I have a bad cold idle, and am down about 500rpm, and 10mph at WOT. I do not have a check valve on my Holley 750carb, and have had this issue before, but always had a friend that recently passed on take care of my carb...so I just dropped it off, and got it back- never knowing what was done to it.
Do these symptoms seem like something a blown power valve would cause?
No other changes have been made to the boat.

So...I ran my boat about 350 feet into 3" deep water on saturday. It killed the motor and all, and took the usuall effort of pushing a 3000lb boat off of a sandbar. After cleaning out the sand from the controls, and as much as I could from the pump, and a very hard start-up the boat seemd to run pretty much like normal...for about a mile or two.  Then, it started getting "hot", and started to lose enough thrust to come off of plane. I pulled over, and pulled what looked like a bunch of tire tube, or some other rubber of some sort out of the pump. After that, it ran pretty decent, and was no longer overheating. Decided to take it home for the day. Took it out again two days later, and it just did not take off as well as it should have, and was also running about 2-300 RPM higher than normal at all speeds. Also was told by onlookers that it was not shooting as big of a rooster tail as normal. Took it apart tonight, and found that the wear ring was fused to the impeller, and the insulator was totally missing. I guess the sand jammed tight enough in the gap to lock the two pieces together, and spin the wear ring in the insulator...destroying it. That would also expain the very hard start after the crash. I am suprised the boat ran as well as it did in this condition! So... I dont have a new insulator, but I do have an old one that seems to be in usable condition, so I am planning to just put that one back in, and try it. I want the boat running this weekend pretty bad because my 9 year old has her heart set on learning to ski this weekend. There is absolutly no place here in Wisconsin to get a new insulator that soon, so I am crossing my fingers that the old one will work!

I finally tore apart my 84 berk JF pump! I'm doing an impeller/wear ring, bushings and seals...not front bearing at this time. Impeller front edges were OK, rear edges were bent, cracked, and one had a decent size piece missing. The leading edges of the bowl vanes are nicked up a little, but no big dings, or chunks missing. My question is "how should I file them?" I have seen some people put a "flat" edge on them, but I thought I would just "take out the nicks" so the edges were smooth, and leave the basic rounded vane edges the way they are. For the most part, the vanes are not too bad compared to pics or others I have seen...I just want to dress them up, but not screw up anything! I cannot post pics, but mabe a pick of what a used, cleaned up, bowl should look like would be helpfull. Thanks in advance!

Long story short, Tried teaching my wife how to drive the boat, and now I need a new bilge vent. ----NO OTHER DAMAGE!!!!     The boat is a 84 BAJA 200ss. Any ideas on where to get one like the one that came with the boat? I am not to hopefull, and will proubly just end up getting 2 new ones so they match.

Got the boat out for the first time this season and it ran perfect! Then it wouldn't start after pulling the kids around in the tube. Turns out it was just the starter solenoid. Don't know why it went bad, but it was most likely 28 years old-like the rest of the boat. The only changes to the boat over the winter was that all of the wire and terminals from the battery were replaced with welding cable instead of the 4 gauge that was on it before,-so the solenoid got more amperage than it ever has before.

My boat never starts very well, especially when it is hot. It is a  bbc, and I only run one battery.  One thing I noticed is that all of the wire from the battery, and solonoid to starter was only #4 heavy strand wire, with some really light wieght ends/terminals. So, today I replaced all of the wire with 2-0 welding cable, and super heavy duty ends. It is still winter here in Wisconsin, but I did dry fire the boat to see if the new wire helped. All I can say is WOW! the motor crancks over like never before. All the new wire is so heavy that it wil proubly slow down the boat, but It sure will be nice haveing it turn over properly instead of barely even being able to spin the motor at all.

Well after a year and a half of owning my BAJA, My daughter finally caught my boat on video---passing her in another boat today. I am pretty computer illiterate, so I have never been able to figure out how to get pics, or vids on to this site. Leave it to the kids I guess! Anyway, she is going to put it on YouTube under "BAJA jet boat fly by" Should be up pretty soon. The boat is a 20' BAJA 200 SS, with a BBC, and JE pump, and modifyed Berkely TRIM A JUST

Just went for a ride in my friends new (to us) Crownline 18' bowrider. It is a 190HP 4.3liter.  It goes 48 with both of us in it, and pulls really good out of the hole. It does everything well, has tons of room, and cost less than my BAJA JET. I hate to say it, but my wife and kids would dump our "JET" in half a heartbeat for a boat like this. The only thing I don't like is that it is so quiet at idle that it is actually hard to tell if it is running or not. And, even at full trim, the roost is so tiny that it seems like somthing is wrong.  I have loved jet boats since I was a little kid, and still do. But, I can already see the writing on the wall. Once my family starts spending time in the Crownline, my jet boating days are soon to be over.

Well, I took the kids tube'n for the first time this year, and it went pretty well. The boat pulls well, and has a nice wake. I did spray one kid with the diverter a little bit, but he cried, and wouldn't talk for a while, so I will likely only do that to adults from now on. Only bad thing that happened was the entire 75 foot rope got sucked into the pump while ideling, and took about an hour to cut it all out through the hand hole. Now I have a whole bunch of 6 inch to 12 inch pieces of ski rope! Anybody else ever do this???

Can I use regular graphite impregnated pump shaft seal rope instead of the stuff you get right from Berkeley, or other aftermarket places?
I already have some, and don't want to pay the $15 bucks Berkeley throws on to every order----even if it is literally just "one" screw, or nylon bushing.
 Also, do I have to cut it into 5 pieces, and overlap the seams, or can I just wrap a long piece around the shaft a few times, and tighten it up like that? Thanks in advance!

Long story short, my boat is the only jetboat around here, and is way, way louder than anything else around here. People have come over to the house to complain about it.
 I saw a video on youtube with what appears to be 4" PVC 90 degree elbows clamped on to the exhaust tips, pointed down. They appear to quiet the boat down a great deal. Anybody ever do this? I am a plumber, and have everything to do this, and they would be super east to remove for the times I want the boat loud. I don't think they would create any backpressure, other than when the boat is idleing and the tips were totally under water. Seems like a cheap, and easy way to quiet down the boat, and keep peace on the lake. Also, the D.N.R. are really dinks about things like loud boats around here, so it may keep them off my butt too.

My question is pretty much, Is a 3/8 rubber line from the tank to the pump,-9 feet, limiting my fuel supply at high rpm? Boat is a high compression 454, with a 750 holley. Top rpm is about 47-4800, and it just feels like the motor has more in it, but just can't rev up any more.

Does anybody in southern/central Wisconsin rebuild pumps? I have a 12JE, that I understand is not meant to be removed from the hull, so shipping it out is not an option. I have been reading many posts on this sight, and have decided that replacing a wear ring, and impeller is above my abillities, due to the precision required to install the wear ring, and set the gap. Is there anybody out there where I can just drop the boat off, and write them a check? I can pull the motor out myself to make the pump work more easy, or do you not need to pull the pump shaft out to change the impeller/wear ring? Any help would be great! Thanks