Prop boat to jet boat?

[QBhoy]

I've owned about 6 jet boats, and 5 prop boats.

Yes, you can run in MUCH shallower water. Whoever tells you can't has never owned a jet. (have you?) I would frequently take my jet on the Missouri in 3 to 4 inches of water. Yes, you can't start or stop, and if you touch down, you are getting the shovel out. (yes, i carried a shovel!) I owned that boat for 7 years, never had to touch the wear ring. (and even then, that is a quick and easy replacement) From a dead stop, I needed maybe about 18 inches of water if I hit the gas. A little less if I idled up slowly.

Handling? I could EASILY outhandle any single screw boat out there. My favorite thing to do at a nearby dock was to go straight into the double floating dock, stop, pivot in place, and then walk the boat straight sideways and tie up. Easy to do if you are experienced with a jet, simply impossible to do with a single screw boat. Again, people who say they handle poorly haven't spent enough time behind the wheel.

My last jet boat was 17.5 feet, 175 v6 merc, and would do about 55 on a good day. My current boat is 18.5 feet, merc 4.3l i/o, and does about 43 mph. Granted, HUGE different in weight, but still a comparison.

You’ll definitely damage the gear in 18” of water. The operators manual on any modern jet boat will certainly tell you not to do this. The fact that you carried a shovel kind of tells a story. I totally get that some guys want to do what you did. But for general use. That’s not really normal. As for the comparison you make between the boats you mention. Not really apples and apples.
Any like for like comparison between similar hulls and power...the prop will always win by a huge margin. The jet is simply just not efficient. That’s a fact.

 

[QBhoy]

All things being equal, jets are MUCH faster off the holeshot. The RPM of an engine connected to a jet drive doesn't vary with load. IE, if you tie a jet boat to a pier and hit the gas, it will hit the same RPM as with 1 person flat out. Do the same with a prop boat and you might be at half your normal WOT rpm. That is important when you think about the horsepower curve of your engine, the jet connected engine is putting WAY more power into the water immediately instead of having to get moving.

The other trick pulling skiers is to make sure they jet wash hits their skies. Pops them up instantly!

What you have just said..literally puts their inefficiency into perspective. What you have described is literally the result of huge prop slip and throwing power away.