KEEPING YOUR PWC WATER-READY
Ready to hit the lake? If you’ve got a new PWC, you’ve got to be looking forward to this summer in the water on your Sea-Doo or other watercraft, but we want to remind you about a few things first. Personal watercraft do a lot of work for you, so it’s really important to keep them in good shape. Just a few simple maintenance tasks will prevent serious issues, so try implementing a routine with the steps laid out in this guide. For more serious repairs, feel free to bring your PWC into our parts and service department at Campers RV Center! It’s better to get small problems fixed than wait until they become expensive issues, so come visit us at our dealership in Shreveport, LA.
Keep your Owner’s Manual
It’s a little hard to take care of your personal watercraft if you don’t know what fluids to use, when to service it, etc. So make sure you hold onto your owner’s manual! This has valuable information about recommended service schedules, how to break in your engine, necessary parts, and other useful specifications about your vehicle’s service needs. These booklets are written so anyone can understand them, and by following the maintenance tasks inside, you’ll save yourself from a lot of costly repairs in the future.
Your First Ride
We hate to burst your bubble, but your first ride on the lake isn’t going to be a glorious explosion of power and dominance. Instead, it needs to be a pretty mellow ride, for the first couple hours at least. Unfortunately, you’ll do serious damage to a PWC engine if you go out full throttle on your very first trip. Instead, start at about quarter-throttle, and ride there for five to ten minutes. Then variate your speed between quarter and half for the next half hour. Finally, do three-quarters speed for about an hour, and then you can finally open it up!
Using Quality Fuel
We all know that ethanol isn’t the best thing to put into a motor, but it’s especially bad for a marine engine. In fact, your personal watercraft isn’t designed to run with blends that have too much ethanol, so make sure you only use good gasoline. Also, if you plan to store your Sea-Doo for a long period of time, top off the tank and add some fuel stabilizer. Make sure you check that owner’s manual to figure out how much stabilizer to use, because using too much could also hurt your engine.
Flushing
Salt, weeds, organic material, and other debris can get caught in your engine when you ride. This happens very easily in the ocean, since it’s full of salt, but even lakes have corrosive particles that you need to flush out after every ride. To do so, connect a freshwater source to your flush fitting. Then start the engine and turn on the water. Let it run for a minute, then shut off the water. Leave the engine on until it pushes out the rest of the water, then go ahead and turn it off too. This is a really simple task that’ll go a long way in keeping your engine running smoothly for years to come.
A PWC is an amazing way to enjoy the summer, so make sure you always follow recommended maintenance tasks and riding practices. This guide will help you with the basics, but if you have any other questions, feel free to come ask us at Campers RV Center in Shreveport, near Bossier City, Ruston, and Monroe, LA. Our service and parts departments will perform any necessary repairs to get your personal watercraft running like new again, and we also sell a great selection of Sea-Doo PWC at our dealership, where we serve riders from Marshall, Longview, and Tyler, Texas.