YES..having a bilge pump on the ski IS worth it but..

Why is it worth it to buy the bilge kit RATHER than buy the bilge and assemble the kit yourself. I did some pricing and found I could save almost 50 bucks doing it myself. I would, of course, get the RIVA bracket. I bought a bilge kit and I am looking at it trying to figure out where the 95 bucks went.

What do you think?

Thanks

same question, but can you also do without the Riva bracket?

why doesnt water drain out automatically?? I was told there is a passive bidlge in most skiis. yesterday i so much water in my gp12r i had to jump off..pull a drain plug.. then jump on real fast ...then drive trim up for like 10 minutes then jump off fast and screw it back in...
uuugghhh!!!!!

Frankie, did you get the deluxe bilge kit ? If so that sw. that came with it is $70 alone and the bracket that holds the sw. that comes with the kit is another $30. I think thats where most of that extra money is going.

The waterproof switch is the most expensive part

DJ-

You're right, you can buy all the stuff seperately for a little cheaper. I highly recommend the Riva bracket, though. It's worth the money.

As far as whether you should even put a pump in your boat, it depends on where you ride. We ride mostly out in the ocean, sometimes way off shore. I feel MUCH safer knowing that if I spring a leak, the bilge pump will likely give me enough time to get back to shore.

By the way, you can get some really cool aluminum bilge pump through hull fittings from any PWC supplier, and get the hose and clamps from Home Depot. Wire the hot wire to a constant-hot lead coming out of the bottom of your electronics box, and put an on/off switch on the negative wire. I made a little bracket out of aluminum for the switch, and mounted it on one of the bolts that hold down the engine lift loops. Make sure you solder, shrink wrap, and tape all your connections.

I'm definately putting a bilge pump on my ski. I ride alot in the ocean. I just bought a bilge kit (I wanted riva's but they gave me a wamiltons). I wasn't impressed with the 90 dollar kit. I am taking it back and then heading to boaters world and getting ALL the same things for less. By the way..the kit was the "standard" not the delux.

After ruining 3 cheap switches I bought the waterproof ones, all I lost is the price of 3 cheap switches and some time.
11

Can you just get the power to run the pump directly off the battery if you wanted to? What's the disadvantage to doing this?

I have a 99 GP1200, if I were to get the power from the fuse box, what wire would I connect to?

I am pricing out putting my own kit together, but using the Riva bracket and handlebar switch bracket. So far I have my "kit" priced at $125 including the two Riva parts and the same Riva military CPI switch I found for half price.

Thanks for the help.

Larry-

Sure, you could run wires to your battery, but it's a lot cleaner to run to the fuse box. As far as how to do it, I assume you can use a multimeter. Just probe the wires coming out of the bottom until you find one that's hot all the time. Do the rest as I described above.

Ok, will do. I didn't know how the fuse box and wires worked on the skis. I will order the parts and do the install in a few weeks once everything is here.

Thanks.