sigh.... pulled the plugs. time to dig out the hockey gear...

[saskyrider]

Well looks like the boating year is finished up here unless you have a heated garage for your boat!! While it was really nice here yesterday... +26 degrees C the forecast shows the temps dropping to more seasonal numbers which means it's going to be freezing at night. All in all a pretty good year though, i got 42 hours on the clock. I had upgraded my ballast and put some new exile speakers in the boat and man that was all money well spent!!! Now this winter i need to get around to putting my underwater led in and upgrading my pumps for the ballast system. I might also snag another harpoon amp to run my in cabin speakers and sub, make it a little less crowded under there by replacing 2 with one.

BTW..... i really hate trying to get my impeller out!! it is a PITA to get at and i usually chew up my forearms pretty good. It still looks in great shape but it's been 2 years... should i just replace it anyways??

Geoff

[chawk610]

I replace my impellar every year... they are too cheap to not. Sorry the season'e over... we are heading out Saturday as it is gonna be almost 90 degrees. I will pour a beer in the lake for you!

[saskyrider]

crap... don't pour it in the lake... wait a minute... maybe that's where american beer comes from?? It's like drinking water... lol. anyways have a great day on the water!! I have a buddy that has a heated garage for his malibu so were hoping to go out this weekend with wetsuits.

cheers

[zegm]

Well looks like the boating year is finished up here unless you have a heated garage for your boat!! While it was really nice here yesterday... +26 degrees C the forecast shows the temps dropping to more seasonal numbers which means it's going to be freezing at night. All in all a pretty good year though, i got 42 hours on the clock. I had upgraded my ballast and put some new exile speakers in the boat and man that was all money well spent!!! Now this winter i need to get around to putting my underwater led in and upgrading my pumps for the ballast system. I might also snag another harpoon amp to run my in cabin speakers and sub, make it a little less crowded under there by replacing 2 with one.

BTW..... i really hate trying to get my impeller out!! it is a PITA to get at and i usually chew up my forearms pretty good. It still looks in great shape but it's been 2 years... should i just replace it anyways??

Geoff
We have a 2008 LS and I imspect the impeller every year, but I wonder why I am supposed to feed kids in China every year? Shoot lets take that a little further, I should probably replace the pistons every year too as I am sure my ring gap is getting bigger. :p Having owned another brands ski boat but not being on the boards (where I first ran into this issue of making the impeller manufacturer rich) I want to say I put 3 impellers in that boat in over 20 years. And when I did replace them they were worn out (still working) but not destroyed. So I will probably replace mine this year for the first time as it will be 4 years old (and the guilt I now feel from reading the recommendations on this board). But I find it hard to believe that the engineer who designed this thing had put just a service life of approx. 50 hours on it. I just don't believe that. This pump was not designed soley for recreational boats that average 50 hours a year or less. I am sure there are a few shrimp or commercial boats in my area that use this pump also and put many many more hours on the impeller. I also think that when you mess with something too much you are going to cause a failure, introducing dirt, damaging the gaskets, bending the shaft, stripping the threads, etc.
For those that do it yearly anyway, I can send you my address if you need to dispose of your old impeller! :)

[Razzman]

+1 on thst Zegm. I don't replace mine every year either, or every other for that matter. It takes minutes to inspect it and see the condition. If you have a raw water strainer the life of your impeller is greatly increased. I replaced mine last year only as a precaution and the original is still just fine, sitting in a ziploc bag in the boat, greased and ready to go if needed.

[KSmith]

It is an interesting topic. I have owned several I/O with merc Aplha legs and only replaced one impeller. Different but similar..

Anyway, what about getting the Full Meal Deal winterization, they leave the impeller in so the boat is ready to be launched at any moment just dunk her in the lake and go... so not really sure I buy into the annual impeller replacement. I do have a spare one in the boat like Razz so I'm not overly worried about it. I would really expect these to last 100 hours. If I were putting a ton of hours on the boat I'd probably change it out yearly, but I think I am going to be replacing them about every two (maybe three) years.

[cab13367]

I think it probably is overkill to replace the impeller every two years but I look at it as cheap insurance. Also, it's much more convenient to change it at my convenience, in the garage, rather than on the water with a boatful of people. And I don't think that visually inspecting it is a good indicator of when it's going to fail. It's made out of rubber and I think it could let go at any time, no matter how "new" it looks. So I follow the manual and replace mine every two years and remove it, coat it with Vaseline, and store it in a ziploc bag on the off year. Oh, and I have removal down to a 5 minute job so it's not a big deal.

That is just my perspective and everyone should do what makes sense for them.

Al

[lsvboombox]

i really hate trying to get my impeller out!! it is a PITA to get at and i usually chew up my forearms pretty good. It still looks in great shape but it's been 2 years... should i just replace it anyways??

Geoff

get yourself the impellar puller. It pulls on the hub of the impellar versus the arms when you use needle nose vice grips... Take a minute to pull the screws and a minute to pull the impellar

[jstenger]

get yourself the impellar puller. It pulls on the hub of the impellar versus the arms when you use needle nose vice grips... Take a minute to pull the screws and a minute to pull the impellar

Where is a good place to find one of these pullers?

[lsvboombox]

ebay.. I dont recall which size I had ordered though. confirm before ordering

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-3-16-Inch-Stainless-Impeller-Puller-?cmd=ViewItem&hash=item2c5ab754ad&item=190500525229&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0