wrote:
On Thu, 27 Mar 2014 08:20:21 -0500, Boating All Out
wrote:

In article ,
says...


This is just one type
http://www.aquascanribs.com/jets/

The sheriff played with one here for a year or so but I never saw it
again and I live in the place where it would be most useful so I guess
it wasn't that good for them. It was supposed to run in a few inches
of water but the problem with a jet is when it does run aground, that
is where you are, until you get the mud out of the intake.
That usually involves getting out and bouncing it up and down in a
couple feet of water until you get the pump unplugged enough to prime.

Jets are inefficient anyway.
Surprised you haven't gone solar with a pontoon.
Your location and boating style are made for it.
Keep a lightweight gas kicker.
You done any numbers lately?

I am averaging around 1.2-1.3 gallons an hour overall for close to 500
hours. It would take me a long time to recover the cost of a change.
I also like the capability of being able to get up and go when the
weather kicks up so that would require some pretty big electric
motors.

I also keep my boat in a covered slip so the solar collectors would
need to be shore side requiring a bunch of batteries.

I did look into it and the best setup I saw would be a couple of motor
skids with golf cart motors and 12 batteries. The batteries alone will
add ~600 pounds to the boat. It might be a great solution for someone
on a "no gas" lake tho. Even then, the last 2 outboards I have had
were California 3 star rated so it would work on all but the most
restricted lakes.

The newer jets are a lot more efficient. The newest Hamilton's are about
95% the efficiency of props. Mine is an older model and is probably
80-85%.