Jet Propulsion Jon Boat question?

[jasm2]

Yeah that, the venerable OBjet from PA's razorback rivers ends up with a RiverPro and changes his name to Darkside. I'd venture you've both seen him and read his work in the inboard vs. outboards PDF from the PA fish and game magazine that got posted a couple weeks ago.

From Youtube videos I'll say the the Missouri guys have it made, your water looks like you could drag the jet foot across the pebbles in the shoals and be no worse for wear. The Susky has a bottom made of very sharp broken granite that loves to grab and tear aluminum or rip a jet foot apart. We're talking a rock with the surface texture like 40 grit sandpaper that chips into shards like indian arrowheads.

If the hull even touches a rock it's a matter of how much destruction, not 'if' there's damage.

Jamie

Couldnt agree more. You all may kick up sand when heading over the shoal but when you crack a ledge on the Susky your leaving metal behind.

 

[PSG-1]

True. River boulders are a LOT less forgiving than an oyster bed, a sandbar, or a mudflat. I've never had the experience of hitting a boulder in a river, our rivers here are in the lowcountry, we don't have any kind of rapids, etc. I've certainly hit my share of oyster beds, usually with a lower unit on an outboard, though, very seldom do I screw up bad enough to ground a jetboat on one. Over time, dragging an aluminum hull over oyster beds can wear it out, as well.

 

[andrewt]

Isn't the universal jet boaters theory " Drive fast dodge rocks" ? Kinda like nascar, drive fast turn left. lol. Why doesen't anyone have a sense of humor. This board at one point in time was a great universal place for jet boaters across the nation to see what kind of other boats are out there, now it's turned into a east coast " our rivers are worse than yours and everyone else doesen't know what their talking about", Midwest guys defending what their boats can do, and west coast ( montana, wy ) guys laughing at everyone and not saying much ( good call guys). This forum was very enjoyable for a while but it's turning into every other message board ever known to man of we know it better than you, no we know it better, no you don't know what your talking about bicker session just like everything else. Every river has it's own way to be ran and we could all learn a lot from each other, let's enjoy looking at each other's boats and learning from each other and quit this he said she said no you can't stuff. Thought my yesterday post might get a little sense of humor going but apperantly everyone wants to continue to take shots and throw info. I know this post is a little overreacting but it's gonna get to that point unless everyone sit's back, cools off, and says sorry and enjoys the discussion so I'll be the first. I'm sorry now let's sing coom by ya and get along.

 

[fender66]

Isn't the universal jet boaters theory " Drive fast dodge rocks" ? Kinda like nascar, drive fast turn left. lol. Why doesen't anyone have a sense of humor. This board at one point in time was a great universal place for jet boaters across the nation to see what kind of other boats are out there, now it's turned into a east coast " our rivers are worse than yours and everyone else doesen't know what their talking about", Midwest guys defending what their boats can do, and west coast ( montana, wy ) guys laughing at everyone and not saying much ( good call guys). This forum was very enjoyable for a while but it's turning into every other message board ever known to man of we know it better than you, no we know it better, no you don't know what your talking about bicker session just like everything else. Every river has it's own way to be ran and we could all learn a lot from each other, let's enjoy looking at each other's boats and learning from each other and quit this he said she said no you can't stuff. Thought my yesterday post might get a little sense of humor going but apperantly everyone wants to continue to take shots and throw info. I know this post is a little overreacting but it's gonna get to that point unless everyone sit's back, cools off, and says sorry and enjoys the discussion so I'll be the first. I'm sorry now let's sing coom by ya and get along.

I think you're reading too much into the postings. IMHO, after Jim's friendly reminder yesterday, (yes...I've been watching closely), it's been very civil and I personally have not had a problem with any posts since. If I did have a problem, I would have acted on it immediately. :wink:

 

[andrewt]

Like I said earlier, I can't come up with that much funny within 24 hours. Glad to see they are being watched. ( thought everyone might get a good kick out of the moderator comment, maby, maby not, lol.) What I was saying is this will just be another forum of one area going against the other if it continues in the same direction. Think all the other boats are cool and don't say what they can and can't do so don't wanna see it turn into you can't do that no I can thread, that's all. I'm done for a few weeks, be back in a month like always. lol.

 

[Ranchero50]

What I was saying is this will just be another forum of one area going against the other if it continues in the same direction. Think all the other boats are cool and don't say what they can and can't do so don't wanna see it turn into you can't do that no I can thread, that's all. I'm done for a few weeks, be back in a month like always. lol.

I doubt that. This is tinboats, not BBC. Folks tend to not worry about how far their neighbor can pee up a wall...

Shallow water boating is dangerous so any noncahalant attitude can and will eventually get someone hurt or killed. Sure, maybe you can blast through 100 yards of pebbles or shoals but it'll only take one stuck rock, length of rebar, or old camper trailer axle to destroy you or your boat.

Jamie

 

[PSG-1]

Very true. All it takes is one miscalculation, or something fouling the intake (such as a rock, a clump of grass, or even a whelk shell, like I had one time) and causing you to slow down and gain draft, then run aground.


On a side note, I had an idea for a design. What about a johnboat with a snowmobile track mounted in a tunnel? We've all seen snowmobiles run on water, but when they slow down, they don't float too good...LOL

But what if we could incorporate that kind of drive system into the bottom of a boat? I've thought about it, but then I also thought about what happens when you cross a shoal, and pick a rock or other object up in the belt drive....probably would be the end of that idea.

