A Williams Jet Rib Guide

[PalmaTarga]

When ours did this it was one of the temperature sensors that needed replacing. It would overheat (or think it did) and cut out. Once it had sat and cooled, would fire up again.

 

[jrudge]

Over heating usually result in limp mode ( which is 1 cylinder and a few thousand rpm ish (

 

[PalmaTarga]

for the lucky ones... ours resulted in 'row' mode (which was impossible)

 

[jrudge]

Row mode is indeed a little tricky. Wave your arms mode is likely a better solution !

 

[PalmaTarga]

Row mode is indeed a little tricky. Wave your arms mode is likely a better solution !

Indeed... they were the only 2 times I've been happy to see jet ski's!

 

[leshark]

Servicing

Servicing is simple and takes about an hour. See Service manual above. DIY or get someone to do it. Oil ( see below), plugs, fuel and oil filter and cover it in WD40. There is an anode on the back but it does not wear as the boat is not in the water for long enough.

The engine is 109hp from 750cc - so 145 bhp per litre.

A Porche 993 only has 76 per litre and a Ferrari 458 is only 133 bhp per litre so the engine is highly stressed!

Oil changes are CRITICAL as is using the correct fully synthetic oil.



Things in the Impeller

This is a fact of life. Old fishing net, old rope, plastic bags and your own ski line.

There are two ways to solve this ( neither are in the manual)

1. Lift it, remove the grill on the bottom ( 2 x cross head screws) and then fish / cut out the debris. This will only work for small things. If a ski line you can take 20 feet of it in in the blink of an eye. Pulling it out will not work. It melts to the shaft. 

2. Remove the jet unit.

This takes about 45 mins to remove and replace. You disconnect the bucket, undo the 4 retaining bolts ( you need long sockets - short ones cant get over the stud) pull the whole thing out, get rid of the mess, and put it back together again.


What goes wrong?

This is my list and what was done about it .


Sterring cable stiff

Can happen, especially if not washed off. It can free itself in the water, but if not it needs replacement. There is a special tool Williams use to feed the cable through and I would just ask the local Williams agent to do it.

Water in Fuel - Bang

I have had 2 engine failures under warranty. I met someone else in Cala Dor who had the same. They tend to drop a valve and water in the fuel is blamed. My second engine lasted 40 minutes. They had changed everything other than the fuel so whilst not conclusive it seems plausible.

I need to look at a water separator I suspect if you can get one small enough.

Exhaust Manifold - Sea Water Leak

This was expensive!

The boat was losing power and eventually did 4000 rpm. I identified the turbo has stuck. Free off and basically fine.

Happened again.

Taken to bits. Turbo salt covered. Clean. Back together. Suspected build up over time. Wrong happened again .

Two options (a) the spray head ( sea water cooled) about £300 or the manifold ( sea water cooled) £2000. Changed the head first. No . Bugger! Change manifold. Sorted.

If you dont flush the engine after use ( the instructions are clear!) then sea water eventually corrodes the jacket. There is no anode in the exhaust system presumably as it is not kept in the water and is designed to be flushed.

Flush after every use.

The symptom is Turbo whine. You can always here a little at low rpm, but if it noticeably increases then something is going past the turbo and that something is sea water.

The Williams way of replacing this is to remove the engine. This then needs the rib lifting, and the engine mounts replacing. I did it in situ - it is tricky and it took me 4.5 hours, but it can be done if you remove the battery and solenoids on the left side and dont mind that a few bolts take some ingenuity to get on and off. I doubt removing the engine is any faster - probably longer to be honest - but it would be an overall simpler job .

Speedo / Tacho

The speedo and taco are know to fail - especially post winter.

The official Williams ones (from memory) are about £100 for the tacho and £180 for the speedo. The 2008 ones are obsolete and you need a wiring adapter kit. I bought mine on eBay from china as whilst unbranded a complete set of speedo ( GPS - the original is paddle wheel) with heading, tacho and fuel gauge was £100 delivered in 4 days from China. Fitting all three took an hour.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GPS-Spee...415552?hash=item33e6da9040:g:rmcAAOSwCQxaysEq

85mm White Car Tachometer 8000RPM For Gas Disel Engine Car Truck Marine ATV UTV | eBay

Universal Fuel Level Gauge,240-33Ohms,White,E-F,Oil Tank Level,2''/52mm,12V/24V | eBay

The fuel gauge is the USA standard - 240-33. I also replaced the fuel sender ( from Williams) as the gauge was mildly inaccurate.

Rear “Wings”

The wings either side of the drivers seat can only be stepped on in the facelift model that has the small backrests for the mid seat passengers. The new versions are not compatible with the former model and if stepped on ( it really looks like a step) the GRP will craze. No matter now many no step signs you put on it someone will step on it. Any one you buy will have crazed wings and I would not bother to get it repaired! Yes I got mine repaired. Yes they are now crazed again!

Upholstery

The upholstery wears and gets water logged. A new set from Williams is roughly £1000. MJ did mine to match the boat for £300.


Tubes

My tubes failed a few months after the boat ( 2008) was bought. The end caps both sides failed. I assumed the glue had failed so decided not to repair. I got a very good second hand set from boats.co.uk in cala dor as i needed it there and then, however new PVC tubes are only £1k and £2k for hypalon which i thought reasonable given they are totally unique to Williams and they could simply name a figure. Changing the tubes takes about 40 minutes.

The grab handles are not very strong, and whilst fine as handholds will come off is used as fender tie points or used by people to drag themselves out of the water.


