I want to be able to break a path through thin ice on lakes and sloughs. "Thin" is an inch or less, or too thin to walk on. I will use a small but sturdy aluminum river "sled", or v-hull utility boat, 14' to 16'. The ice breakes up around the boat forming various size chunks that fill in behind the boat as I move forward. I've never tried my prop motor in the ice, I just assume the large ice chunks will damage it. (We actually push a row boat around a pond in some cases.) For the heaviest ice, breaking a path would involve slowly moving forward, driving the bow up and onto the ice, rock side to side until ice breaks around the bow, repeat. No long distances, and no plane speed. Usually it is open water with just a light glaze of ice, and in most cases small boulders and shallow spots under the ice.
An alternative to using a prop motor (or not doing it at all) is an outboard with a jet pump. I understand the added safety and motor damage risks of boating in freezing weather. What I would like to know is how do smaller outboard jets perform in ice-chunk water? Are there issues with the intake plugging? Issues with using the pump at other than plane speed? Is it pointless or does it work well? I need a safety boat to keep partners and dogs out of trouble.
I have seen boaters use much larger and heavier inboard jet sleds to break heavy ice at relatively high speeds. You can hear them coming 2 miles (measured) away. I've never been able to speak to the "ice jetters". They are usually taking a shortcut through my decoys at high speed right at the start of legal hunting hours. For some reason they don't stop to talk, even though I am signalling to them that they are Number One on the water.
An alternative to using a prop motor (or not doing it at all) is an outboard with a jet pump. I understand the added safety and motor damage risks of boating in freezing weather. What I would like to know is how do smaller outboard jets perform in ice-chunk water? Are there issues with the intake plugging? Issues with using the pump at other than plane speed? Is it pointless or does it work well? I need a safety boat to keep partners and dogs out of trouble.
I have seen boaters use much larger and heavier inboard jet sleds to break heavy ice at relatively high speeds. You can hear them coming 2 miles (measured) away. I've never been able to speak to the "ice jetters". They are usually taking a shortcut through my decoys at high speed right at the start of legal hunting hours. For some reason they don't stop to talk, even though I am signalling to them that they are Number One on the water.
