New to me - 2001 Sunsetter LXI

[Bozboat]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

 

.....Question regarding the struts for the engine box cover:  What is the real purpose for them?  My motor cover goes up past vertical so it stays up on it's own.  Is it not supposed to go that far?

 

I took mine off. If I remove the rear seat cushion the engine box sits up 90 degrees

with cushion in place it still raiser further than with the struts and I block it open by moving the ice chest that rides beside the engine box 

[shawndoggy]

Quote

Maybe we'll surf a bit but my wife and I are losing interest in it and have friends with modern wakeboats if we get the itch. 

I have been bitten by the wake foil bug. Only mentioning it because it takes very little ballast to get a really foilable wave as compared to traditional surfing. So much so that it has me considering going exactly this route in the next couple of years as the kids move on permanently and my days of needing to have room for a full crew of teens are over. 

[Badger]

1 hour ago, shawndoggy said:

I have been bitten by the wake foil bug. 

I think I'm too old for those type of crashes.

[shawndoggy]

14 minutes ago, Badger said:

I think I'm too old for those type of crashes.

The crashes aren’t really bad at all to be honest. I’m talking about the surf style foil, not a sky ski. The low speed (12ish or slower) definitely helps mitigate against serious catastrophe. 
 

as you can see the wave is TINY. We are burning about 1/3 of the fuel that we typically burn surfing. 

[hunter77ah]

I want to try it, but I haven't seen anyone with a foil in my area.  What is the learning curve?

[shawndoggy]

6 minutes ago, hunter77ah said:

I want to try it, but I haven't seen anyone with a foil in my area.  What is the learning curve?

A day or two. If you can surf you’ll be able to ride with the rope on day 1 for sure. Took me a couple of days to figure out how to ride consistently without the rope, but that was partly (mostly) from just not knowing what I was doing. I’ve got a whopping five days under my belt and can ride it basically forever. 

[Michigan boarder]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

 

 Clorox or 409 spray.  

Those are the exact two items I use, just tell her before using it all that you intend to do so and "Babe, they make more all the time, it's OK".  

[Eagleboy99]

2 hours ago, shawndoggy said:

I have been bitten by the wake foil bug. Only mentioning it because it takes very little ballast to get a really foilable wave as compared to traditional surfing. So much so that it has me considering going exactly this route in the next couple of years as the kids move on permanently and my days of needing to have room for a full crew of teens are over. 

My tax accountant has one and keeps asking me to go out for a spin.  He's on a differnt lake so it is a PITA but I am sorely tempted.   I think it looks like a blast - and I've been on a Sky Ski which is terrifying!  LOL

 

[shawndoggy]

4 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

My tax accountant has one and keeps asking me to go out for a spin.  He's on a differnt lake so it is a PITA but I am sorely tempted.   I think it looks like a blast - and I've been on a Sky Ski which is terrifying!  LOL

 

I think @TallRedRider’s profile pic has permanently scared me away from a sky ski!

[Woodski]

@Badger - For interior cleaning chemicals I have always seen or been told to avoid ones with bleach, the thread material is not bleach proof.  As for the struts, they are designed to hold up the engine box at angles less than 90 or up to the pivot point as the cover weighs 60+ lbs.

[John I.]

I would use WD-40 to de-grease engine components. Spray it on directly or saturate a shop towel and wipe/scrub.  

[braindamage]

2 hours ago, shawndoggy said:

as you can see the wave is TINY.

I tried for 3 years to get my SSLXi to surf before giving up. What weight are you running proportional to surfing?

[shawndoggy]

52 minutes ago, braindamage said:

I tried for 3 years to get my SSLXi to surf before giving up. What weight are you running proportional to surfing?

T22 with 400 in lead and three people in the boat (say 400 lbs including the dog).  No ballast no wedge.  Surfgate on, 12 mph.

EDIT: started a new thread here to quit derailing @Badger's thread: 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by shawndoggy

[kerpluxal]

1 hour ago, braindamage said:

I tried for 3 years to get my SSLXi to surf before giving up. What weight are you running proportional to surfing?

my SSLX surfed great:

1000 in rear

750 on each side of dog house

400 MLS center

750 in walkway bow

bags under seats

Wedge

Ghetto Surfgate at the time.. 

Great surfwave

[gary_tenison]

Badger, good buy. I bought my 2001 Sunsetter LXI new from Skiers Pier in Waterford MI in 2000/2001 at the Detroit boat show. I STILL HAVE IT.  It is a great boat. I have a maintenance string here on this site of you search me. I have done EVERYTHING you will attempt to do on your boat. Gauranteed. Reach out to me anytime.

I can tell you ALL about the HDS and how to fix it right also...NEVER let a stealership attempt to fix it as they will not do it right. Also gauranteed.  First thing you can do is put a hose in the boat and fill it with water. If the water starts coming out the shaft penetration in the bottom of the boat, your HDS is leaking. I can tell you what to do from there...

