# weeds in the pump issues?



## Sinkingfast (Aug 28, 2016)

I have a standup ski and would love to transplant the power train into my jon. But how does one clear the pump of debris without going swimming? Much weeds in the Mohawk river this year talking me out of this project. Or am I just looking for excuses for not doing the project?


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## enginerd (Aug 29, 2016)

Well, I'm not much of a jet boat guy, but I have owned a few PWCs in my life and used to work on a couple that we used for near shore chart verification up in Alaska. The work boats with jet drives were great; they had Hamilton Jet Drives that allowed you to run the impeller in reverse to flush out the intake. We used that feature a lot, since poking around rocks in Alaska usually came with a lot of kelp.

I've heard from several guys that you can mimic that in a PWC or small jet boat by putting it in reverse (assuming you have a reverse bucket) and picking up as much sternway as you can, then cutting the engine and raising the reverse bucket to allow water to flow backwards through the jet and out the intake, which will hopefully flush out the weeds. I have never had much issue with weeds where I operate the PWCs though and haven't had occasion to try it out. You'd also need a little bit of maneuvering room to do it.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors (Aug 29, 2016)

Stomp grate, intake rake, or a long arm if you don't want to go swimming.


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## CedarRiverScooter (Aug 29, 2016)

Haven't had problems with weeds but have had wood debris get stuck in the impeller of my jet jon. When that happens it will cavitate past idle. I have considered fabricating a access port in the top of the intake tunnel, but haven't taken action on that yet (it would be a lot of work).

Once I ended up pulling the boat on top of a log, on a sand bar, so I could reach up the intake to clear the debris. Wasn't very safe but I had faith in my buddy who was holding the bow down.

Jet jons are fun, can go places others can't.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors (Aug 29, 2016)

I have hydrilla and other grasses here. Stagnate water with fallen leaves too. That's one big advantage that the outboard has over inboard. You can tilt it up and clean the intake.


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