Re: Looking for a jet boat
before the crowd gets here, let me give you a little info... modern jetboats are fairly efficient, are vastly simpler than an outboard, and just a lot of fun to drive! They are NOT the same things people remember from the good old days, big block ford engines with a berkeley jet pump, half the propulsion was from the jet, the other was from the fuel line! Fuel consumption isn't the same as a comparable standard drive boat, but it isn't much worse either. I personally have never burnt more than 7-8 gallons per day in my 175hp jetboat, I'm fairly sure I could burn that much if I had a 175 outboard on a bowrider!
Anyway, depends on your price range... Seadoo has a 14 foot class boat, the speedster. Older ones used twin rotax 787 engines (bulletproof and dirt cheap to replace) Newer ones have single engine options.
things to look for... I'd avoid any boat built with the merc 90/95/120 powerheads. I've personally owned 2 of those, and had really good luck, but they are based on merc Force powerheads, not exactly known for reliability. The bigger merc sportjets are identical to the same HP outboard, rock solid reliability. I haven't had any personal experience with the yamaha and rotax powered ones in jet boats. (I have a 787 powered pwc)
Other than that, crawl under with a flashlight and look up into the intake. There should be very little visible gap, if any, between the impeller and wear ring. There also shouldn't be any major nicks in the impeller.
personally, i've owned all manner of boats, jet drive and conventional. Jet drives are my absolute favorite if you have areas with skinny water. I run on a river that has lots of sandbars just below the surface. No rocks/gravel, just soft sand. If I don't see sand above the surface, I can drive over it. I've run in inches of water before, shallow enough I can glance over the side and look at the ripples on the bottom. If I was on big water all the time, I'd probably end up reconsidering the jet. Its biggest advantage to me would no longer be an issue.
