Mobile
Established 2008
Locally Owned and Operated
Where you don't have to walk the plank to get great service at a fair price
We work with all local storage yards and marinas
FIRE!
During the course of trying to figure out why your Jetski won't
start, you MUST keep in mind the issue of fuel fumes in the engine compartment
or bilge.
Boats have an exhaust system to clear
fumes from the enclosed space holding the engines
know as the "bilge"
Knowledgeable boat owners ALWAYS run the "bilge blowers"
for a few minutes
before staring their engine.
Why?
Good question
Bilge blowers ( which are not required equipment for jet skis ) purge the
air from the engine compartment to reduce the possibility of fume build up.
The engine compartment of a jet ski can allow the buildup of gasoline fumes
There are a number of reasons this can happen, including very hot weather and
an overfilled fuel tank.
ANY spark in the engine compartment can result in
the
ignition of these fumes, with devastating results
This fellow was injured attempting to check for spark on a fuel injected seadoo
two stroke
that was not starting . We don't know the exact cause for the buildup of fumes
but the sparkplug
laying across the cylinder head was enough to touch off a small fireball.
Don't dismiss a warning label
Don't peel warning labels off of your ski
Was this label missing from this fellows ski?
New skis carry warning labels instructing operators to remove
seats while fueling and before starting for the first time.
Makes perfect sense to me.
So ordered!
REMOVE SEATS WHEN FUELING
There have been several high profile accidents where a jet ski had fumes detonate
in the hull.
Don't take a chance. Give the Pull your seat and give it a sniff..and then wait
a few minutes.
It could make ALL the difference.
Gracious permission was granted to use this image to
educate fellow operators about the dangers that lurk below
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Another reasons to have pre-season prep or at least
have a hard look at your jetski before heading off the ramp
This story comes to me thru an associate, it did not happen at Elephant
Butte Lake,
nor was the owner of this jetski injured
(except perhaps something to fuel a few nightmares now and
then)
As the story goes, the owner of this ski, who is not new
to Jet skis
took his 2012 Yamaha out of his garage after sitting all winter,
connected the battery and gassed it up for a day at his lake
A few minutes into his second session of the day
he heard a pop and noticed some smoke and a strong gas smell
He decided to open the seat to check the status of his engine.
When the air rushed in the ski turned into a fireball on the water
Luckily he was able to swim away in time.
end result:
The fuel system fault the resulted in this loss _might_ have been detected with a pre-season check and start up.
Something might have been rubbing a fuel hose, or the fuel hose (
which is under pressure)
may have shown signs of a bulge or other mechanical fault.
or the hose simply burst with no chance of detection
We'll never know what caused this fire, but let's review a couple of good
lessons:
1-It is not a good idea to try
to use the on board fire bottle to put out something like this.
The time it takes to get the fire bottle out of it's storage spot could be
the
difference between swimming away and being burned
I'd suggest swimming as fast as you can to the shore or a nearby boat if
you believe you have a fire on board
Skin grafts could easily run double the cost of a new jetski. Why take a chance?
Once there is a fire burning in the engine bay, the fuel tank ( which is made of
plastic ) is going to be compromised
and when that happens you have the potential for a huge explosion fueled by 10+
gallons of gasoline hitting the fire all at once.
2- If you suspect an engine compartment fire, not a good idea to
open the seat allowing the fire unlimited oxygen
Similar to the advice on surviving a hotel fire, don't open a door that's hot,
the fire on the other side
can flashback and burn you by just opening the door allowing oxygen to feed the
fire.
Fires of this nature are
fortunately rare in the industry, but they DO HAPPEN
Be prepared mentally to abandon ship if need be.
DON'T GO DOWN WITH THE SHIP
Frankly speaking..that's MY JOB!
==============================================
Marina Service $75
Why do I need to prep?
Simple
Time is our enemy!
Over the winter, plastic and rubber don't get any younger.
You don't want to find yourself in the middle
of a great weekend when suddenly your engine stops
and you find you're taking on water...quickly.
Rubber shrinks over time, and this can cause once tight hose clamps to loosen.
If you do nothing else, get a screwdriver out and tighten ever hose clamp you can see. You might be surprised!
Captain Pete can fully inspect
your ski, test the cooling systems and bilge pumps for leaks and assure
your first weekend on the water will be the one you remember for all the right
reasons.
Did you service your trailer bearings last year?
If you didn't, you could be in for trouble your first day out!
Buy an inexpensive grease gun and do the bearings BEFORE your roll down to the
lake
You do not want to deal with a bearing problem on the way the lake, do you?
Did rats make a winter residence inside your ski?
Do you know the signs of a rat problem?
An associate shop (we work with shops
worldwide) found that
pack rats had actually nested in a Seadoo Supercharger Inlet
over the cold Colorado Winter (after eating into the air intake and chewing on
the wire harness)
The supercharger was a total loss, as
the acidic waste products of these
critters caused so much corrosion the entire supercharger had to be replaced.
The total cost? $1100
No matter where or how you store your
ski, a couple of rat traps
in the footwells and around your trailer tires can save you big bucks!
Had this engine been started, the
costs would have been far higher as the engine would have
ingested the nesting materials and it's likely the supercharger impeller/turbine would have
disintegrated
which sprays aluminum shrapnel into the engine. Estimated repair costs $3500
Spring prep starts at $55, rat removals of course carries significant extra charges
While rats like wiring that contains
peanut oil,
they really like old yummy snacks you leave behind
Clean out your ski at the end of the season!
Want to do it yourself? Live too far to visit?
$25 for 30 min telephone advice, pay by paypal.
I'll cover every prep step with you in detail
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Pete's JetSki Service
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Last modified:
August 06, 2015
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