Recent content by fishing66

BS flag thrown on that one. River Road makes small boats, 16 x 48, they do a ton of fabrication work to immobilize an outboard engine and then bolt a machined nozzle on. This is a solution in search of a problem. At what point is it no longer an "outboard jet"? The only videos of River Road Jet...

That is a rather presumptuous statement. Videos show river road jet boats being beaten to a pulp and getting totaled. They bolt .25 UHMW to the hull instead of glue and screws of other manufacturers. Their jet nozzle, while innovative, is a cost-prohibitive alternative to an inboard jet...

Looks like an interesting project and I hope it turns out just like you want. Interesting about the wet foam....the welder who did work on my boat swears that the thing is carrying 500lbs more than it should be and that wet foam is the cause. While I'm not looking forward to the removal process...

I used Azek vinyl trim which can be found at Lowes, Home Depot etc. 1-inch thick and very easy to cut. It was attached to the hull with 3M 5200 and is holding up beautifully.

Sorry for the delayed response. I had a 2016 Merc 115/80 jet hung on the boat towards the end of September in place of a 2003 90/65. My rig is a heavily modified Triton 176 with custom tunnel, pods and .5 inches of K5 on the hull. The first concern was breaking the motor in properly.....Merc has...

Howdy, Thanks for your note and yes, some more info is available. I added a set of TH Marine 5-degree transom wedges and took the boat out on a lake yesterday to test. The bow rise is gone and the boat handles well. The engine height is not quite dialed in yet and it will probably take another...

Thanks for the tip. I've seen photos where folks have done this and it is definitely on the "to do" list. I had the boat out yesterday afternoon for the first time. It did not cavitate with the motor way up, but the nose of the boat was running too high while on plane. We dropped the motor down...

Boat has not seen water since the upgrade as I just got it back on Friday 08/05/2016. After the welder finished up, I took the boat to Premium Protective Coatings and had 1/2 inch of K5 polyurea applied along with Wetlander Topcoat. The Wetlander needs another day or so to fully cure. There's...

Andy, thanks for your note. The transom rupture is more common on hulls with .100 gauge or less aluminum. However, even Snyder and Rockproof, who build their hulls out of .192 minimum, put a lip at the transom. You plan to go with heavy gauge aluminum on the pods is sound as they will in fact...

Andy, thanks for your note. They are actually Beavertail pods that have been customized. He ground off the drain plug pipes and then welded additional aluminum plate to the bottom and sides. There have been far too many instances of rock-drag ruptures to boat transoms-meaning, you slide over a...

The Water Wiener has been reborn as the Water Wizard. Tunnel, pods and jack plate. Tomorrow she goes to get 1/2 inch of K5 sprayed on the hull. The welder measured and said that with 1/2 inch of K5 sprayed in the tunnel, there will be an additional 2 7/8" clearance of the foot over the stock...

Here is the Water Wiener in surgery. Pods have been tack-welded on, tunnel installed along with jack plate. The pods were strengthened along the bottom and rear to protect against rock drag. UHMW will go around the tunnel exhaust to funnel water into the jet foot, which is being replaced by a...

Brian, thanks for your note. I tried contacting James River Jets several times and they did not respond. There is a boat welder much closer to my house who is working on the project at this time. He knows tunnel designs and jet boats cold, suggested a number of innovative improvements I hadn't...

Transducers on river jet boats are a tricky problem. An exposed transducer gives the best readings but its life expectancy is short. An internally-mounted transducer doesn't give the best readings but it will be protected. What I did was buy a Humminbird TS3 Transducer Switch which allows you to...

Folks, thanks for all of your feedback. After having done a lot of research, the title of this thread is way off the mark. The first criteria should have been about the capability of the fabricator, their capacity to do the job and THEN the cost. There are three shops out there that clearly know...