Hey everyone!! I'm a new member and a newbie to the whole jet jon concept and would like any input and help I can get on this project. I'll start with the background info. I have a 1987 1648 semi mod v Lowe big Jon. I overheated the original 1986 merc 45 "tower of power" 4 cly. Motor. Then acquired a 2001 merc 60 from a friend last summer for a decent price. The river we run is average 2 ft deep this year with 8 ft holes every now and again. Bit mainly it's too shallow for a prop boat to run in the good spots. So after getting hung up many times with the 60 I decided last winter I'm going to put a prop tunnel in my boat. A total success and I was happy for a while with it. Then the bottom power head gasket went out in the motor and it apparently started to ingest water in the bottom cyl. This in turn locked up the bottom rod to the crankshaft and destroyed all my hopes and dreams. Long story short I'm parting out the merc and stumbled upon a 2005 Honda aquarax f-12x jet ski. Its a 1200cc 4 stroke efi turbo charged power plant. It puts out 165 hp stock and should be an efficient jet unit for What I'm looking to do with it. I have already gutted the ski and have the powertrain laying on the floor. I know my next step is to start fab In the boat and get everything mounted.I also need to fab up a copy of the water plentum in aluminum. My main concerns are porpasing with the jet and steering/throttle/nuetral controls. Every cable that came with the ski will be too short. Any input from anyone will be greatly appreciated.
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Turbo Jet Jon!!
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Ranchero50
Well-known member
Welcome to the club, you've come to the right place for good advice from several guys who have converted hull before. Looks like a fun project and should be very overpowered in a 16' hull. You can check out my built thread for some ideas on how I worked around many issues.
Your cables I would reuse as custom ones are expensive and take a while to get, maybe get creative with the mounting like I did with my steering setup. You'll probably end up with pods and a spoon, battery up front as well to keep the hull glued to the water.
Take a lot of pics and be descriptive to help the next guy out. And remember, we spend a ton of time just sitting in the boat making motor noises before we cut the metal. 8)
Your cables I would reuse as custom ones are expensive and take a while to get, maybe get creative with the mounting like I did with my steering setup. You'll probably end up with pods and a spoon, battery up front as well to keep the hull glued to the water.
Take a lot of pics and be descriptive to help the next guy out. And remember, we spend a ton of time just sitting in the boat making motor noises before we cut the metal. 8)
Novicaine
Well-known member
VERY COOL DRIVETRAIN... Looks like a fun project, I'll be following your progress.
I had a 90 hp Sportjet 18' aluminum boat that I rebuilt the intake to be a tunnel intake and I repowered to a 120 hp Sportjet, so I'll chip in with any advice I can give as you go.
The one piece of advice is to make sure everything on the bottom is bullet-proof (thick)... a rock can trash a lot of delicate fabrication quickly.
Good luck!
I had a 90 hp Sportjet 18' aluminum boat that I rebuilt the intake to be a tunnel intake and I repowered to a 120 hp Sportjet, so I'll chip in with any advice I can give as you go.
The one piece of advice is to make sure everything on the bottom is bullet-proof (thick)... a rock can trash a lot of delicate fabrication quickly.
Good luck!
[url=https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?p=366174#p366174 said:
I haven't weighed it but I'm guessing around 300 lbs maybe a little less. It will be slightly heavier than the 60 merc I had on it. The ski specs said it's 789lbs total. A lot of that weight will be ahead a lot further than the outboard was.
Chewie
Active member
I can't wait to see this build, it should fly!! Wish I could help, I love doing that kinda ****!!
PSG-1
Well-known member
Awesome! You're at the right place for advice on how to build a jet john, as there are several of us who have built them. Be sure to post pics of your progress, or some video to youtube.
And feel free to check the link at the bottom of this post, (my jet boat build), for various ideas or modifications for your build, such as how to build a stomp grate for clearing weeds from your intake, for one example.
Good luck with it! 8)
And feel free to check the link at the bottom of this post, (my jet boat build), for various ideas or modifications for your build, such as how to build a stomp grate for clearing weeds from your intake, for one example.
Good luck with it! 8)
Just tossing around the idea of leaving my tunnel in the boat and putting the jet intake on the tunnel. I know this will make me have to mount the engine higher in the boat and jet pump higher on the transom. Any thoughts on this idea guys. I know the advantage will be sucking up less rocks and sand in extreme shallow. Disadvantage will be a loss of speed as it already lost me 7 mph. Thoughts guys??
I can't wait to find a boat to do my build. I was hoping for someone to do an Aquatrax build in a Jet Jon! I'll be patiently waiting the results. Oh, and take lots-o-pics! 
I've wanted a 4 stroke build for my Jet Jon also. Not too fond of 2 strokes with fouling plugs...
I've wanted a 4 stroke build for my Jet Jon also. Not too fond of 2 strokes with fouling plugs...
PSG-1
Well-known member
tonka329 said:I can't wait to find a boat to do my build. I was hoping for someone to do an Aquatrax build in a Jet Jon! I'll be patiently waiting the results. Oh, and take lots-o-pics!
My boat has a 4 stroke Yamaha FXHO engine. Very efficient on fuel, extremely quiet, and more than enough power to get on plane quickly, even for waterskiing.
PSG-1
Well-known member
tonka329 said:
It will pull a ski, wakeboard, or hydroslide, no problem at all yanking me up on plane. Yes, it's 160 HP at 10,000 RPM's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip7RyutVl1s
