Are any of you boaters?

[joko104]

It's set. The company that made the engine for the speed record for it's motor class jet ski Ms. Geico is being built for the little speedster and the company that set up Ms. Geico then will install it and ECU tune it. All in all, probably 5 weeks. I'm adding a few extras. The only difference is I will keep the closed loop cooling system so not to run salt water thru the motor.

 

[Cordelier]

That is a nice boat!

Isn't she? I love her lines.... there's not a slab side on her. The Kiwis definitely know how to build a boat.

 

[bomberfox]

My dad has a sailboat though the engine is decades old, the sails work pretty well.

 

[Dannytoro1]

My dad has a sailboat though the engine is decades old, the sails work pretty well.

A lot of those old engines will chug right along with a little TLC. I know a ton of old "Atomic 4's" that still putter around.

 

[dave8383]

My favorite, Concordia Yawl. Never owned one and never will, but I've sailed one and they are special.

 

[dave8383]

 

[joko104]

Yee Haw! FINALLY the call came today. The motor built for me is done. Total custom build. EXACTLY identical to the same motor in the world speed record SeaDoo Jet Ski.

SeaDoo 150 Speeders were discontinued in 2012 - made from 2004 if I remember correctly. They are so popular that pristine ones will sell for what they cost new - even if a decade old. Mine was a basket case in every way. Hull. Cosmetically. Seats. Mechanical. Electrical. But dirt cheap.

While my short fat little Speedster won't be as fast the the champion because it is 600 pounds heavier, twice the wetted surface and twice the areodynamic drag, it still will dominate the water. Jet skis use about 25% more fuel and are about 15% slower on top speed. But they accelerate like a rocket sled.

While not impressive to people thinking of a car or motorcycle, depending on water condition, wind and current, top speed will be around 85 to 90 mph. Current federal law now GPS now limits jet skis to a top speed of 60 mph (the government sucks for stuff like that). However, they can be reprogrammed - but few do it and those will be lake usage jet skis. 6

Jet skis keep getting bigger and more powerful - up to 300 horsepower from the factory - but 11 !! feet long and weighing about 1100 pounds - basically you are riding on top of a narrow boat to my mind.

My SeaDoo 150 Speedster instead is a boat. A nice, dry boat. At 6 foot wide and about 12 1/2 at the waterline, she's short and squatty - neither ideal for speed. But the flip side is you can "drift" in one of these (like race car drifting), even skid around backwards from full speed (on smooth water).

The motor stats are stunning actually. It has a 1,503 cc (about 93 cubic inches) 3 cylinder Rotax. A tiny motor. Putting out over 4 to 6 horsepower per cubic inch. That's like a 350 Chevy V8 putting out 1,600 to 2,000 horsepower on gasoline.

Likely numbers:
0 to 60 mph: under 3 seconds
Top speed: 80 to 90 mph
Weight (full fuel and me) 1800 pounds
Range (not carrying extra fuel: 250 miles at 30 mph
200 miles at 35
About 100 miles at 60
About 60 miles at 80/90
(Note: 35 to 40 is about the fastest tolerable to pounding far on the open Gulf on a good day)

Horsepower:
425 hp pump gas
500 hp 110 octane racing gas
600 hp burst speed on nitrous oxide

I can't wait. Hope to take it to the Bahamas and Key West out of Naples - and back.

I have big boats. One ideal for long distance fast travel - well to - but its a 1980s 52 foot ex drug running Cigarette with twin Caterpillar turbo diesels (old). Had sat out in the swamp on a trail for a couple of decades. Bought it for next to nothing. But I found I like little boats. They are easy. Cheap to operate. More reliable. More like driving a sports car than a motorhome - if that makes sense.

Very excited to get it put in. Exactly everyone mechanical about my little SeaDoo is 100% for speed. It will be the fastest SeaDoo 150 Speedster to ever exist. But certainly not faster than ALL jet skis - just 99% of them. Same for other boats.

 

[joko104]

Drawbacks...
The boat had been stripped - probably stolen. The guy who had it put in a motor out of a SeaDoo Jet Ski. Correct motor. Even lots of top end bolt-on performance parts. He put it THE jet pump and impeller to have. Biggest injectors. Best supercharger. Custom open-air dual exhaust etc. Even rebuilt the motor. But that he did badly - or I think he did. I really seems like he didn't think a torque wrench matters. These are short life motors anyway and don't want to be broke down in a 15 foot boat in the Bermuda Triangle - leading to deciding to have THE absolute best motor possible.

