Newbie Needs help

I have a 1997 zxi 750 can I run it out of the water by hooking up a hose to it like a boat, if so how do I complete that task, reason I am asking is because I took the ski out for the first time and noticed it was not going very fast with the throttle wide open, out of the water it ran fine and reved good, so I took off the seat and noticed it was taking on water around the bearring carrier(it had a 4 inch crack), so I figured it was getting the ignition wet and causing it to cut out, I jb welded the carrier and want to check it out before I take it to the lake, any help would be appreciated.