 

[user 6672]

On a side note, I had an idea for a design. What about a johnboat with a snowmobile track mounted in a tunnel? We've all seen snowmobiles run on water, but when they slow down, they don't float too good...LOL

But what if we could incorporate that kind of drive system into the bottom of a boat? I've thought about it, but then I also thought about what happens when you cross a shoal, and pick a rock or other object up in the belt drive....probably would be the end of that idea.

so kind of like a new age paddle boat...

 

[PSG-1]

Yeah, it would be kinda like a paddle boat, but also having that track might allow it to be somewhat amphibious, with the ability to cross sand or mud, in theory anyhow. But again, if you encountered gravel, or oyster shells, it would probably chew that track to pieces in no time.

 

[Popeye]

So how are jet boats for salt water use? I heard that there is a seal seat that doesn't take kindly to salt water use. When I move back to Texas I was thinking about getting a 17' Flats Cat. Running draft is 1/2" with a minimum depth of water at 2". This is a center console, prop driven tunnel boat. I would still keep my Tracker but only for fresh water use.

https://www.flatscat.com/specifications.htm

 

[fender66]

So how are jet boats for salt water use? I heard that there is a seal seat that doesn't take kindly to salt water use. When I move back to Texas I was thinking about getting a 17' Flats Cat. Running draft is 1/2" with a minimum depth of water at 2". This is a center console, prop driven tunnel boat. I would still keep my Tracker but only for fresh water use.

https://www.flatscat.com/specifications.htm

Interesting boats.....I've never seen these before.

 

[Popeye]

There's some pretty neat videos on their site too.

 

[bassboy1]

So how are jet boats for salt water use? I heard that there is a seal seat that doesn't take kindly to salt water use. When I move back to Texas I was thinking about getting a 17' Flats Cat. Running draft is 1/2" with a minimum depth of water at 2". This is a center console, prop driven tunnel boat. I would still keep my Tracker but only for fresh water use.

https://www.flatscat.com/specifications.htm

My concern wouldn't be the saltwater so much as the sand. The shallow rivers we run (or at least the ones I run - I've never been on a midwest river), don't really have sand or loose weeds, so the jets don't have an issue in regards to sucking stuff up. However, I would think that most of the shallow saltwater in Texas would be sandy flats and sandbars, where the jet would probably have an issue.

 

[Popeye]

Sand, shell bits and plenty of sea grass

 

[PSG-1]

An inline water strainer is a good idea on any jet boat, but especially if they are being operated in muddy or sandy areas. I have one on my jetboat, it's a Shurflo inline water filter with 1/2" inlet and outlet. But I changed the strainer screen to a slightly more coarse pattern, the one it had was a very fine mesh, that would clog at nothing. The one I have now will trap pieces of shell, weeds, etc, but will allow small amounts of sand to pass through.

Another thing I added to my jetboat was a water pressure guage, I plumbed it AFTER the water filter in the cooling loop, as putting it before the filter would not indicate if water flow to the engine has stopped due to a clogged filter.

So, at a glance I can look at the guage and know whether or not I've got a clogged cooling system, I don't have to look back at my indicator stream fittings and take my eyes off the water in front of me.

 

[montanaman]

Bloodstone- Just Some Warning Flags for you and other potential Jetters:

Anyone claiming they can run in 2” of water for any significant distance in a jet is suffering from a severe case of cognitive bias. You’ll likely here claims of 25” smallies, 20’ snow storms and other forms of perceptual distortion from this person LOL. Take heed and be warned.

Granted, many of us can run a distance of several feet jumping essentially wet shoals (by pushing water off the bow or in a slide), but I’ve yet to see any jet boat run in 2” of water for a distance that cannot be measured easily in feet. Be cautious of any such claims before spending your hard earned money on a jet to do this.

It is not likely you can run hundreds of yards in 2 inches of water. A shoal that runs 20' or so? Yup - you can do that in the right craft.

Another male issue that usually impacts us mid person is our ability to guess small distances accurately. 8” of water looks like 4 to many and at 30mph, it may even look like 3! I’ve given rides to guys on clear water rivers and nearly all think we’re in 3-4” when we’re in 6+

Some logic to consider. In a non tunnel jet boat, the heel of the intake shoe sits 2.5”below the bottom of the boat. If you could get the boat to sit on the surface somehow… you would scrap at 2.5” deep. Most jets cannot drum up enough power to left a boat with payload completely out of the water. It would need to “raise the boat off the water” to run 2 inch depths for any significant distance.

Most Outboard jets can run easily in 6” of water, others 4” and some tunnels down to 3” if the bottom is uniform. Remember a dollar bill is 6”x2.5”

this not running in 2" of water might be true for outboard jets but is wrong for a true small light inboard jet boat set up with a good jet that can take pumping sand and gravel all day long and hold up like a scott,aquajet, or flo pro
we have a short clip on our site that shows a smaller light inboard jet running up and down a channel that is only 2" deep
we even have a tape in the water to show that it measures 2" deep and the water not even going over the toe of my rubber boots

 

[Darkside]

I think I went into why I wrote what I did (page 2). You can take it out of context if you wish, but not sure what it accomplishes.

To your point though, and something I need to remind myself is that although I jet about a dozen rivers annually here in he east (NY, NJ, PA, VA...) I don't see anything close to what you guys have out there. We don't have stretches 2" deep that you guys can run and not take your boats to the scrap pile afterward. It's not sand or gravel, it is chunk rock and ledges. Air boats here can't run these stretches, but it doesn't sound like we have the consistant level bottom you guys have. Our gravel shoals are short, maybe 200 yards and we can run those 2-3" areas well enough, even push enough bow water to jump gavel humps.

I'd love to see one of these lightweight rigs out here. Tough to appreciate the speed and performance you're getting on a video. Sounds like I could learn a lot from them and the water you're running.