Personal Watercraft Books

This is a great book for anyone who loves to ride PWCs and a must-have for anyone new to the sport. The detailed information on specific locations tells what to expect there, as well as hotel and campsight names and phone numbers. I found the chapters on Equipment and Planning and Preparation especially helpful in evaluating how ready we are for a trip. The whole book is packed with useful information. We refer to it often.

This is a great book, I just got done reading it just before the season starts and water gets warm. I found this book very informative and it gave me many NEW ideas for places to go this summer. Intra-Coastal Waterway and Caddo are places that I had never heard of riding and after reading this book I know how to get there, were the best place to load and unload, were to eat, were to get gas and what to expect. It also gives the Texas Water Safty Act which is also very helpful so this year I won't get a $150 ticket. I would suggest this book to anybody that has PWC's or is planning to buy one.

Today I read your book ont he plane while returning from Portland, Oregon. I cannot tell you how long it has been since I read something so pleasurable as your book. I found your advice so valuable. You grought up things that i haven't even begun to think of. What a great resource. My greatest challenge is deciding which trip to do first! Thank for all the research, time and effort you must of put into this fine book.

Patrick Fitzgerald Genreal Sales Manager Federal Signal Corporation

Thom wrote this book in a language everyone can understand. He includes everything you would want to know about each location he covers. Very user friendly.

This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn more about the safe use and enjoyment of personal watercraft. It is especially handy for Texas watercraft enthusiasts because it contains so much useful information on places to go in the state and what to expect when you get there. The author also does an excellent job in the areas of preparation and planning, equipment, maintenance, and rules and regulations.

I bought the book three weeks ago and have already been on three of the author's recommended adventures. They were terrific! This book will add a whole new dimension to your personal watercraft experience.

I hope that Thom Bell will follow this guidebook with another one full of even more fun trips and adventures!

the book was just what we needed to make the repairs ourselves and save a lot of money.

This is one of the better shop manuals I have ever used. Very clear instructions and good pictures. Covered everything I was looking for.

The Book is a great tool to have if you have a Polaris Jetski..and if you are like most people with their toys, you will have a few problems here and there. This manual gave me exact information needed to completely overhaul the machine!

I can not tell you about the book, because I have not orderd it yet.

This is a fantastic book. It goes well beyond the inadequate operators guide. It helps you trouble shoot everything and learn all the parts. You can go from not knowing anything about watercraft to being a self mechanic. Also, it allows you to talk the jargon with SeaDoo repair shops so you don't get the runaround when having maintenance done to your watercraft.

The book, with the exception of the cover, appears to have been made on a copy machine. Very poor quality images. The repair and maintenance procedures covered aren't all that complete either. Some good advice and tips but don't expect to overhaul your Sea-Doo with this thing. If you already have a factory shop manual this book would be a good supplement.

If you own a Seadoo between these years and you like to do it yourself then this is the book you need. It has good detailed pictures and illustrations. Great book.

I bought this item over two weeks ago. It said .. ships in 24 hours... still says this.... yet two weeks later and only after I wrote and said .. wheres my stuff they write back and say .. we shipped it today and it will be there in another 10 days..... BUYER BEWARE

This is a very complete manual, similar to a Chiltons or Motor's manual for automotive.

this manual is savin me thousands on the maintnance i am able to perform on all my jetskis as a result of the easy to follow instructions in the shop manual...i would personally recomend this shop manual to anyone who owns a seadoo jetski and wants to understand how it works and how to repair/maintain it theirselves.....mike d

I've seen a fair amount of shop manuals, and this is one of the better ones. Their are plenty of labeled picutres, and the instructions are clear to guide you through what ever task needs to be done.

I bought this manual mainly for torque specs and wiring/hose diagrams.... and it was pretty good!

...But I don't see any hose routing diagram for the 440/550... (which of course is what I NEEDED) ... there is one for the 300, there is one for the 650s (sx, x2) but not the 440/550's!!!

beyond that MAJOR overisght it's a good manual, if I'd have known of this shortcoming, I would have just ordered the Kawasaki manual (Which I would have preferred to begin with, but the wait for shipping was the deciding factor)

Excellent tool for the DIY'er, packed with photos and technical diagrams. 1 1/4 inches thick in black and white. I have used it extensively on rebuilding my JS550 and it has been a godsend for many things. Includes torque settings, carb adjustment settings, electrical wiring diagrams, explanations of how bilge system works, in depth fault finding procedures etc.etc. Only fault is it is hard to navigate and find things at first, but after studying it to the lengths I have, it is easy to find out what you want quickly after you understand the layout. A tip is to go through it with a highlighter and highlight everything relevant to your particular ski, THEN read it! Once you know what parts to disregard, it is much easier to understand! (Clymer is next best thing to a Haynes manual). Just waiting for one to come out for my 750SXi.