Problems? The wiring harness for a jet ski is much shorter. So he just made a bird's nest of wires to make it work. I"m ok with that. However, it has no neutral. Not sure why. Maybe that can be addressed, maybe not. For now, it only has forward and reverse. So the only way to stop it to turn the motor off. That is only a problem at the boat ramp - meaning having to walk it off and to a dock. A full race motor idles fast - so if not either its going 10 mph forward... or 4 mph backwards. Take your pick. (Jet drive boats do not have transmissions).

I can live with no neutral as this is not a putter around boat like my 30 hp old Bass Tracker.

 

[joko104]

The racing motor's long block assembly finally came in. The total weight of the motor with everything including supercharger, intercooler, starter etc only weights 150 lbs. 400+ horsepower on pump gasoline and 500 on 110 octane racing gas for a total motor assembly weighing 150 pounds is extraordinary - reminding it has no transmission, no clutch, bellhousing weight etc.

With this, on a lake this little 15 footer should be a real screamer. But on the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic that is enough power/speed to get a person in trouble real quick. On the other hand, it is designed to flood in hard seas (tall waves) to hold it down - and with that power to weight ratio the nearly half a ton of water ballast won't even slow it down for how fast a person dare go in hard seas in a tiny boat.

Having enough power in a tiny boat with waves much taller than the front bow is a must-have - plus having enough power to maintain directional control in hard seas is the difference between whether or not you are capsized.

While jet skis and jet boats don't have rudders as the jet does the steering, a specialty company makes a rudder for them and will add one for that purpose. That will give both low speed directional control (that jet boats don't have) and severe seas directional control.

 

[joko104]

Small boat in big waves...

Having been offshore in my narrow 17 foot Bass Tracker with only a 30 hp outboard - front bow only about 15 inches freeboard in the front and about 9 inches in the rear - and caught in storms - I have some experience in a boat too small and low for the waves. Make one mistake you will capsize sideways - and it if flooded due to the low hp all control would be lost.

What you have to do if the waves are TOO high for your boat.
1. You MUST go directly into the waves or directly with the waves. Doesn't matter the direction you want to go.
2. If the waves are only a little bit too tall, you can go INTO the waves - taking some water over the bow. The more power you have, the more you can lift the front of the boat if the boat has power tilt.
3. If the waves are seriously too tall, you're only chance is to go with the waves so they aren't breaking over the front bow. However, you must be careful to not bury into the back of the next wave. That is a common way boats are capsized.

3 ways a boat is capsized:

1. Extremely tall wave flips the boat up and over backwards. If the sea is so extreme to have waves that big, there isn't much you can do other than if the waves are regular try to stay in the wave troughs. That is almost impossible to do for long.

2. Flipped sideways. This is the most common. If a boat is flooded, it is almost impossible to avoid this. This SeaDoo's best design feature is it can be flooded and not drop down that much. There isn't that much of a driver/passenger compartment and the rear 3rd is covered with a bulkhead.

It doesn't take much of a wave hitting the side of a boat - or hitting a wave fast at a 45 degree angle to flip it over sideways.

Example: Here a 45 foot, 12 foot wide fast offshore fishing boat with triple outboards was heading out the channel doing about 45 mph, when another big fast boat came the other way - putting up about a 2 1/2 foot wake hitting that 45 footer at a 45 degree angle. Think that would not be a problem? Think of a car hitting a 2 1/2 ramp under one side of the car doing 45? The boat went airborne flipping upside down in the air. Almost everyone on board was killed (non wearing life jackets) including the driver going thru two of the motor's propellers.

3. Burying the bow of the boat into a wave. This causes the boat to spin around back to front and often will capsize the boat.

What I learned in the fight for survival in my pokey, low little Bass Tracker is how to DRIVE the boat in hard seas by skill - not power. I've never capsized nor been swamped - but it takes intense concentration and thinking it thru - EVERY wave. How to hit it dead on - and at what speed every second constantly slightly adjusting speed and steering.

