Super Jet Such a great day!... Not.

[Roseand]

So just a little background information about me: I got my ski in September, and I only got a few rides on it, but enough to fall in love with the sport. So during this off season I decided to install footholds, and I did. So now this is really the start to my first season ever riding a stand up.

Since I've been on the water for like 5 times this year, and with footholds, I've definitely progressed alot! So here's what's been going on. On my Squarenose hood, underneath the 3 airholes in the front, the hood is warped. Recently, one side decided to break off, and it's in a crappy place to fix because it interferes with the seal if I were to glass it and reinforce it so it wouldn't break again.
Right now it's epoxied and ducted taped, yet it still breaks.

Secondly, since I've gotten footholds I've definitely been working on subs, and on a day I was riding around not even doing subs my nose piece broke off and I lost it. I wasn't that pissed, but it just makes my sn look pretty ugly

At the end of my ride yesterday, I went and tried to do some stabs off of my own wake, and in kind of getting the hang of it.

So today, I was occasionally practicing stabs, and an O ring came loose out of my umi steering, and the there was too much play in the steering that I ended up snapping the steering cable. Turns out the locknut on my steering came loose. (previous owner installed it)

There, enough with my boring background and story LOL. Props to you if you actually read it.

Anyways, I'm just sick of breaking things even though I'm not being that rough with my ski. My hull is already quite beat up cosmetic wise, and I'm thinking about buying a decent sn hull, installing holds and reinforcing like nuts, and then riding without the fear of breaking things all the time, because as I progress, my ski is going to take more abuse than it is now.
I would be doing this when I have some time during summer nights, and continue to ride my current hull until I'm finished, then swap everything over on a weekend and then tear it up the rest of the summer!

What do you guys think?

 

[Mdavies_02]

I am in a similar situation with my Topdeck Conversion taking my abuse. Managed to break my reduction nozzle outta stupidity this weekend when an insert stripped.

In response to your question, I would not to a swap mid season. As carefully as you plan it, things go wrong. Fix your ski's current issues, keep the maintenance up, and ride all season. Our winters are long enough to get the job done in the off times.

Just my .02

 

[Dmac80sc]

IF you bought the ski complete first thing I would of done is go over everything to check and see what needs to we tweaked tightened or replaced. You never know how the person before you keep up with their stuff. Stuff breaks on skis it happens to all of us and especially when you are trying to do freestyle stuff. Fix it and keep riding!

 

[mthomps]

Just keep fixing stuff as it comes and eventually you will have gone through the whole ski. When you pick up a new ski from someone you never really know how it was taken care of or maintained and no matter how well it was babies things will keep breaking, unfortunately.

Since you need to install a cable now is the time to do the quick steer mod if it doesn't already have it. It's WELL WORTH IT!

I had to install a steering cable this year and a few quick tips if you've never done it. Take out the tank and water box and feed the cable from pump to pole. Make sure the cable does not bottom out before the plate hits the turn stop and be sure to fine adjust it to insure the nozzle is centered when the bars are strait.

 

[Roseand]

Just keep fixing stuff as it comes and eventually you will have gone through the whole ski. When you pick up a new ski from someone you never really know how it was taken care of or maintained and no matter how well it was babies things will keep breaking, unfortunately.

Since you need to install a cable now is the time to do the quick steer mod if it doesn't already have it. It's WELL WORTH IT!

I had to install a steering cable this year and a few quick tips if you've never done it. Take out the tank and water box and feed the cable from pump to pole. Make sure the cable does not bottom out before the plate hits the turn stop and be sure to fine adjust it to insure the nozzle is centered when the bars are strait.

Will do!


My neighbor across the street pretty much gave the ski to me. 300$ with a trailer as well. It's a 701 1995 sn with a b pipe, so I'm not upset that I have to put more money into it haha.

I guess I plan on sticking with this same hull then. But, if I'm working on stabs and such, I'm just going to be damaging more things. I'd like to prevent more damage. Would it be unrealistic to take off a week and then reinforce the engine bay and handle pole mount?

 

[bobob729]

no its always a good idea to reinforce

 

[Roseand]

Yeah.. Anybody else got more advice?
All help is appreciated.

 

[Matt_E]

no its always a good idea to reinforce

I am not so sure about that. If you're not going to do crazy aerials with the ski, if you won't have it in surf - imho, there is no reason to reinforce.
Most reinforcement jobs done by novices are utter wastes of time, money, and effort. They don't do anything for strength, are heavy, and can be pulled out by hand.
Just my experience.

