Leaking Viper MK3

[tomo74]

I've finally got to the bottom of my leaking boat after my last trip to France. It got on my nerves as my boat was playing up and i carried out a few bank side repairs..

During the week i noticed the left hand side jet was not running the same as the right. On full power the right hand side throttle had to be knocked down 3 knotches to match the power from the left. I also had problems with the hopper release mechanism. It stopped working and it took about 10 times before the catch would release. I also discovered a crack in the front of the boat at the top of the hull. I ended up removing the release catch and cleaning it up and applying WD40. The crack i temporaily repaired with glue until i got back to the UK

I had a spare couple of hours on sat so i decided to try and get to the bottom of it.

Firstly i ran a sharp knife around the rubber seal to seperate the hull from the body.



You also have to run a knife round the inside of the bait hopper as it is sealed to the hull.



This took about 40mins to do as it was a bit of bugger as the sealant is strong.

Here are the lovely insides





On first inspection i noticed 4 problems.

The crack on the hull.








An additional crack on the front



Additional chips missing off the back



Water ingress damage to the jets



I removed the jets and you can see the left is heavily rusted and doesn't turn as freely as the right.

Also both of my fishfinder aerial's had become heavily corroded and need replacing .

I replaced the power connector before i left for France recently as it had also got corroded but was visible. Only now i can see the extent of the damage.


The plan to hopefully get this fixed.

I'm trying to source replacement Jets. I've had a quick google and can't really find anything. I've emailed Viper for a quote for 2 replacement jets.. Hopefully they won't cost that much.

I'm going to replace both fish finder aerial's

Also i'm going to remove the Hopper release mechanism and any component that comes into contact with water ie Jets and re-seal with a Marine rubber sealant i have found



I'm going to use a black epoxy to replace all the cracks and a black gel coat to go over the patch up work.

If anyone has carried this work out before please feel free to give me any pointers

Neil

[fishypaul]

looks like a sound plan neil

[tomo74]

Cheers Pal. Just hope it doesn't cost too much

[KABBYCHRIS]

WOW my boat pulls aswell but its not leaking water and in new condition??

[tomo74]

I noticed i had a problem with the left jet when i turned the rotor and it didn't turn freely. it had more resistance than the right. When i stripped the boat and looked at the left jet you could see loads of rust inside the motor. In the state it's in it could also have electrical problems. My best option is to get my boat water tight and replace the jets and hopefully that'll be the end of that

[tomo74]

Just been speaking with Viper and the replacement Jets are £20 each and the replacement aerial's are £8 each which comes to £56 which thank god it isn't that expensive.

I asked them about water getting through the hopper release mechanism and they have told me water will get through the hopper release switch if you are using the boat in choppy water or you have overloaded it.. I am guilty to overloading

Also they mentioned about re-sealling the boat. Viper use PVC window trade grade sillicon sealant. They said if you using any other sealant to squeeze a blob out and let it go hard before applying to the boat.. If there's flexibility in the sealant then your good to go.. If not and its rigid they advise not to use it

So becareful if you have a MK3 and you are overload it as you may end up with the same problems i have