jet boats

General Boats and Motors
1

A guy at work is trying to sell a jet boat. I’ve never driven one so I’m looking for some ■■■■■■■■. Pros and cons?

2

You talking about a jet drive outboard? If your fishing alot of rivers its the only way to go. Will take a little getting used to.

3

I guess the engine is the same as a sea doo or wave runner.That means very little control at low speeds from what I have experienced.
What kind of maintenance and or problems do they have?

RW

4

I owned an I/O jet motor once on an old Grady White, slow out of the hole, required a lot of rpm’s, and SLOW, but, on a small, sleek style boat, should be just the thing to avoid stumps,shells, etc; however sand and mud in saltwater will reak havoc on a jet motor. Freshwater only, and no shallow water my advice.

“The big one’s still swimming, let’s go.”

5

PS: You’re right, practically no control at the dock.

“The big one’s still swimming, let’s go.”

6

The guy next door to me has a jet boat with a blown chevy 350 V8 right around 1100 horses runs about 150mph on the water very quick out of the hole and great control at slow speeds

Alan Reece

7
quote:
Originally posted by dolphus

I guess the engine is the same as a sea doo or wave runner.That means very little control at low speeds from what I have experienced.
What kind of maintenance and or problems do they have?

RW

The only experience I have, is with a jet driven outboard. It looks just like a regular motor, but with no prop. There are no slow speed issues with it, for the most part it runs just like a standard outboard. The only thing it will do, is when you are making too sharp of a turn at high speeds the stern will swing around…but we use this to our advantage in the smaller creeks…you can drift the stern to make sharper turns with out letting up.

8

I own the jet boat charliehorse is referencing and it is great. Once you use a jet boat in rivers and other shallow water areas you will not want to go back to a prop drive. My boat is a 1860 G3 with a 90 yamaha 4 stroke jet. If you want to take it for a spin just let me know.

9

they use ALOT of fuel

10

If it is a Whaler, I can speak from experience. When I was poor, I bought one cheap. I LOVED it. However, it was a pain in the butt. I had no control when backing down. Had no control unless throttle was engaged. Key to getting it onto the trailer was to slow to a stop about 10 feet away, then proceed, so you could give it the gas to steer. I had some issues with the shifter that drove me crazy, but it was cool driving up onto any beach or pulling skiers without worrying about a prop. One time I clogged the intake with weeds and drove four miles home at about 4 knots. Several times I filled the filter with mud and had to clean it after the motor got hot.

I have an outboard now and do not miss the issues I had with my little jet boat, but if you can get one for a good price, it may be worth it. It was definitely worth it to me.

Tidewater 196DC
Yamaha F115

Pungo 120
11

Had a Carlson Glastron 24’ jet boat 460 Ford motor.thru hull exhaust sounded good but thats all the good I can say about one.People say there great for shallow water, wrong they will suck up anything, oyster shells, rocks, rope, marsh grass IMO stick with a prop motor

26’ Twinvee
Suzuki 175’s
www.creeksidemetalworks.com

12

I was wrong on the size of my neighbors motor it is a 502 with blower a cool site to for jet boats is performanceboats.com

Alan Reece