 

[jetpilot36]

welcome to the world of stand up jetskiing. you're just gonna break stuff. it took me ten years to know what breaks and what doesnt.if i ride a whole tank of gas at the lake without breaking stuff, its a good day.also like matt E said, if you're not gonna ride surf or you're not flipping like crazy,reinforcments are unnecessary. it also helps if you're under 175 lbs.

 

[Buckwild12]

It has taken me 4 years and a whole bunch or trial, error, and $ to get a relatively bomb proof ski. It is the nature of using a jetski outside of what the engineers intended it to do, and the learning curve of figuring out what you can do and what you shouldn't do. I spent more nights wrenching than I can count. But all those nights wrenching really taught me how my ski works, Don't look at things as a chore, view it as an opportunity to upgrade. Riding in salt water I learned how to become better with electronic connections etc... It sucks breaking stuff, but until you start landing tricks it's somewhat to be expected.

 

[Roseand]

Yeah I weigh a little below 150.. so that helps. Isn't the SN pole mount area really weak, especially if I'm learning stabs though?

 

[dbattersby20]

I would continue to replace things with quality parts that you will want in th future and eventually you will have a nice ski with a crappy hull. And then replace the hull.

 

[Roseand]

I would continue to replace things with quality parts that you will want in th future and eventually you will have a nice ski with a crappy hull. And then replace the hull.

Yeah, I plan to build a squarenose hull this winter for sure.

By the way, where can I get that big O ring for my UMI steering that fell off?

 

[Buckwild12]

I can tell you that this is really my first year where I have ridden hard, pushing my and my skis limits. It almost feels weird not wrenching all week to fix what I broke the previous weekend, I attribute it to figuring out what I was doing to break stuff (like having my quick turn set up with too much cable play by having my steering stop out of adjustment) or having my steering stop bolt loose after not checking it for weeks, or having my chin pad fly off because I didn't check those fasteners every few weeks. Losing an intake grate or ride plate for the same reason. Having cooling lines pop off cause I didn't periodically check the clamps. Having the exhaust hose come off after a barrel roll attempt, almost sinking my 20k plus ski in the middle of the river. By not having my battery properly secured so it would rattle around the engine compartment arc welding my new DASA motor. I could go on and on with near misses, times I was towed in, etcc, but the bottom line is every setback is an opportunity to learn. I now have a series of post ride maintenance and checks that I do, lubrication and corrosion x on moving parts, and every time I go hit the green button it starts. (knock on wood) it actually has gotten boring as I'm so used to wrenching.

 

[Buckwild12]

Plenty of places have umi rebuild kits, call Jetmaniac, he has everything!

 

[Vumad]

no its always a good idea to reinforce

Disagreed. My ski is not reinforced. It was stock so I couldn't get much going on in our ty FL west coast surf. It's a limited now, so the power is there for our surf, but I mostly want to slash and re-entry. Our water is too shallow to stab in the surf so I don't much to need to reinforce the pole base, and I'm not trying to roll yet, so why reinforce the sides? I mostly ride flatwater, racing at the lake or doing flatwater 180s, stabs, slides, so forth. Nothing very impressive, and not high enough to break my hull. Adding weight would only hurt my flatwater freeride, and putting it in the wrong places would hurt my racing.

Saying reinforcement is always good is about the same as saying reducing weight is always bad. Such is not the case. It's application specific. If you are doing things that frequently break an area, then reinforce that area before it breaks. However, if you are not doing those things, don't add extra weight because "you might do them someday", because that extra weight will make it harder to start trying.

 

[Vumad]

Decide what you really want before you dump a lot of money into that ski or ditch it. You got it at a great price and you could sell it for a profit, which is an insult to the friend who gave you a deal. Or, you could put $1000 into it, have a very nice ski, and break even when you are done. The 701 SN is a great platform to start with and spending enough money to make it nice w/o much over it's current market value would be a good decision.

Ripping your ski apart mid-season will be frustrating, you will cut corners, so it's probably better to patch it up until the off-season, then doing a good job rebuilding the hull.

Getting a second hull is a good idea, fixing it up and dropping in your stuff. You would have the time to make sure you did a good job. However, you would be restrained by having 2 projects at once, and splitting money up b/t the current and the new ski. You could just simply buy a mint hood. You could also buy a RN or AM hull. Lots of options there. One thing is for sure, if you plan to buy another SN hull and fix it up, budget to change to a RN or similar pole, otherwise you are just asking for continuing headaches.

What to do is hard to say. It depends on your budget and your goals. I can vouch that dumping money into a looser is always a bad idea, however, it doesn't sound like you have a looser, so you have a lot more options.

After all that is said, my overall suggestion would be to choose the path that gets you the fastest and most affordable route to having the cleanest, most reliable ski that is what you want (hull, motor, etc) that you can afford.

