I ended up having to order and of course wait yet another week on that woodruff key. In case you missed it review my last entry regarding this project. After I got that everything else was smooth sailing There actually wasn’t a single snag in reassembly. Here are the reassembled pictures:
The only problem was once I got it all back together it wouldn’t start. Excited, I set up the camera to record the first start after the tear down, all that video ended up netting was about 60 seconds of engine cranking.
A bit discouraged I check all the obvious things – spark, fuel to the carburetor, nothing obvious. I gave it a shot of WD-40 and that didn’t do the trick. After a lot of angst I finally got it to light off with just a tiny snort of premix, and it ran great. Of course I wasn’t videoing that round, but whatever. I did get video of the 2nd startup:
In addition between the last post and the current one Dad came to Minnesota and bought the family a present:
So with Debra and the new Yamaha in tow, we went to the lake the next day. I had full faith in my capabilities, but I am afterall getting fat so I figured better safe than sorry. I sent Debra out to float around on the Yamaha while I got ready and went out on the stand up. After tossing it in the lake I pulled the hood to make sure I didn’t introduce any massive hull leaks during the project, since I didn’t I went to fire it off. Crank crank crank crank crank… seriously? I waved Debra in since I didn’t have adequate tools with me to get gas down the carb horn. We went home and I did a bit of research. It would appear that the Kawasakis are a bit notorious for hard starting and I shouldn’t waste time trying to “fix” it but rather just put on a primer. So that’s what I did.
The primer solves the issue 100%. I have to give it a couple snorts at the beginning of each day then it starts and runs like a top for the remainder of the day – very SkiDoo like. So we went back out.
Debra went out floating on the couch again and I had better luck leaving shore this time. I floated around a bit, trying to remember how to run the stand-up, not that I ever knew how in the first place. Things went well, the ski ran well and I was happy. We meandered our way back to shore, that day wasn’t meant for playing.
Here a couple of weeks (and 1 AC/DC concert) later I went back out today. I spent probably 40 minutes aboard the ski and burned a good 3-4 gallons of gas. It’s a ton of fun, running great and this project is a wrap. I’m not sure where I stand on the remaining annoyances of the ski, those being the minor hull problems, the crank bearings that are no doubt in need of replacement, and the borderline compression. I truly do have other things to worry about in my life – we’ll see how eager I get over the winter to get back on it and judge then. For now, it’s in the books.