I also used to drive jet skis like a madman near shore off shore, deliberately jumping waves, deliberately burying it into waves etc. This was great training to learn what actually happens in various extreme situations without risk. However, I was using one of the early version 500 lb jet skis that would do about 40 - not the 60+ mph 1000 pound jet skis now. I would never want one of those. They can't do tricks - just do fast straightlining.

Since I plan to take the 15 foot Speedster to the Bahamas and back - and to Key West across the open Gulf of Mexico and back - the experience with the low slow little narrow Bass Tracker and with crazy driving of the jet ski could come in handy. Obviously I'll pick only calm weather days - but out on the Gulf the weather can change VERY fast.

 

[joko104]

WAVE CHART: Beaufort Wind Scale

How this applies to small boats:

Up to about 15 mph wind you can run nearly wide open in a fast boat.
At about 20 mph wind you can still run fast - but you're going to get pounded and better not have a bad back - do not hit waves full speed at a 45 degree angle.
At 30 mph wind you will be slowing down. Not only could not not stand the pounding unless you have $10,000+ specialty seats - you would have to be running directly into or against the waves. Don't even think about anyone not wearing a life jacket.
At 35 mph wind you got a battle on your hands. Forget speed. Focus solely on survival - no matter how long that takes. Radio/phone your location and situation to anyone who can hear you.
At 40 mph wind you are on the edge of serious danger at any moment.
At 45 mph wind you should calculate what you are going to if your boat capsized - realizing if this happens it will happen with maybe 3 seconds notice.
At 50 mph wind - while you can try to make it, your focus should be on capsize survival since the odds of this happening are high. With that level of wind, you get rouge waves you can not predict or plan for. Radio/phone you are not likely to make it and give location best possible. How will you STAY WITH THE BOAT?
a.) have your anchor(s) positioned to drop to the bottom with open line so the boat doesn't drift.
b.) Have floating lines also that will go free - tying off the toss cushion, ice chest and anything else that will float.
c.) have your emergency toss bag within a 1 second free grab. You want this in your hand for when/if you get tossed out of the boat on a capsize. If you wisely have a scuba mask and fins with you, get them on.

You MUST get back to the boat if any way possible - but you do not want the boat drifting so they can find you. In strong winds and hard seas you can be 5, 6, 7 miles away from where you were within an hour - and the waves make it almost impossible to see you from another boat. Don't expect a Coast Guard helicopter coming anytime soon - even if you were not so stupid as to have an emergency locator unit (most people don't - we do - every boat).

When I go offshore, I have all that ready, including one of the toss cushions with a long line tied to it - and a tiny anchor on the other end. Even if can't get back to the boat, it is critical to minimize drift. Sure, eventually the Coast Guard would send a helicopter. But 6 hours later you might have drifted 25 miles.

 

[joko104]

When I discuss this with others, their response is always why even put myself in such a potential situation? The answer is if I wanted a mindless easy trip, then I'd just drive or fly.


I read extensively of the experience of small sailing yacht world cruisers (32 to 45 foot typical mono hull sailboats.). On the water it is either extremely boring on flat water and dead air OR getting tossed about OR being violently tossed around. Most will only do a long distance cruise once in their lifetime (other side of the world and back or circumnavigate) and very few relationships/marriages withstand the trip.


It is mostly a guy thing - man against nature. It is the experience of doing it - and the strong feeling of success when you finally reach your destination. You did want few people will ever do - maybe 1 in 10,000 or 1 in a million. Far more of a thrill than a roller coaster (I NEVER go on a roller coaster - what's the point?)


The smaller the boat, the bigger the ocean and the waves. Being in my little, low slow Bass Track offshore in 30 mph wind is more of a challenge than being in 75 mph wind in a Navy destroyer. I would never attempt going to the Keys in the Bass Tracker except all the way with the shore insight (a VERY long trip and uncomfortable trip) and wouldn't think about taking it on the open Caribbean even for 60 miles in it. The reason is because it couldn't outrun incoming bad weather. The Speedster's speed ability and wide beam to length means I could outrun an incoming storm - and I'm smart enough to do that rather than try to push thru it.


The only change for such distances I'll make to the Speedster is probably up the 6 hp emergency kicker outboard to a 15 or 20 hp motor - the difference between 3 mph and 7 mph (meaning more than any current/wind could push the boat in the wrong directly.)