Lifting on Paserelle

If using the paserelle to lift the rib I have two tips …

a. put the throttle fully forward. A strap got caught and almost ripped it off. It cant if fully forward.

b. buy a removable steering wheel boss on eBay. I bent the first wheel ( which was to be changed anyway) as the straps got stuck behind it.



I appreciate that the above will put most people off! The engines were under warranty and the exhaust manifold was hence the only extremely unwelcome bill.

Take away one thing. FLUSH IT OUT


Extras

The 2014 rib had a depth sounder factory fitted. It never worked despite being replaced several times, and it is too small to see anyway. I would not bother.

I retro fitted a Fussion 205 unit. Took a few hours. It sounds great as the area under the front seat acts as a boom box, but if you like going fast dont bother. Anything about 15 mph and you cant hear a thing!

Great, guide, how easy is it to change the oil, no one seems interested in serving mine, biggest gripe o’ve had is support from Williams… non existent, rude and just not interested unless you’ve just bought a new one

 

[jrudge]

Use a pump / suction and take the oil from the tank.

Ito s dry sump so then you either start it for a second and pin until dry and do it again or remove the service fuse and just crank it.

That get most of the oil out with minimum effort

 

[leshark]

Excellent information, have now owned a 285 (non turbo) for 2 years, absolutely love using it, just a couple of additions, watch those PVC tubes, end cones literally fell off on the second day of a 2 week trip to France, never seen such poor shoddy adhesion (had a PVC Bombard dinghy for nearly 20 years still absolutely fine), managed to find some Hypalon tubes from a dealer at a good price, promised they were leak free (turned out they had 5 leaks, but at least I could get them repaired).

Secondly, once its over 10 years old Williams are really not interested (actually extremely rude at the boat show?), however there are independents who are much more reliable and a fraction the price (I just had a quote of £1600 to do a basic service from Williams (from the quote sounds like they were going to spend more time on the water than actually doing anything), yet an independent did full service, new battery, new dials and numerous other improvements for less than half that). Servicing is quite simple and anyone with basic knowledge can do plug/oil/filter service in less than an hour.

Lastly, forget prop boats, kill the engine when pulling the ski line in... painful cutting the line off the shaft after a paddle home

 

[leshark]

I'm not familiar with these jet-ribs and the associated maintenance behind them, however they seem to be popular with the sorts of boats we're looking at (Princess V53/56). I've test driven 3 different boats over the last few weeks and only taken the tender out on one of the occasions. Great fun and a wild ride but possibly a bit manic for the SWIMBO and 2x 2year old twins.

Either way, what is the agreed procedure + frequency for flushing these Williams jet-ribs? Is it after every single use or is once a day acceptable? For example after a drive, time to put the tender away to go move anchorages etc - does it need a flush NOW or can it wait until the end of the day when it will be used again? We took a V56 out for a test and launched the Williams for 15 mins of running around, and then they put it away without flushing it. Would it be OK to do it later in the day once back in the marina for example or do you need to do it fairly soon after use before all the salt cakes in and dries out?

Also - the sorts of boats we're looking at have circa 400L water tanks, how much water do you need to flush through the engine on a Williams 325 for example? I fear a flush after each use, 2-3 times a day and I'll be fast running out of water!



Ideally after every use, also with a salt inhibitor, but you should only run for a minute with the water running through, so would be surprised if more than a few litres would be used, the hose attachment goes straight in so no wastage, but salt buildup inside is a certain killer of these engines

 

[Kingzig]

Looking for a steering wheel for a williams 285, mine if rusted out. Lmk if anyone wants to sell one.

 

[jrudge]

Buy them on eBay or from Williams. Removable boss form eBay is £10.

 

[jrudge]

Looking for a steering wheel for a williams 285, mine if rusted out. Lmk if anyone wants to sell one.

As an aside they are aluminium so they don't rust !

 

[BenMorgan]

My engine cover gas-struts have given up and need replacing. Plenty of struts available on the market, but I am uncertain as to the lifting force required. Has anyone replaced theirs and if so, which units did you install?

 

[jrudge]

Afraid not. You can by ones you can adjust ( they are basically over fillled with gas and have a valve so you can release them. I have never looked but the spec is usually on the strut body

 

[BenMorgan]

Williams 285 Jet Pump rebuild… anyone have any tips or advice before I get stuck into this?

 

[jrudge]

Firstly does it not work it just not look nice ? You must have left it in the water for a long time !

The only tip I would say is just buy new parts from Williams. The pump is not a housing and impeller so the change over will take an hour or so.

 

[BenMorgan]

We only recently purchased the 285 TurboJet from Facebook Marketplace. The previous owner must have left it in the water long enough for it to be covered in shell-growth. I have the princely sum of $1,000 invested into it and the aim is to restore it and use it as the tender for our 45ft Beneteau FIRST.

 

[jrudge]

have you tried it ? The only thing that will cause a real propulsion issue is if there is too much clearance between the impeller and housing.

 

[BenMorgan]

The Jet Pump is totally seized. Have the unit soaking atm and will pull down to components and assess from there.

 

[jrudge]

They are aluminium so I suppose once corrosion sets in that will jam the impeller.

Assuming you can get it apart I would clean it off and before anything put it on the boat and see if it works. If it does then remove it again and make it look nice.

The original would have been anodised and I have no idea how expensive / difficult getting it re anodised is.

The only thing that will stop it working is too big a clearance so whilst you need to clean it up don't get to aggressive

There is also an anode that in normal times lasts forever as the boats are not on the water long enough to need it but if it is missing then I would replace it