How to avoid clogging your engine with sand

[Prodock]

Julian’s comments exactly mirror my experience. I had that issue once, shortly after I bought my 210 FSH and it was from idling in about a foot of water for a few minutes. If you’re moving it won’t create a vortex to the bottom. I go out of a launch that has a canal which is routinely less than 2 feet deep and never have had an issue, but I did when I had the bay boat with an outboard (always had to idle out trimmed up). Grass could be a watch out, although I don’t have that issue, only one plastic bag sucked up in all my travels so far.

 

[msavold]

This post has me second guessing buying a yamaha. I put a deposit on one because I'm on Lake George in Florida and I've got maybe 2.5 feet of water my dock and probably 200-300 feet until I reach 4ft deep water. The lake bottom for the entire distance is sand. I'm not sure this boat will work there with what folks are commenting in this thread.

Ok, maybe we're a biased group here but I think these are perfect boats for (relatively) shallow water - I have my depth alarm set to 2' which in our area is common even in marked channels, especially after storms. (They're supposed to be a minimum of 3' deep...) Most of our acquaintances with props have lost one or blown a lower unit seal dragging through sand, silt, and crap. Forget I/Os. Simply too much draft. As others have said, speed - or better, motion - is your friend. I think you'll find that until you get to the deeper water 'no wake mode' is your friend. Boat moves well, not too much fuss, and not too much suction. Just above that, at 10-12mph and 3/4000 rpm in my experience just makes the stern sit down a bit which puts your intakes closer to the bottom.

 

[dhickey]

I thinking about moving to a jet boat and just doing a bit of research. My biggest concern is the area around my dock and around 100yrds to open water. We're in a weedy/mucky/silty bay on the north side of the lake. My prop (outboard trimmed up) stirs up quite a bit of muck and picks up weeds manuvering around the dock and getting to open water. It's usually not that bad around my dock when my aquatruster is working, but nothing I can do about the 100yrs or so to open water. Should I be concerned with a jet boat?

 

[Julian]

I thinking about moving to a jet boat and just doing a bit of research. My biggest concern is the area around my dock and around 100yrds to open water. We're in a weedy/mucky/silty bay on the north side of the lake. My prop (outboard trimmed up) stirs up quite a bit of muck and picks up weeds manuvering around the dock and getting to open water. It's usually not that bad around my dock when my aquatruster is working, but nothing I can do about the 100yrs or so to open water. Should I be concerned with a jet boat?

How deep is that 100 yards? I'd probably just floor it on the outbound and get on plane ASAP. On the return....I'd probably run 1 engine going in, and be ready to switch if I got clogged.

That said....its hard to say if you have too many weeds for a jet boat. Are there any on the lake already....if so....go ask them!

 

[dhickey]

How deep is that 100 yards? I'd probably just floor it on the outbound and get on plane ASAP. On the return....I'd probably run 1 engine going in, and be ready to switch if I got clogged.

That said....its hard to say if you have too many weeds for a jet boat. Are there any on the lake already....if so....go ask them!

No other jet boats on the lake that I'm aware of.

Hard to say how deep it is in the channel because of all the silt and weeds. Just to illustrate my point: My aquatruster has been down most of the summer. The water level appears to be around a foot deep at the end of my dock. If I were to jump in, I would probably be belly button deep. There's probably 12-18" of muck that sucks to walk through, and the rest is silt that you can get through pretty easily. The water has been low this year, so I do stir up the stinky stuff (muck) getting my trimmed up prop boat in and out of the lift.

The channel appears to be around a foot deep, but I suspect I wouldn't be able to touch if I jumped in. I generally don't stir up any of the stinky stuff (muck) going through the channel.

 

[Julian]

No other jet boats on the lake that I'm aware of.

Hard to say how deep it is in the channel because of all the silt and weeds. Just to illustrate my point: My aquatruster has been down most of the summer. The water level appears to be around a foot deep at the end of my dock. If I were to jump in, I would probably be belly button deep. There's probably 12-18" of muck that sucks to walk through, and the rest is silt that you can get through pretty easily. The water has been low this year, so I do stir up the stinky stuff (muck) getting my trimmed up prop boat in and out of the lift.

The channel appears to be around a foot deep, but I suspect I wouldn't be able to touch if I jumped in. I generally don't stir up any of the stinky stuff (muck) going through the channel.

Sounds like to many weeds for a jet boat....just one guys opinion.....got some photos?

 

[r-23]

guys--i ran a hells canyon jet boat in shallow in Idaho and fla. water too ---but i purchased a sand filter from the west coast jet boat supply co.--that goes between pump and motor. not expensive..and if you clog it. you get a overheat warning --but just turn the valve and dump the sand and go---no clogged motor--or check it occasionally and drain as needed----don't know why these "new" jet boat mfgs. don't make these filters a option.

 

[adrianp89]

Link to sand filter?

Would love to this video in weeds or mud.

 

[Yoda715]

guys--i ran a hells canyon jet boat in shallow in Idaho and fla. water too ---but i purchased a sand filter from the west coast jet boat supply co.--that goes between pump and motor. not expensive..and if you clog it. you get a overheat warning --but just turn the valve and dump the sand and go---no clogged motor--or check it occasionally and drain as needed----don't know why these "new" jet boat mfgs. don't make these filters a option.