 

[joko104]

FINALLY got my Sea Doo Speedster back as sort of a stage 1 set up - getting the motor already in it going after it tested to having perfect and equal matched compression on all cylinders. It took a lot of experimentation to get the ECU programmed correctly and working out a lot of wiring bugs, getting water out of the motor due to a leaking water to air intercooler etc. It should be putting out about 275 to 300 hp with a top speed around 60 to 65. So I FINALLY can used it.
In the meantime, in a month I take it back as some more prep needs to be done on the built up motor including some custom machining to get a bigger, better and no maintenance supercharger on it. Then all the rest can be added to it.

 

[joko104]

Took it out for the first time - still has original motor that was somewhat built up with some high performance bolt-ons plus a swap to a larger intercooler.

It was drizzling rain so was holding an umbrella. Gave it a "little bit of throttle" - and it accelerated like a rocket sled - blowing the umbrella out of my hand trashing it folding the cover backwards. It accelerates crazy fast in a "hold her! She's headed for the barn!" way. It also turns so sharp when on the throttle and at such a high angle it's scary. It startled me for how fast it accelerated - and you can tell by the exhaust sound it is a "hot" motor - but not as hot as the one that will replace it.

Off throttle idling is IMPOSSIBLE to steer, even worse than jet skis because there is no rudder and the jet thrust is the only directional control. No thrust means NO steering control whatsoever. So I'm adding spring loaded "Thrust vectors." That is a fancy way of saying "two spring loaded rudders" - that the springs push down at low speed, while at higher speeds the jet thrust pushes them up so they don't cause any drag.

I will leave the open-air dual exhaust on (rather than single exhaust that blows into the water to quiet it.) It isn't that loud and clearly is a significant horsepower enhancement. Even the race shop that is working on it at first suggested taking it off going back to stock - until they test drove it. Now the owner is building a dual exhaust for his own speedster. Actually, I get the feeling he's using my boat as a test platform for his as some of what is being done is custom including custom machining - to be able to use a larger supercharger and better oiling.

The good news is the old motor tested at perfect compression, so will have a back up motor OR maybe find a correct year jet ski with a bum motor to put it in.

In about a month the other race motor will go in along with a larger supercharger and double the flow injectors, plus a crankcase vent filter so dirty crankcase oil doesn't blow back into the motor. It is already so crazy fast more power isn't needed, but this should add reliability and cruising at medium speeds at lower rpms. There are other small details to sort out.

When done, this will be the fastest Sea Doo Speedster in the world - though the larger hull means jet skis inherently are faster. But it is not a jet ski. It is a 4 person boat keeping you high and dry plus some cargo capacity.

A HUGE plus is the costs of doing these repairs, modifications and upgrades cost much, much less than doing the same to typical boat or car motors. Just having only 3 cylinders saves a pile of $$ on such as injectors, racing connecting rods, pistons, valves, lifters, reworking the head ports etc. No transmission. No clutches. No lower unit. None of that stuff. It powers a shaft with an impeller on it. That's it.

I like how small it is - like driving a souped up little sports car or small class formula race car, rather than like a big boat with twin outboards - which is like driving an RV motor home. A tiny boat that is easy to tow with massive amounts of extra flotation for safety, wide beam to length for stability, accelerates like a bat out of hell (Zero to 60 in under 3 seconds!) and turns like a slot car. Cruising range 200+ miles. A little 15 foot jet boat with over 400 ponies out of a little flyweight aluminum German made and American made parts modified 3 cylinder motor matched to the jet drive set up.

Yee-haw! :2dancing:

 

[joko104]

The Sea Doo project just goes on forever. It is a no-compromise project and when finished will be the most powerful Sea Doo Rotax engine - period. The long block assembly is identical by the same company that made the world's fastest Sea Doo jet ski. Being short and squatty (fat) the Speedster boat could never match a racing jet ski, but should seemingly impossibly be faster than ANY production jet ski (PWC) made - ever.
But there is far more than just the long block, rods, crank, cam, pistons etc. The supercharger has 50% more flow (boost) than the biggest made for a Sea Doo. Huge injectors. Largest inner cooler. Total racing jet pump and impeller - and on and on and on - with custom machining, ducting and on and on.
This is compounded by who worked on it before did all sorts of bizarre mods that have to be undone or replaced.
Getting 400 hp out of a tiny 3 cylinder Rotax on pump gas is a real challenge - and the waiting and endless "another 2 weeks" is getting old.

