Tom Shafer
Member
That's the first advice from an old Ohio river boat builder.
The history:
I have a good/old 14' alum jon boat. and a Kawasaki 440cc Jet Ski which had a small fire.
I trimmed the fire-burned-out parts down to the hull flanges, where the deck meets the hull.
Its factory-glued together, with simple F/glass patch around the inside.
A alum/rubber trim molding made it look boat-like ;>}
The flange is approx 1 3/8" wide completely around the hull.
You must picture 1/2 of a jetski floating in my pool...
there's the engine with all drive parts to the rear 'transom'.
No gas tank, no electrics, no seat for a stand-up rider, no way to steer.
Measured the width of the hull flanges 22" at the widest point, and 74" long.
Measured the jon boat hull (between the stringers) Surprise ! 22"
Which means I can drill out a few rivits and bolt the entire jetski hull to the bottom of the jon.
A thick silicon gasket to prevent leaks, with stainless 1/4" bolts, into a 1/4x1/2" floor rib to prevent hull flexing.
The jetski hull tapers from 2" at the bow, down to 7" at the transom, so we have a 20" wide 'keel'.
Which means straight running, no sharp turns, no trick loop/loops.
The old man says it looks like a long "wart" on the bottom.
In fact, he had photos of a jet-canoe using a Clinton lawn mower engine. Same set up.
Here's my question - what do you think ? Will the Jet-Wart-Jon be a sucess ?
Plus, I didn't cut one stringer !
The history:
I have a good/old 14' alum jon boat. and a Kawasaki 440cc Jet Ski which had a small fire.
I trimmed the fire-burned-out parts down to the hull flanges, where the deck meets the hull.
Its factory-glued together, with simple F/glass patch around the inside.
A alum/rubber trim molding made it look boat-like ;>}
The flange is approx 1 3/8" wide completely around the hull.
You must picture 1/2 of a jetski floating in my pool...
there's the engine with all drive parts to the rear 'transom'.
No gas tank, no electrics, no seat for a stand-up rider, no way to steer.
Measured the width of the hull flanges 22" at the widest point, and 74" long.
Measured the jon boat hull (between the stringers) Surprise ! 22"
Which means I can drill out a few rivits and bolt the entire jetski hull to the bottom of the jon.
A thick silicon gasket to prevent leaks, with stainless 1/4" bolts, into a 1/4x1/2" floor rib to prevent hull flexing.
The jetski hull tapers from 2" at the bow, down to 7" at the transom, so we have a 20" wide 'keel'.
Which means straight running, no sharp turns, no trick loop/loops.
The old man says it looks like a long "wart" on the bottom.
In fact, he had photos of a jet-canoe using a Clinton lawn mower engine. Same set up.
Here's my question - what do you think ? Will the Jet-Wart-Jon be a sucess ?
Plus, I didn't cut one stringer !
