A few questions about flipping a Seadoo?

Question

I just got a waverunner and I was told it was very difficult to flip it. Still, I feel like it is about to flip sometimes, especially with passengers.

1) Is it really that hard to flip one?

2) What happens if it does flip?

3) What should you do if it flips?

4) How do you prevent flipping?

Answer 1

To actually flip a pwc is difficult, what usually happens is you'll fall off of it and it will stay upright. A smaller 2-person ski is much less stable than a 3-person ski, and may "turn turtle" on you and roll completely over.  When that happens, Here's what you need to do:  If the engine is still running, pull the lanyard out of the kill switch to shut the engine off.  Swim to the back of the pwc and position yourself on the right side, rotate the pwc upwards in a clockwise position.  Easiest way to do this is to push down hard on the right side of the hull, while having your left hand underneath the ride plate pulling it up and over towards the right.  Get back on the pwc from the back, not the side, to prevent flipping it again.  Best way to keep from flipping comes with experience, but mainly you don't want  weight excessively to shift to one side, especially in a low speed condition.

The reason why rotating the ski in a certain condition is important if you have carbs, you want to always have the carbs pointed upwards when you roll it to keep any fuel from running out or water from going into the engine as you roll the pwc upright.

Answer 2

You can flip them very easily if you are trying to..

If you don't push the ski to its limits you are not going to tip it unless you are in extremely rough conditions..

If it does flip it is quite easy to turn right back over.

To prevent flipping you should lean into your turns, etc.