One of the greatest joys of summer is breaking out your Jet Ski, WaveRunner or SeaDoo and getting started with an entire season of summer fun on the waves. From visiting your favorite spots on the water to passing on your this joy to the next generation, there’s a lot to love about owning a personal watercraft (PWC).

Owning a Jet Ski, WaveRunner, SeaDoo or other PWC isn’t all fun and games, however. There’s also a lot of responsibility involved. These small crafts need a lot of love and care to continue performing to the best of their abilities, and if you start to neglect them, you’ll certainly notice the difference.

Are you a new PWC owner? Or maybe you’ve owned a PWC for a while, but you’ve never taken care of it yourself before. Whatever position you’re in, we believe everyone should know how to maintain their PWC to stay fast and functional all season long.

The first and most important part of knowing how to maintain a Jet Ski, Sea-Doo or WaveRunner is learning how to clean it. This might initially seem counterintuitive, especially since you just spent the past hour or so cruising around the waves. Didn’t this already “wash” your PWC? But the truth is that saltwater does a poor job of cleaning, and even if it didn’t, there are many nooks and crannies that it takes a personal touch to reach. If you want your PWC to last for years to come, you’ll need to clean it yourself. Even if you’ve been riding in freshwater, you’ll still want to complete this essential process on a regular basis.

Here are our steps for how to clean a Jet Ski or other PWC after saltwater or freshwater immersion.

1. Remove as many accessories as possible, opening the hood, storage areas and glove boxes and removing any removable seats or seat covers. This allows you access to as much of the craft as possible, so you can better clean the saltwater out of every crevice.
2. Remove any bungs and open any bung plugs. This lets any water in the craft or any compartments drain out as efficiently as possible. Any sand, dirt or debris that’s made its way into the PWC also can drain out more easily with these plugs open. Every few rides, it’s even a good idea to remove these plugs completely for maximum drainage.
3. Chock the wheels on the trailer carefully. Place a crate under the jockey wheel to elevate the front of the ski in a way that will maximize drainage.
4. Use a hose to spray down the entire craft, inside and outside, from one end to the other. In doing so, be careful that no water enters the air intake, coils, electrical areas or fuel breather.
5. Take extra care to clean beneath the fuel tank, coupler and motor, since the siphon bilge can easily become blocked. Give some attention to the supercharger belt and pulley as well.
6. Once you’re finished cleaning the body itself, don’t forget about cleaning around and underneath accessories like the tubs and seats. This helps clean away salt and sand that will otherwise easily collect in these areas.
7. Spend some extra time cleaning out the area around the pump in the back and the intake area, as salt can easily collect here and lead to corrosion. If you find that you’re having difficulty accessing this area, try lifting the reverse bucket.

Not sure where these parts are located? Consult your PWC manual! Each craft is slightly different, and it’s worth taking the time to get familiar with your particular watercraft.

Once you’ve finished cleaning, rinse everything down with clean water and dry it all off with a microfiber cloth. If there’s any water remaining inside the craft, use a pump to remove it.

How to Flush a PWC After Use

While flushing might sound like a synonym for washing, it’s a different process and an essential one for maintaining the health, functionality and the longevity of your PWC. With this process, you’ll use water to flush out the insides of your PWC’s intake, cooling systems and pump, removing any traces of salt from your craft’s interior which would otherwise corrode and eventually break down the system altogether.

Even if you’ve only been riding in freshwater, it’s still important to complete this flushing procedure. While salt may not be a concern in freshwater, you still need to flush sand and algae out of the system.

Here are our instructions for how to flush a WaveRunner, Jet Ski, or other PWC:

1. Start by making sure the PWC is in a level position. If it’s tilted one way or another, you’ll have a harder time doing a thorough flush job, as the water will remain stagnated in one corner of the internal systems.
2. Every PWC is different and will require a slightly different procedure when it comes to flushing. For the very best results, we recommend referring to your owner’s manual. This document will likely detail the exact process you should follow, and this will result in your internal system becoming clear with the least chance of complications happening along the way.
3. The general procedure is to “blow” any water that might remain in the water box by gently blipping your throttle. Check the owner’s manual for more specific instructions regarding how many revolutions to make when out of the water, especially with no cooling or backpressure.
4. You might also choose to use a gentle additive cleaner when flushing, as these will go the extra mile towards keeping your craft’s inner components clean and free from any corrosion.

How long should you flush a Jet Ski, SeaDoo or WaveRunner? There isn’t any set time limit that applies to every PWC. Instead, refer directly to your owner’s manual for the answer that will be best for you.

Properly Fueling Your PWC

An essential part of any PWC maintenance checklist is making sure it stays fueled. This means keeping the fuel tank full, but it also means getting rid of unused or outdated fuel at the start of a new year. All of these different practices work together to ensure that when you’re ready to hit the waves, your craft will be safe, functional and just as prepared to go as you are.

However, fueling your Jet Ski, Sea-Doo or WaveRunner isn’t always as simple as it might sound. Depending on the precise model you own, it may need different kinds of attention in this department. Certain older models of PWCs, for instance, require you to fill their systems with pre-mixed fuel and oil. Most updated models don’t need this pre-mixing, and instead, have separate areas for both oil and fuel. If you aren’t sure what your model requires, never guess. Always refer to your owner’s manual to make sure you’re treating your craft correctly.

Are you planning to put your PWC in storage for the winter? Maybe you know that you won’t end up riding it for the foreseeable future? Take the precaution of topping off the fuel tank before you set it aside. This prevents condensation from forming while you’re away. Another excellent precaution you might take is to add fuel stabilizer, to ensure your fuel doesn’t cause any problems during the weeks or months it will be sitting idle.

When you do get back to your trusty PWC, be sure to dump any old fuel that you’d left in the tank and refill it with new fuel. Be careful how you dispose of this fuel, however. Dumping it into a body of water leads to ground contamination and pouring it in the trash could cause a fire. Hire a professional to drain and dispose of your fuel, instead.

PWC Maintenance Schedule

You clean and flush your PWC after a ride. You clear out the old fuel after it has sat in storage for a while. But what other items show up on a typical Jet Ski maintenance checklist, and when should they be performed? To keep things simple, we’ve broken these additional PWC maintenance tips down into two sections — maintenance you should perform after every outing and maintenance that you’ll only need to complete once a year.

Post-Ride Jet Ski & WaveRunner Maintenance Tips

So you’ve just gotten back on dry land from an afternoon on the water. You’re getting ready to put your PWC away for the night or the next few days — what do you need to do to make sure it stays in top condition until your next adventure?