- Knowing What's Required and Why it's Required
Helps You Understand What You Are Paying For
And Why You Need To Have It Done
No Mysteries at Captain Pete's
ASK and WE WILL TELL YOU IN DETAIL The What How and Why of our services
(except where the gold might be buried) - Jet Pump Oil Change
- Why you should be using a sealed battery
- How using regular fuel is no bargain What's The Ethanol Story?
- Winterizing 101
- Pre-Purchase Inspection
Seadoo DESS / Kawasaki Keys made - Captains Blog...
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Established 2008
Locally Owned and Operated
Where you don't have to walk the plank to get great service at a fair price
Just some ramblings from the Captain's Point Of view
Start of Season 2012....
What are your expectations?
It never fails to amaze me how people can roll
into the shop on a Friday with a pair of skis
that have been in storage for 5 years and expect them to be on the lake the
following day.
Here's a hint.... the time to address these long term locker monsters is during January
and February
Not during the opening weekend of the Season. Locker monsters can't be high
priority!
Captain Pete does not accept "Rush" payments. It's first come first serve.
The only thing that can get you to the head of the schedule is a ski that has sunk. If the water isn't removed and the engine started with 24 hours, the skis engine will be damaged by rust and will have a significantly shorter life.
Don't neglect your summerize service, hoses and plastic fittings continue age during the off season due to extremes in temperatures.
If your bilge pump hose starts to leak near the pump itself, you can sink your ski in no time at all.
It's a wise investment in both property and safety to have the stuff under the seat looked at before you head off to the remote beaches of the lake. Beside that you get to chew a bit with the Captain and get the skinny on where the sand bars have popped up since last season.
Summerize service starts @$55.
We've upgraded our diagnostic tools to now handle the 4-tec IS model ( brakes and suspension) and all Seadoo boat models
- Summer 2011
It is never "just the starter"
When a jetski starter fails, it's seldom correct to place the entire blame on the starter motor.
These 12 volt electric motors operate under difficult conditions and are often operated outside of their design parameters. let me spare you my finger waggin lecture and give you a question instead:
If you were trying to start a mower that uses a pull start, how many times would you pull that rope to get the motor started? OK...we're on the same page.
I see it often, people trying to start engines like they were about to be run over by an oil tanker if they didn't get out of the way Cranking the engine for 30 seconds at a time, until the battery is dead.
Then you bring out the jumper cables....
REALLY REALLY BAD
You just flattened your battery, and perhaps the hydrogen gas venting from your battery isn't making it out of the hull. Connect those jumpers and create a spark inside the hull..well nothing good comes of that.
A properly tuned and maintained engine should start within a few times if the ski has been sitting for any length of time. if you crank the engine 5 times for five seconds each time with a 30 second rest between attempts and your motor doesn't start, you should have the motor checked. A good pull start motor should fire up with one or two pulls. I certainly wouldn't pull one twenty times, unless perhaps it was for a water pump and my basement was flooding
So besides frustration.... what is happening here:
The starter is getting really really hot
Your starter solenoid is also getting
really hot
(solenoids are rated for 30 seconds of
continuous operation-go over that and the solenoid will be damaged)
Your really reducing the life of your battery
Get the starter hot enough and the rubber o-rings that seal the three parts of the starter housing start to melt. Once this happens water can start getting into the starter with the expected results.
Starter solenoids are heavy duty remote controlled switches. They can flow 50 amps or better when you hit the starter button. They are often enclosed in watertight boxes to protect them, replacing them can sometimes be an expensive proposition ( Especially on Yamaha ski where the solenoid is sealed in an electrical vault with more then a dozen bolts holding the water tight cover on
Batteries have active ingredients that are used up when you demand large amounts of power from them. Ask for a whole lot in a short time and the battery will be damaged and it's capacity to produce power compromised
You need to be sure your ski starts easily. You can neglect the simple solution such as cleaning your fuel system and carbs of debris..and you can miss a weekend or two when you run down batteries..until you get to the point where all you here is a click when you hit the starter button.
When you finally do decide it's time to fix the problem, you're going to have to not only pay to get the original problem corrected..but on top of that the replacement of your starter motor, battery and starter solenoid. Starter repairs typically DOUBLE the cost of the entire ticket.