I'm seeing many older jet boats, say the 2000 sea-doo challenger 1800
or 2002 sea-doo islandia for sale locally. What are the fuel economy
on these older ones? Anyone know where you can find the information
out? Someone told me they get 5 hours on a tank, but I see the have
41gal tanks, so they are burning 8 gal/hour?

"Mark" wrote in message
...
I'm seeing many older jet boats, say the 2000 sea-doo challenger 1800
or 2002 sea-doo islandia for sale locally. What are the fuel economy
on these older ones? Anyone know where you can find the information
out? Someone told me they get 5 hours on a tank, but I see the have
41gal tanks, so they are burning 8 gal/hour?

Jet boats use more fuel that a similarly sized prop boat. It's less
efficient to push with a jet. I've heard numbers around 30% or so. They
are much safer and also are good if you boat in areas with a lot of shallow
water. But even with a prop boat expect the gas to be expensive. Boats use
a lot of gas. When we take out our 19 1/2' bow rider out on the lake it's
usually a 100 bucks or so if we make a whole day of it. We have a 760cc
yamaha jetski as well and it can run through some gas fast.

"jamesgangnc" wrote in message
m...
"Mark" wrote in message
...
I'm seeing many older jet boats, say the 2000 sea-doo challenger 1800
or 2002 sea-doo islandia for sale locally. What are the fuel economy
on these older ones? Anyone know where you can find the information
out? Someone told me they get 5 hours on a tank, but I see the have
41gal tanks, so they are burning 8 gal/hour?

Jet boats use more fuel that a similarly sized prop boat. It's less
efficient to push with a jet. I've heard numbers around 30% or so. They
are much safer and also are good if you boat in areas with a lot of
shallow water. But even with a prop boat expect the gas to be expensive.
Boats use a lot of gas. When we take out our 19 1/2' bow rider out on the
lake it's usually a 100 bucks or so if we make a whole day of it. We have
a 760cc yamaha jetski as well and it can run through some gas fast.


My namesake came up with a winner when he developed the modern propeller.
They are amazingly efficient.

Eisboch

On Jun 28, 7:27*am, Mark wrote:
I'm seeing many older jet boats, say the 2000 sea-doo challenger 1800
or 2002 sea-doo islandia for sale locally. What are the fuel economy
on these older ones? Anyone know where you can find the information
out? Someone told me they get 5 hours on a tank, but I see the have
41gal tanks, so they are burning 8 gal/hour?

Both James and Dick have more boating experience in their little
finger than I.... However, I think the answer you are looking for is,
"yes". Yes, the boat you are looking at could burn 8 GPH. That is
probably one of the reasons you are seeing so many of these for sale,
so cheap.

Scotty from SmallBoats.com
RowdyMouseRacing.com
Trip-Reports.com Where did you go today?

"Mark" wrote in message
...
I'm seeing many older jet boats, say the 2000 sea-doo challenger 1800
or 2002 sea-doo islandia for sale locally. What are the fuel economy
on these older ones? Anyone know where you can find the information
out? Someone told me they get 5 hours on a tank, but I see the have
41gal tanks, so they are burning 8 gal/hour?

2000 is not that old. But the sea-doo types are very inefficient relative
to the bigger jet drives. The new Hamilton 212's are about 95% the
efficiency of props. And yes, the sea-doo's / jetski motors are famous for
fuel usage.

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:27:51 -0700 (PDT), Mark
wrote:

I'm seeing many older jet boats, say the 2000 sea-doo challenger 1800
or 2002 sea-doo islandia for sale locally. What are the fuel economy
on these older ones? Anyone know where you can find the information
out? Someone told me they get 5 hours on a tank, but I see the have
41gal tanks, so they are burning 8 gal/hour?

We have an example of the first jet boats sold in the US, a
turbocraft, SN 10. 1958 I seem to recall. Came with lifting eyes fore
and aft. You attached tow lines to the one and the anchor to the
other. Four clamshell vents at the gunnels. It came with a Graymarine
flathead six, 109 hp. My kid brother swapped in a Buick six that got
us 3700 RPM up from the 3200 we had been getting. Eighteen gallon
tank. Skiing it would go 3 hours or so. Neither engine was big enough
to drive the pump at rated engine speed and you can't change anything
out, like you can a prop or gearbox. So, many jet boats have a
mismatched drive train that may not be especially good for mileage. On
a small lake the actual top speed doesn't really matter much.

Casady

(Richard Casady) wrote in
:

you can't change anything
out, like you can a prop or gearbox.

Simply not true. There are the same kinds of impeller pitches as there are
props.

http://solas.com/products/pwc/impeller/impeller.htm

Older jetboats also have different impeller pitches available but are
getting hard to find. Try a prop shop in your area...

(Richard Casady) wrote in
:

you can't change anything
out, like you can a prop or gearbox.

Oh, about the SeaDooDoo Islandia powered by 2-stroke jetski engines....

Never talk about "mileage" around jetski-powered boaters. They just get
angry.

A properly tuned SeaDooDoo 2-stroker can eat 14 gallons per hour PER
ENGINE.

Don't forget to carry your VISA. You're gonna need it!

Though not as "cool", Mercury Sport Jet 2-strokers aren't so high
performance, trying to squeeze every rev out of a too-small jetski engine
whining away at high RPM to produce power. In a Sea Rayder 16' jetboat,
the 175hp, 6-cylinder Sport Jet will guzzle around 14-20 gallons a day,
especially if you drive it like you stole it or pull skiiers for hours.

Jet boats are VERY inefficient power plants for anyone interested in fuel
management.

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:46:08 +0000, Larry wrote:

In a Sea Rayder 16' jetboat,
the 175hp, 6-cylinder Sport Jet will guzzle around 14-20 gallons a day,
especially if you drive it like you stole it or pull skiiers for hours.

That statement is useless without a time factor better than 'per day',
Eight hour day would be maybe 2 gallons per hour. I don't think that
is what you meant.

Casady

Richard Casady wrote:
On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:46:08 +0000, Larry wrote:

In a Sea Rayder 16' jetboat,
the 175hp, 6-cylinder Sport Jet will guzzle around 14-20 gallons a day,
especially if you drive it like you stole it or pull skiiers for hours.

That statement is useless without a time factor better than 'per day',
Eight hour day would be maybe 2 gallons per hour. I don't think that
is what you meant.

Casady


Really, and 14-20 gallons wouldn't be that much for any boater with an
engine around that size who ran at a high cruise or was pulling tubes or
skiers.