4 replies to this topic

[khargrove]

I'm a little confused about the carbon ring retrofit, etc. I have a '95 speedster. I just replaced the wear rings. On one side I used the closed cell weatherstripping described elsewhere in this website. I still have cavitation on that side.

So, I did notice a piece of fishing line, or perhaps a thread from a rope sticking out of the area where the shaft comes from the engine bay to the water intake area (viewed from under the boat). So, I'm guessing that there is a broken seal in that area that's allowing air to leak the impeller, or the home depot weatherstripping solution doesn't work all too well (by the way, I put black rtv on the outer edge of the weatherstripping before I reasassmbled everything, as I was afraid it wouldn't seal well.

Which all brings me to my question. Does the carbon ring retrofit that I've seen mentioned apply to my boat? If I need to replace a seal (I don't even know what it's actually called) where the shaft comes out of the hull, I would rather do it the best way possible....

[Robmoo]

No.

1996 and older boats have the needle bearing driveshaft carrier with the dual double cup seals. You might remove the driveshaft and pull the carriers to make sure the bearing and seals are in good shape.

Replacing the wear ring with some sort of weather stripping? Never heard of it. I'd stick with the neoprene wear rings that are meant for the boat.

[khargrove]

No.

1996 and older boats have the needle bearing driveshaft carrier with the dual double cup seals. You might remove the driveshaft and pull the carriers to make sure the bearing and seals are in good shape.

Replacing the wear ring with some sort of weather stripping? Never heard of it. I'd stick with the neoprene wear rings that are meant for the boat.

I'm not sure where I saw the other posting about using Home Depot Closed Cell weatherstripping, but I took it off and replaced it with a new stock neoprene ring. No more cavitation. None. If anyone happens to read this, it's important not to put any black RTV silicone sealer on the neoprene seal. Just make sure the transom plate (whatever it's called) is clean and press the adhesive side so that it fits good. Make sure the ridges on the impeller housing (the black ring that goes against the neoprene ring) are clean. Again, somewhere in this website someone said it's good to put sealer all around the housing, but I just installed mine with only a small bead at the very outer edge. It works great....

Back to the weatherstripping, the grey stuff from Home Depot isn't as dense as the neoprene rings.....

[tiggerman]

No. 

1996 and older boats have the needle bearing driveshaft carrier with the dual double cup seals.  You might remove the driveshaft and pull the carriers to make sure the bearing and seals are in good shape.

Replacing the wear ring with some sort of weather stripping?  Never heard of it.  I'd stick with the neoprene wear rings that are meant for the boat.

I'm not sure where I saw the other posting about using Home Depot Closed Cell weatherstripping, but I took it off and replaced it with a new stock neoprene ring. No more cavitation. None. If anyone happens to read this, it's important not to put any black RTV silicone sealer on the neoprene seal. Just make sure the transom plate (whatever it's called) is clean and press the adhesive side so that it fits good. Make sure the ridges on the impeller housing (the black ring that goes against the neoprene ring) are clean. Again, somewhere in this website someone said it's good to put sealer all around the housing, but I just installed mine with only a small bead at the very outer edge. It works great....

Back to the weatherstripping, the grey stuff from Home Depot isn't as dense as the neoprene rings.....

Try reading carefully- the black RTV heavy body sealant was for a different sealing job: between the ride plate/pump support and the actual hull. Just like stock . This was used by Seadoo to "glue" the ride plate in place (even though there are screws there too.)
The neoprene weatherstripping in BLACK worked exactly like the stock, thin, precut ring you buy from Seadoo- it just took a little attention to stick it where it was supposed to go. The black I used was thicker than the stock seal and although not as dense as normal neoprene, once compressed it sealed quite nicely. Keep in mind that most mods are just that- mods on an original design. They may or may not work for you and your particular model due to design differences. But they still might work on others boats. There is a huge design difference between your 95 and my ex- 97 as far as the pump mounting and intake areas.
At any rate, I'm happy you solved your problem.

[khargrove]

I tried the weatherstripping vs. factory neoprene on my other jet....I was able to locate the black (more dense) vs. gray weatherstripping at a Lowe's. My local Home Depot didn't stock it. The adhesive was a little weak, so I added some on both sides of the weatherstripping. If you take the time to match your ends so that the fit is good, it seems to work great.