Merc sport jet 120xr cavitating?

[Gates312]

I have a 97 sugar sand mirage with the sport jet 120xr. It runs awesome but tends to take bit to plane out and will only run about 34mph. Looking at the pump today i noticed the foam seal between the hull and the stator seems to have popped out on the port side. The starboard side looks like it is still set in well. Could this cause a cavitation issue? Wear ring and impeller both look good as well as ride plate gasket. Photos attached, thanks

 

[tdonoughue]

Disclaimer: Don't really know anything about that particular boat or jet.

But my advice would be to pull the pump and check it (unless you can get a good view of that gasket from aft or below). If the gasket has shifted, part could be in the water path and could impact performance (either directly by blocking the flow some or by introducing cavitation, which then can also ruin your impeller if too bad). Not sure how bad the pump pull process is on the Sugar Sands (but on the Yammies it is pretty easy--just back from pulling mine just to inspect), but that would be my first step. Of course, if you find an issue, you can then correct it with the pump off.