Are any of you boaters?

[joko104]

The project slowly creeps forward to a conclusion...
Matching a motor to a propeller (impeller on jet drive) is a real challenge. I known nothing of engine management computers and the motor is completely dependent upon it - PRECISELY. There have now been 14 short "sea trials" to collect info to send to another company via the Internet to be analyzed - and then the next firmware tried. The goal? Wide open at 8600 - but no more for sustained use. If the prop is too small it will just cavitate and if too much it can't build the rpms, while trying to balance that to the firmware (programming.)

Each requires pulling the engine management computer, taking it to the shop, overwriting it, putting it back in and another sea trial.

They about got it in terms of the engine management firmware that finds this motor's sweet spot across the rpms in terms of fuel-air ratio and impeller/jet drive liner inner diameter - and with the largest, most aggressive propeller and largest diameter jet drive. At 8600 rpms it was pushing out the drive water with such pressure it blew off the directional nozzle. While the rear gates sometimes get blown off for not fully lifting it after reversing, blowing off the nozzle is a new one for all involved. Never heard of that happening before.

Candidly, I just wanted it to be made super reliable and a strong cut above stock - specifically so that no OEM factory jet skis - with as much as 300 hp and are much lighter with far less wetted surface area - aren't leaving me in their rearview mirror. Generally I don't care about speed. My Bass Tracker can't keep up with turkey ducks (as we call them) dashing just above the water heading for their roost.

I wonder if in this increasingly eccentric project of extremes, am I pursuing what ultimately could be the instrument of my own death? Past 70mph the hull will rapidly become unstable - trying more and more to do a full 90 degree turn while increasingly wobbling side to side - on smooth water. The water offshore is never "smooth" and clearly this will have the power potential to go well over 70. I'm mature enough hopefully to know better than to go faster than is safe - plus my back can't take hard wave pounding for long. But this is NOT a vessel to let young people use.

So if I just stop posting some day, it could very well be accurate to post "that nutcase probably killed himself in some weird little boat he was messing with. LOL. " I suppose that's not the worst possible epitaph,

 

[joko104]

It is DONE! Picking it up tomorrow! ONLY 10 months later.

How this went maybe predictable. It would be like having a classic RS Camero with a 350 small block in it - ran strong - but replacing it with a DART big block 602 cubic inch motor with a supercharger cranking out a thousand horsepower and with a motor and trans that now is computer run.

The problem would not just be getting the motor to fit and run right, but getting all of it right as that motor is going to blow out the stock transmission, driveshaft and rear end - so it would be a do-everything project. That's what happened here. When the motor finally sorted out for computer firmware, it promptly blew off the rear nozzle and broke the driveshaft. However, those were easy fixes/mods to make.

Really looking forward to this, but for the first 10 hours need to baby it so the motor breaks in well.

 

[joko104]

FINALLY have it back. While getting frustrated for how long it was taking, he went thru all that had to be done, who involved in the project, and what was done. The man's a genius, a true artist in trouble shooting almost everything there is other than the hull - matching various parts from various vintages and custom parts.

I wanted maximum reliability. He used parts - OEM or custom - from various vintages and motor sizes - each also being the best. He sold me parts at costs - and even a bit lower for some. He got the 2 manufacturers of performance parts (Sea Doo jet ski modification doesn't have a big market) competing with each other for expertise.

Biggest challenge? How to get 2008 digital gauges and sensors to an ECU and motor wiring harness that is 2005 analog? It took 12 sea trials (loading and unloading each time) to figure that out to the motor and impeller for the right air-fuel mixture and which impeller to use across the rpm range - never going lean - to 8600 rpms (motor good to 9600 but you would not want to run it continuously at absolute redline.) The 2 companies that sell performance firmware battled it out over which could get it right.

Without going thru it, the work was amazing, a challenge every step of the way. As perfect as could possibly be obtained. And so clean and neat the motor is show quality.

It also is odd. In a Jet ski, the motor could take it to about 120 mph on pump gas. Instead, I put it in a fat squatty short boat. I'll putting a Formula One motor into a Van.

ALL hot rodding, building fast cars, fast motorcycles etc all it just in the person's head. You never REALLY race. You never REALLY drive top speed - or anywhere close to it. The value of the performance is all in your head. I now own one of two fastest accelerating Sea Doo Speedsters likely in the world. Until the motor is broke in, there would be a way to know which. But then will find out. The competition is the fella who designed and did all this work. He just spent a year on a more powerful motor swap into his Sea Doo Speedster.

I am very happy with the outcome - exceeded by best hopes and but for him this boat would have never run again - it was that much of a mess. Now it's the best.

 

[joko104]

Never ending project?

Took it out - and they got the motor right on the money. But matching a propeller (actually impeller) to a motor is a real challenge. Too much bite and the motor bogs down and can never get up to speed. Too little and you have cavitation and slow acceleration.
The motor vastly exceeds the impeller's capability, for terrible cavitation if you hammer it even at low rpms. Then the impeller is catching up to whatever rpms you have the motor at. Since it has the most aggressive performance impeller, it's going to take reshaping the impeller on best-guessing.

 

[nota bene]

None of this from you is believable given your history of excessive embellishment.

What a gratuitous ad hom.

 

[AZCardsfan]

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?

I bought my first boat last year. A 1976 Cajun fishing boat for a few hundred dollars. I replaced the floor, carpeting, seats paint, etc. I got the 1960 Evinrude Lark II (Big Twin) running. I replaced the coils, condensers, points, wires, plugs, and rebuilt the carb.
I sold it at profit without ever putting it into the water. Personally, it wasn't a boat I planned on keeping, was just something to fix up and flip.

This past March I bought a 1996 Sea Ray 190. It's in excellent shape other than some upholstery and that's in the shop being redone. Also bought a camper this past January. The lake is only 35 miles away. We plan on really enjoying this summer.

 

[SarahSun]

I dont own a boat but im going out for a party tomorrow on the Chesapeake Bay. Will post a pic if thats allowed.

 

[SarahSun]

I got back from the Boat adventure at 6 pm. Will rest up and relax and post a boat pic tomorrow. It was a blast

 

[SarahSun]

The boat trip was even better than i thought it would be.