 

[joko104]

The motor is FINALLY in, just needs some software work.



Almost nothing in the engine bay is original and nothing inside the motor is. To give an idea how small the 3 cylinder motor is, the pipes you see are 4 inches diameter. The orange dip stick is over the inline 3 cylinder head - again for an idea how small the motor is. That little 4 stroke motor should crank out 350 to 400 horsepower on pump gasoline - depending how a redline I'm willing to take it. That is stunning, since the motor is only 91 cubic inches (1492 cc).

The motor was built by the same shop that built the world speed record Sea Doo jet ski. The installing company (4 hours away) is considered best in the USA. Almost nothing in the engine bay is original and nothing inside the motor is. Every modification seemed to require 5 more to make it work together. The intake/supercharger/exhaust piping changed from 3" to 4" (basically double the flow) necessary to match the sized of the double size intercooler and significantly larger supercharger. Much bigger injectors. A plus a boat has it it can run cool lake/ocean water thru the innercooler, rather than hot radiator water like autos do.

If put into a carbon fiber racing jet ski hull it would be among the fastest jet skis in the world that run on pump gas. Racing gas and nitrous would take it around 600 hp, but that'd be pointless. The hull will max out on stability at about 70 mph due to how short and fat it is - but Sea Doo appears to have designed it that way to keep kids from killing themselves jumping waves at 100+.Also, I have THE most aggressive biting impeller made for it. For the jet to bite more water would take some kind of custom impeller - which would cost a fortune even I could find someone to make one. It's not like a propeller as it must fit perfectly in the jet pump.

So while it will only be able to do about 70 mph, that's 5 mph faster than the fastest stock jet ski made despite weighing less and less wetted surface, even the big 300 hp ones, By federal law the factory GPS limits them to 65 mph. While that can be removed from the software, the cost to do so is very high as it is all copyright propriety software, so few do it. Anyone who has been on a jet ski knows doing 60mph on a jet ski is like doing 150mph in a car, and offshore even in light wind the slight chop is like racing over speed bumps - with your car having no wheels skidding across the ground. It's ROUGH! and quickly takes a small boat out of the water losing propulsion by bouncing. What the Sea Doo will do better than about anything is accelerate, like a jet powered rocket sled - to 70 mph (under 3 seconds).

This was to be a 6 week tops project, now in it's TENTH month. But hopefully all that remains is a test run by the installing company while hooked up to diagnostics. That info then goes to the ONLY company that can write software exactly for it - calculating all the readings and what's in it.
When they have the info it should only take about an hour, then clean up the engine bay and it MAY finally be done.

Anything that can wear out also replaced - starter, motor mounts, charging system etc.

 

[joko104]

WHY DID I BOTHER?
1. I want reliability because I go offshore alone including at night. There's no one out there for some places I wander around. If a motor can withstand 400 hp at 8,000 rpms, it should run forever at 5,000 rpms
2. Twice I've found myself alone in a little boat and the weather turned. It was a moment by moment fighting for my life in a way to small boat - smaller than the waves. One time it was very iffy specifically because my 17 foot Bass Tracker flat bottom with only 30 mph couldn't sufficiently climb the waves breaking twice the free board of the boat. I had to go directly with the waves from behind - whichever way they were headed - until the weather backed up.
The actual moment I started looked for THE safest LITTLE boat to take offshore was a 3rd occasion. Despite predicted perfect weather, I just sensed it was going to turn and headed for shore ASAP where ever I was at. About 15 minutes a sudden burst of wind took wind speeds to about 40 mph - with the corresponding waves. The Bass Tracker would have been swamped and then capsized. Got in just in time. This tiny Sea Speedster could have handled it. Before the motor swap, I took it offshore and it was taking "big water" well.

Anyway, maybe some day soon, I'll actually have my boat back. Lost ALL of last summer with this boat over this project.

