"Gene Kearns" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 21:14:54 GMT, Duke penned the following well
considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:

Hello all,

I am thinking of getting a boat towards the end of this year. My wife and
I
have been looking at the Sea Ray, Maxum, line up in the 20 - 22 foot
range.
We have also looked at the Yamaha and the SeaDoo jet boats of the same
size.
The only difference I can really see between the two are the engines.
Both
types pretty much offer the same amenities. On the plus side for the jet
boats I see they have more horsepower (assuming standard engine) and weigh
about half as much as a conventional boat. However, when out on the water
you don't really see that many jet boats as compared to the thousands of
conventionally powered boats.

Is this because they have just not really caught on or is there some
underlying factor that I am missing ? Are the jet engines not as reliable
as the more conventional I/O engines ? Anyway own one that would buy one
again ?

It is going to take about 100hp to get the same performance in a jet
boat that you would get with 50hp and a conventional propeller. Read
that: expensive to operate.

Personally, the only reason I would consider a jet is shallow water
operation in a flats boat.

Plus, jet boats handle weird...

--

Grady-White Gulfstream, out of Oak Island, NC.

Homepage
http://myworkshop.idleplay.net/

Rec.boats at Lee Yeaton's Bayguide
http://www.thebayguide.com/rec.boats

Maybe in a jet Outboard, will you get a 50% efficiency. My Kodiak low
pressure pump is about 85% the efficiency of a prop and the new Hamilton
212's are about 95% efficiency. But with the Yamaha, SeaDoo's they are
running either a Rotex, very powerful, lightweight, and gas hog, or a
Sportjet, with a O/B powerhead to a crappy jetdrive. The Aluminum jetboats
of the Northwest are a lot better, but a lot more expensive. And steering
is great, as long as you have power. If in lakes and normal deepwater, run
a prop boat.