Carbon Seal Performance Dirty Salt Water - 75 hrs vs New

This is a contrast of a new carbon ring and SS hat vs. an assembly that is throwing carbon (and some bit of water spray depending on engine loading.)
The new one measures face-to-back at 1.25 inches vs, the worn one at .97 inches. About .30" (1/4") of wear after 75 hrs of riding on overnight trips in the dirty salt water of the Laguna Madre in South Texas.
Note the pitting of the SS hat. This pitting basically grinds away at the carbon seal face and wears it out. Stainless WILL corrode in salt water and especially as water from a drive shaft running at 7500 rpm will make corrosion happen faster.
As to the grit and very fine silts in the waters, there is a circulation of water from the drive shaft as a simply matter of hydro dynamics of the drive and this puts that silt and grit right there at the mating surfaces of the carbon seal and the SS hat face. Any movement of the drive train components that happens can allow that silt/grit to enter between the 2 faces and basically cheese-graters these surfaces.

[@LetsGoKart]

Awesome page man.

[@billjenkins1535]

Yeah Yeah Yeah it is a carbon seal not a wear ring. I was just testing yall!

[@lizdaryl]

The seal on the wife’s FishPro went bad at less than 30 hours, but I was told there was a “known” issue with the seals at the time we bought her ski. It was obvious it was failing because it created a distinct black line on the hull inside the engine compartment. The new seal came with a rubber cover that will prevent it from slinging the carbon in a 360 pattern inside the hull. Instead the rubber cover restricts the slinging to the bottom of the hull. How did you know it was time to replace your seal…was it taking on water, slinging carbon everywhere, etc? We too ride the Laguna Madre, but mainly the San Bernard River and the Intracoastal between Galveston and Matagorda.

[@billjenkins1535]

Cool to see that you ride there too.. I know that area well, as it is along my route from Corpus to Galveston. OMG Matagorda Bay in the wind .. Yee Haw. As to your question, mine did not have the revised seal shroud, so it started being a bit dirty in the hull area, and there was a slight haze of moisture inside there too after these Galveston to Matagorda kind of rides. . No standing water, but it was "wet". Have had the same issue as you at 30 hrs when I first bought the ski, and I heard from a tech that there was a bad batch of carbon from manufacturing. The replacement lasted about 100 hrs. This one lasted about 75. One thing, I also noticed was that the SS hat had a bit of discoloration looking like rust around the outer edge. My new seal now has that shroud, and telling when a seal is needing attention is going to be a lot harder. I think that SeaDoo did things that way because of complaints about " My engine bay is dirty". When these seals wear they throw dust as part of their working design but I think that riders want to see a spotless engine bay.. The wear dust has to go somewhere and those users that give photos of clean engine bays ar 500 hrs are either fibbing or riding if very clean waters. On this new seal shroud, I know that there is that little rectangle view-port in the shroud, and presumably that is there so as to "look" directly at the hat/seal edge-line, but that is, imo, going to be hard to gauge. Speaking of gauges, I would like to see a measurement gauge to put onto that interface of the hat and the seal so as to read the wear amount. Just looking at it is going to be kind of sketchy imo. I maybe could have gone fro more hours on my ski, but when you are going to be gone for 10 days on these long trips, and when your little voice speaks to you, I have found it best to listen, if you be catching my drift.