WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
Because it is too thin and it was only halfass glued together to start with.
Thunderstruck ! Counter to the Blunderjet thread
- Thread starter WFO Speedracer
- Start date
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
Yeah if you take a flashlight inside the hull and stand back a little bit you can see the light through the hull. I knew this going into this ski build but I am new to fiber glassing. So is there a certain weight of glass that i should use (I was thinking 2 layers of 10oz cloth all on the inside) and how many layers? How do you recommend bracing the bulkhead? Thanks
WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
Not sure what you are doing exactly, on mine I built a new pump tunnel and spliced in a 650 pump so there is no need for bulkhead bracing, if you are using the 440 style pump you won't be going anywhere fast and you will need tons of bulkhead bracing as the impeller is constamtly loading the bearing housing and driveshaft.
The 440 pump works well for the stock motor, I used both the afterburner style pump that came in it and a worked 440 pump and they both ran very well with the PJS motor. You can also reinforce a hull while it is together and you will end up with a much stronger assembly by glassing over the bondline rather than reinforcing both sides and gluing it back together.
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
i have one of those pjs engines in a 440 with a factory full pipe and jetco 440 pump and it rips! those pjs engines really make some power for a 550
WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
Yes the 440 pump works great with a high RPM motor such as the PJS engine, axial flow pumps are made for high RPM engines, just don't expect the pump to work with a larger engine that turns lower rpms.
Aquaholic
World's Oldest Teenager
- Location
- San Diego, CA.
........
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
I am planning on running all of the stock drivetrain and just re-enforcing everything. I want to make sure that this ski will last for a long time and take a little bit of abuse. I am not a freestyle rider, more of a recreational but I do jump wakes and small stuff like that. This is going to be my intro into glassing, just not sure what to use and how many layers
WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
The issue is it was crappily put together and the hulls leak at the bond line, splitting mine took less than twenty minutes, (refer to first post on this thread) this is not like splitting a Kawi or Yami hull put together with the green glue from hell, this is more like liquid nails, no cutting or grinding was involved, not much too it really.
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- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
Okay so then if I split the hulls and re-enforce, then what do you use to stick the two back together again? epoxy/resin and glass over that? Thanks for the help
WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
Epoxy- cabosil mixture or Plexus
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
DO you have more pics of this ski?
Any progress?
Any progress?
WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
no to both
WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
I will preface this by saying that I have no good reasons to bring this thread back from the dead , but as most of you here already know , that has never stopped me before .
I may be the Alaxander Shunnarah or Dollar General of jet ski builds , well maybe just one more .
Unlike most of my builds this one needs very little finish bodywork , the hull is gelcoated and is in really good shape , most of the major work has already been done earlier in this thread , I have reached out to Mike Stowe at PWC Graphics a few months back and he assured me that he could replicate the graphics for this ski as well as change the colors on the graphics, I want to do a reverse , everything that is green becomes Purple , everything that is purple becomes green. I also reached out to JetTrim a few years back and I think somewhere in their vault they have the patterns for these and can make me a set of mats .
This is an extremely lightweight hull , ( I will try and get some weights later) and it will be the closest I ever come to owning a full carbon fiber lightweight ski , also I really liked the way that this ski handled , I may be one of the few in that regard IDK , I did not like the 550 PJS engine that was in the ski , it had zero bottom end , came on like a light switch and was all top end, it was a race ski pure and simple with the weight bias toward the front like an SXR .
The engine has been moved back in the ski about 8 1/2 to 9 inches from looking at prior posts , it also has a 650 pump tunnel installed and will get a 750 small pin transplant most likely with MSD total loss as I have all the parts already to make that happen , I do know that at my skill level and age I simply could not justify buying an aftermarket hull..
I did the fixed steer thing for a lot of years, I thoroughly enjoyed those skis but I also like riding skis that are closer to my roots , a ski with a handlepole , so here we are again .
I may be the Alaxander Shunnarah or Dollar General of jet ski builds , well maybe just one more .
Unlike most of my builds this one needs very little finish bodywork , the hull is gelcoated and is in really good shape , most of the major work has already been done earlier in this thread , I have reached out to Mike Stowe at PWC Graphics a few months back and he assured me that he could replicate the graphics for this ski as well as change the colors on the graphics, I want to do a reverse , everything that is green becomes Purple , everything that is purple becomes green. I also reached out to JetTrim a few years back and I think somewhere in their vault they have the patterns for these and can make me a set of mats .
This is an extremely lightweight hull , ( I will try and get some weights later) and it will be the closest I ever come to owning a full carbon fiber lightweight ski , also I really liked the way that this ski handled , I may be one of the few in that regard IDK , I did not like the 550 PJS engine that was in the ski , it had zero bottom end , came on like a light switch and was all top end, it was a race ski pure and simple with the weight bias toward the front like an SXR .
The engine has been moved back in the ski about 8 1/2 to 9 inches from looking at prior posts , it also has a 650 pump tunnel installed and will get a 750 small pin transplant most likely with MSD total loss as I have all the parts already to make that happen , I do know that at my skill level and age I simply could not justify buying an aftermarket hull..
I did the fixed steer thing for a lot of years, I thoroughly enjoyed those skis but I also like riding skis that are closer to my roots , a ski with a handlepole , so here we are again .
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WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
What's a good jet ski build without a proper theme song , so here you go !
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Big Kahuna
Administrator
- Location
- Tuscaloosa, AL
Dude, There may be 5 people on this site who know who Shunnarah is, That is unless they have driven East to West on 20/59 or North /South on I65!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!
WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
Actually you may be wrong there , I knew he had expanded into Florida and Georgia but it looks like he has hit the big time , see below.
He is the founder, president, and CEO of Alexander Shunnarah Injury Lawyers, which operates in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
He is the founder, president, and CEO of Alexander Shunnarah Injury Lawyers, which operates in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
I loaded it up on my small utility trailer , then brought it home and washed it , a lot of the parts I was stressing over were already in the hull, there is also another box of parts at the lake that I will pick up Thursday , all in all it's in pretty decent shape. Probably in better shape than the POS Dirk Diggler is selling lol.
I will get weights maybe tomorrow , it's light though , I picked the bottom half up with one hand and toted it to the trailer, on the top I got inside of the hood area and walked it to the trailer , the handlepole was still arttached and the foam is still in the top half of the ski and in good condition .
The solar panel still looks good and all I see on the top half are a few gelcoat stress cracks , the powder coated parts need to be recoated but they may just get painted , I wanted to change the color on them anyway so no big loss.
The bottom of the hull however is worse than I remember , I will most likely end up re-gelcoating the bottom half of the hull to get it all nice and shiny and more importantly matching again. I am going to try white gelcoat from US composites and see how it matches up .
I do have the chin pad and the rear side panels, chin pad was inside of the ski the rear panels are at the Lake . I also located the intake grate which is one off and I think I know where the ride plate is , so that's pretty much everything I need to get started.
I will get weights maybe tomorrow , it's light though , I picked the bottom half up with one hand and toted it to the trailer, on the top I got inside of the hood area and walked it to the trailer , the handlepole was still arttached and the foam is still in the top half of the ski and in good condition .
The solar panel still looks good and all I see on the top half are a few gelcoat stress cracks , the powder coated parts need to be recoated but they may just get painted , I wanted to change the color on them anyway so no big loss.
The bottom of the hull however is worse than I remember , I will most likely end up re-gelcoating the bottom half of the hull to get it all nice and shiny and more importantly matching again. I am going to try white gelcoat from US composites and see how it matches up .
I do have the chin pad and the rear side panels, chin pad was inside of the ski the rear panels are at the Lake . I also located the intake grate which is one off and I think I know where the ride plate is , so that's pretty much everything I need to get started.
Attachments
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WFO Speedracer
A lifetime ban is like a lifetime warranty !
- Location
- Alabama
So remember at the start of this thread I said the ski was improperly put together , well I believe I have proven my theory , I flipped it upside down and tried to put the two halves back together , it was being held off at the very back and leaving a huge gap most of the way around the bond line , I initially thought that maybe the new pump tunnel was too high and holding it off , so I crawled up under the ski , looked and I didn't see anything , but you really can't see the gap between the top of the pump tunnel and the deck , I did notice looking through the rear eye that it was together in the middle but about 1/4" apart on the corners at the rear.
I decided to find out exactly where it was hitting at , usually I would use playdough for this or stick wax, I don't have either here ATM but It so happens that I made a chicken pot pie for supper and I did have some pie shell dough left over so I used that , dough is dough , I rolled some up and put it where the pump tunnel meets the deck, no squish whatsoever so I was good there , then I put it around the rear bond line , just as I thought it hit in the middle in a section about a foot in length .
I pulled the two halves back apart and checked the top of the hull with a straight edge , everything looked pretty good there , then I checked the bottom, there not so good ,
It turns out the bottom is bowed and is higher in the middle than at the corners , kind of the opposite of what a square nose front hood lip does .
I do not think this is something that happened from being apart , I am convinced it came out of the mold like that , the two halves didn't really fit but they shoved a ton of glue in there , slapped the two halves together and hoped for the best, like I said improperly made and improperly assembled.
There is some good news though , I can fix it , that section at the rear hasn't been finished out yet , what I will have to do is lay in a bunch of fiberglass tape on the inside of the pump tunnel and then grind the other side down till it is straight , then it should fit back together properly , the bond line is way too thin for my liking anyway so adding material can't do anything but help , if it still doesn't fit I will keep laying glass and adjusting the gap till it does , one thing is for sure , it has to get a lot better than this before I will consider reassembling it .
I decided to find out exactly where it was hitting at , usually I would use playdough for this or stick wax, I don't have either here ATM but It so happens that I made a chicken pot pie for supper and I did have some pie shell dough left over so I used that , dough is dough , I rolled some up and put it where the pump tunnel meets the deck, no squish whatsoever so I was good there , then I put it around the rear bond line , just as I thought it hit in the middle in a section about a foot in length .
I pulled the two halves back apart and checked the top of the hull with a straight edge , everything looked pretty good there , then I checked the bottom, there not so good ,
It turns out the bottom is bowed and is higher in the middle than at the corners , kind of the opposite of what a square nose front hood lip does .
I do not think this is something that happened from being apart , I am convinced it came out of the mold like that , the two halves didn't really fit but they shoved a ton of glue in there , slapped the two halves together and hoped for the best, like I said improperly made and improperly assembled.
There is some good news though , I can fix it , that section at the rear hasn't been finished out yet , what I will have to do is lay in a bunch of fiberglass tape on the inside of the pump tunnel and then grind the other side down till it is straight , then it should fit back together properly , the bond line is way too thin for my liking anyway so adding material can't do anything but help , if it still doesn't fit I will keep laying glass and adjusting the gap till it does , one thing is for sure , it has to get a lot better than this before I will consider reassembling it .