 

[longview]

WHY DID I BOTHER?
1. I want reliability because I go offshore alone including at night. There's no one out there for some places I wander around. If a motor can withstand 400 hp at 8,000 rpms, it should run forever at 5,000 rpms
2. Twice I've found myself alone in a little boat and the weather turned. It was a moment by moment fighting for my life in a way to small boat - smaller than the waves. One time it was very iffy specifically because my 17 foot Bass Tracker flat bottom with only 30 mph couldn't sufficiently climb the waves breaking twice the free board of the boat. I had to go directly with the waves from behind - whichever way they were headed - until the weather backed up.
The actual moment I started looked for THE safest LITTLE boat to take offshore was a 3rd occasion. Despite predicted perfect weather, I just sensed it was going to turn and headed for shore ASAP where ever I was at. About 15 minutes a sudden burst of wind took wind speeds to about 40 mph - with the corresponding waves. The Bass Tracker would have been swamped and then capsized. Got in just in time. This tiny Sea Speedster could have handled it. Before the motor swap, I took it offshore and it was taking "big water" well.

Anyway, maybe some day soon, I'll actually have my boat back. Lost ALL of last summer with this boat over this project.

Having been caught in a small Hurricane in a 14 foot, semi-vee, (Hurricane Jerry 1989) I can relate.
It is not something I would care to repeat.
My mind went back to something I read in a boy life magazine.
Keep it perpendicular the waves going up, and the direction of travel on the way down.

 

[joko104]

Having been caught in a small Hurricane in a 14 foot, semi-vee, (Hurricane Jerry 1989) I can relate.
It is not something I would care to repeat.
My mind went back to something I read in a boy life magazine.
Keep it perpendicular the waves going up, and the direction of travel on the way down.

Absolutely correct. And if it becomes too great it becomes the huge challenge of coming up perpendicular to the BACK of the waves - but NOT coming down over the wave until it white caps. Get sideways and it's game over - real fast. In short, the last change is to run with the waves - whichever direction they are heading. What makes it really hairy is if the wind strong and at a 90 degree angle to the waves - leaving you fighting both.

One of the times there were 3 other people in the boat, again a mere 30 hp in a 17 foot flat bottom (ugh on waves). One kept saying "you're going the wrong way. The shore is the opposite direction!" Yes, I was keeping us alive. Finally, after it died down a tad I did my wave counting to take my one shot at a 180 turn in a wave gulley. Did it. Then about 2 hours of pure misery back to the dock - powering up and down, up and down with each wave - averaging maybe 6 mph at best.

The Sea Doo Speedster supercharged versions at a mere 15 feet (about 12.5 at the waterline) are overpowered with from 215 to 265 hp jet drive. Curiously the hull is designed to be swamped if the waves TOO great or a person going too crazy fast in jumping waves. I've seen videos of them running crazy rapids in them filling the boat with water without causing any traveling problems (the bulkhead keeps engine compartment from flooding and it has huge amounts of floatation in the hull).

The water weight is to hold it down. BUT that only works if a boat can handle the water weight, not lose too much freeboard and has enough power to maintain directional control and wave climbing ability.

Obviously the bigger the boat the better for offshore, but big boats cost big money to operate, big pain in the ass to tow and launch/load - and I feel like I'm driving a motorhome rather than a hot little sports car.

 

[Eriech]

On Erie they have what they call the 3 sisters. Just when you think you have the wind figured out you could stuff a rouge wave. Twisted sisters I call them.
I haven't used a jet drive in many years; what if you suck in kelp, floating rope or other flotsum? I sucked in a ski line in my father in law's sea doo years ago. Swimming and some swearing was involved for repair.

 

[joko104]

On Erie they have what they call the 3 sisters. Just when you think you have the wind figured out you could stuff a rouge wave. Twisted sisters I call them.
I haven't used a jet drive in many years; what if you suck in kelp, floating rope or other flotsum? I sucked in a ski line in my father in law's sea doo years ago. Swimming and some swearing was involved for repair.

The first time I had it out it sucked up the dock line (my fault.) That was the end of the boating day. Had to pull the jet pump to get it out. I hadn't thought that part thru. It is easy to pull sea grass out from a jet ski, but for the Speedster you literally have to go underwater under the boat.

As for the boat being done? "Close but no cigar." It wouldn't even run on the water (underload.) Appears to be fuel starved. It went from 45 lb injectors to 110 lb injectors (maximum pounds of fuel per hour - or 330 lbs for the three injectors. Apparently the fuel pump just can't handle it - and that's not as easy a fix as it sounds because the fuel pump is an oddity that is in the tank. So it's not like just hooking up an auto electric fuel pump (and regulator).

