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STX-12F & STX-15F advice needed

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  • STX-12F & STX-15F advice needed

    Hi Everyone

    I'm pretty new to PWC's, and I need some serious advice about the STX-12F and STX-15F.

    I just sent a few 12F's and 15F's to a friend overseas - we're starting a small PWC renting business. There's no official dealer there, no parts supply, no nothing. Just a lot of enthusiasm and I guess a pretty good mechanic (who never touched a ski before ) Plus, all the parts I can send.

    The skis will be used I guess at least 8 hours a day, almost non stop. They will be in SLO mode (learning mode, RPM restriction) the most of the time, as we're not very comfortable with the idea to give an unrestricted 12F to a newbie (not to mention the 15F), so the mechanical stress will not be very hard I guess.

    I want to make a full list of the parts I'll need for the season, and I need ALL advices especially from users who have the biggest possible amount of hours on their skis.

    I have the service manual, and all the maintenance will be made as schedduled, BUT from what I see the scheddule table in the manual goes up to 100 hours...

    Well guess what, we expect the skis to make at least 500 hours each in one season, so I need to plan ahead.

    So OK, I need spark plugs, oil filters, all the stuff needed to check and set the valve timing (every 100 hours), but what about the other parts ?

    I am not so much concerned about the parts that can wear (we'll be able to see that when they start to wear and I'll FedEx the parts to my friend) but I am concerned about what can break and stop the ski. So how long should a cable last ? Steering cables ? Throttle cables ? Throttle handle (is it called a handle by the way ?) Dampers ?

    If one of these breaks, the ski will be unusable for weeks...

    Have someone on the forum experienced failures ? When should the timing chain of the engine be replaced ? The dealer told me "don't worry, it will outlive the ski"
    Well, on a bike you change it every what, 35-40000 miles (I would roughly consider an hour of use on a ski's engine as 100 miles of use for a bike's engine), what about a ski ? Does that mean that at about 500 hours the whole ski will be falling in pieces ? I hope not...
    For what I know, all the other guys that rent skis on the resort where the whole thing will be run use 2 stroke Yams and SeaDoos, which last something like 800 hours before a rebuild (well, it's clear they don't run exactly as new when time comes to rebuild them

    Once again, the skis will be used all the time. They won't have the time to be attacked by corosion or something like that, we're talking about 3-4 months here (salt water, we'll flush them every week, or should it be more often?). They will be in the sea all day and pulled on the shore during the night. I'm just concerned about what the normal mechanical wear that would occur.

    From what I read on this forum, there have been issues with loose hoses, a broken throttle position sensor and some spark plug problems...Anything else ?

    I have a lot of other questions, but I guess that's enough for today.
    On my side, I'll give information about how things are going on our side when we using the skis, which will be sometime around end of may.

    Thanx in advance

  • #2
    Re: STX-12F & STX-15F advice needed

    Your bets bet would to get a compleate extra ski from the dealer and strip off the major parts as a compleate unit. That way the down time will be limited since you can change the part quickly and with little effort.

    As a rental area it woul be good to have an extra hull / engine / jetpump / steering assy / seats.

    You would pay a lot more if you purchased the parts separately.
    Providing mobile JetSki service to the Charlotte / Lake Wylie area.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: STX-12F & STX-15F advice needed

      Thanx Dank :)

      I was thinking of this but this will be an option for the next season - we can't afford that for now.
      It's not that much the price of the ski, it's the shipping - complete skis are awfully expensive to ship there, and even if I manage to buy a used one for parts, I won't be able to ship it alone. I have to wait till we're ready for the next shipping (containers are the best solution and a container for a ski alone is not worth), which would be I guess next year.

      What I need to know for now is what can break on a four stroke STX - so please guys, for all of you that have one, did you had ANY problem with them and if yes - WHAT ?

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      • #4
        Re: STX-12F & STX-15F advice needed

        I would keep in stock lots of pump parts. The rest of the ski is very tuff. One note none of the new 4-stroke like to be rolled over.

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        • #5
          Re: STX-12F & STX-15F advice needed

          Thanx for pointing at my second biggest concern - water ingestion...

          Last summer I rolled over a 12F. I just climbed back on it, started the engine and all was ok. Now by reading the forum I realise that I was lucky - I could have ingested water and destroyed half of the engine

          The ski was tipped over for something like less than a minute and nothing bad happened. But is there a way to know when I rollover a ski if it ingested water or not ?
          I mean, is that something that is very likely to occur, or does the bike have to be upside down for more than a given amount of time for the water to go into the engine ?

          Or do I have to unscrew the spark plugs and make the engine turn with the electrical starter EVERY time the ski goes upside down ?

          By the way, I remember it was pretty funny, the ski was upside down and I only pushed it with the tip of my finger and it recovered its position by itself :D

          Thanx again. I know I ask a lot, it's just that this whole thing is new to me and I really want to make things right.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: STX-12F & STX-15F advice needed

            If it is turned over quickly then there should be no problems. Since we are talking about rentals I think this could be a problem. I just wanted to point that out to you.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: STX-12F & STX-15F advice needed

              Thanx :D

              I forgot to mention that rentals over there work in a different way. No "take the keys and be back by sundown" stuff.

              The client comes and makes a quick 10 to 15 minutes tour, all the time he'll be watched by the guy who gives him the ski. If some client has a problem, people will be there to help him within a couple of minutes.

              Just wanted to know if water can flow in within seconds.

              Thanx again :)
              Please keep me informed on anything else that comes to mind.
              Did you have any problems with your 15F ? How many hours do you have on it ?

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