heyyou325
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2011
- Messages
- 649
Re: Do I want a jet boat?
I have a river jet boat, with a 350 sbc. Running at about 2/3 throttle after I get to plane I use around 10 gal per hour. What do you want the boat to do? I use mine a lot for fishing, running against a current is definitely easier. If you want to ski or tube behind it you will need a diverter. There are a lot of different type pumps, some like mine are hard or impossible to get parts for. Others are fairly easy. I'm not sure I can give other web forums here, but I'll try. Try going to Vintage Jet Boat Forums - One Stop Hot Boat Home .They are knowledgeable and there are even people who work on them for a living there, sometimes. I think I'm the only one there with a river jet tho. Going thru more of the post. Insurance is same for me as a regular boat. I am required to have a marine engine, at least according to the Coast guard and Sheriff's marine patrol here. I have an engine cover. You can suck sand and rocks up and ruin the impeller taking them in real shallow water. But the water flow creates the thrust to go. It just robs some to cool the engine. A diverter will act like a trim on outboard or sterndrive boats. Plus you get a rooster tail sometimes. I can't tell you what degrees, but put the water up and it raises the bow for a rooster tail and going faster. Put it down into the water, you can ski behind it, and it puts the bow down for rough water. Mine rides smoother than my Crestliner outboard. You can turn a lot sharper, be ready for that, and you can stop in the length of the boat, but the things in your boat don't, including passengers.
I have a river jet boat, with a 350 sbc. Running at about 2/3 throttle after I get to plane I use around 10 gal per hour. What do you want the boat to do? I use mine a lot for fishing, running against a current is definitely easier. If you want to ski or tube behind it you will need a diverter. There are a lot of different type pumps, some like mine are hard or impossible to get parts for. Others are fairly easy. I'm not sure I can give other web forums here, but I'll try. Try going to Vintage Jet Boat Forums - One Stop Hot Boat Home .They are knowledgeable and there are even people who work on them for a living there, sometimes. I think I'm the only one there with a river jet tho. Going thru more of the post. Insurance is same for me as a regular boat. I am required to have a marine engine, at least according to the Coast guard and Sheriff's marine patrol here. I have an engine cover. You can suck sand and rocks up and ruin the impeller taking them in real shallow water. But the water flow creates the thrust to go. It just robs some to cool the engine. A diverter will act like a trim on outboard or sterndrive boats. Plus you get a rooster tail sometimes. I can't tell you what degrees, but put the water up and it raises the bow for a rooster tail and going faster. Put it down into the water, you can ski behind it, and it puts the bow down for rough water. Mine rides smoother than my Crestliner outboard. You can turn a lot sharper, be ready for that, and you can stop in the length of the boat, but the things in your boat don't, including passengers.
Are there any American companies still making them? It seems kind of odd to me that I never see a new one. I know they burn a lot of gas...but so does a yacht, and I still see those! :laugh: