Jetski motor in a jon boat.

[pman7]

I have a friend that's looking for feedback from others that have put a jetski motor in an aluminum jon boat. He's successfully made three of them now, one for himself and two for his sons. Each time he's worked with a larger motor and is up to 1200cc motors now.

Has this topic been discussed and in which forum should I seek info?

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

Sounds pretty wild. I would love to see some pictures.

How fast do they go?​

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

there is a jet ski forum, but i haven't heard of this. very interesting, see i have 3 ski's, and hate working on them, and hardly understand them. i would guess it could be discussed in restoration and building, seeing is building a boat.

 

[bassboy1]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

I have seen one of these discussed. I don't remember if it was on this board or not. I think it was, but am a member of 6, so I could be wrong. Lets see what I can remember.

 

[pman7]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

The last one he made runs 49.5 mph after he put some tabs on the rear.

He's a river rat and just loves to fly up the rivers over the shallow places that stop the prop boats. He's got some pretty funny stories involving others on the bank waving to try and stop him and others trying to follow him in a boat. Even though he's not as fast as a bass boat he doesn't have to follow the channels and can cut corners wherever there's water.

The first boat he made was in the upper thirties on mph, then fourties and this last one will probably break 50 by the time he's done. He's looking for others that have tried it to see how far he should push it. He already goes fast enough for himself (he's over 50yrs old) but his sons are still curious.

The boats can pivot and and reverse course extremely quick.

 

[Rob454]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

If hes up to 1200CCs he shoudl be way faster than 50

 

[pman7]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

I don't know enough about jetski motors to judge the potential. His jon boats are pretty heavy themselves. They are heavy gauge aluminum. Cutting a hole in the bottom, even when he reinforces, requires a pretty heavy guage to mount the engine. These things are not set up on the transom.

Maybe there are better ways to fortify. He's working from scratch on this project and is learning as he goes. Maybe there are better ways to do lots of things but 50mph in a jon boat is pretty fast to me. They don't handle or steer like regular boats. He's edging into this slowly. He's not planning on flipping one.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

You know there are a lot of aftermarket parts for those engines? You can get special racing impellers, connecting rods, pistons, Cylinders--Depending on engine-- So if he is getting 50 now, 60 should not be out of reach.

 

[zzzzz]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

go to jetjon.com....pictures-plans-advice...

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

go to jetjon.com....pictures-plans-advice...

I tried that, and couldn't get to the site.

 

[zzzzz]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

Sorry..haven't been there for a couple years..if I find another site I'll post it

 

[zzzzz]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

do a search for "jet jon" and also try "jetjon"...there are a few sites on both

 

[Red Neck Okie]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

Just kinda wondering if this forum is still up and running? If so I have successfully built the jet jon and it worked out great. I am located in Cherryville Missouri.

 

[coolguy147]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJI0cKLh5E&feature=related




theres a link to a jet ski boat in a john boat

 

[bundick]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

Just kinda wondering if this forum is still up and running? If so I have successfully built the jet jon and it worked out great. I am located in Cherryville Missouri.

I think that beats the heck outta my idea of making an inboard/outboard Hi-thrust Electric motor controlled by a gimble switch.
I wanted my ride to be quiet and not necessarily fast. Certainly not any faster than 10 Mph.

For extended lenghts of time I was going to make a battery charger out of a Weed eater motor connected to a Honda or Toyota 12V alternator.

The jet idea was put into a Canoe up in Alaska about 1978 or so, by a guy who worked for Zerox. You might find him by Google. Micky Cartwright or Carter as I recall.

He used a 5Hp Briggs on his homemade jet. His jet was a shaft with a small prop inside a pipe. The Inlet pipe was fashioned from aluminum piping as was the exhaust.
No steering, no reverse and not even a neutral. I guess he just shut the motor off and paddled when he wanted to go backwards.
I never trusted canoe's so I just wasnt interested.

 

[Red Neck Okie]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

I have seen in some of the posts, where people are trying for 50 mph or better in the jet jon setup. They have to have bigger BAXXS than me. 35+ mph is plenty fast enough for the flat bottom, personally I think above that and you are playing with trouble. I built my jet jon around the JS440 Kawasaki jet ski engine and pump, my guess is my boat will run about 35 mph. I fabricated everything out of aluminum, I chose not to use the fiberglass components. I ran a "quiet atv" muffler for a while, but finally ended up using the expansion chamber, resinator and water box. This made the engine more responsive and it is now fairly quiet. I had was having problems with the JS440 jet pump "it was out of tolerance, so I put in a fresh JS550 Kawasaki pump, that solved my pump problems. I do have complete instructions with pictures for sale for anyone interested in the jet jon project.

 

[mudslinging79]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

sounds like yor trying to make a sea sled, after seeing that video clip i have to clean my coffee off the screen. that bad boy gets up and goes like a raped ape.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

Pretty impressive.
I'll stick to my hydros though.

 

[coolguy147]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

ya but what if u ahve a flat bottom john boat woudlnt that be the same as a hydro

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Jetski motor in a jon boat.

Looked into this a couple of years ago and found a site that showed some builds in progress, using small jon boats. Problem was crap/debris fouling the pump pickup at slow speeds...maybe they've found a way to cure that by now.