Something like this? SALE!! Sea Strainer 5" - 1" NPT Bungs 90 DEGREE Left - TCM2101L90 (westcoastoffshore.ca)

 

[Julian]

The question I have is if sand gets into your motor how can you get it out, would just running it be enough? I am imagining sand getting into the passageway of the cylinder head and making a cake around the edges, that would be hard to remove.

Yeah.....nothing good going to happen if you suck up sand. Running it will help, but we've had members who's boats were overheating and the passages were indeed jammed with sand and salt.

 

[WREKS]

@YamahaBeach Sand will wash out. A bigger problem is microbial buildup that develops from residual water left in the cooling passages.

 

[Slamons]

This our first jet boat and I did this exact thing yesterday and got the gates stuck in reverse. I was able to free it up by climbing off the swim step and clearing the gravel that had wedged. Pushed it off the sand bar and into a fast current and it stuck in reverse again. My wife was able to force it back neutral and then forward gear but I’m pretty sure we sucked up some gravel. The boat ran fine the rest of the day and I’ve got a steady stream coming out of both pissers. Clean outs are free of gravel etc. anything I should be looking for or anything I should have our friend/mechanic check when I take it in for service?

 

[Prodock]

This our first jet boat and I did this exact thing yesterday and got the gates stuck in reverse. I was able to free it up by climbing off the swim step and clearing the gravel that had wedged. Pushed it off the sand bar and into a fast current and it stuck in reverse again. My wife was able to force it back neutral and then forward gear but I’m pretty sure we sucked up some gravel. The boat ran fine the rest of the day and I’ve got a steady stream coming out of both pissers. Clean outs are free of gravel etc. anything I should be looking for or anything I should have our friend/mechanic check when I take it in for service?

When I had an issue I got overheat alarms and reduced engine speed. I flushed it out good and have ran many hours over the last few years since without issue. Not saying you shouldn’t have someone check it out, but from my experience if the cooling water is still flowing and your boat isn’t alarming, it’s good to go.

 

[msavold]

Did the same thing - in a spectacular fashion when the channel zigged and I zagged. One bit of advice I got here was to check the thermostat. Did that and sure enough found some small gravel bits stuck in it!
Good luck.

 

[TommyMcK]

Sounds like to many weeds for a jet boat....just one guys opinion.....got some photos?

I ran an AR230 for years off of my pier in Crisfield, MD where under my lift, 300 yards from shore, it was less than 2' deep at low tide and that area is completely covered with long grass that runs nearly to the surface for most of the summer. The drill there was to take it out slowly farther from shore to deeper water, shut down, and clear out the drives EVERY time out. Took an extra couple of minutes and you get quite good at it. Grass pretty much just wraps around the shaft and is easy to pull out. Ran that way for years. So long as you don't mind the hassle, it's no big deal.

 

[Ozzyj93]

Thanks to @JetBoatPilot for recording the video below!

So the sales guy sold you your jet boat saying you can run it in 18 inches of water. So you sat at the sand bar and did just that and now have an overheat warning?

Yes, jet boats can run in skinny water, but you must remember that they are like giant vaccuums. If you sit in one spot, they will suck sand off the bottom. And because you have low flow, that sand is much more likely to get stuck in a cooling passage.

Running fast across shallow water wont suck up sand (you just risk hitting something or grounding the boat).

So keep this in mind when running your jet boat shallow. I always push my boat back off the sand bar and THEN start it in deeper water.

When you mention sitting in one spot and the boat sucking sand, that would only be possible when the engine is on correct?

 

[Julian]

When you mention sitting in one spot and the boat sucking sand, that would only be possible when the engine is on correct?

Correct.

 

[Dixemon]

Not sand related, But has anyone tried to flush their motors with this starbrite de-scaling solution?

Amazon.com

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Not sand related, But has anyone tried to flush their motors with this starbrite de-scaling solution?

Amazon.com

Looks like a decent product albeit a bit pricey but way less than pulling a head or such…you will either need the 5 gallon jug to administer this product through the flush port or use a small pump to pump it through. Seems like you’d want to pinch off theater inlet line as well so all the product goes into the engine and not out onto the ground before circulation into engine.

Edit: Okay after reading through the instructions for the Star Brite descaling flush…this is some serious stuff. Hydrochloric acid is nothing to be taken lightly and the directions tell you to wear a respirator, gloves and goggles. If I were going to use this stuff I’d wear a face shield in addition to the goggles, as well as a cheap rain suit and rubber boots, you do not want to get this stuff on your skin or in your eyes.

The directions also say it is to be mixed at a 1:1 ratio with water and that it is normal for this mixture to smoke when mixing the two together.

 

[Joatmon]

I know this thread is specific to Yamaha and a thread search didn't find any references to Scarab, but in case someone owning a Scarab is concerned then don't be. Scarab uses a self contained closed loop engine cooling system with anti-freeze. On many many occasions I have dragged the sandy bottom and had to power through to get back into sucking clean water. I have never had an engine cooling system filled with sand nor an engine overheating issue. I have many complaints about Scarab boats/trailers but cooling is not one of them.