Jet Drive and Maneuverability

[LKurelja]

I keep hearing that jet drives get sloppy at low speeds and and cannot hold position, yet I can't find any liturature that supports this. In fact everything that I find says jet driven boats have excellent maneuverability at low speeds. Does anyone have experience with larger water jet drive systems? Any thoughts would be very helpful.

Thanks

[FlybabyJim]

I think it comes down to whom you ask. Myself an old fan of jet drives think they are wonderful to work with. They do handle different form a shaft drive or outboard. It will take more throttle to maintain control than most people are accustomed to. Ultra-Jets offers an electronic joystick system that is to die for. Personally I think they handle just fine, but I bet you get a lot who feel differently. Just remember you have to have the pump running at a high enough RPM to produce thrust in order to have directional control and this is true at any speed.

[D'ARTOIS]

Indeed, it is a widespread story that waterjets have poor characteristics at low speeds. That's correct when you put a rooky driver at the joy-stick(s).
A skillful helmsman may have no problems whatsoever; on the contrary. The turning-circle is much smaller and again, if you have a bit of experience, it will be just fine.