Jet boat Project

[fatherfire89]

Thats looking awesome man. Good work. Cant wait to see it when its put back together!

 

[River Rider]

Got the motor more or less put back together. I left some of the cover shrouds off until I get it hung on the boat. I want to be able to run and and check for any possible leaks before I seal her all up. Wasn't too bad of a job, but can't say it was a success until I get her purring. I couldn't help but see if it would turn over so I do know all of that sounds good so far. Tonight I will get some of the garage cleaned up so I can back the boat back in and get the floor hammered out. Hope to have it done by this evening, then that will give me a little time Sunday morning to work on putting the controls and figure the wiring.

 

[River Rider]

Got the garage clean enough to put up the mechanic tools and bring out the metal fabricating tools. Got the floor supports cut and welded in. Started screwing the floor down but broke the drill bit so it is down but not completely secure. I mocked up the cooler seat and console so I could get a feel as well as show y'all what she will look like. Let me know what y'all think. Hope to get back on it Sunday before the super bowl party kicks off.

 

[River Rider]

Oops dang iPhone cut out before the rest of the picture loaded. Here are the rest including one of the motor with the cowl.

 

[River Rider]

I hate stainless steel screws. After snapping a few I decided to just go with selftapping galvanized screws. If anything they will work for now. Another problem I came across is I am having a hard time finding some kind of wire loom to run the wires and controlls from the motor to the console. I wanted to run them on top of the floor for easy maintenance, but the only looms I have found are on Iboats.com and you have to buy 50' at a time. Wondering if anyone knows a place I can buy it by the foot, or have other ideas for a way to make a clean install with all I will have exposed on the floor. I would only need about 10', so I can't justify buying 50' for almost a $100. Thanks.

 

[River Rider]

The floor is finished, the console is attached, and the motor is hanging. I still need to wire averything, but at least it is all right there under the console and clean looking. I got with an electrcian buddy who hooked me up with watertight brand conduit to run the controlls, and wiring in so it looks clean on the boat. Hopefully I get at leats the ignition done tonight to where I can try to awaken this beast. Here are some pictures of the progress. I got to get this baby rolling as my garage looks like hell. My fishing trip got cancelled this weekend so I hope to have it done then.

 

[Lil' Blue Rude]

Looking good. Don't forget to double oil it before the first test fire.

 

[River Rider]

I was told to mix the gas 50 to 1 along with the VRO pumping. Is that what you meant by double oiling? Or should I mix it 25 to one?

 

[Lil' Blue Rude]

Yeah if the vro is still working that should do just fine.

 

[hotshotinn]

We unhook the oil injectioin from my 40 johnson.I going to make double oil mix when i fire itup.My macanic says oil injection on old ouboard are not tobe trusted.He says when oil injection fails then so does the moter.Food for thought #-o

 

[River Rider]

Yeah I kicked that idea around alot. I decided to keep it since it worked perfectly fine when i first started messing with it. I will just get in the habit of testing my alarm everytime before I go out as well as monitor the oil level to make sure it is using it. If it ever fails I guess I will just have to break down and just get me a new motor. Hoping it won't come to that but like you and lil blue rude told me you never know when or if it will go. I will see how it goes to begin with. I plan on doing a full break in so I will decided to keep it after that. Thanks for the concerns though.

 

[River Rider]

Its alive!!! Well it started up after a little while of cranking. It would run for about a few minutes and then die off. I think it was all the oil and crap I was rubbing the internal parts with when I rebuilt it, but it started. Being as I was running mixed gas along with the VRO pumping in its mixture I am sure it was chocking down some oil. I pretty much only messed with wiring the ignition to see if it would run, so tonight I will try to finish up some more wiring and then not try to run the motor again till I get it all done. At least this way I can have a full day of messing with it to start the break in. I got the the whole weekend to try to wrap up the majority of things on this rig so hopefully I will have some better updates with pictures for yall. Right now I am just happy to hear it start. I couldn't help just walking out this morning and turning the key to see if it would fire and it did. So far so good....

 

[River Rider]

Now that I am on my easy chair I figured I would update some work done this weekend. I got to mount the gauges, speaker for the stereo and finish running all wires to the consoles. I also got the welding done for the trolling motor and the front deck area where the trolling motor plug, tilt/trim switch, and 12 volt accessory plug will go. I will try to get better pictures in the morning. Let me know what y'all think. Hopefully I will get the rest of the wiring done tomorrow and then I will start running the motor. Also I am hoping to score a hydraulic jack plate for when I want to run a prop. Hope to find my tinboats decal to add to the rest real helps the black.

 

[River Rider]

Well now that the computer is acting right I figured I would post up more pictures of the work I done over the weekend.

 

[fool4fish1226]

That is looking great - some really nice work =D>

 

[River Rider]

Well guys didn't do near the job I thought I could do on the block. Between me and the guys helping me I found that my block was not sealed as tight as I would like. After torquing every bolt to spec I snapped off at least 4 of them. I have since then took apart the block again and had some help putting it back together but there is a crack in on of the crank case halves. So now that I am frustrated I decided to look at new power heads. After some recommendations I have been talking to chris Carson marine and they have a couple options for me. So I have tore down my block for the third time and about to buy a hopped up block from chris so that I am ready for the season. I do have some questions for those that know from experience. I bought a jack plate from a buddy that has 5" of vertical travel and sets the motor back 6". I figured this way I could run a jet or a prop with that kind of adjustment. My question is does anyone have a cmc Jake plate and if so what kind of splash plate and set up do yall have? I am trying to figure if I need a splash plate since the motor is so far back now and how big or wide to make it. Here are some pictures after the tear down and mock up of the jack plate. All help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[lovedr79]

I like that stereo cover! Boat looks great

 

[River Rider]

I got all of my parts shipped to Chris Carson Marine today and hope it doesn't take too long to get it back. Since then I have re-hung my old jet motor so I can try to get the height and splash plate figured out. I did get some other rat killing done such as mounting my nab lights and putting the hatch door back on the rear deck. I will update after I get some more work done and hope to try everything out this weekend so I can get the ride height figured out the motor.

 

[River Rider]

I haven't posted in a while trying to stay busy so I don't get anxious on getting my motor back. But it hasn't worked to well. Since the last post I I've torn apart the jet and sent the shaft and bearings in to be replaced to fit the new motor as well as making the trailer legal to haul. Now that I have done that I am going nuts to get back on the river. Turns out that water will not be released this year on the river I run unless substantial rains hit. This means water levels are low and having a jet pays off this year. We had a kick off river party for the season over the weekend and I had to ride in a buddies boat and we had to drag too many times. A couple boats were jets and just flew by it was nothing. Man you don't think a jet is important until you catch yourself dragging through riffles that aren't really deep unless you have a prop. Outboard Jets has already shipped my shaft back but I am still waiting on an update from chris. Man I can't wait... Until then I will have to post some pictures of our Colorado river while we are out.

 

[fender66]

What is the expected turn around time for sending something to Chris?