bloomin seaweed!!!!!!!

bencymru · 25 July 2009, 14:35

finally got out today only to suck up a load of seaweed into my intake!!!

lost about 80% of power and just managed to limp back to the marina. i had my daughter on board so decided to call it a day.

my question is, does this do any damage. there was a stone in there but it didn't go into the impeller.

can i just clear it out and go , so to speak. it seems to run just fine now its clear.

cheers

neilda · 25 July 2009, 14:48

What a pain....

Were you close to shore and at what speed?

I asked here recently about seaweed as I quite often see mahoosive clumps of the stuff which I generally try to avoid.

JSP · 25 July 2009, 14:55

Not a clue about Jets but don't they have something to protect from this happening?

chewy · 25 July 2009, 16:47

Aren't you meant to knock the power off so the grate will go over the weed and once clear stick it back on?

bencymru · 25 July 2009, 17:22

Its pretty ironic as i was actually trying to avoid a clump of floating seaweed at the time, this stuff was actually under the water , weighted down by a lead weight and a stone or two.

theres no protection from this at all ,or so it appears, apart from being vigiliant.

I think the speed limit means your in contact with the seaweed for longer and perhaps at higher speed it wouldn't get sucked in so easily. I was on the mouth of the Arun, which is a fast flowing estuary, at high tide, which may also explain why there was submerged seaweed.

anyway, i'm determined to get back out tomorrow, weather premitting but may launch from the public ramp which is closer to the sea!

BogMonster · 26 July 2009, 12:13

Jets are not much good around weed - the tourist tenders off cruise ships here are mostly twin jets and I recall last summer watching one drift past the office window side on (quite close to the shore) with a full load of 50 odd increasingly nervous tourists peering out, having cut a bit close to shore and tried unsuccessfully to chew on a mouthful of kelp!

I don't think it damages anything - it just causes a lack of forward motion and lots of swearing.

PeterM · 26 July 2009, 12:34

I thought the intakes have one or two 'pieces' of aluminium to stop big things like arms & legs getting sucked in.

But the volume of water going through means you loose a lot of performance if you put anything in the way.

I once sucked a flint into the impellor of my jetski , it got lodged in so needed a new impellor & wear ring. You have to keep a very very fine tolerance between them to keep the performance - likewise the blades of the impellor need to be in A1 shape to keep performance.

I think with seaweed a good clean will see you ok.

Bigmuz7 · 29 July 2009, 22:31

I am cautious even with an outboard, as I have picked up plastic bags hidden under seawead.. the sort you see floating in foamy lines at slack tides, which I have gone belting through only to have picked something up, so I slow down, or try and avoid them now. This tends to more prevalent in coastal offshore waters I find