The Coast Guard limits PWC to 70 mph?

70 mph on water is usually fairly unpleasant.

Woody wrote: 70 mph on water is usually fairly *awesome*.

I've been on one that goes up into the 40mph range and you'd need really flat water to go any faster. That was on an ocean that's about as calm as it gets.

hull design can do alot for the ride at 65-70, but its not magic. the newest seadoos have a suspension system between the hull and top deck to absorb chop as well.

as for the 70mph limit, apparently the uscg and the manufacturers have a "gentleman's agreement" that factory pwc won't do more than 70mph or so out of the box, but with a lot of them its just a couple tweaks to the computer or unplugging some connector to disable the limiter. a quick search on youtube will net you plenty of 90+mph skis that don't sound or look very modded either.

The real question is, how do you adapt a 260hp PWC motor to use a radiator instead of sea water for its cooling system?

Mine won't start.

sobe_death wrote: The real question is, how do you adapt a 260hp PWC motor to use a radiator instead of sea water for its cooling system?

That wouldn't be hard, however, I'd think the engine would have to be dramatically de-tuned to handle the much higher coolant temps.

sobe_death wrote: The real question is, how do you adapt a 260hp PWC motor to use a radiator instead of sea water for its cooling system?

Most people call those snowmobiles.

Suzuki Wetbike. http://www.wetbike.net/

My dad was a boating nut and I was in his 460 Ford powered jet boat one night on Lake Murray, SC. It was set up to pull skiers so did not have the top end impeller in the jet drive, it would go ~60 MPH. That is PLENTY fast on smooth water, I don't even want to think about chop.

70 miles per hour on the water, usually with no face protection? No thanks...I'll pass.

I've been wakeboarding before when it started to rain. Raindrops at 20 miles per hour on bare skin REALLY sting.

Javelin wrote:

cwh wrote: How would the Coasties catch them? Their patrol boats don't go anywhere near that fast.

Hahahahahaaaa!!!! You're funny. We have 80+ knot boats with .30 cals on the bow. You aren't getting away.

That's over 90 mph! What can go that fast???

Joey

cwh wrote: How would the Coasties catch them? Their patrol boats don't go anywhere near that fast.

My father-in-law was a coastie. He manned the canon on the front of the boat. Nuff said?

EDIT: hadn't read Joey's post yet... Or javelin's.

cwh wrote: How would the Coasties catch them? Their patrol boats don't go anywhere near that fast.

There is a boat mech a few doors down that gets these black zodiacs in from time to time with 3 engines and I'm betting it would catch them with ease.

joey48442 wrote: That's over 90 mph! What can go that fast??? Joey

well theres this..

I used to live in SW FL and have personally seen an about 27' coast guard RIB with either triple 250's or quad 225's. Cant remember exactly which but i rember doing the math and it being not far from 1000hp

I've seen center console boats in the Bahamas with 4x 300 as well. I guess some people really want to be able to hop in the boat and be eating conch salad in 45 minutes.

From the stores I've heard, the only problem with catching the runners is maneuverability and the canon always helped the boat turn a little quicker. Then they would blow the engine out. Won't get far without that... Or with the crap in your pants.

If you are still interested in the [current line of phishing canoes] you can find all of them here in one chart, as well as a post about [nasmuking canoe] here. 

In reply to Da_Da :

Is a jet ski faster than a canoe?

I've done 70mph in a tour style bass boat yeas ago and it was terrifying. No way I'd want to on a jet ski.

Of course a lot of modern bass tournament boats run easy triple digits. I can't imagine that.

I grew up sailing and always remembered my Dad calling PWCs "nuisances." Because of the douchey connotation, the only time I've ridden a jet ski was a family friend's Honda Aquatrax maybe 7 years ago. Intercooled Turbo 4 stroke. Hitting 70 was violent and easy. I immediately got why people act up on PWCs. I sure did.

Haven't ridden one since but it's amazing what something like that will do to recalibrate your sense of what "quick" is.

7.5 year old thread. Nice.

When I was younger (~14 years old) and braver/dumber, we hit 55 mph three-up and 65-70 mph two-up at the Lake of the Ozarks a bunch of times.  That was entertaining for a while.  Getting skipped across the water like a rock hurts though.  Probably can't do that anymore unless you're there on a Tuesday morning.  That place is way too busy to have any fun.

Someone on here has said that this video never gets old.

Yes I know it's a boat but...

Sometimes canoes are useful and, in this case, also funny. A canoe brought back a thread from the dead about watercraft.

My PWC only goes about 53 mph. If it went faster, I'd drive it faster, but the fun is not in going fast in a straight line, it is turning quickly, playing in the surf and things like that. I usually just do top speed runs to get from my dock to the inlet. Agree with whomever made the point about the painfulness of rain when riding a jetski - that is no joke.