I don't know how many of my fellow teener fans are into boating, but I've had a boat project in my head for a couple of years now and I decided to use some of my 914 down time to attempt a prototype of my dream boat. I've wanted to build a shallow draft fishing boat powered by a Subaru auto engine and a jetski pump. To prototype the idea I built a smaller version powered by a complete Yamaha waverunner driveline. I took a 16' Carolina SKiff and a 1994 Yamaha VXR Pro and went at them both with a and this is what I came up with:


It started as this.........

And this..............

And ended up as this...........

It is so damn fun to drive it's hard to keep a grin off your face when cruisin'

It's joystick controlled and it'll run about 35 - 40 mph in about 4" of water! Here's a pic of the initial sea trial before I built decking and such. I sat on a chunk of plywood just to check it out........

After about an hour with a I had the waverunner down to this.......

The came grafting it into the skiff hull.........

Next was the mechanical goodies and bulkheads.........

Very COOOL!

Joystick control with throttle, start/stop buttons and a depth finder.....

This is my next part of the project. I fabbed a reverse gate (out of PVC elbows!) for the pump, but now I need to fab up a cable/linkage.........

Sorry to eat up server space with non-914 pics, but I though some of you might enjoy the tinkering aspects of this project and hell, I know a few of you know the joys of itchy fiberglass work!!

Right on! 35-40MPH has to be a blast in a boat that size.

Don't apologize. This is cool stuff.

-Ben M.

Very cool!

I get lots of ideas like that..... If only I had a few million dollars.....

That is awsome.

Its great that you made it work so well.

I spent an entire summer once designing and building a HPW (Human Powered Watercraft)

Had dual hulls, aluminum frame, and surfacing Rolla propeller. Was faster than a 2 man shell, for a sprint anyway. I'll try and find a pic.

That is one way cool skiff AL

Now I can see why we have not heard from you.
Looks really neat JD

Dude I just got wood over that project of yours! That ride had to be a blast to take out for a POC check. Ain't imagination and vision a beautiful thing?

BRAVO

That is indeed very cool. I'd love to have something like that.

Thanks for the positive feedback! Other than the itchy scratchy phase of the fiberglass work, this project was really cool to tinker with. As a prototype, I tried to re-use as many of the stock yamaha pieces as possible to streamline the project and keep the investment low. Someone gave me the waverunner for free and I picked up the skiff for 400 bucks in a pretty rough state. It took about 3 weekends to get this thing seaworthy, that's rapid prototyping....thank god for coffee!!

The boat handles incredibly well and the joystick method of control is really cool. I'm surprised more jet boats don't use it.

A side benefit of this design is the perplexed looks you get when rippin' past someone with no visible motor. Everyone knows this popular boat as an outboard and it blows their mind to see it go rippin' by with nothing on the transom.

I love it!! I've got a smiilari idea in mind using two of the deep vee skiff hulls grafted to a jon boat hull to create a tunnel hull. Power would come from a Subbie mated to a SeaDoo jet drive. I need to finish the house and atleast one of the cars first.... BUt i's on my list!

Ohh quick question did the Coast Guard give you any hassles?

My best,
Mike D.

That is really cool, I love boat projects. Very cool idea with the jet in the Carolina skiff, go pretty much anywhere in flat water. I hope to be building a stitch and glue wood skiff next summer, more of a semi-V hull, made for Alaska waters.

that is just too cool...looks like you did a great job on it...I'd love to build a small boat, canoe or something like that....only problem is that it cannot be "petrol" powered for the reservoir near my house...I only live a few minutes from the Delta, but too many a-holes out there in their speedboats and I'd get ran over in a minute

I nominate you for best project of the week

I just love this kind of stuff.....

Homebrewing something really freakin' cool with little investment and lots of ingenuity just warms the the cockles of my cheap-skate junkyard heart.

This project rocks!

I have been making motor lifts for a buddy who guides in alaska, So that you can raise and lower
the motor for water depth of river , with a lever.
I am forwarding him the pics of your boat right now. Very Cool

Nothing beats a jet for shallow water. In the Rocky Mountain rivers like the Snake and Salmon all guides use aluminum jet boats (automotive v8 powered mostly). You can run them right up through rappids, skid them across boulders, beach them anywhere... They are the Jeep of the river. Jet's do not provide a performance or efficiency advantage over a prop - the advantage is the shallow water ability, but it's a BIG advantage.

-Ben M.

OK, here is my marine science project. Built it in '91

Guy here in Miami had a shop that made beautiful stripper canoes. I worked in his shop and he taught me as I went. Had to build all the station shapes for the hulls and the fixtures to hold them.

Designed the alu frame and drive on CAD and a friend welded it up for me. Rolla donated a surfacing propeller to make it go.

Now the hulls are hanging in my garage.

[QUOTE]Jet's do not provide a performance or efficiency advantage over a prop - the advantage is the shallow water ability, but it's a BIG advantage.

That is what he said . they use the prop because they run supplies back and forth raise the motor to float the river and fly fish.

I dig the human powered cat. There's a website I stumbled on when researching jetboat stuff that had a bunch of human powered designs. The concept is cool.

That is to kewl. I remeber in 1993 there was a company here in the PNW that manufactured a small 16 foot aluminum jet boat with a snowmbile motor and a small jet drive, it was called Midjet. I almost bought one but last minute bought a larger 20 foot Alumaweld jet boat, I still love that idea of the small jet boat.
CCLINFISHON