Gas (JETBOAT) needed for upper Muskwa trip

[ryanb]

Three of us are looking at a trip to the upper Muskwa in the near future and were wondering if anyone had experience running up past the Elisi Spa/Big Nine Camp area?

How much fuel was required (we have a 19' boat with a 350)?

What are the river conditions like in September?

Thanks,
Ryan

[ultramagbob]

Talk to MTNBoy or Tuchodi.Im sure they'll be able to help ya.

[Creeker]

Dont know your consumption but it takes approx 5.5-6 hours run time to get to the yellow fence of the lodge. And septmeber water depends on the year, could get shitty after the still waters in lower water. But if you can skin decent its not the end of the world.
Higher water = lots a guys,
Lower water = less guys ?
Boat size? boat experience?
Nice country, was fairly populated with boats and elk last time i went.

[Rock Doctor]

Three of us are looking at a trip to the upper Muskwa in the near future and were wondering if anyone had experience running up past the Elisi Spa/Big Nine Camp area?

How much fuel was required (we have a 19' boat with a 350)?

What are the river conditions like in September?

Thanks,
Ryan

Ryan, that's not enough info, and almost impossible for anyone to answer by anyone other than the "Skipper" of that boat. :smile:

As for the river, early sept is easy most of the time. Later in Sept it could be skinny, depending on how much rain we get. Early in Oct is when you really start pushing your luck.
A good driver should do fine. Some boat designs are more suited to that type of river, what are you guys taking up?

RD

[ryanb]

I'm not a jetboat guy, so my knowledge is kinda slim on the details. Obviously boats burn fuel depending on their size, engine, driver etc so I was just looking for a ballpark to tell my friend who is the driver/owner. The time it takes to get there is probably good for figuring on the fuel required.

I know the driver has moderate river experience, and the boat I believe is a thunderjet northern edition envoy with UHMW...which from my limited understanding is a decent boat for this type of river, but none of us has ever run the river so that's why I was looking for some details on the water conditions.

Thanks for all the info,
Ryan

[MtnBoy]

Ryanb,
It is a long ways in there. You need to be totally self-sufficient with all the appropriate safety gear and spare parts. If you don't have the right setup (including boat type) things can go sour real quick. 3 guys, all the right gear, extra fuel, 3 elk, possible low water, 19ft Thunderjet, new to river....please be careful.
There will be quite a few people up there in Sept. Good Luck!

[Rock Doctor]

If you see a White Boat sitting at the mouth of the Kluchisi, stop in for a coffee:-D


RD

[BCRiverBoater]

If you see a White Boat sitting at the mouth of the Kluchisi, stop in for a coffee:-D


RD

Well now I know where to go for coffee but looking for a place to go for a stiff drink on the way up or down.

[tuchodi]

As MtnBoy said you have to be very well prepaired. One thing you should look at taking is a Satellite Telephone. As Rock Doctor said late in Sept it can get very skinny. I would get your buddy to figure out what his gas comsumption is per/hour loadded on a river with about the same water flowing speed and how far he travels in an hour. You can measure on better scale maps how far it is that you are traveling and then calculate your fuel requirements. Every boat is differant so using one of our trips as an indicator for fuel consumption could make you carry to much or not have enought fuel. When we first started going up some of these rivers we used an approxamation of 2 barrels of fuel up and 1 barrel of fuel to get back and still there were variables. It does take some home work but it will be worth it.

[Salty]

The thing about a boat is you are always going up hill. Meaning there's no coasting involved you are pushing the engine hard to keep the boat on plane. In my experience a 350 chev with a leg is going to burn 8 gallons an hour an easy cruise up to 20 or more galons an hour if your running at top rpm. That's with a modern fuel injected motor - its worse with old carburated plants.

Pushing an (inefficient) jet - with a good load in a 19 ft boat I'm going to guess 15 galons of gas per hour :shock:

[Rock Doctor]

The thing about a boat is you are always going up hill. Meaning there's no coasting involved you are pushing the engine hard to keep the boat on plane. In my experience a 350 chev with a leg is going to burn 8 gallons an hour an easy cruise up to 20 or more galons an hour if your running at top rpm. That's with a modern fuel injected motor - its worse with old carburated plants.

Pushing an (inefficient) jet - with a good load in a 19 ft boat I'm going to guess 15 galons of gas per hour :shock:


Most of the guys I know with 350's say they get between 10 and 12 gals per hr.
But, I havn't met a jetboater yet that wasn't lying through his teeth about fuel consumption:shock::tongue:

You're probably pretty close:smile:

RD

[Hilgy]

I sure wish i had the problem of worrying about fuel consumption in my jet boat.

I thought that this would be my year but have to choose between garage or boat. with everything thats going on out here in AB the garage won.


sorry back on topic.


hilgy

[Jetboater]

Plan for anywhere fron 10-13 GPH burn rate on that boat, could be more if it is carbuerated it will burn some more....packing the boat accordingly will make a huge difference..

[ryanb]

Thanks for the help. I appreciate the concern from some people, but we're not a bunch of boobs with no experience, just no experience on this river, hence the questions.

I've heard enough stories about disasters on this river and the Tuchodi...we will be careful...but everyone has to run a river for the first time at some point right?

Really looking forward to it:)

[maddie]

we've been going to the top end for the last 5 ,6 years in my friends 18 foot 8 degree hull with 175 sport jet and we take 130 gallons of gas. haven't had any problems with fuel. the water gets skinny in certain places. hope you have teflon or dont mind some wounds on the boat. beautiful country.