The shop working on it is tired of the project. Everything snags up like this. Last week it was that the driveshaft spline end had been shaved down - trying to figure out why and learning NO driveshaft made is the precisely correct length. All of the tube is custom and having to figure out. I did not think it would be this big a deal/hard or wouldn't have gone all out like this.

The motor in it has been built up to about 300 hp, but I saw the prior owner had done sloppy shade tree type work and even some minor bolts and nuts not put back on it - leading me to question reliability. Now I am questioning the reliability of this project's results. It never ends. And has crossed what I figured the maximum cost would be - though an confident I'm not being cheated.

While computer driven fuel injection is superior in every way - from fuel economy to power to clean burn - but the computer demands of new motors makes me miss carbs on motors. Bolt it on, minor adjustments - and away you go. The final battle (hopefully) is now a computer battle. But it's serious because with it's level of boost if it runs lean the motor would be burned up possibly in seconds under wide open throttle.

I decided before I started this will be the LAST boat I'll ever do - so figured to do it without compromise. Hopefully this wasn't a terrible mistake, though I did keep the motor that was in it intact (didn't pirate parts off it) so have a backup motor including the supercharger-intercooler and smaller injectors etc - so have a drop in back up motor.

 

[joko104]

FINALLY, the motor is DONE! There was a HUGE blowout between the components manufacture/firmware company, the engine builder and the installer/fabricator of the firmware that got VERY heated. But cooler heads prevailed the next day. 8 extensive test runs finally locked down the needed firmware (engine management computer.)

Is the boat finished? No. While it has the most aggressive performance impeller made, it's still not enough. When putting it in WOT (wide open throttle) it immediately zinged up to 9,000 rpm due to cavitation. So it will take custom reshaping the impeller - not that big a deal other than its largely guess work. The installer, who hotrodded his SeaDoo Speedster with a bigger, but stock, SeaDoo was surprised. But the mixing of parts explains why.

The it took fabricating to fit the biggest supercharger for the largest SeaDoo motor to my motor, which is 120cc smaller due to a shorter stroke - meaning higher RPMs. But the reduced displacement would make the relative boost of the supercharger higher. So 27psi boost (huge) is closer to 31-32 psi. That's massive amounts.

Nothing but the block is stock. It has custom made Carillo connecting rods. Muscle heads know the brand - that's what NASCARs use. The 45 lb injectors replaced with 110 lb (over double.) What that means is each injector can inject up to 110 lbs of gasoline per hour - or 39 gallons per hour! For a 1492 cc 3 cylinder motor. Racing cam. Racing everything. Capable of 10,000 rpms. A crazy hot motor.

It almost seems a shame putting it a hull limited by shape to about 70 mph. In a sleek jet ski hull it could likely do over 150 mph (which of course would be insane - because hitting the water off a jet ski at 65 is one thing, at 150 mph would be another.

 

[iguanaman]

We live up an estuary/canal leading to the Gulf of Mexico, with rivers everywhere around here. I have a lot of boats and have had a lot more. I've probably given away at least 10 - all running - for free to get rid of them over the last few years - ranging from 4 personal watercraft (jet bike/boats), two 40+ foot twin diesel cabin cruisers (one a fishing style hull), a 32 foot twin 454 big block Sea Ray speedster, a 32 foot twin 6 cylinder inboards cruiser, a 9 foot little boat with a 5 hp outboard on a trailer with center steering station, and a picklefork trimaran drag boat hull (that I can think of off the top of my head.) All but the 2 big cruisers included the trailer.

I still have a 52 twin turbo cat 1980s diesel Cigarette, my Bass Tracker and am restoring a 1960s 12 foot "Ski Bird" 2 seat little race boat (turning out to be it far worse condition so it is a total strip down to the bare hull, removing half a century of multiple different color paint, and repairing all the hull and floor damage. If any of you are into boating I'll put up pics thru the restoration. I had forgotten I had bought it along the road for a few hundred dollars on the trailer with an old Evinrude and then just parked it in the weeds (becoming invisibly overgrown.) I like how it looks and thought it would be an easy quick clean up - not a total strip down to a completely empty bare hull with virtually nothing reusable.

