Rigging for Backcountry Jet Boat

[msawyer]

I never do... but still very good advice...

[ryanb]

Understood. I owned and operated a whitewater rafting business for over a decade so I'm reasonably skilled at reading moving water but still, I cringe at the thought of my first wreck, major or minor... I'm going to ease into operating this new boat...

Things happen much faster in a Jetboat going downstream than a raft, plus in a raft you can back paddle to almost stop things when required.

Something that gets most new jet boaters is that they forget they can't steer unless you have power on. Something happens, you panic, pull the throttle while trying to steer away from danger, meanwhile you just continue straight into what you're trying to avoid cause your steering is ineffective.

For an outboard jet I'd definitely have a spare intake shoe and impeller.

[emerson]

Things happen much faster in a Jetboat going downstream than a raft, plus in a raft you can back paddle to almost stop things when required.

Something that gets most new jet boaters is that they forget they can't steer unless you have power on. Something happens, you panic, pull the throttle while trying to steer away from danger, meanwhile you just continue straight into what you're trying to avoid cause your steering is ineffective.

For an outboard jet I'd definitely have a spare intake shoe and impeller.

And dropping off plane can make things much worse pretty quick too. Not always though.

[Ride Red]

Things happen much faster in a Jetboat going downstream than a raft, plus in a raft you can back paddle to almost stop things when required.

Something that gets most new jet boaters is that they forget they can't steer unless you have power on. Something happens, you panic, pull the throttle while trying to steer away from danger, meanwhile you just continue straight into what you're trying to avoid cause your steering is ineffective.

For an outboard jet I'd definitely have a spare intake shoe and impeller.

^^^^^^ And an outboard jet doesn’t have a reverse bucket, so throttle off doesn’t slow you down either.

[Drillbit]

Drillbit... I would have gone with a Yamaha but with the Covid supply chain/manufacturing crunch my only option was the Merc, and that was hard to find... And yes, it has two bilge pumps and no, it does not have a tiller. Center console with steering wheel ect.

Ya, I bet. I just sold a mercy outboard jet to a guy in moosanee Ontario. He said he couldn’t find anything else even new

a battery jump pack would be good too
But I honestly don’t shut my motor off the entire day. If I do it’s only because I’m leaving the boat for awhile. There’s no help where I go, no cell service, and I’m usually alone, so I’m pretty careful

I start it up while it’s still on the trailer in the the water and pretty much leave it run till I get it back on the trailer

same with ATVs and sleds. Always start them up before unloading.
it hard to load up a dead machine by yourself.

[msawyer]

Ryanb... good points that I fully understand... I'm not suggesting years of whitewater make me qualified to operate a jet boat - it only means I'm very familiar with rivers, river hydrology and morphology and am very experienced at "reading" the water... Transferring those skills to jet boat operation will be another thing....

[fuzzybiscuit]

For an outboard jet I'd definitely have a spare intake shoe and impeller.

Best advice on here.

I’d buy a new Jet Wolf polyurethane intake and install it with a new stainless impeller if your jet came with an aluminum stock. Stick to a 3 blade and don’t waste your money on the 4 blade. Keep the stock aluminum intake and aluminum impeller as spares.

Nail one rock just the right way and a stock aluminum intake can break thus ending any chance to beat the flow when heading back up stream. Ask me how I know. I’ve also seen the stock aluminum impeller suck enough small pebbles up to take a 1/4” inch off the leading edge in just a few days. Performance is greatly impacted then. Don’t but the stainless impeller thinking you will gain much in performance, because in most cases you won’t gain anything and may actually lose a bit of top rpm’s but it will last much longer than a aluminum one.

[fuzzybiscuit]

^^^^^^ And an outboard jet doesn’t have a reverse bucket, so throttle off doesn’t slow you down either.

They do have a reverse bucket but it definitely won’t slow you down if you are on step.

[fuzzybiscuit]

Mike, congrats on the new boat. I ran a Yammy 115/80 jet on my Explorer WT166 and it was enough power and much more fuel efficient than any comparable sized inboard I’ve been in. They all have their place but it had lots of room for a couple guys and gear to head out on an extended trip. I even loaded my old Honda TRX350 on the back and had no issue getting it up on step.

A couple things I did that made a world of difference was lose the rotary helm in place of a new quick turn rack and pinion helm and add auto trim tabs on the back. I went from almost 4 turns lock to lock down to 1-1/2 turns lock to lock. It went from being sluggish to turn to being very fast. The Nauticus automatic trim tabs made a huge difference too. I could keep the boat on step down to 14mph with them on and it really helped get the boat up and on step fast. When they hit a rock they just folded up with no damage. There is also a mounting bracket that you can buy that was designed so they could be lowered almost straight down for trolling. I used the bracket and mounted it so when in the lowered position the trim tabs were at the right deployed angle, but when raised up the trim tabs were angled up from the bottom of the boat. I pulled them up like that when drifting so the couldn’t be snagged like regular trim tabs.

The combination of the two allowed me to run fairly slow while staying on step. When going down steam and I noticed a rock at the last possible moment a 3/4 turn of the wheel had me locked to one side and a quick punch of the throttle had me around the object…most times.

As I mentioned before, a Jet Wolf polyurethane intake would be my first purchase. They handle a ton of abuse and the one I have on my present boat has hit hundreds of rocks this season with almost no wear on it. The aluminum one lasted 2 days before breaking in the same low water conditions. If you run fairly deep rivers it’s not as much of a concern but it only takes one well placed rock to ruin your day.

[tyreguy]

Look on chats or google your motor/jet combination and see what is a common problem.
Prevention - do your work on the boat at home before you hit the river and you'll have a better trip.
And be careful, slippery slope with a small boat/motor and heavy hunting load - you don't want to learn the hard way