Jet drive fishing boat

[lucescoflathead]

I have never built a boat before. With that in the open.. I am interested in building A jet powered jon type fishing boat around 16 ft. in length. I was wandering if anyone ever adapted a "Seadoo" type engine/jet drive to an aluminum boat? Does anyone make a kit to do this ?

I think a 16 ft stick steer with this type of engine would be perfect for fishing in the river. Any thoughts? Thanks

[anthony goodson]

A "Seadoo" type engine/jet drive is designed to be efficient ,if that's not a contradiction in terms,at driving a small mass at a high speed. Not really what you have or need. A larger bore jet ,moving a greater volume of water at a lesser velocity is what you should be looking for, unless of course the boat is empty apart from you and you want 40 mph, welcome to the Forum.
If you trawl back through past Posts you will find a wealth of helpful information

[lucescoflathead]

ok I'm open to engine ideas. I'm not interested in an outboard jet. I know someone has built the type of boat before. I'm not so interseted in going really fast, more interested in going in shallow water. Thanks

[narwhal]

Check this post: budget shallow water boat project

[Easy Rider]

Hey Flat,
Your lucky day. In Wooden Boat magazine pg 52 Oct 07 there is an extensive article on a small and rather light lobsterboat about 22' long and powered by a jet ski powerplant. Makes 20 knots and burns about 6 gal hr. Happy trails.

Easy Rider

Originally Posted by lucescoflathead

ok I'm open to engine ideas. I'm not interested in an outboard jet. I know someone has built the type of boat before. I'm not so interseted in going really fast, more interested in going in shallow water. Thanks

There are NO benefits for a jet in your intended use!

A jet is very inefficient at speeds below 20 / 24 knots and the ability of cruising shallow waters is NOT better than with a outboard!

My recommendation: leave it!

Regards
Richard

[anthony goodson]

The diversity of opinions here may look confusing ,but bear this in mind, petrol [ GAS] is now the equivalent of ,give or take, 8 dollars 35cents a UK gallon in the UK and rising rapidly and at that rate ,your 20 knots at 6 gallons an hour even US gallons as in a previous post,for this SIZE of boat is now unacceptable to us, so we think differently, because we have to,we don't like it, but we have to.

[lucescoflathead]

Thanks for all the replies.

[JLIMA]

I agree with Richard a jet drive is not the ideal shallow water propulsion, suck some debris up and your out an impeller. 6 gallons of fuel an hour is a lot for that size of boat, might I recommend a small outboard 10-15hp. With a set up like that you could run almost all day on about as much as yo would burn in an hour, shallow water is easily countered by tilting the engine up a little. That is however just my recommendation, what you do with your boat is up to you.

[Blue Heron]

google "mud motor" or "go-devil" and I think you'll find the powerplant for your application.

[lucescoflathead]

I live in Pa. and like to fish some limited horsepower lakes. Pymatuming and Moraine are both limited to 20HP. I think I'm going to forget the jet idea and just buy a good 20 HP. outboard. Thanks again for all your ideas. Todd