Report from first ride in the surf. Location: Wavedaze Virginia Beach, VA
Disclaimer: I wimped out. I can ride at home so I didn't risk hypothermia on Sat and Sun! I did ride a whole gas tank (~5 gallons) on Friday when the air temp was at least in the 50s. Supposedly the water temp was 51 degrees. I wouldn't argue with that.
Overall: awesome!
Pros: Really stable and buoyant. Airs out super stable. The 701 came alive compared to when it was in a RN SJ. The tray is roomy just like an SXR. Nice kick tail at the back of the tail. Just like on my flat water test ride, no spray in the face thanks to the chine on the nose rocker. Love the KP pole in 36" length pivot to pivot with Blowsion fat bar steering and stock width RRP 4 degree fat bars.
Cons: The footholds are weird. I talked to a bunch of folks at the freeride and got some mod ideas. I see extra padding, turf, and maybe a Dakine footstep in my future.
The ride plate is a weak point. For as tough and smooth as the hull is, the plate looks like it was an afterthought. First, a chunk cracked off just sliding it from a carpeted stand to carpeted trailer bunk. Second the fitment is so bad, it's hard to believe it comes from the same factory. The middle of the plate it 0.3 inches below the back of the WORX intake grate. The gaps between the hull and plate are ~ 0.3 inches around as well. I get much closer fitment with WORX/R&D and Kawasaki hulls. This is Krash/Krash so it should be as good or better I would hope. Finally, when I got home, 2 of the 4 center ride plate bolts were loose and 1 was gone. The two, outer side bolts were still tight. My guess is that the gap around the pump area caused the pressure to loosen the bolts. Pics are below.
Build self-reporting gripes: My Tusk LTR 450 Li battery didn't let me down, but it had me worried. The 150 CA isn't enough to make me comfortable, so I'll be shopping for another battery and leave this one in my (single-cylinder, 4 stroke) quad full-time.
I had a mystery over-night fuel leak where approximately .5 gal escaped from my tank into the engine compartment. I suspected my slick motocross one-way I had on the tank as the culprit. I discovered that after I got home and could follow the hissing sound to my primer fuel tee from my return line to primer bulb. I am going to replace my plastic tee with a brass one and clamp with Oietker clamps and ditch the zip ties. Never been a problem before. Weird.
