Carbon ROK Rebuild

[Balduccimoto]

I bought this ROK with kawasaki driveline last year. I begun to work on it and slowly progressed to doing everything. Just finished the other day I figured i'd get some pics together and show what I done.. Maybe give a few ideas and help others. Lots of pics + steps are missing so in between pics look for text.

I started to try and get more power. Having issues last year with 2 different engines and lost tons of money, I figured i'd try it myself. I went .50 over with Pro-X pistons, brand new hot rods crank and seals from the dealer. I got the sport port templates, it includes a template for exhaust port that raises the height a little (I decided not to raise it). Also a template to make a cut out on the piston to meet the window in the sleeve. The motor seems alot more responsive from 1/4 throttle on and more power. Off idle still is a little slow, but it may get some race fuel/ignition curve later.

Left side was finished ported. Right was not.

After seeing some water coming from the intake grate bolts I decided to open up the tray. I didn't find as much water as I expected and kinda regretted opening it. But now it's done with XPS foam and has drains.

I had issues getting the nut sert to bite in the hull, so I ended up cutting up 2 new primers I had laying around and insert the nut serts in them. Here it is 5200'ed on the back side with the nut holding it in.

Added this tow strap

The footholds were shaped nicely and the foam "stepped" down to fit the asics I wear.

The impeller was too short to the driveshaft and was starting to strip. I got a long nose impeller custom cut by Skat and a brand new driveshaft from them. Sorry no pics of the new stuff

The original bilge paint is called Zolatone. It's a trunk spatter paint thats very durable.. Quite a bit of it peeled up on the bottom so I hit it with Duplicolor trunk spatter paint and their clearcoat.. I will get back to this...

The handlepole mount has a bit of flex to it and the gelcoat was chipping around it. I grinded down the gelcoat to make sure no damage to the composite and it was OK. Still I want to give a little reinforcement..

Hot glued some cardboard in to use as a makeshift mold. Then laid 7oz 2x2 twill to stiffen my "mold". Also closed up the middle hole because im going to dual breather.

 

[Balduccimoto]

Here it is just about finished. I put some 17oz biaxial over the entire area, put the ski standing on its nose and filled it with 2 part foam.

Then I decided to paint the entire ski so I flipped it over and started to fix little scratches, beaching marks and any gelcoat cracks from impacts. All the cracks were grinded out and faired with west system 410 + epoxy resin.

Hit the entire bottom deck with some high build primer so I can wet sand it and hide some minor imperfections.

Then I hit it with some DuPont rival.

Here is the drains before. I also added some fairing filler here to make it look more pleasing.

Flip it right side up again and now time to get the body work on the top done. Not much here, but the gelcoat chipping I mentioned earlier.

Then paint it with some KTM orange. The white light in my garage makes it look different.. Its definately bright

It laid down beautifully. It really didnt need any wet sanding or polishing but since I was painting in a dirty garage, alot of dirt got in it. Also had a few runs.. So I get that finished and go to wash the polishing compound off and some water got in the bilge.. Turns out that duplicolor spatter paint SUCKS. It dissolved in water!!!

 

[Balduccimoto]

So I had to remove it all, and at this point I was tired of spraying. I decided to hit it with interlux epoxy primer with a brush and then interlux bilgekote. I laid it all on kind of heavy and in between coats I sanded with 220. I did this to hide any imperfections in the lay up and get it all nice and smooth..

Now installing everything back I couldnt get the waterbox where it was before because of the new breather tubes. I didn't like how anything was set up there anyway so I set out to make it right. I had to make a waterbox mount to make it work the way I want.. I used cardboard as a template again and built it around my waterbox. I put all new inserts in for the rubber straps then West System G-Flex to bottom of hull.

Water test.. Everything went great

Sorry I will add some pics of the finished engine bay later. There is alot of little things I also did that didnt make it in here. It was alot of work over the past 2 months

 

[849tigerbotkv1]

Looks good

Whats your rtr weight after all that reinforcement ,foams etc?

 

[gto0209]

Looks great love the orange! Is that a fuel reserve switch up by the hood pins

 

[txsuperjetfreak96]

Good idea on the wb mount. I like the tdr waterbox, but think it would fit alot nicer with a flat bottom

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[Factory928]

Is that one of your ex curbedHO's?

 

[txsuperjetfreak96]

Haha I saw that to

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[Balduccimoto]

RTR weight was 282lbs before. I have yet to weigh it now it should remain about the same. Im very cautious about removing excess resin.. the tray i actually grinded out tons of the original lay up so id essentially be creating a new tray. The footholds i removed alot of excess resin and material. I removed an old tank pod that weighed 1lb etc.

Yes thats a fuel reserve switch by the hood pins. Its from a 550. I deleted it, but kept it in case I change my mind.

