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Its all about the surf!
- Location
- Oceanside, CA
On this morning's ride out to the surf, in open ocean (Probably 60' deep water) Matt Smiths new EVO stalled and started to sink. When it was obvious it was going down, we frantically tied a tow rope to his bow loop and tried to tow it nose up before it slipped under. No use, it had so much water in it, when we started towing it just nose dived and down it went! Matt looked like he'd just lost a family member! I've never seen some one sweat in 58 degree water! We stopped towing immediately and it popped right back up to the surface- barely! At least we answered the question "Do EVO's float?" They do, but not by much, only about 2 inches of the back was above the water. Everything turned out good though, we ended up towing it backwards at idle speed and got it back to the ramp.
So the real question is why did it sink in the first place? Especially in calm water and while he was riding in a straight line on plane. Matt said after he got the water out of the motor and got it restarted he went through everything. He checked all the obvious stuff, no cooling lines had come off and no cracks in the exhaust or hull. The scupper couldn't have been the problem because he was riding on plane when it started to take on water. Unfortunately we haven't really figured out why it sank at all. The best theory we can come up with is that Matt uses a quick disconnect on his flush kit. We're thinking that it must have stuck open the last time he flushed it and was pumping water in the hull as soon as he started to ride, which ultimately sank the ski. Then after the sinking, when Matt got the engine running and hooked up the hose to the quick disconnect to run the motor, the valve became unstuck and is now working properly. If that's what it was, we'll know for sure on tomorrows ride.
So the real question is why did it sink in the first place? Especially in calm water and while he was riding in a straight line on plane. Matt said after he got the water out of the motor and got it restarted he went through everything. He checked all the obvious stuff, no cooling lines had come off and no cracks in the exhaust or hull. The scupper couldn't have been the problem because he was riding on plane when it started to take on water. Unfortunately we haven't really figured out why it sank at all. The best theory we can come up with is that Matt uses a quick disconnect on his flush kit. We're thinking that it must have stuck open the last time he flushed it and was pumping water in the hull as soon as he started to ride, which ultimately sank the ski. Then after the sinking, when Matt got the engine running and hooked up the hose to the quick disconnect to run the motor, the valve became unstuck and is now working properly. If that's what it was, we'll know for sure on tomorrows ride.
