Seadoo GTX (Cholla Bay Addition) DNF'd Memorial Weekend

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Sad news out of Phoenix this week as we report the passing of the PTO cylinder on the Cholla Bay sleigh ride machine. The GF and I went out to Plez on Sunday which surprisingly turned out to NOT have been that bad of an idea as the lake is under these weird Covid rules. Launched the ski out of the N ramp Plez Harbor. Everything sounded decent but that was short lived. Before we even exited the no wake zone the ski was showing signs of a failing cylinder. It had shut off and become really hard to start. Got it started and was able to get it going but something wasn't right and shortly after we came down to an idle in a near cove and the thing just died. No restart. I could tell we lost compression in at least one cylinder. Had to get a TOWBOAT US tow to ramp for a minimum ball kick charge of $200... then dude rubs my face in the shit after he tells me that I could have had a yearly membership and this would be free for $85/year. Get home and sure enough, 140mag(front) and 60psi PTO(back) cylinder... I've had the worst 4 month run of my life. Truck, car, ski... jesus. All my shit is breaking. LOL man... it's tough, this life. Pimping ain't eazy.


 

Petrose

Active Member
Possibly an oil injector issue. Sometimes the cylinder looks worse but is only aluminum from the piston and can be removed with muriatic acid, hone the cylinder and replace the piston.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Possibly an oil injector issue. Sometimes the cylinder looks worse but is only aluminum from the piston and can be removed with muriatic acid, hone the cylinder and replace the piston.
I didn't write the back story because I had already added it to the Seadoo forum and didn't want to re-write it. Maybe I'll just copy paste it. The last day I used the ski back in October in Rocky Point, the PTO carb was leaking gas pretty good. I had completely forgot about it as that was the last day I used the ski last season. When I got everything out last weekend I remembered it was leaking and pulled the carb. One of the four screws that holds the plate on the fuel filter side was missing. I actually had put the screw in my jet ski tool bag last October. I really don't remember which is weird but I bet what happened was when I got back to Phoenix, cleaning out the ski to put it away I found the screw in the bottom and put it in my bag. Regardless, I got everything back together. No leak. Boat started right up. I think it's a combination of that day in October and I had already knew/wanted a top end last summer. The leaking carb definitely created a lean condition. Ski has NEVER had any oiling issues. I have a FSM and religiously make sure my boat is working as should. If I know something needs attention I fix it immediately. I kept the stock Seadoo oil injection system because if you read and aren't a newb it's actually better to leave it hooked up. It's a variable injection system so it's more economical and engineered so that the motor gets exactly what it needs. Too many newbs don't know how to work on their boat so they remove it for pre-mix and then have engine problems far more often from everything I've read in 3 years.

I'll include the seadoo forum link below for more detailed information but basically, the bottom end on this boat seems to be good. Never had oil in cylinder, never had oil flood the rotary valve, crankcase does not leak. Always had the stock oil line feed to the crank case good, no leaks. Oil injection lines were replaced immediately upon purchase of the boat for clear lines to ensure oil is always in the line. Never had air bubbles in the line.


Going to put a top end kit in there and SEEEEND IT!!!!

Just need to figure out if the cylinders need HONED or BORED????!!! That's the million dollar question.
 

brokenwave

Well Known Member
Joe, if there are any vertical lines up and down the bore that catch a finger nail usually means the cylinder needs to be bored.
You should buy a hone (pretty cheap) and run it thru the cylinder a few times to see how it cleans up. After you hone it if there's
still lines present that catch your nail, bore both cylinders out out or put a new sleeve in.
 
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Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Joe, if there are any vertical lines up and down the bore that catch a finger nail usually means the cylinder needs to be bored.
You should buy a hone (pretty cheap) and run it thru the cylinder a few times to see how it cleans up. After you hone it if there's
still lines present that catch your nail, bore both cylinders out out or put a new sleeve in.

Well I guess I should shamelessly plug my girlfriend here.

Claudia Pena
Parts and Service
Nash Powersports
(602) 973-5111

She's going to get me the top end kit at cost which is quite a bit cheaper than the $265 asking price. A service tech there is going to send my JUGS to his machine guy. Not sure on price yet. Hopefully back on the water for $250 total.

If anyone needs motorcycle/atv parts for almost all major brands, Seadoo, or Can Am UTV parts please contact my girlfriend and tell her that you know me from the forum. She is EXTREMELY knowledgeable and punctual. See what she can save you.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
BUUUUMP!

She's a rocket ship again. Finally got around to having the jugs machined 25 over to clean one cylinder up a bit and installed platinum pistons that are ceramic coated. Not sure how but my dumb ass broke a piston ring putting cylinder dos on. Had to buy new rings for cylinder number dos which delayed lake test a few days. Went through the carbs with a fine tooth comb and white gloves. They are both now passing every pressure test required to be certified RIPPER. No leaks. Got everything painted and touched up. Looking mint. Elbow grease is my thing. Nobody does it better. We barely made it out to the lake Sunday for a lake test. She rips. Factory settings. I haven't even dialed her yet. Boat idles all day long, no concerns for RP. I wish I would have taken pictures but after getting a 4th job to pull myself up by the bootstraps I really didn't have the time. Life is tough. The Cholla Bay Sleigh Ride is returning very soon, maybe this weekend.
 

Nicolai

Active Member
Seen you out there this weekend Joe from pelican point. I didn't have my yak down, did you do any good? I got some rock bands, puffer, and croakers no elusive corvinas or flounders
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Seen you out there this weekend Joe from pelican point. I didn't have my yak down, did you do any good? I got some rock bands, puffer, and croakers no elusive corvinas or flounders
Was that you waving? I told my girlfriend it must be someone from the forum lol. We caught 4 Corvina trolling. We only landed 2 because I was letting my girlfriend do everything from putting the line out to setting the hook to reeling it in. The first two she was reeling the line up too high and bringing the fish out of the water at the boat which allowed them to come off the hook as she was bringing the fish up out of the water. We fixed that problem with a little tips and tricks lesson and landed the next two. At least 3 were Orange Mouth Corvina. The first one was at least 20" possibly bigger. One of the OMC that we landed was a little over 20" in the three pound range if I had to guess. Other than that we had a couple of Trigger and a couple of rock bass that were the size of the Rapala that we were trolling.
 

Nicolai

Active Member
Was that you waving? I told my girlfriend it must be someone from the forum lol. We caught 4 Corvina trolling. We only landed 2 because I was letting my girlfriend do everything from putting the line out to setting the hook to reeling it in. The first two she was reeling the line up too high and bringing the fish out of the water at the boat which allowed them to come off the hook as she was bringing the fish up out of the water. We fixed that problem with a little tips and tricks lesson and landed the next two. At least 3 were Orange Mouth Corvina. The first one was at least 20" possibly bigger. One of the OMC that we landed was a little over 20" in the three pound range if I had to guess. Other than that we had a couple of Trigger and a couple of rock bass that were the size of the Rapala that we were trolling.
Haha yes that was me and my ol lady waving at you! Good job on those corvinas! We got lucky with some decent rock bass one which was a whopping 1 lbs, pretty good for shore fishing and then a good size bullseye puffer. Was going to bring the kayak but ran out of.time between work and packing to load it up. Tried for corvinas using different rubber jogs and paddle baits. No squid around for sale so we used shrimp which was difficult because it's so soft and can get stolen. But all in all it was a fun trip! You got us talking seriously about a jet ski lol.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Haha yes that was me and my ol lady waving at you! Good job on those corvinas! We got lucky with some decent rock bass one which was a whopping 1 lbs, pretty good for shore fishing and then a good size bullseye puffer. Was going to bring the kayak but ran out of.time between work and packing to load it up. Tried for corvinas using different rubber jogs and paddle baits. No squid around for sale so we used shrimp which was difficult because it's so soft and can get stolen. But all in all it was a fun trip! You got us talking seriously about a jet ski lol.