I guess where this leaves us is... we need more info... What is your mechanical skill level? What is your price range? is that a 61x or 62t 701? What motor do you really want (being realistic with your budget)? and what hull do you wish you had (being realistic with you budget)?

 

[mthomps]

Duuude you got such a great deal it's crazy. Treat your neighbor to a steak and an 11 pack. (save one for yourself of course) Take the 1200+ dollars you just saved and set it aside for stuff that breaks!

You gotta do the quick steer mod asap! Order a fresh steering cable from jetmaniac.

DON'T hull swap. Beat up SN's are all the rage. (in my mind) You'll end up spending your summer trying to finish the build. I love the way mine handles in large waves. Get to lake Michigan too!

 

[Roseand]

Wow, I never thought I'd get such helpful advice . I love this forum.

Anyways, I might as well give you guys some more information like vumad said.

First of all, I'm going to be 18 at the end of this month, and I'll be a senior in high school. My mechanical skill level is above average for sure. My dad+uncle+another family member run a small business that sells and fixes landscape equipment, anywhere from a small stihl chainsaw to a huge kubota tractor. I've rebuilt quite a few snowblower engines, lawnmower engines, rebuilt carbs, lawnmower transmissions,motor swaps, and worked on all kinds of other stuff there. So I'm decent with mechanical stuff. Plus, my dad can do pretty much anything mechanical, so mechanical skill is not an issue.

My ski is a 1995 sn superjet with the stock 701 61x motor, and the previous owner already put on a b pipe, and an ocean pro nozzle on it, along with UMI steering. From what he told me, he said he never rejetted when he installed the pipe. It's still got 150/150 PSI and hes been running like that for years and hasn't had a problem, but I probably am going to rejet it soon. I'm hesitant about putting money into this hull for a few little reasons. On the top deck of the engine compartment, there's a hole about the size of nickel or so that he patched from the outside, and I sanded the repair flush to the hull, and I don't know how he managed to put the hole in it, and if it put stress cracks on the inside that I can't see.. Also, on the bottom rear sides of the ski, there's quite a few gouges that don't look too nice at all, and the bottom is not in too great of shape either. He beached it on lake michigan alot from what he told me. Also, when he and his "buddy" where installing the b pipe, I'm pretty sure he said they weren't sure what all needed to come off, so he took off the flywheel cover, then put it back on and snapped a bolt off in the cases. There are so many little things wrong with it, but I got it for such a deal anyways.
Oh and also, I installed holds and turf by myself this offseason as well.
Ok, so I don't have much money either. I've got to pay off insurance for my truck, gas money, and other stuff, but I still have some money I can throw into my ski. This summer, I can probably do 500$ worth of mods to it, and still be comfortable with gas money, etc. My ski isn't the only thing I'm putting money into, i've got other stuff i do too..

My ski still has a stock impeller and stock intake grate. Honestly, I just want a ski that has decent hookup and has quick bottom end throttle response for set up wakes and launching off waves. And of course throw it around a little bit and not have it break.
. I'm not an advanced rider yet haha.., I've only been out on a ski like 10 times. When I got the ski last september, I only rode it a few times until it got cold, and I had an electrical problem so I had to stop anyways. (it had intermittent spark, turned out to be the CDI)
Now in the 5 times or so I've been out this season, I'm advancing a ton every time. I'm getting pretty decent at turning and control of my ski, and you definitely get good at that when you start making your own set up wakes. I'm passed the point where I get flung off the ski and have to swim, if I mess up on anything, my hands are still on the handlebars and I'm up right away. I'm no where close to comfortable enough to go out and try a barrel roll or anything, or go off of a huge wave and stab. Maybe I'll get a vid of my riding and post it up. That'd help more than explaining it..

And vumad, I definitely am feeling like I want to reinforce because "I might try them someday". But I guess it sounds like some small stabs won't kill my ski right now.


Again, thank you guys for all the input. I appreciate it tons!!

 

[zyxwvu44]

If i were you i would run that SN hull till it dies. Get a limiting rope and a hooker 9/15 impeller. The limiting rope will prevent your pole from breaking off when learning stabs. The impeller will make a huge difference over the stock impeller.

Keep the square nose hull until you have mastered it and really feel that lighter hull will help you. Also it takes practice in learning how to keep a hull in good shape. That SN will take a beating and you wont notice much. If you are new to your ski you will beat it up much more quickly and you can ruin a good hull/paintjob very quickly. In terms of reinforcement, its all up to you. I learned stabs on my non-reinforced SN and pancaked many a 10 footers. I never had any damage but "your mileage may vary". You will be amazed with what you can do with a square nose hull.