Why You Should Always Remove The Seat From Your Jetski Before and After a Ride

I have been riding Jetskis just about all my life. They are fun and reliable if taken care of properly.

Often I come across jetskis that have broken down or won’t start at the boat ramp. Removing the seat for a quick look confirms that maintenance is often overlooked.

I always like to remove the Jet-ski seat before a ride just in case something is lose during transport on the trailer.

What to look for with the seat off.

Coolant hoses can come apart or leak. Fuel lines can come apart or a crack in the fuel tank can happen. The jet pump can have a crack, or the electrical connections can come apart.

Builge pumps can come apart due to vibrations. After I installed a bilge pump in my jetski I had to cable tie it down as it would shake apart.

You will be surprised by the amount of water hoses that are in your jet ski. If any one of them fail you could sink your personal watercraft.

There is a video on Youtube where a jetski blows up. It is probably from a leaking fuel line or a crack in the fuel tank. The fuel vapors can then ignite from the hot exhaust or from the spark plugs.

Why I store my jetski with the seat off

All jetskis will get moisture in the hull after riding. This moisture and water will get trapped in the hull. The only way to get it out is to remove the seat and drain the hull. After a few weeks, you can put the seat back on.

Excess moisture will cause rust build-up and possible electrical problems due to corrosion.

The amount of jetskis I have worked on that have rust corrosion on every part of the motor is huge.

Spraying your motor with a product like Lanox will help displace moisture and keep the motor looking like brand new.

Mold build up on your Jetski seat

Another reason to remove your seat is to help drain the moisture from it. You would think that Jet-ski seats would have proper drain holes. My Sea-Doo seat has some drain holes but they seem to work better with the seat off and facing down.

You can see in this picture that this Sea-doo seat was removed after 2 days and it still had water in it.

I find that the mold tends to start from the inside foam and then comes out into the vinyl on the outside. This makes it very hard to remove.

Removing your jet-ski seat is easy. No matter if you have a Sea Doo, a Yamaha, or Kawasaki, you should always remove the seat before and after a ride. It can prevent so many problems.