Nice! LOL I immediately told my GF that I couldn't recognize who it was but likely someone from the forum. We'll have to meet sometime in CB and talk shop. I saw you put something decent sized in the bag as you were leaving. I actually think the rock bass have the best meat out of any of those inshore fish. It's firm and super white. Problem is they don't get very big so the filets aren't as big which means you need to catch more/clean more... Sometimes a pain. I caught one in Puerto Lobos that I swear was close to 2lbs. It was huge for a rock/sand bass. I would have fileted that one for sure. Threw it back though. If you're able to catch the little ones you can use that meat as a tip instead of squid or shrimp. I'm all artificial all the time. Never use cut bait anymore. Too big of a hassle. Maybe if we were going bottom fishing I might use it to tip the scampi tail jigs but inshore, too big of a hassle. I used to forget about it on the kayak and the next morning the back of my truck would stink like something died back there so it just got to be annoying. These fish will bite anything artificial if it's presented right.

Did you try fishing the other side of the point? The south side? So to your left as you were positioned when I saw you. Where you were is good but I think there are better spots that I would have tried first. 1 or 200 yards to your southeast on those rocks on the south side of Pelican Point is where we were getting hooked up on the first day. So you were definitely in the area of Orange Mouth Corvina but I rarely find them inside the point and you were kind of positioned inside the point. The other two awesome shore spots are at Pinto Point. Check out the pictures in my other thread of Pinto Point. There's two sidewalks that were built years ago that lead you down to the water. You can stand there and cast out into these pockets and plenty of really good Corvina and Cabrilla (Leopard Grouper) have been caught at these two spots over the years. I personally have seen a 12 and 13lb Grouper caught there from shore by this kid during one of the Cholla Bay Fishing Derby weekends.

I have the exact color pattern down now of what the OMC apparently can't get enough of. I have caught the 20lber, three 20" and 2 other shortfin Corvina all on the same color pattern. It's anchovy. Black on top, silver sides, white on bottom with a red spot on the head. I've got a few different plugs with this exact color pattern. I'll post it up so you can see. It's an absolute Corvina killer. Rapala makes them. Problem is, some of these plugs are like $20/pop. Phoenix Fishing Supply has the best prices IMHO and they support the CBFD and the CBSC in general. They are good dudes!

Now, with all of that being said, it was kind of slow IMO and we had to work for the 4 that we got. So don't beat yourself up for not getting any. It's fishing. It happens more than we'd like to share. I can't tell you how many times I've trolled my heart out in the kayak and not gotten a single bite from anything worth mentioning. Sure you're always going to get a rock bass or trigger but I guess the longer you've been fishing those become pest fish. Don't get me wrong, anytime something bites it's always fun but when you start targeting specific species and that's what you're getting it can frustrating. Especially when you're spending time and MONEY.

It's HALIBUT season now though, so let's get our gear switched over and start targeting those! We had bought another nice ocean kayak during covid from OfferUp so now we have two for the winter/spring months of Halibut fishing or just cruising around CB when we don't want to bring the jet ski. Hoping to get down this month for some Halibut fishing inside Pelican Point across to Tucson Beach and all the rocks heading back into the bay towards JJ's. All those rocks hold Halibut this time of year. 5lbers all day. That's what the kayak is great for. Plenty of good shore fishing spots for Halibut if you want some PM me. I don't want to give away ED B's spot to the public but I doubt he'd mind sharing it with some LIKE MINDED FORUM MEMBERS. The shore spots for Halibut are way more accommodating and you don't have to worry about breaking your ankle to get to the water. They're inside the bay west of JJ's.

If you're willing to do the maintenance work you can get one for a decent price but you have to be a little patient. Not much available on the secondary market in the middle of a desert. However, now is the time to score something because winter time is a buyers market, summer time, a sellers market.

We'll get back to this topic later. Football Sunday!
 
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