emoney
Commander
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2010
- Messages
- 2,551
So, to quickly bring you up to speed; traded a sailboat last year (I had 2 at the time)
for a little Sugar Sand Mirage, Mercury Sport Jet 120XR. Matter of fact, it was 04/2011
so a smidgeon over a year. When I made the trade, I knew the steering was an issue.
Ordered a cable last summer, installed it, wrestled with it and couldn't get it adjusted
right and put all my attention to my "new to me at the time" sailboat. Fastforward to
2 weeks ago, and I sold that sailboat too, so I was down to only the little Jet Boat.
Living on the water in Florida REQUIRES you to have a boat, so I decided to turn my
attention back towards it. Called a guy who came out and in about 30 minutes had
my steering fixed last weekend. Did a compression test and it was solid, so I treated
the fuel that was in there last weekend and sprayed a little carb cleaner in it and then
learned you can't start a jet boat out of water without a special connection. Sooo.....
Decided this morning to stop at Home Depot after searching here in the forum on how to
make a "flush kit". Picked up those parts and did everything necessary. Turned the
hose on (barely, of course), turn the key and after a grueling 3-4 seconds (yes, I'm
being sarcastic)...VROOM!!! So I figured, well, so it's running but I bet it overheats
or something. Left it running a few minutes, got out the digital laser thermometer
and watched it click from 165...to 170...to 175....to 180...to 185, and right there
I'm thinking, I KNEW IT!!! And then, another funny thing happened: the thermostat
kicked open, then the temp went from 185 to 175 to 170 to 160 to 155 to 150 to 145
and stayed there, while running the whole time. Ok, this was getting a little creepy
I thought so I hollered at the wife and said help me put this thing in the canal.
So, she did....
She also brought a long a cooler and was decked out in her bathing suit? I said,
"Woman, what are you thinking??" She replied, "We're going out aren't we?"
Well, I figured to myself, I have SeaTow, so I got an umbrella (bimini is ordered
and won't be here until this week) for when we did break down so it would keep
the sun off her. Here we go~! Vroom...........and here I am, 4 hours later after
a rather uneventful day on the water????? What the heck??? This isn't supposed
to happen to me with boats? I better go buy a lottery ticket I think! Thought I'd
post this for anybody that's having a frustrating time. Oh no, not to rub it in, but
to remind you there is a better day coming. Like for me, today! Keep your heads
up and keep plodding through. There IS water at the end of the tunnel!~
for a little Sugar Sand Mirage, Mercury Sport Jet 120XR. Matter of fact, it was 04/2011
so a smidgeon over a year. When I made the trade, I knew the steering was an issue.
Ordered a cable last summer, installed it, wrestled with it and couldn't get it adjusted
right and put all my attention to my "new to me at the time" sailboat. Fastforward to
2 weeks ago, and I sold that sailboat too, so I was down to only the little Jet Boat.
Living on the water in Florida REQUIRES you to have a boat, so I decided to turn my
attention back towards it. Called a guy who came out and in about 30 minutes had
my steering fixed last weekend. Did a compression test and it was solid, so I treated
the fuel that was in there last weekend and sprayed a little carb cleaner in it and then
learned you can't start a jet boat out of water without a special connection. Sooo.....
Decided this morning to stop at Home Depot after searching here in the forum on how to
make a "flush kit". Picked up those parts and did everything necessary. Turned the
hose on (barely, of course), turn the key and after a grueling 3-4 seconds (yes, I'm
being sarcastic)...VROOM!!! So I figured, well, so it's running but I bet it overheats
or something. Left it running a few minutes, got out the digital laser thermometer
and watched it click from 165...to 170...to 175....to 180...to 185, and right there
I'm thinking, I KNEW IT!!! And then, another funny thing happened: the thermostat
kicked open, then the temp went from 185 to 175 to 170 to 160 to 155 to 150 to 145
and stayed there, while running the whole time. Ok, this was getting a little creepy
I thought so I hollered at the wife and said help me put this thing in the canal.
So, she did....
She also brought a long a cooler and was decked out in her bathing suit? I said,
"Woman, what are you thinking??" She replied, "We're going out aren't we?"
Well, I figured to myself, I have SeaTow, so I got an umbrella (bimini is ordered
and won't be here until this week) for when we did break down so it would keep
the sun off her. Here we go~! Vroom...........and here I am, 4 hours later after
a rather uneventful day on the water????? What the heck??? This isn't supposed
to happen to me with boats? I better go buy a lottery ticket I think! Thought I'd
post this for anybody that's having a frustrating time. Oh no, not to rub it in, but
to remind you there is a better day coming. Like for me, today! Keep your heads
up and keep plodding through. There IS water at the end of the tunnel!~