Surprisingly, the motor runs perfect - though looks like hell. Most people would have considered this a scrape/junk hull. But it is quite unique and rare. When done, it will weigh a total of under 500 pounds running a 2 cylinder 2 stroke 60 hp outboard, which will give it a terrifying top speed of around 60 mph. In a 40 footer on smooth water that isn't that extreme. In a 12 foot 500 pound boat with you inches off the water it is. I figure it a 2 month project - if lucky.

My best boat has been the cheapest. My 17 foot bass tracker. I stripped it totally about 4 years ago. Put in an aluminum floor, a new 30 hp outboard, rewired it all, new seats and buffed out the hull to a mirror finish (that lasted about 3 months). That boat always gets me home - and I've been trapped with a boat full of people many miles offshore out in the Gulf in water so rough there were no other boats out - even the big 30+ footers had headed in. But we were on an island way, way out there and didn't notice the wind really kicking up.

Quite an exciting challenge struggling against the wind and tide with 4 foot white caps coming in at a 45 degree angle - in a boat that has less than 2 feet freeboard in the front - and less than a foot in the rear. No problem. I actually enjoyed the challenge, but I was driving and the others seemed a mix between being miserable and terrified. LOL

Probably going to add a 4th boat for personal boats. Probably have a couple more boats laying around somewhere.

So... are any of you boaters?

My son and I have a 1980's "Fun Cat" 13' catamaran that will do 50MPH with a 50HP Merc. It is a ball to run and takes heavy chop incredibly well. It was built in NJ for ocean and bay use.

 

[joko104]

Anyway, fingers crossed and knock on wood, by putting in a thinner jet pump liner (larger inside diameter) and a radical custom shaped impeller and it SHOULD FINALLY be DONE!

The weather this weekend down in Naples Florida this coming weekend is supposed to be a perfect weather day - mid 80s high. Beautiful blue water. While can't go fast for the waves offshore, I'm certain I'll check it out on one of the canals.

If I'm ever boating on canals something wrong if some old person doesn't shout at me SLOW DOWN! - because that's their self assigned role in life: to shout at boaters in the slow zone at the house that is going more than 5 mph. (They'd go crazy when I blasted by back when I had a Picklefork (small trimaran hull) little jet drag boat with about 800 horse power. They'll even shout at me do 10 mph in my 17' Bass Tracker with all of 30 hp.

The slow speed is to keep manatees from being prop hit. But a jet drive doesn't have a prop so the danger doesn't exist - the main reason I opted for jet drive - despite the terrible potential sucking of seagrass and being stuck - plus can't go in super shallow water because the jet drive pick up is like a powerful vacuum cleaner.

Anyway, I hoping by Friday it will be done. Then it's just a 4 hour drive, give the installing company owner a pile of money, and finally will be able to enjoy this boat. The good news of that is the installer will have water tested it 6 times - at least - before I get it. In his words, "when it goes I want it done because I don't want it coming back!" It's tied up one of repair bays for months.

The parts company/fabricator, engine building company and installer all are confident it is the most powerful SeaDoo motor that runs on pump gas ever made. Marrying a huge supercharger to a super high rpm smaller motor (took a lot of fabrication) puts it into the F1 type motor league. Not a lot of displacement, but massive amounts of air/gas being rammed into it. 32 psi thru a supercharger is off the charts. The 4 to 6 week project ended up taking 10 months. I hope it was worth the wait.

The value really isn't in performance, but what's in my head. It's that way with super cars too. You never drive a Ferrari or ZR1 Vette 200 mph. All muscle cars are that way. You don't USE the horsepower, but you know you got it. Other than once or twice to see what it really can do, I'll never use this much power since on the top end the power exceeds the hull's capabilities. Simply put, it's a drag racer. Rocket sled acceleration - to 70. Under 3 seconds in a fat stubby tiny little boat - like if my 17 foot aluminum Bass Tracker Jon boat had a 400 hp outboard rather than a 30.

HOPEFULLY - I will only have a few more entry on this thread - posting about a wonderful day on the water. If so, it's the end of the story. I decided before starting this will be the last boat I customize. I'll keep this one the rest of my life - so easy to tow and just a fun bop around little particularly unsinkable boat - that will run like a bat out of hell if I want or need to.

 

[joko104]

A lot of those old engines will chug right along with a little TLC. I know a ton of old "Atomic 4's" that still putter around.

The Atomic 4 - a true classic used in a million sailboats.