5 replies to this topic

[4man]

Just wondering if anyone has tried replacing their stock Merc impeller with something else.

I haven't found that there are many impellers for the Merc jet out there, Solas makes one I think, but I have been able to find out almost nothing about it.

I know that impellers for Sea-Doo's are fairly common, for the Bombardier jet on the PWC's or their boats, but the Merc is a different story. Just wondering if anyone knows something I don't!

[Kevin Leclair]

Really the only one that I know about is the Solas which you already mentioned, there has to be more out there I am just unsure of who makes them.

[4man]

I figured there might not be too many impellers available, as not too many people get into changing them on boats because the gains are so small.

I am hoping to find someone who has tried a different impeller to see how it worked. I have seen them changed on PWC's several times and it is suprising sometimes how much performance is available with progressive pitch impellers. But I am also not sure if Merc has already done all the work of finding a progressive pitch impeller that works best in their jet pump, or if they have tuned their pump to work with their impeller.

I have my stator off right now and am polishing the insides to remove all of the casting flash and smooth out the water flow. I also have a friend of mine who is a mould maker by trade looking into building me a new hydrosurge grate from stainless steel and changing the spring setup. I will let you know how that goes. Unfortunately, the boat has just gone into storage, so it will be awhile before all this stuff gets tested!

[johnv]

I figured there might not be too many impellers available, as not too many people get into changing them on boats because the gains are so small.

I am hoping to find someone who has tried a different impeller to see how it worked. I have seen them changed on PWC's several times and it is suprising sometimes how much performance is available with progressive pitch impellers. But I am also not sure if Merc has already done all the work of finding a progressive pitch impeller that works best in their jet pump, or if they have tuned their pump to work with their impeller.

I have my stator off right now and am polishing the insides to remove all of the casting flash and smooth out the water flow. I also have a friend of mine who is a mould maker by trade looking into building me a new hydrosurge grate from stainless steel and changing the spring setup. I will let you know how that goes. Unfortunately, the boat has just gone into storage, so it will be awhile before all this stuff gets tested!

Thanks for dooing the research.

I have new boat and would love to replace hydro-suck, but it is a great idea in principal. In about 20 hours, I have had two instances where it felt as though it had worked. One time was way too cold go get in the water and clean it out.

Please keep us posted on your test results.

Otherwise I will probably purchase a fixed tine stainless and a rake before the end of next summer.

[4man]

I also feel that the Hydrosurge works and I would like to keep it, but reading about all the failures had me ready to buy a fixed tine. One day I got talking to my buddy who has manufactured a few cool things for me before, and he said it would be no problem to make a grate from stainless steel, and we are going to look into replacing the comb style spring with a wound style.

My first idea was to just get the stainless grate built and just replace the comb spring every year so it wouldn't be in danger of breaking, but they cost over $75 up here! So I figured with a wound style spring, even if it breaks, it will stay around the front hinge bolt and not go through the jet drive. We'll see if it all works out, and I will post some pictures once we get the whole thing built.

[johnv]

I believe there would be a lot of folks interested if you could "build a better mousetrap (grate)"

There are a lot of Merc Jets out there with equally concerned owners. Your buddy might be able to make a few bucks if it works!