As in all Clymer manuals it is very clear and straight forward in the whole coverage and specially in the delicate ponts for setting up your carburators for optimal work. It helped me get that feeling of inmediate response from an excellent engine but which needs exact calibration for this behavior, and this book gives you the needed information. Besides all maintenance is covered and the winterizing and back to working conditions are clearly explained.

This manual supplied all the technical information and specs necessary to assist me in replacing the pistons in my PWC's engine. It provides easy to follow directions and illustrations for most repairs and maintenance that PWCs require.

This book is a basic common sense introduction to jet boats and is worth the price just for that purpose.

I was amazed at the lack of publications on this subject, and I live near the Snake and Salmon rivers where jet boats were first used.

I didn't get my copy of "Jet Boats" untill after I had purchased my own boat so I didn't bother with the first four or five chapters. I started with the information on running white water and reading the river which I found to be disappointingly brief.

[Footnote: around here people start out learning to run the river by following the Jet tour boats and hiring off seasion fishing guides.]

However, the chapter on learning maneuvering skills was, to me, worth the price of the book. Same again for the chapter on maintenance including, acessories, spare parts, sun glasses (!), and inspections and periodic maintenance.

After going back and rereading the whole book I decided that Mike Kirnak did a great job in eighty pages. I can't wait for the sequel.

Chances are that if you are reading this review you will be aware that there is not a plethora of writing about jet boats.

Mr Krinak started jet boating in 1990 and obviously got the bug, and felt strongly enough about it to write this his first book, seven years later.

It is an honest and forthright account of types, sytems, buying advice, maintenance and basic piloting techniques. The authors style is personable and anecdotal. His personal background as a career aviator is quite apparent, as evidenced by a three page section on the selection of proper sunglasses. But for all that, its not intrusive. There are plenty of B/W photographs and a reasonable number of diagrams.

The main points of criticism are that, while ostensibly a book about jet boating in general, its information is mainly relevant to the American Pacific Northwest. All the boats are huge by international standards and there could be more discussion about the variety of boat styles and applications. Also the term "jet sled" is unknown outside the USA.

The section detailing the two main types of jet units has no diagrams and fails to note the axial-type pumps get a boat up on plane quicker. Similarly there is no discussion on deep V hulls, fuel preparation, specific engine configurations, bilge pumps, whitewater splash covers or the use of heat exchangers. Might have been good to see some historical info and an index as well.

Perhaps we might see a second edition that addresses some of these areas.

These criticisms aside, a jolly good first book and probably a "must-buy" for someone getting into the sport. And well done to Mr Kirnak for having the courage of his convictions to write it.

ce livre est tres bien j'aurai aimer savoir si il existe aussi dans la langue française merçi à tres bientot

I recently purchased a late-90s SeaDoo and knew I'd be doing all of the maintenance and repair work myself. I bought this book hoping that it would get me through everything, and thus far it's done a fairly good job. I'm mechanically inclined but not extremely knowledgeable about engine repair and that sort of thing, but this book has enough information to get me through most things. I've picked up what small details it didn't include from pwctoday, a great forum. This book included clear directions on most any repair, with lots of pictures and illustrations, and only occasionally assumes that you know something already. The book is very similar in style and composition to a car repair manual like Haynes or Chilton. I'd definitely recommend it ... even if you're totally new to jetski repair you'll find a lot of helpful information, especially on routine maintenance and that sort of thing.

ignititon coil and voltage regulator for kawasaki 1998 650sx stand u

Not to be confused with a repair manual - Clymer makes that too - this is the performance manual. It is written by the best and greatest builders of Kawasaki Jet Skis, using extremely intelligent "phases" to get you into the groove that's right for you. Whether experienced or new to the game, you will find that the book is laid out in an easy-to-read manner with lots of pictures (hey, we're mechanics here, not English majors), and aims to get the reader into building a smart, cost-conscious jet ski that performs at it's peak with the best bang for the buck, rather than an aimless throwing-money-at-it attitude. An important book to own!

I found no information on how the cooling system works.
More important, (to me) There was no information on any aspect of throuble shooting the cooling system,if it's not working.
I can't comment on the rest of the book. Mostly because the only reason I Bought the book was to fix (you guessed it!) the cooling system. The rest of the book means nothing to me!

THIS BOOK DOES NOT TELL YOU HOW TO DO ANY REPAIRS! It is merely a general overview of how a jet ski works and how to get better performance out of a stock machine.