97 GSX Sponsons ?

[Sea Dood]

How hard are these to change?
My son hit the dock and cracked one.
Looks like a pain to get that tank out of the way. When I replace them should I go ahead with the BeachHouse Sponsons I read about.
Thanks, Don

[Bill O'Neal]

That paticular hull it is a sob to change sponsons, but you can do it.

BHE makes excellent sponsons for that model. Be prepared when you turn though......

[dnoel]

Get an utility knife, serated knife, a leather glove and an area away from minors, so they won't listen to you swear for the next hour.

The only feasable way my budy and I have found to do it, is to cut out the foam around the nuts that hold the sponsons on. The rough face of the fiberglass has a nasty habit of embeding glass fibers in your hand/arm. You could probably get the old ones off blindly jamming a socket and extender down the holes, but it's all but impossible to get the new nuts back on the new sponsons.

Once the foam is out of the way it takes about 15 min a sponson, and is handy to have a 2nd person to hold the sponson bracket on the side of the ski while you do the nuts inside. It can be done solo, but it's much easier with a helper.

My budy's (we both have GSX's) on his 2nd pair of sponsons (mine first set are running great under similar conditions), Beach House replaced the first pair that cracked & suggested using extra washers. Be carefull about overcranking the nuts and bolds cracking them.

After I put Beach House sponsons on my GSX I immidiatly ejected myself once or twice... It turns on rails now (I have them set pretty deep and forward), but once I got use to it I wouldn't have it any other way. Even with the least aggresive settings it handles much better than the OEM ones IMHO.

[vitaly]

I put the BH sponsons on a GSXL once... in the rain... wearing a wetsuit... took about 2 hours... terrible experience... :D :D :D

But that was worth it!

[ June 03, 2003, 10:35 PM: Message edited by: vitaly ]