Yes that girl was curbed a good 6 years ago. It was actually for halloween and its been there since. Its been there so long i forget that its there. Everyone else notices it though and its become a staple of my garage lol

 

[gto0209]

Does the splash gaurd really make that much difference? Mine came with one but I haven't mounted it yet.

 

[Balduccimoto]

Does the splash gaurd really make that much difference? Mine came with one but I haven't mounted it yet.

I dont know it was there when i bought it. It does look like it deflects some of the water though. It definately doesnt hurt. I went to the surf today and the water temp i think is 40. It was choppy as hell, but it was definately doable with the deflector. Its still nothing like a superjet bondline though.

I pulled the drains and a little water came out. I know the bulkhead was leaking and the intake grate bolts. I assume that its still leaking there. The intake grate inserts arent sealed on the inside. I put some 1211 on the bolts. If i had to take a guess its probably leaking there. Its a little so im not worried.

Edit.. another word on the deflector. I think its toby that makes it. Its definately strong. When i first bought it someone helped me move the ski andthe ski was let go and the deflector caught the bunk on my trailer. No damage besides a good 1" circle of gelcoat cracked off. That was one of the sections i fixed with fairing filler.

 

[gto0209]

I dont know it was there when i bought it. It does look like it deflects some of the water though. It definately doesnt hurt. I went to the surf today and the water temp i think is 40. It was choppy as hell, but it was definately doable with the deflector. Its still nothing like a superjet bondline though
I pulled the drains and a little water came out. I know the bulkhead was leaking and the intake grate bolts. I assume that its still leaking there. The intake grate inserts arent sealed on the inside. I put some 1211 on the bolts. If i had to take a guess its probably leaking there. Its a little so im not worried.

Edit.. another word on the deflector. I think its toby that makes it. Its definately strong. When i first bought it someone helped me move the ski andthe ski was let go and the deflector caught the bunk on my trailer. No damage besides a good 1" circle of gelcoat cracked off. That was one of the sections i fixed with fairing filler.

Toby left my ski with no foam in the tray when he built it, it has two yamaha drain plugs with versi plugs. I plan on stuffing some pool noodles in front of the waterbox. Toby said to ride it first before I put the deflector on, but it wont hurt.

 

[Balduccimoto]

Yeah im thinking of putting some foam in front of the waterbox. The way it's set up now there's tons of room in the front. Im looking out for those large black foam pieces behind car bumpers. They are XPS foam and dont absorb water, I think if I get a large piece I can cut a nice piece out and will look decent.

My original plan was to fill the front with that kind of foam and shape the foam to cradle the waterbox.. but the composite was alot easier and only took me a day.

 

[gto0209]

Yeah im thinking of putting some foam in front of the waterbox. The way it's set up now there's tons of room in the front. Im looking out for those large black foam pieces behind car bumpers. They are XPS foam and dont absorb water, I think if I get a large piece I can cut a nice piece out and will look decent.

My original plan was to fill the front with that kind of foam and shape the foam to cradle the waterbox.. but the composite was alot easier and only took me a day.

That is a great idea, I will have to snag a few of those foam pieces from our body shop dumpster.

 

[SirMrManGuy]

I see you are running a 550 tank, I had one but replaced it after it dried up and cracked with a summit racing tank that is about the same size. http://www.x-h2o.com/index.php?threads/wdk-rok-tank.142056/

 

[Balduccimoto]

I appreciate the tip but the 550 tank fits the hull really good and its 4 gallon as well. Id like to find a new old stock or give the dealer a call bc it looks like its not discontinued.. suprisingly. It also can be removed from the hull easily without removing other stuff. I may add a regular gas cap later on bc i dont like filling at the pick up. Im afraid i may lose the rubber gasket on the beach one day. I was gonna super 77 spray adhesive the gasket to the housing so it stays put. I never tried on rubber but it works on paper gaskets

 

[SirMrManGuy]

yeah, the kawi dealer in nz wanted a few hundred dollars for a 550 tank. If I still lived in the states and could get used tanks ($50 tank, comes with free jetski) I'd probably still use one.

I saw a 550 for sale for $1500 the other day, I threw up in my mouth a little.

 

[Balduccimoto]

lol ive seen incomplete 550's being given away here. I looked earlier the tank is $74, filler $20 gasket $6. Maybe cheaper for you to order through american dealer?

 

[gto0209]

Where did you get those prices? I might look into a 550 tank if they can still be bought new. I didnt want to put a 40 year old tank in my brand new ski haha.

 

[kinevac]

I enjoyed looking at your build it looks nice. The white color in the engine bay is very cool and makes the ski look super clean. What size motor ace you running I couldn't tell, and what size pump did you decide on? My ROK should be finished up in paint this week, so I will have to be sure to post some pics as I am putting it back together.