JET BOAT!! Something different, cheap and fun.

Today we were supposed to be going to a family reunion for my wife's family. Unfortunately, she woke up with a stomach bug and has been sick all day. Oh darn, now I've got to find something to do.

Last night I had torn down the carburetor and dumped it in the ultra-sonic cleaner and zapped it for a while.

I was at loose ends this morning, so I blew all the passages out and since the diaphragms and gaskets looked pretty good, I bolted it back together without the kit.

A quick trip to the parts store scored me some fuel line and hose clamps, so I re-plumbed everything, fabbed a mount for the fuel filter and fuel valve. Next on the list...Damn, I'm done and ready for the test run!

I cleaned out the boat, made a run to Wally's World for a trolling motor, stole the aux battery out of the truck, did a quick run on the hose, checked all the hose clamps, loaded the truck and off we went to the landing. Some idiot left the SD card for the camera at home, so all you get this trip, is a couple of cellphone videos.

Me filming in the boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwWxHvmFKC4

My daughter filming from the dock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOcUfppLons&list=UUIgOt_g3fmElP1M9dmpNcxw

It left the dock under it's own power, ran much better than I thought it would, and returned under it's own power. I'm thrilled!!!

A couple of notes.

The drivers position is moving up to the middle seat, in front of the engine. With just me in the boat, the intake is almost out of the water and it sucks air. I need the weight up front and since I'm the heaviest thing in the boat...

The tiller SUCKS!. I set it up so the boat would turn the direction the tiller would be pushed. Too bad that's backwards of every outboard in the world. I spent the entire test run turning the wrong way. The steering will change, I'm not sure how yet, but change it will.

The engine cover is going to have to be a good one. This little engine is deafening at 6000 RPMs. After a hour, I had a headache. Much sound deadening will be needed.

I has a happy!

That looked like a ton of fun! Did you get any strange looks from others on the lake?

Thats awesome! Ive been following your progress and your top speed is pretty impressive, for reference our 14ft aluminum duck boat with a 35hp outboard does almost 30mph with 4 people. Now im dreaming up putting a seadoo motor in my 1949 14ft alumicraft haha

can you detach and move the arm the cable attaches to and cable on the other side of the tiller arm (180*) ? That'll swap the push/pull to pull/push...

Mike, it got a lot of strange looks at the landing.

Beagle, the arm is unfortunately welded. I can cut it off and rotate it, but I'm considering my options. I'm going to have to do some digging on the internet and look at other ideas. I might just have to get used to driving it. We'll see how it goes back together when I move the drivers position.

so awesome. Bravo!!!

That looks fast enough to be entertaining. And loud enough to be obnoxios.

In reply to Toyman01:

Rotate the base 180 and then flip the handlebar in the clamps?

Fantastic! 26 with 4 people in it isn't shabby.

I laughed out loud when you hit the throttle. That's great.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: In reply to Toyman01: Rotate the base 180 and then flip the handlebar in the clamps?

Perfect. That would do it.

Keith Tanner wrote: I laughed out loud when you hit the throttle. That's great.

I did too.

I would permanently mount the trolling motor vertically, but remove the drive head below the waterline. That way, it will look like your trolling motor is what is supplying the power! That will confuse some folks. Oh, and run the battery cable to a pack of 4 D-Cells. LOL

Is your exhaust still a wet setup that also still routed through hull like when it was a pwc originally? They both play a huge role in exhaust sound deadening. I mean you can only do so much with a 2cyl 2 stroke but every little bit helps

chiodos wrote: Is your exhaust still a wet setup that also still routed through hull like when it was a pwc originally? They both play a huge role in exhaust sound deadening. I mean you can only do so much with a 2cyl 2 stroke but every little bit helps

It still has the factory wet exhaust. The exhaust isn't the problem. It's the mechanical engine noise. A well insulated engine cover should solve most of that problem. I just need to build it.

Toyman01 wrote:

chiodos wrote: Is your exhaust still a wet setup that also still routed through hull like when it was a pwc originally? They both play a huge role in exhaust sound deadening. I mean you can only do so much with a 2cyl 2 stroke but every little bit helps

It still has the factory wet exhaust. The exhaust isn't the problem. It's the mechanical engine noise. A well insulated engine cover should solve most of that problem. I just need to build it.

Oh yeah, too bad you don't know how to fabricate stuff.

In reply to tuna55:

No, but I know a guy...

Time to start getting this thing finished.

I stopped by Slows and picked up a sheet of Advantek. It's a water resistant OSB decking that seems to hold up very well when wet. Against most recommendations I'm going to use it for the back deck. My father used some to re-deck a boat about 4 years ago and it is still holding up fine. At $25 a sheet, compared to $100 a sheet for marine ply, I'm going to give it a try. It will get completely coated with epoxy and get a couple of layers of cloth on the top.

More to come.

This is how the fuel fill is going to end up.

There are going to be two hatches cut into the deck for storage and access to the fuel tank, steering and bilge pumps.

I haven't cut the openings yet because I don't actually have the hatches, but they will end up like this. The pencil marks don't show up very well in the pictures.

This just keeps getting better and better!

I've used that stuff reflooring a mobile home. Its heavy. How badly will it affect your trim?

BTW, this is currently my fave project on grm.

In reply to ultraclyde:

That piece, as it sits, is about 25 pounds. With glass and cutting for the hatches, it will probably stay that weight or less, so it shouldn't be a problem. It's also very stiff stuff so I won't have to add a bunch of structure underneath it.

I will be using another piece for the top of the engine box. The sides of the engine box will be thinner, lighter ply. I'm reasonably certain people will be standing on top of it at some point and I don't want the top to fail.

Glad you like the project. It's been a lot of fun.

Great project and great job. It's been a blast to follow.

I've spent the last hour or so fabbing up an engine cover. The original plan was to build a simple box. It looked like crap so scratch that. Now I have to get creative.

This is the easy part.

This is the part I'm not sure I like. Boxy doesn't work, this is better, but getting it to seal will be a PITA. If all else fails, I guess I could gasket it.

Does the engine sit higher than the benches?