I just put a great stereo in mine too...if you want some ideas.

Good luck.

Gary

 

[braindamage]

1 hour ago, kerpluxal said:

my SSLX surfed great:

1000 in rear

750 on each side of dog house

400 MLS center

750 in walkway bow

bags under seats

Wedge

Ghetto Surfgate at the time.. 

Great surfwave

I don't want to hijack the thread.  but...

I found that some of the Sunsetters have a stepped hull.  That causes the water to break approx 12" earlier.  When there was sufficient weight to magnify the wake, it was washed out by hitting the swim platform.  The choice was to either not surf or cut down the swim platform.  I like my swim platform.

[Badger]

Had a bit of time to work on the boat late this afternoon and had a couple of things happen. 
1.   Did I found the Harbor Freight version of a Perko switch?

2.  I don’t think this is how the oil pressure sensor is supposed to come off. And after it happened, I’m pretty sure I read earlier that you need to really be careful and hold the tee block so that does not break off. I also think this exact scenario may have happened to me when I had my ‘04 Sunscape. It was total Deja Vu as I had the piece in my hand.  

[UWSkier]

Oh boy X2. You've got your weekend plans all set from the looks of it! 

[Steve B.]

2 hours ago, Badger said:

Had a bit of time to work on the boat late this afternoon and had a couple of things happen. 
1.   Did I found the Harbor Freight version of a Perko switch?

2.  I don’t think this is how the oil pressure sensor is supposed to come off. And after it happened, I’m pretty sure I read earlier that you need to really be careful and hold the tee block so that does not break off. I also think this exact scenario may have happened to me when I had my ‘04 Sunscape. It was total Deja Vu as I had the piece in my hand.  

I also did this. After replacing all the items, I still have an alarm going off. Although I know oil pressure is good. Following this thread !

Steve B.

[UWSkier]

19 minutes ago, Steve B. said:

I also did this. After replacing all the items, I still have an alarm going off. Although I know oil pressure is good. Following this thread !

Steve B.

Do you have a gauge reading when it's running? And did you happen to use Teflon tape when you reassembled? 

[Badger]

I've seen Peter @SmoothWaterMansay this in multiple threads regarding malfunctioning oil pressure guages:

If you ground out the sender to the dash, and the needle does not peg on the high side, you have a gauge/mdc/wiring issue. If it does peg, you have a sender issue. But, make sure you're not testing the sender for the ECM, which does not show on the dash.

I took the wire off the sender and touched the ring terminal to the painted manifold that is in the area with the ignition key on, but the boat not running.  Would that be a proper method of grounding, or do I need find some bare metal to touch?  The gauge did not peg, which might indicate a cluster servo motor issue, rather than a sender issue, per Peter.  Too bad I broke the tee block, lol.

[UWSkier]

Could touch to a manifold bolt that's unpainted to be sure, but if the needle doesn't spaz out when you turn the key, that servo is likely dead. Quick trick to try is to swap the speedo and multi gauge plugs around behind the dash. If it still doesn't spaz out on key up, time for a new multi gauge. @RedWakesetterVLX might have a spare as I know he replaced his Medallion setup with analog. 

[Bozboat]

While you are thinking about MDC and gauges, does the boat have the pitot tube speedo system? yours may have gps speedo?
 

 

  If so, cut the tubes and seal the holes by the waterline and disconnect the tubes from the MDC. This will prevent water from reaching and wrecking the MDC.

[SmoothWaterMan]

6 hours ago, Badger said:

I've seen Peter @SmoothWaterMansay this in multiple threads regarding malfunctioning oil pressure guages:

If you ground out the sender to the dash, and the needle does not peg on the high side, you have a gauge/mdc/wiring issue. If it does peg, you have a sender issue. But, make sure you're not testing the sender for the ECM, which does not show on the dash.

I took the wire off the sender and touched the ring terminal to the painted manifold that is in the area with the ignition key on, but the boat not running.  Would that be a proper method of grounding, or do I need find some bare metal to touch?  The gauge did not peg, which might indicate a cluster servo motor issue, rather than a sender issue, per Peter.  Too bad I broke the tee block, lol.

Based on your early posts I would guess you have a bad gauge. 
The nipple you broke is not a tee, just a 1/8” nipple to connect the female tee to the reducer bushing. Very common as you found out earlier. 
pb

[Badger]

Peter @SmoothWaterMan Thank you for the confirmation and your contributions to the board over the years.  It's been helpful to me on multiple occasions.  I have the replacement nipple and bushing ready to go.  Unfortunately, it's about 40 degrees out with 30mph winds today.  Hard to get excited to go outside and work on the boat.  Instead, I disassembled the swim platform in the garage.

@UWSkier Thanks, I was going to try and swap the wires to the gauges, but once again, terrible weather.

@bozboat I'll get a message to you off-line regarding the pitot tubes.

Edited May 9, 2020 by Badger