the trailer.
Do not think you're going to do it at home.
Do it now.
It's pretty simple. You need to get water out of that motor.
1. Remove the spark plugs and put them back into the spark plug boots.
2. Turn the ski upside down as much as you can (you can do this even by yourself).
I find the best way is to stand the ski on its nose, then lower it to almost horizontal, upside down. Obviously, you want two or more people for this.
3. Let as much water as possible drain out before hitting that start button. You risk breaking reeds if you don't.
4. BEFORE you hit the start button, move both plugs (still connected to plug wires) somewhere in the engine compartment where they touch the metal of the engine. You want the plugs to spark or you risk blowing the coil.
5. Crank until most water is out. When you're getting close to done, put a thumb over one plug hole for a few seconds while cranking. The open hole should spew some added water out. Alternate a few times.
6. Set the ski back down. If you think there may be water in the tank, there are extra steps
6a. Let the ski sit for about a half hour.
6b. Disconnect the fuel line reaching furthest to the bottom of the tank from the/a carb(s). On a stock setup, that'd be the reserve line. (and you'd disconnect it at the reserve switch) On dual feed line setups, just use one of the two lines.
6c. Hold that line overboard and blow into the tank vent valve. You want to pressurize the tank. This will force whatever is at the bottom of the tank to come out the disconnected line.
6d. Watch what comes out. It's pretty easy to tell if you're getting water. Stop when the water stops. Done.
7. Clean and dry the plugs.
8. Pour just a little bit of premix into the plug holes and install plugs. (If you've got a well working primer, you might skip this. It doesn't hurt though and usually gets it started a whole lot sooner.)
9. Rock the ski slightly on it's side so that the exhaust sits lower. This is in case any water remains in the exhaust. You don't want that to get back in the engine.
10. Now start it. Should start within a couple of cranks if you did everything right.
11. Get on the throttle and blow it out.
12. Once you're confident that it will stay running, get it back in the water and run it hard for a while.
Some folks have some variations of the basic procedure, and I've used most of them. I find the procedure I described to reliably start the ski within seconds of cranking every time.
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